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The potential health benefits of sweating it out

As wellness practices go, sitting in a pool of your own perspiration lands somewhere between juice cleanses and going on a brisk walk. Though the sauna’s biggest claim of detoxification lacks much scientific basis, plenty of other benefits appear to hold water.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, research suggests that regularly getting your heart pumping and your pores dumping at the sauna can:

Reduce muscle soreness.
Increase blood flow, which can ease pain from some chronic conditions like arthritis.
Reduce inflammation and improve heart and lung health.
Improve sleep and reduce stress, possibly because of the general calming effect of the whole sauna experience.

At least one study has suggested a link between sauna visits and lower risks of dementia and Alzheimer’s, but doctors need more research to draw a solid conclusion.

Caution: Since one of the biggest risks is dehydration, hitting the sauna after boozing isn’t recommended. It’s also not advised if you’re recovering from a heart attack or stroke.—ML

Saunas are the hot new activity for Americans

Here’s something happening in the US that the European mind can easily comprehend: Saunas are surging in popularity stateside due to their health and social benefits.

The US sauna market is expected to grow by ~$151 million between 2025 and 2029, according to the market research firm Technavio. Americans are increasingly looking for fitness alternatives and something other than a bar for socializing, leading to more sweatboxes popping up around the country:

Perspire Sauna Studio recently announced plans to open 15 new US locations, bringing its total to nearly 100. And it has 200 more in development.
While the US has a ways to go before it’s on the same level as Finland, home saunas are becoming more popular, too. Alongside a decline in alcohol consumption, it’s more evidence that a growing number of Americans are interested in living healthier.

Plus, it’s always fun to reference Seinfeld with a well-timed, “It’s like a sauna in here.”

The new place to meet people

Saunas go well beyond health and wellness for many. They’re now destinations for making friends and business connections while wearing a towel, which tends to be frowned upon at other social places like bars, cafes, and golf courses.

Othership sauna house in NYC’s Flatiron district has become a go-to destination for the tech crowd who don’t want to conduct business over dinner and drinks. Instead, it’s bathing suits and bikinis followed by a cold plunge, which is also a smart way to make sure no one is wearing a wire (really for Forbes 30 Under 30 people only).
If your motivation for visiting a sauna is less about finding investors and more about building community, there are saunas for that, too. These smaller, more neighborly options encourage conversation.

Status symbol: Then there’s the sauna’s function of showing guests how well-off its owners are. Some are plunking down six figures to announce that live, laugh, and love has been replaced with undress, sit, and sweat.—DL

The teen founder turning male fertility into a sport

At the questionable corner of sports entertainment and male fertility is Sperm Racing, a startup that recently closed a $10m seed round (we will try to resist the low-hanging puns here).

Sperm Racing is, unsurprisingly, the brainchild of an 18-year-old entrepreneur: Eric Zhu. And it’s exactly what it sounds like:

Two contestants source samples of a few million competitors (privately, of course) and those swimmers race until one crosses the finish line.
The race track mimics a microscopic version of a reproductive system.
High-resolution cameras capture everything in real time and verify results.

Zhu wants to turn these competitions into full-blown spectacles, involving fanfare like press conferences, weigh-ins, and play-by-play commentary — and he’s making headway.

Sperm Racing is currently on a live college tour, and its streams and event recordings rack up hundreds of thousands of views.

This begs the obvious: Why?

Zhu wants to promote a dialogue on male fertility (which has been declining for decades) by gamifying it.

And the company’s recent funding round highlights investor interest in the market, which is projected to grow by around 55% to $7.18B by 2034.

The industry is already commanding a lot of VC attention, including companies like:

Posterity Health, a virtual-first male fertility and sexual health clinic that closed a $13m Series A earlier this year.
Legacy, an at-home sperm freezing and testing startup that raised $7.5m in funding in 2024.
Fellow Health, a startup offering mail-in semen analysis tests that closed a $24m Series B in July.

Ultimately, Sperm Racing exists at the crossroads of a noble cause, a hot market, unique tech, and a sincere appeal to big, dumb fun. Say what you will, but companies like that don’t bust on the scene every day.

$49 million contract buyout

Have you ever done your job so poorly that your employer gave you nearly $50 million to go away? No? Well, you must not be a prominent college football coach.

Penn State fired head coach James Franklin on Sunday after the team’s loss at home to unranked Northwestern. It was apparently the final straw after the Nittany Lions—who entered the season ranked No. 2 in the country and had national championship aspirations—lost three games in a row, including as a 24.5-point favorite to winless UCLA:

Penn State now must pay Franklin the remainder of his 10-year contract, reportedly worth more than $49 million.
That’s the second-biggest buyout in college football history, behind the $76 million that Jimbo Fisher was given to stop being the Texas A&M coach in 2023.

Observers expect these monstrous buyouts to continue as more money is poured into college sports and as universities value winning above all else.—AE