The Health Benefits of Infrared Sauna

Somewhere on many of our list of healthy things to-do is “buy an infrared sauna” for our home. Why? Because there are some pretty amazing health benefits to using an infrared sauna regularly. Overall utilizing an infrared sauna just once a week can actually have some pretty profound health effects for a number of different reasons. 

Infrared Wavelengths

An infrared sauna has three different types of infrared wavelengths – near, middle, and far, all of which work together to help your body heal itself. This is something many chiropractors know and use often, but it’s also used in traditional medicine as well. The science behind infrared wavelengths is profound, and if you can utilize this technology at all, it will be well worth the time and effort. 

Specific Health Benefits of Infrared Sauna

Heart Health – In a study done by The Department of Family Practice at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver it was found that infrared sauna therapy can help regulate blood pressure, keeping it within healthy ranges. It was also shown to lower cholesterol, reduce chronic pain and assist those who suffer from chronic congestive heart disease (CHD).

Reducing inflammation – middle infrared wavelengths penetrate the body’s soft tissue, improving the flow of oxygen by expanding blood vessels. Soft tissue is where inflammation occurs, so using an infrared sauna can reduce pain and speed up your body’s healing process.

Detoxification – In general, sweat is a great way to detoxify your body. Infrared saunas obviously help you sweat, but they also remove heavy metals at higher rates than if you just went outside for a jog. Here’s a more scientific explanation:

“It is commonly thought that sweat from traditional saunas is 95 to 97% water with salt making up a part of the rest. Renowned detoxification expert, Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt, combine the use of far infrared saunas with the chelating agent DMPS in a heavy metal detox protocol. He states that infrared mobilizes Hg in deeper tissues (3″ down) making infrared saunas an effective solution for removing Hg from the skin. Far infrared saunas are believed to be more effective in moving toxins through the skin than traditional saunas because in a far infrared sauna only 80 to 85% of the sweat is water with the non-water portion being cholesterol, fat-soluble toxins, toxic heavy metals, sulfuric acid, sodium, ammonia and uric acid.1” (Sunlighten)

Metabolic Support – being in an infrared sauna raises body temperature, which forces your body to work hard cooling itself down. This elevates your metabolic rate (just like doing cardio) which helps you to burn calories more effectively. A 30-minute session in an infrared sauna can burn anywhere from 300-800 calories and will kick your metabolism into high gear. 

Improved Immunity – being in an infrared sauna is kind of like inducing a fever in your body – minus the bad stuff. A fever will bring out your body’s immune response, putting it to work, even though there is no infection. This is strengthening your immune system and prepping it for battle when colds, the flu, and infection come knocking. 

Pain – If you’ve got any sort of joint or tissue pain, infrared saunas penetrate into your body’s tissue to reduce inflammation which can cause pain. Additionally, it loosens your muscles, which improves flexibility and reduces the risk of injury. 

Whew…that was a lot. As you can see, there are TONS of health benefits to using an infrared sauna. These are just a few. I could have probably listed 5-10 more! Now you can see why it’s a goal of ours to have one in our home one day. Until then, it’s occasional trips to the infrared sauna to help our bodies heal, detoxify, and restore themselves naturally.

Last month I purchased a Sunlighten Solo System Infrared Sauna. And I love it. I finally checked this off of our list, we have been wanting one for years. And I got one because I figured out that infrared helps me sleep. And sleep has been a hard thing to come by this year. It kicked us into purchasing one sooner because I need good sleep. 

Here’s a funny thing about me. I don’t love sweating and I don’t love being really hot (funny, huh? I’m talking about a hot infrared sauna). I have been working up in how hot the sauna is, but I know even at a mild heat, it still helps detox and support my body. 

One of the reasons we chose the Solo sauna was because it took up less space, is portable (kind of, although it is still quite big), and your head stuck out of the sauna. I love that I can still breathe the cooler air, while the rest of my body is heating up and getting the infrared benefits.