In the past, I have written in this space about how infrared sauna can improve your cardiovascular health, hinder the proliferation of cancer, help you recover from heart failure, avert Alzheimer’s, treat many of the effects of lifestyle diseases, counteract the aging of skin, help you avoid sports injuries, and lose weight.
If you have read those posts, you have probably begun to think that infrared sauna is worth trying. In this post, I want to suggest how to get the most out of it when you do.
1. Avoid Alcohol. Alcohol is implicated in the overwhelming majority of sauna injury cases. Don’t drink alcohol before your sauna session. You should even exercise care drinking alcohol after the session, because it’s important to rehydrate, and alcohol interferes with rehydration.
2. Have a Hot Beverage Before Your Session. A hot beverage such as ginger tea can open your blood vessels and help you start sweating faster once you’re in the sauna. Our relaxation room has a selection of complimentary teas, and you’re welcome to arrive a little early and have one before your session.
3. Disrobe. In the sauna room at Peak Recovery & Health Center, you will be using the facility alone. After our staff member gets you set up and leaves the room, lock the door. This will give you complete privacy and allow you to disrobe completely. You will be more comfortable this way and reduce the risk of liberating toxins that might be in your clothes. There is a basket of fresh towels in the room. If the staff member doesn’t spread one on the sauna’s bench for you, do so yourself. The infrared heat effectively sterilizes the surfaces in the sauna, but you will be more comfortable sitting on a towel than on the wooden surface of the bench.
4. Hydrate. Be prepared to sweat. Drink healthy amounts of water before you come to the sauna, and bring a bottle of water with you to drink from during the session. If you forget your water, you can purchase a bottle of cold water for a nominal price at the front desk. Put the bottle on the floor just outside the sauna cabinet, so you can open the cabinet door to retrieve it when you need to during the session. You don’t want to bring the bottle into the cabinet with you because if it’s plastic, it may be damaged by the infrared radiation, and you wouldn’t want to hydrate with warm water anyway.
5. Listen to Your Body. Heat tolerance is individual. The infrared sauna is extremely safe, but you should still pay attention to your reactions. Do you feel faint… dizzy… nauseated… like your heart is beating faster than it should? If you encounter any of these reactions, get out of the sauna right away. Allow yourself to cool off at room temperature. If you want to return to the sauna, limit yourself to an additional few minutes, at most.
P.S. After Your Session… Replace lost electrolytes, particularly magnesium. You can replace magnesium by eating green leafy vegetables.
For substantial health benefits as well as world-class relaxation, book an infrared sauna session at Peak Recovery & Health Center.
