Recovery, by the numbers

Dial in your cold.
Dose your heat.

Cold plunges, saunas, and red light panels all work, at the right dose. Too little does nothing; too much sets you back. RecoveryCalc turns the published research into numbers you can actually follow.


Gear guides

Buy the right machine, not the loudest ad.

Recovery hardware runs $100 to $8,000 and the marketing is relentless. Our guides rank on published specs, measured irradiance, real temperature ceilings, chiller capacity, and every pick links to the spot in our calculators where the spec actually matters.

Best Cold Plunges 2026

From $100 tubs to always-cold chillers

Best Home Saunas 2026

Infrared cabins, barrels & blankets

Best Red Light Panels 2026

Ranked by measured power, not promises

Best Massage Guns 2026

Amplitude and stall force, not marketing

Best Foam Rollers 2026

Smooth, textured & vibrating, ranked

Best Recovery & Sleep Wearables 2026

Oura, WHOOP & RingConn compared

Plus setup walkthroughs like the home sauna setup guide and tiered recovery room builds, reference charts every recovery modality compared, the red light dosing chart, and head-to-heads like sauna vs. cold plunge. Browse all guides →

Why trust the numbers

Built from the studies, not the hype.

Every threshold in our calculators traces to published research: the Søberg 2021 cold exposure study, the Laukkanen Finnish sauna cohorts, and the standard photobiomodulation dose-response literature. Where the evidence is thin, we say so on the page.

Read the full methodology →

Reference points we use
11 minweekly cold-exposure threshold (Søberg 2021)
4–7×sauna sessions/week with the largest benefit (Laukkanen 2015)
3–60 J/cm²photobiomodulation dose window, by goal

Recovery brand? Our readers arrive mid-decision already computing doses and comparing specs. That's the moment your product should show up.

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