There are a few predictable spots you can find me working: at a packed suburban public meeting, in a local coffee shop, or in the newsroom, hunched over my computer.
I added “in a sauna” and “deep breathing in the cold of Lake Michigan” to that list this fall and winter.
“I just reported stories yesterday about today’s winter weather advisory … why am I doing this again?” I asked myself during the short agony of plunging in the lake on a freezing Saturday in December. I remembered my “why” when I returned to a hot sauna tent on Klode Park’s beach, relaxed into the warmth, and continued chatting with kind strangers.
Wisconsin is seeing a resurgence of interest in saunas, a tradition that’s central to the state’s Finnish immigrant history in the far north. Business owners are meeting the demand, bringing saunas to lakefronts, parks and other public spaces, much like in neighboring Chicago, and especially Minnesota, which leads the crowd.
I didn’t know Wisconsin’s history but had my own curiosities about saunas that exist outside health clubs when I tried a lakeside sauna with my cousins in early 2025. After an hour alternating between the hot sauna and the cold outdoors, I left floating, eager to try it again.
Later that year, my pitch to report a feature story on one Wisconsin sauna business morphed into a four-month journey dipping my toes into southeast Wisconsin’s sauna circles.
Between stories in the west suburbs of my daily beat, I visited three saunas around the Milwaukee area and one in Door County in October, November and December. Sometimes I went alone, or with photojournalist Hannah Schroeder, or brought friends with me.
Dozens of conversations later, the business owners, experts and people I met in the saunas have convinced me this latest chapter in Wisconsin’s sauna history will only bring more growth to an already buzzing community.
Each sauna is a little different, but etiquette is similar
Barrels, boxes, barges. Saunas come in a lot of different shapes and sizes, and there’s an art to building them. No matter the type, most of the saunas I visited encouraged visitors to do a few things.
Bring a towel to sit on and another to dry off if you plan to go into any water. Bring your own water bottle to stay hydrated. Leave your phone and belongings outside the sauna, this a place to slow your mind down.
Wear a bathing suit or sports clothing you’re comfortable sweating in. This is one of the traits of sauna culture in the United States that Europeans despise, the New York Times reported, since it’s traditional to sauna in the nude in countries that popularized the practice.
It’s OK to chat in most saunas – the connections that happen while sitting with strangers is part of the magic. But you can also take the time for reflection or quiet.
Women-owned sauna businesses are dominating Wisconsin
I quickly learned two things as I spoke to sauna entrepreneurs. First, there’s a culture of helping each other out rather than competition. Second, women are leading Wisconsin’s sauna business community with tradition at the forefront.
“The way all of us seem to be doing it is in terms of caretaking a tradition of sauna culture,” said Roshelle Ritzenthaler, owner of thermal bathhouse Saunaday in Madison, 315 S. Blount St., the first of its kind in the area.
“We all seem to really value the connections we can build in these spaces and the experiences we’re designing over the conversation around biohacking or the physical aspect,” she said.
Business owners like Nicole Terrill, who co-owns Nordic Night Community Sauna with Abbey Laufenberg in Stevens Point, told me they make a point to create a space all bodies can feel safe and comfortable to sauna. At Nordic Night, that’s evident in the gender-specific and queer communal sauna sessions they offer.
Listen to your body
That leads me to this: “Listen to your body” was the refrain I kept hearing from sauna business owners.
Many people I spoke with celebrated that cultures have been doing contrast therapy for a very long time. Many also acknowledged that research is still limited on the potential health benefits of mixing sauna and cold plunging, especially for women.
As the world continues to research, keep listening to how you feel if you try this out. For me, I feel energized, calm, and I sleep great.
Sauna is my excuse to be outside, offline and meeting others in Wisconsin winter. Find yours.
I hope it doesn’t get me fired from my day job to say this. Saunas are my excuse to get offline, away from the news cycle, and outside.
In the sauna, focus turns to breathing. You think deeper and connect with your body. You might meet new friends, too.
Everyone deserves moments like that, especially in what feels like an increasingly difficult time. You don’t have go to the sauna to find it, but I hope you find it somewhere this winter.
Bridget Fogarty covers Brookfield, Wauwatosa and Elm Grove for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. She can be contacted at bfogarty@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Our reporter visited four Wisconsin saunas. Here’s what she learned.
Reporting by Bridget Fogarty, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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