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Infrared Saunas: What They Do and 6 Health Benefits

Researchers found that infrared sauna therapy “may be a promising method for treatment of chronic pain.” The determination followed a two-year study where people showed improved outcomes with the treatment.

6 Benefits of Infrared Sauna Therapy

Are you interested in detoxification, relaxation, and increased circulation? Have you been searching for a way to burn calories without adding pressure to your achy joints and muscles? If so, infrared sauna therapy could be the missing link.

Sweating is a great way to burn calories and detoxify your body. However, it can be a real struggle finding a way to sweat out those toxins if you’re injured or unable to exercise.

Whenever I feel stressed or need to detox my body, I absolutely love to sweat in my Sunlighten infrared sauna. Let me tell you about infrared therapy, how it works and how you can reap all of its benefits.

Infrared Levels

The infrared spectrum consists of near (NIR), mid (MIR), and far (FIR) waves, each with distinct characteristics and frequency ranges. These different levels represent the different sizes in infrared wavelengths and refer to the intensity of the treatment. Most people find that:

Near-infrared (NIR) is the shortest infrared wavelength and penetrates the skin’s surface most effectively. When delivered through an infrared sauna, NIR promotes skin renewal, cell health, wound healing, and tissue growth.
Middle-infrared (MIR) is a longer wavelength that can penetrate deeper into the body’s soft tissue where inflammation occurs. MIR helps expand blood vessels and increases circulation, so more oxygen can reach injured areas of the body. This reduces pain and speeds up the healing process.
Far-infrared (FIR) is the longest wavelength. It can reach deepest into the body where toxins are stored. FIR stimulates the sweat glands, resulting in a deep, detoxifying sweat.

Before, it was impossible to deliver these three peak wavelengths at one time from a single source. Not anymore! Sunlighten Solocarbon 3-in-1 is the only sauna heater on the market that can provide all three infrared wavelengths in one place, meaning you can get the immune boosting benefits of NIR, the muscle relaxing powers of MIR, and the detoxifying energy of FIR all in one place.

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6 Benefits of Infrared Sauna Therapy – Infographic – Amy Myers MD® Dr. Amy Myers September 23rd, 2017 https://content.amymyersmd.com/article/benefits-infrared-sauna-therapy/ 6 Benefits of Infrared Sauna Therapy – Infographic – Amy Myers MD®

6 Benefits of Infrared Sauna Therapy

Infrared sauna therapy comes with many benefits as I outline below. While traditional saunas rely on humidity to heat up the room around you, infrared saunas heat your body directly by emitting wavelengths of light that you immediately absorb. Localized heat sent right to the source means tolerable temperatures and a quicker, deeper sweat.

1. Detoxification

We ingest toxins every day, from the air we breathe to the food we eat. Thankfully, our body has ways to prevent those toxins from making us sick. Sweating is one of the best ways to detox your body. Everytime we sweat, we’re flushing out the toxic substances and heavy metals that we encounter in everyday life. Infrared sauna therapy promotes this process by using what experts call a heavy metal detox protocol to mobilize specific toxins nearly three inches below the surface of your skin. Rather than simply heating the air to draw out toxins, infrared saunas heat your body from the inside to expel them from deep down.

2. Relaxation

Relaxation is more important to health than most people realize. While some stress is unavoidable, chronic stress can contribute to a host of health conditions such as leaky gut, adrenal fatigue, insomnia, heart disease, and autoimmunity. While we may not be able to avoid stress entirely, relieving it naturally can help minimize its impact on your health.

3. Pain Relief

Heat is great for recovery, pain relief, and inflammation. However, infrared light can penetrate further down into the joints, muscles, and tissues, promoting circulation and blood flow. Good circulation is critical for proper healing. Red blood cells carry oxygen and nutrients to the site of strain or inflammation, which helps increase the production of healing white blood cells.

And because many painful autoimmune symptoms stem from an overload of toxins, sweating them out of your system can help relieve that form of inflammation.

4. Weight Loss

Did you know that a 30-minute infrared sauna session can burn up to 600 calories? While sweating out calories might sound too good to be true, the heat generated by an infrared sauna actually causes your heart rate to increase – the same heart rate you experience when exercising.

During a sauna detox session, your body’s temperature increases. The body has to work hard to cool itself, increasing the blood flow and heart rate as a result. Much like moderate exercise, this helps your body burn calories and supports healthy weight loss. This can be an effective lifestyle choice for those who cannot participate in traditional exercise programs.

5. Improved Circulation

As the heat from infrared saunas increases your core body temperature, your blood vessels constrict and allows for healthy blood flow. Consistent infrared sauna sessions, especially in the middle-infrared level, can cause your blood vessels to dilate. The volume of their inner lining reduces, which in turn increases the circulation needed to maintain healthy blood pressure.

