Sauna for Offline Connections and Interactive, Authentic Living (SOCIAL)

April 21, 2026 updated by: University of California, San Francisco

This pilot trial will test an intervention (sauna visits) targeting reductions in loneliness in adults aged 19-22 years.

Participants will:

  • Visit a sauna in San Francisco once per week for 2 hours by themselves or with a friend, for 8 weeks total
  • Complete online surveys throughout their participation

The main question this pilot trial aims to answer are:

  • To what extent do participants find the study design acceptable?
  • To what extent do participants complete the weekly sauna visits?
  • To what extent do participants complete the weekly online surveys?

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

In the U.S. today, emerging adults (i.e., ages 19 to 22) report high levels of loneliness and social isolation, which are significant risk factors for myriad poor health outcomes. This formative period of emerging adulthood is arguably among the most critical of times: it is when the people who comprise our next generation of leaders have some of their earliest opportunities to build their identities as curious about, accepting of, and open to differences from their peers.

Traditional sauna bathing is a social, mental, and physical health practice associated with greater mental wellness and active social engagement. Recent studies also suggest that thermal therapies, including sauna, may reduce depressive symptoms, which contribute to loneliness and social isolation. Sauna bathing is deeply integrated into the social fabric of several cultures, most notably Finland where it serves as a communal activity that fosters social connection and may help reduce loneliness.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

15

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact Backup

Study Locations

  • United States
    • California
      • San Francisco, California, United States, 94115
        • Recruiting
        • Osher Center for Integrative Health
        • Contact:

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Aged 19-22
  • English-speaking
  • Able to provide written informed consent
  • Graduated from high school or high school equivalent
  • Elevated level of loneliness
  • Able and willing to receive study text messages
  • Able to attend weekly in-person sauna visits in San Francisco, CA

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Self-reported heat intolerance
  • Pregnancy, active lactation, or intention to become pregnant during the study period
  • Regular use of any nicotine products, including cigarettes, vapes, chewing tobacco, or other forms of nicotine (if use is not regular, must be willing to refrain for 24 hours before and 24 hours after sauna visits)
  • Current social heat practices 2 or more times per month (e.g., visiting sauna or hot tub facilities with others present)
  • Unwilling to refrain from using marijuana products and alcohol for the 24 hours before and 24 hours after sauna visits
  • Unwilling to refrain from heavy exercise on the day of sauna visits
  • Any medical condition that, in the opinion of investigators, may increase the risk of sauna use or introduce excessive variance into physiological or behavioral responses to sauna visits
  • Use of any medication that might impact thermoregulatory capacity or that, in the opinion of investigators, would increase risk of study participation or introduce excessive variance into physiological or behavioral responses to sauna visits

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Other
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Sauna Visits
Participants will complete 2-hour visits, by themselves or with another person of their choosing, to a local sauna in San Francisco for 8 weeks.
Behavioral: Sauna Visits
Weekly 2-hour visits to a sauna in San Francisco by themselves or with one person of their choice for 8 weeks.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Participation Acceptability
Time Frame: 8 weeks
Average rating on the following net promoter item: "Thinking about everything that participating in this study involved (completing screening activities, visiting the sauna, doing questionnaires), would you recommend participating in this study to a friend or family member looking to reduce their feelings of loneliness?"
8 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Intervention Adherence
Time Frame: 8 weeks
Proportion of study sauna visits attended (out of 8)
8 weeks
Weekly Survey Completion
Time Frame: 8 weeks
Proportion of weekly surveys completed (out of 8)
8 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of California, San Francisco

Collaborators

Tiny Blue Dot Foundation

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Ashley E Mason, PhD, University of California, San Francisco

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Helpful Links

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

April 20, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

March 30, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

March 30, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

October 29, 2025

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 29, 2025

First Posted (Actual)

October 31, 2025

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

April 24, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 21, 2026

Last Verified

April 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • SOCIAL

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Plan Description

The final IPD dataset will include de-identified self-reported demographic data, self-reported data (e.g., measures of social interaction loneliness), sauna visit completion data, and study assessment completion data.

IPD Sharing Time Frame

Beginning 3 months after the publication of results and unending.

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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