Issue #13

A peer-reviewed study published in the journal Temperature found that air humidity is an independent driver of the body's physiological response to a sauna session, on par with temperature itself. Researchers tested fifty healthy adults across four heater types and found that throwing water on the stones — the traditional Finnish löyly practice — raised relative humidity from 6% to 59%, producing dramatically different outcomes.

A 2026 study in Social Science and Medicine found associations between sauna participation, emotional wellbeing, and a sense of belonging, with ritual and emotional synchrony linked to stronger sauna identities. Psychologist Stephen Colmant, who has studied heat-based practices for decades, discusses research suggesting that group sauna sessions produce stronger therapeutic outcomes than standard counseling environments.

Researchers whose work underlies the claim that sauna use aids heat acclimatization have clarified on the record that using a sauna during an active heatwave does not provide relief and can be dangerous. The article examines how some sauna venues misrepresented the science in their summer marketing and what the acclimatization research actually supports.

Contrast therapy — alternating between sauna heat and cold plunge sessions — is gaining mainstream traction in U.S. wellness culture, with practitioners citing benefits including improved circulation, reduced inflammation, nervous system regulation, and better sleep. The article explores how the trend has been shaped by Nordic traditions and amplified by prominent health communicators.

Hotels are beginning to restructure their wellness offerings around private sauna and cold-plunge suites as business travelers increasingly seek to replicate at-home recovery routines on the road. A Miami Beach property is highlighted as an early case study in this shift away from traditional spa treatment menus.

A detailed review of cold water immersion clinical trials finds well-documented benefits for muscle soreness recovery alongside a significant caveat: regular post-workout cold plunges can measurably blunt muscle growth in those training for hypertrophy. The piece also addresses short-term mood benefits and the safety considerations that are frequently omitted from popular coverage of the practice.

The United States postponed new 50% Section 338 tariffs on roughly $20 billion in Canadian imports by three days after Washington and Ottawa reached a preliminary trade agreement just hours before the duties were set to take effect. The wood industry measures are most relevant to plywood, laminated wood products, doors, and fencing components, while most Canadian softwood lumber, OSB, and MDF shipments fall outside the new tariff's scope.

Canada-U.S. trade talks entered a critical final stretch with Section 232 tariffs on lumber among the most contested issues, as the U.S. declined to offer reductions and instead pointed Canada toward a pending Department of Commerce review of existing softwood lumber duties. British Columbia's forestry sector faces compounding pressure because Section 232 tariffs stack on top of pre-existing countervailing and anti-dumping duties.

North American lumber futures fell below $570 per thousand board feet in August as weaker U.S. housing activity and Canada-U.S. trade uncertainty kept buyers cautious, reversing a summer rally that had pushed spot prices to their highest level in four years in late July. September contracts lost more than 12% over roughly two weeks as traders responded to softer housing starts and elevated mortgage rates.

Lumber futures recovered to near $580 per thousand board feet after bouncing from a three-month low of $568, as the U.S. temporarily delayed new tariffs on Canadian goods and trade negotiations continued. Pre-existing duties of around 35% on Canadian softwood lumber, combined with a weak U.S. housing market marked by 12.4% lower housing starts in July, continued to weigh on underlying demand.

The Random Lengths framing-lumber composite reached $535 per thousand board feet in late July 2026, its highest level since 2022, driven not by strong housing demand but by sawmill closures, production cuts, and constrained Canadian imports resulting from trade measures. The price surge is creating an unusual squeeze for builders as end-market demand remains soft while a key construction material cost rises.

Residential building material prices excluding energy rose 0.4% in July and were up 5% year over year, the highest annual increase since December 2022, according to National Association of Home Builders analysis of Producer Price Index data. The year-over-year gain in building materials underscores a sustained cost environment for construction that affects manufactured outdoor structures including saunas.

The U.S. Department of Commerce is due to deliver a report to the President by October 1, 2026 on whether Section 232 duties should be extended to hardwood timber, lumber, and derivative products, creating pricing uncertainty for buyers quoting Q4 and Q1 arrivals. Madison's lumber index fell 4% to $536/mfbm in the week ending August 14, and container freight on the transpacific route rose 1% to $4,339 per 40-foot equivalent unit.

Western Forest Products reported modestly improved lumber pricing in Q2 2026, but adjusted EBITDA remained nearly flat year over year as lower shipment volumes and sharply higher duties and tariffs offset operational gains. The company announced it will curtail its Cowichan Bay sawmill for the remainder of 2026, citing persistently weak market conditions and high softwood lumber tariffs.

A British Columbia plywood manufacturer stated publicly that a proposed 50% U.S. tariff would make its products economically unviable to sell into the American market. The article highlights how the threat of new Section 338 duties compounds existing pressures on Canadian wood product exporters supplying the U.S. construction and manufacturing sectors.

A tentative U.S.-Canada trade agreement would lower Section 232 tariffs on certain Canadian steel and aluminum products from 50% to 25%, according to Bloomberg reporting citing anonymous sources. The deal is a response to threatened Section 338 tariffs on nearly $30 billion in Canadian goods and is expected to include quotas that may limit the practical impact of any tariff reduction.

Extremely limited spot availability, long lead times, low service center inventories, and elevated prices characterize the current U.S. flat-rolled steel market, pushing some buyers to reconsider offshore sources despite 50% Section 232 tariffs. The tight supply environment has persisted through summer 2026, with domestic steel prices rising roughly 50% since tariffs doubled from 25% last year.

Truckload linehaul rates surged in July 2026 according to Cass Freight data, driven by tightened carrier supply that has been the primary cost escalation factor throughout the year. Rates remain roughly 40% above year-ago levels even as some seasonal softening is beginning to appear in August.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported national on-highway diesel at $5.454 per gallon for August 17, 2026, up $0.197 from the prior week and $1.741 above the comparable week in 2025 — its highest level since May 2026. The spike requires immediate updates to fuel surcharge tables and load-level margin assumptions for freight brokers and shippers.

The article traces the origins and evolution of Finnish sauna culture, from the physical mechanics of löyly — the burst of steam produced by throwing water on hot stones — to the broader social rituals of cooling, birch vihta use, and the relaxed approach to session structure that defines the tradition. It examines how sauna has acquired a second vocabulary in the modern wellness era while remaining grounded in centuries of Finnish practice.

More than 600 public saunas are now available across the UK, with over 50 having opened in the South of England in recent years, driven by community groups who combine open-water swimming with sauna sessions. The piece explores how a Scandinavian tradition is being adopted and adapted by British communities as a social and wellness practice.

Mikkel Aaland's 1978 cult classic Sweat — which documented global hot-room traditions from Finnish saunas and Russian banyas to Mexican temescals and Native American sweat lodges — is returning to print alongside a new companion volume, Naked Sweat, as a limited two-volume Collector's Edition. The set debuts in Oslo in September and pairs a digitally restored facsimile of the original with new photography and essays reflecting on what has changed in global sauna culture nearly half a century later.