Infrared Sauna for Muscle Tension

Oct 14, 2022

Colin Cook

For whatever reason your muscle fibers might be tensing up, sauna is one of the most efficient and comfortable ways to relax them. The heat of a sauna softens muscles. Sauna users have known that for centuries. These days, however, we also understand that it dilates blood vessels, which speeds both healing and recovery. While almost any steady heat source can relax your muscles, I specifically recommend infrared sauna for muscle tension. Before I give you my reasons, let’s look at why heat is such a good idea when you’re tense.

Sauna for Tension

Within a few minutes of entering the sauna cabinet, you begin to relax. Your muscles begin to soften and stretch, increasing your flexibility. Furthermore, you begin to sweat profusely. Sweat is more than just water, and many of the trace elements it contains include toxins. Their elimination promotes healing.

There is a great deal of research literature on sauna for athletic recovery, which is very similar to sauna for muscle tension. A December 2019 article in The International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, for example, found that competitive swimmers actually performed better after using sauna for recovery. A 2015 study even found that using sauna before exercise increased range of motion.

Why do I recommend infrared sauna as opposed to conventional sauna? There are several reasons.

Infrared Sauna Improves on Conventional Sauna

Infrared sauna heats the user, not the air. A conventional sauna works like an oven: it heats the air inside, you get in it, and you wait for the air to raise your skin temperature. In contrast, the infrared sauna uses infrared technology to heat the person rather than the air. It’s more comfortable and easier to breathe in an infrared sauna.

Infrared sauna is ready immediately. From a cold start, a conventional sauna usually takes 30-40 minutes to achieve a temperature of 150-160 degrees. Because it doesn’t have to expend heat on the air, an infrared sauna is ready as soon as it’s turned on.

Infrared sauna is generally private. One of the hallmarks of the conventional sauna is that it is large enough to accommodate several people, or even whole families. Thus, conventional sauna in many cultures is a highly social occasion. An infrared sauna, on the other hand, is usually smaller than a conventional sauna, and the emphasis is on the benefits of the heat to the user. You can easily fit a friend into our sauna cabinet with you, but people most often use it alone and enjoy the privacy.

Infrared sauna promotes faster, more vigorous sweating. Sweating doesn’t particularly promote relaxation, but it is a sign that your body is working effectively to regulate your temperature. So it’s good to do it fairly often. According to a review of the literature published in Canadian Family Physician in 2009, “As infrared heat penetrates more deeply than warmed air, users develop a more vigorous sweat at a lower temperature than they would in traditional saunas.”