This reaction is similar to the way your body responds to low or moderate exercise. By raising your heart rate and increasing your circulation, infrared saunas replicate a cardiovascular workout. Since your heart is a muscle, each workout makes it stronger, and helps it deliver more oxygen to your body’s cells.

6. Skin Purification

The short wavelengths of near infrared light (NIR) can reach deeper levels of your skin and remove toxins such as dead skin cells, oils, dirt, and bacteria. Additionally, an increase in circulation and delivery of oxygen to injured or damaged areas helps with cell turnover, therefore reducing the appearance of scars.

Heating your body to it’s core triggers it to release the toxins clogging your pores; with each sweat, you’re detoxifying your body and promoting clear, soft, and healthy-looking skin.

How Sunlighten Saunas Maximize Health Benefits

If all these benefits aren’t amazing enough, Sunlighten takes it to the next level by using ultra-low EMF technology to bring their EMF levels to lower than 95% of common household devices – less than 1 mG to be exact! This level of exposure decreases your risk of developing EMF symptoms such as insomnia, brain fog, loss of appetite, headaches, and nausea.

They’re also built with solocarbon heating panels, the most effective far infrared sauna heaters on the market today. Solocarbon panels are proven to be 95% emissive, meaning that 95% of the energy being produced is in the therapeutic range to increase core body temperature for a deep, detoxifying sweat. This is the active ingredient that has been clinically shown to lower blood pressure, aid in weight loss, and support detoxification.

When you’re seeking health and wellness tools, the last thing you want to worry about is EMFs or toxic products making them unhealthy. With Sunlighten saunas, you don’t have to worry.

How to Use an Infrared Sauna

Hydrate: Your body needs water to survive. If you aren’t hydrated before stepping into a sauna, you could become dehydrated quicker. So, each day you plan on detoxing in your sauna, make sure your water intake increases by drinking plenty of water before, during, and after your sauna detox session.
Choose the right temperature: Sunlighten recommends you begin your detox session when your sauna reaches 100°F. The optimal sauna experience occurs between 100° and 130°F with beginners starting out at the lower end and more experienced users at the higher end. There are also three different treatment intensities to consider, which I’ll discuss in a minute.
Set Time limits: The amount of time spent in a sauna session may vary depending on your tolerance and daily activity level. I recommend starting with 10-15 minute sessions every other day, then working up to 40-minute daily sessions in the optimal temperature range. As with anything else, it’s important to listen to your body; excess sweating, nausea, fatigue, or flu-like symptoms means it’s time to step out and cool down.
Rinse off. After each sauna session, it’s important to let your body cool down naturally rather than hopping in a cold shower. Dry off with a towel and keep hydrating until you feel your body return to it’s normal temperature.

Risks of Infrared Sauna Therapy

There are many amazing health benefits that come with using an infrared sauna. In general, infrared saunas are safe for most people. If you have a medical condition on medications, or implanted devices, you should talk to your functional medicine physician.

A review of Infrared sauna therapy found some side effects such as heat discomfort, dehydration, low blood pressure, lightheadedness, and nausea. However, in most cases the side effects were mild.

My Recommendations

I personally have an infrared sauna in my home from Sunlighten Saunas that I use daily, but that may not be a practical option for everyone. If purchasing your own sauna is not an option, you can also receive treatments from natural spas that house their own infrared saunas.

I recommend starting with 10-15 minute sessions at 100-130 degrees fahrenheit if you’re new to infrared saunas and slowly working your way up to 40 minute sessions.

If an infrared sauna is not available, but you have access to a regular sauna, you can still achieve some degree of detoxification with 10-20 minute sessions at 190-200 degrees fahrenheit.

There has never been a more relaxing way to achieve your optimal health. With the help of infrared sauna therapy, all these health benefits and more are just a sweat away.

Amy Myers, MD

Amy Myers, MD is a two-time New York Times bestselling author and an internationally acclaimed functional medicine physician. Dr. Myers specializes in empowering those with autoimmune, thyroid, and digestive issues to reverse their conditions and take back their health. In addition, she is a wife, mother, and the successful founder and CEO of Amy Myers MD ® .

Infrared Saunas: What They Do and 6 Health Benefits

Facts are facts, so let’s get one thing straight: Infrared saunas are definitely “cooler” than more traditional saunas that date back to ancient times.

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Instead of steam or flame-stoked heat, infrared saunas use infrared lamps and electromagnetic magic to create warmth. The process allows infrared saunas to operate at a lower temperature while still providing therapeutic benefits.

