From Floating Saunas to Clinical Trials: How Heat Might Help Mental Health

Study the questions and tasks

Work through the material below, or start the interactive practice above to complete an attempt. Try the exercises before opening any answer or transcript sections, then use them to review your work.

Practice level

C1. Try this level if you can follow the instructions and understand most of the language; choose an earlier level if you need more support.

Question formats

Single choice

How to approach this practice

Read the passage for its main idea, then return to the relevant sentence or paragraph for each question. Base answers on the passage.

1. Question 1 · Single choice

   Choose one answer.

   What is the article’s central purpose?

   Return to the passage, recording or visual
   1. To prove sauna use already treats mental-health conditions
   2. To introduce a trial and assess its scientific significance cautiously
   3. To compare Norwegian and American sauna customs historically
   4. To promote Oslo as an international wellness destination
   Check answers and explanations

   Answer

   To introduce a trial and assess its scientific significance cautiously

   It presents emerging research while emphasizing the evidence’s current limitations.

   Hilland's study therefore occupies an early stage in a developing field: it may help clarify whether a popular communal ritual has benefits that can withstand systematic scientific testing.

2. Question 2 · Single choice

   Choose one answer.

   What can reasonably be inferred about Hilland’s position?

   Return to the passage, recording or visual
   1. She rejects all existing evidence as unusable
   2. She considers existing evidence conclusive enough for recommendations
   3. She sees promise but recognizes that stronger evidence is necessary
   4. She believes social benefits invalidate controlled research
   Check answers and explanations

   Answer

   She sees promise but recognizes that stronger evidence is necessary

   Her decision to conduct a trial indicates interest tempered by methodological caution.

   She found substantial gaps in knowledge, although the studies available appeared sufficiently encouraging to warrant further investigation.

3. Question 3 · Single choice

   Choose one answer.

   How does the third paragraph relate to the second?

   Return to the passage, recording or visual
   1. It supplies historical background missing from the previous paragraph
   2. It presents a research response to the uncertainty previously identified
   3. It contradicts the previous paragraph’s account of available evidence
   4. It shifts from mental health to cardiovascular medicine
   Check answers and explanations

   Answer

   It presents a research response to the uncertainty previously identified

   It describes the practical investigation that follows the evidence review.

   Hilland is now using Oslo's expanding sauna scene as the setting for a randomized controlled trial.

4. Question 4 · Single choice

   Choose one answer.

   In “The location reflects,” what does “The location” refer to?

   Return to the passage, recording or visual
   1. The local municipality providing funding
   2. Oslo Metropolitan University
   3. The floating sauna setting selected for participants
   4. The International Sauna Congress
   Check answers and explanations

   Answer

   The floating sauna setting selected for participants

   The phrase points to the floating sauna villages in Oslo’s inner harbor.

   Participants will attend two sessions each week in one of the floating sauna villages that have emerged in Oslo's inner harbor.

5. Question 5 · Single choice

   Choose one answer.

   Why does the article mention the International Sauna Congress?

   Return to the passage, recording or visual
   1. To establish the trial’s official funding source
   2. To show that interest extends beyond Hilland’s experiment
   3. To identify the study’s principal medical advisers
   4. To explain why cardiovascular research declined
   Check answers and explanations

   Answer

   To show that interest extends beyond Hilland’s experiment

   It demonstrates the breadth of contemporary interest surrounding sauna culture.

   The International Sauna Congress, held in Oslo on September 25, 2026, illustrated the breadth of interest surrounding the practice.

6. Question 6 · Single choice

   Choose one answer.

   What contrast structures the article’s conclusion?

   Return to the passage, recording or visual
   1. Individual treatment versus public entertainment
   2. Waterfront development versus urban isolation
   3. Historical practice versus scientifically defensible evidence
   4. Physical exercise versus winter recreation
   Check answers and explanations

   Answer

   Historical practice versus scientifically defensible evidence

   The conclusion contrasts cultural tradition with the demands of systematic scientific testing.

   Heat has historically been linked to relief from psychological suffering in many societies, but tradition alone cannot establish a medical effect.

7. Question 7 · Single choice

   Choose one answer.

   Which detail most directly supports the article’s claim that the field is developing?

   Return to the passage, recording or visual
   1. Several saunas operate beside Oslo’s museums
   2. Participants will attend two sessions weekly
   3. Heat-based bathing is established in Norway
   4. Mental-health research has lagged behind cardiovascular research
   Check answers and explanations

   Answer

   Mental-health research has lagged behind cardiovascular research

   The article notes limited mental-health research compared with cardiovascular research.

   Mental health has also received far less research attention than the cardiovascular consequences of sauna use.

What to review next

Find the words that support each answer. For a mistake, compare the question with the evidence and identify the detail or inference you missed.

A focused practice result shows how you did on these tasks. Use several activities across skills to decide what to study next; one practice score does not certify an overall CEFR level.

Before you practise: a worked example

Look for evidence in the text. Separate what the writer says from what you already know about the topic.

The library normally closes at six, but on Fridays it stays open until eight. When does it close on Friday?

The answer is eight. But introduces an exception to the normal closing time, so the first time mentioned is not the answer.

This teaching example is separate from the scored questions. After your test, compare any mistakes with the explanation and revisit the topic before trying again.