Under normal circumstances, people will start sweating after 15-20 minutes in a sauna. If this doesn’t happen, either the sauna is not hot enough or your body isn’t producing sweat.
Not sweating in a properly functioning sauna may mean that you are dehydrated, or it could be an indication that your sweat glands are not functioning properly.
It’s actually perfectly normal not to sweat in a sauna, but that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily good (or bad).
Levels of perspiration depend very much on the individual. Men sweat more and faster than women, for example. And sweating is also a matter of – believe it or not – learned response.
There’s nothing specific to the heat stress of a sauna that would make you sweat less than say running or working out; although over time, as your body becomes used to the heat response of sitting in a sauna, you may find the opposite is true.
It’s really good to sweat in a sauna. One of the main attractions of taking a sauna in the first place is the belief that it is beneficial to your health.