Consider it a modern twist on how our ancestors sweated their way to better health and wellness. To learn more about this plug-it-in approach, we turn to functional medicine specialist Melissa Young, MD.

What are infrared saunas?

Light panels do more than give infrared saunas a unique glow. They also heat things up in a completely different way than old-school saunas, which is really what sets this method apart, says Dr. Young.

The lamps in infrared saunas focus a penetrating warmth directly on your skin to bring heat-therapy benefits. Traditional methods crank up the air temperature within an entire sauna.

Those two approaches bring up vastly different readings on thermometers. Temperatures in infrared saunas typically land between 110 degrees Fahrenheit and 135 F (43.33 degrees Celsius and 57.22 C). A traditional sauna usually falls between 150 F and 195 F (65.55 C and 90.55 C).

“Infrared saunas can definitely be much more comfortable for people while delivering the same sort of benefits,” says Dr. Young.

Infrared sauna health benefits

So, why should you lounge under infrared lights in temperatures that still approach the highest ever recorded on Earth? (If you’re curious, the much-disputed world record is just above 130 F [54.44 C].)

Here are a few reasons to get sweaty under the lights.

Improved heart health

Within minutes of sitting in an infrared sauna, your body’s natural response begins. Beads of sweat appear on your skin. Your blood vessels widen and increase blood flow. Your heart rate ticks up.

“What’s happening mimics exercise when you think of the physiology,” explains Dr. Young. “There’s a benefit to that.”

Studies show that infrared saunas can help boost heart health and reduce blood pressure. Researchers equated the physical response of an infrared sauna session to walking at a moderate pace.

Soothing sore muscles

The improved blood circulation brought on by an infrared sauna session can help speed up muscle recovery following physical activity, says Dr. Young. Regular use may even help athletes improve performance.

Pain relief

Researchers found that infrared sauna therapy “may be a promising method for treatment of chronic pain.” The determination followed a two-year study where people showed improved outcomes with the treatment.

Relaxation

Warming your body seems to warm your soul, too. Setting aside some sauna time may help decrease depression, anxiety and stress. Basically, think of it as a meditation session in warmer temperatures.

Catching ZZZs

A bonus benefit to being more relaxed? Better sleep, which has also been linked to sauna use.

Fighting off illness

There’s evidence that regular sauna use can help you avoid the common cold, says Dr. Young. Saunas also reduce oxidative stress, which is associated with cardiovascular disease, cancer and degenerative diseases like dementia.

More controversial are claims that sauna use can provide a detoxification effect as you sweat out toxins such as cadmium and lead. “That research is still in its infancy,” cautions Dr. Young.

Tips for using infrared saunas

So, you want to give an infrared hot box a try? Dr. Young offers these recommendations:

Start low and slow. Dial down the temperature and keep your sessions short when you begin using an infrared sauna. “Start at something like 110 degrees for five to 10 minutes,” says Dr. Young. “See how you feel, then build from there.”
Max time. Even if you’re an experienced sauna user, keep sessions below 30 minutes to avoid putting too much stress on your body. It’s best to limit visits to three to four times a week, too.
Stay hydrated. The sweat that pours out during a sauna session can leave your body’s fluid levels low. “Bring water in with you,” advises Dr. Young. Sports drinks with electrolytes may also be a good option. (Side note: Avoid mixing alcohol with sauna use.)
Rinse off afterward. A shower after your sauna will wash off any toxins you sweated out before they can be reabsorbed through your skin.

Risks of infrared saunas

Sauna use is viewed as a safe activity, which explains why they’ve been around for thousands of years. But be aware of the potential for dehydration, says Dr. Young. If you suddenly feel dizzy or nauseated, get out of the sauna immediately.

You also may want to avoid using infrared saunas in certain situations, including if:

You have multiple sclerosis. “People who have MS tend to be heat intolerant and generally should not use saunas,” warns Dr. Young.
You’re pregnant. Sauna use, especially early in pregnancy, can be harmful to your fetus and may cause birth defects, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
You’re trying to conceive. Heat is not good for sperm health.
You’re sick. Wait until you feel better for your sweat session.

If you have any pre-existing medical conditions, check with your healthcare provider before starting an infrared sauna routine, advises Dr. Young.

Is an infrared sauna worth trying?

Absolutely, says Dr. Young. “We see so many people who come in asking how they can move towards optimal health,” she says. “With saunas in general, and especially infrared saunas, people feel better after using them. It can be an integral part of your health practices.”

Cleveland Clinic is a non-profit academic medical center. Advertising on our site helps support our mission. We do not endorse non-Cleveland Clinic products or services. Policy

Infrared Saunas: What They Do and 6 Health Benefits

6 Benefits of Infrared Sauna Therapy

Infrared Levels