What Are the Benefits of an Infrared Sauna?
Unlike a traditional sauna that heats the air around you, an infrared sauna uses infrared lamps to warm the body directly. Although both work on the principle of heating the body for therapeutic benefits, infrared saunas are believed to be slightly better because they use lower temperatures (120 to 140 degrees F) than traditional saunas, which are usually higher (150 to 180 degrees F).
This means that you can stay in the infrared sauna for a longer period without the risk of burns or tissue injury due to heat. However, if you have uncontrolled high blood pressure or heart disease, you should consult your doctor before using a sauna.
Here are 10 proposed health benefits of infrared saunas, some of which still need to be backed by thorough scientific research.
10 possible health benefits of infrared saunas
- Heart disease management: Regular sauna use has been found to have positive effects in the maintenance of blood pressure in people with hypertension. It may also help lower cholesterol and the risk of arrhythmia and heart attack in people with chronic heart disease.
- Improved heart circulation: Saunas provide an environment for the heart where the muscles are stimulated as with aerobic exercise. Thus, saunas can help improve the overall functioning of the heart muscles.
- Weight loss: Because of the increased temperature of a sauna, it causes the blood vessels to dilate, heart rate to rise, and sweat glands to activate. This is like a passive cardio session, which can burn up to 800 calories in a session of 30 minutes. Regular, long-term sauna use may help with weight loss.
- Skin treatment: Because you are sweating in a sauna, this can help remove dead cells and debris from your skin. Improved blood circulation can also help your skin’s texture, tone, elasticity, and color. Saunas may also help improve skin conditions such as acne and psoriasis.
- Detoxification: Although research is still underway to investigate the effects of saunas on detoxing the body, it’s believed that high temperatures dilate your blood vessels and increase blood flow to other organs, helping your body flush out toxins.
- Joint and muscle pain management: Saunas may help reduce arthritis pain, joint pain, and muscle pain because increased blood flow to various tissues in the body helps reduce inflammation, stiffness, and soreness.
- Immune system health: The artificial heat of the sauna increases the core temperature of the body similar to a fever, which stimulates the immune system and helps strengthen the body’s ability to fight diseases.
- Diabetes management: While saunas have no direct role in diabetes management, regular sauna use has been associated with improvement in diabetes symptoms due to decreased free radical damage, improved circulation, and better cleaning of internal organs.
- Stress reduction: After a sauna session, most people feel extremely relaxed, probably due to the stimulation of the parasympathetic nervous system of the body in higher temperatures.
- Sleep management: Because of stimulation of the parasympathetic system, which relaxes the body and mind, saunas can also help the body unwind and promote better sleep.