Skip this first paragraph if you’re not interested in the technical side of the health benefits of infrared sauna… Infrared light is not visible to the human eye, but it can act on your body in other ways. The smaller wavelengths of it (near infrared) penetrate the body most deeply, although you can’t feel them. Read more…
9 Health Benefits of Infrared Sauna
Infrared Sauna for Inflammation
Infrared sauna for inflammation seems counter-intuitive, doesn’t it? We associate inflammation with the generation of heat, and it seems to defy common sense that subjecting inflammation to more heat would limit or reduce it. Our usual response to inflammation is to apply cold, which reduces the swelling that usually accompanies it. But that’s acute inflammation. Read more…
Infrared Sauna for High Blood Pressure
There is a wealth of clinical research showing that infrared sauna can provide help for high blood pressure (hypertension). This is fortunate because hypertension is a high-stakes game. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), it kills nearly 1,000 people per day in the U.S. alone. Seven out of 10 adults in this country Read more…
Infrared Sauna for Weight Control
If you spend very much time on the web reading about infrared sauna and weight loss, you will very soon run across a claim that the heat of the sauna “melts” fat cells. Melt fat cells? The image is kind of poetic. But the words are marketing copy. Fat cells don’t melt. They can die, Read more…
Infrared Sauna for Acne
Those who study the global burden of diseases put acne among the top ten worldwide. Wikipedia offers a succinct description of its prevalence: “Acne commonly occurs in adolescence and affects an estimated 80–90% of teenagers in the Western world. Lower rates are reported in some rural societies. Children and adults may also be affected before Read more…
Infrared Sauna for Cancer
There is a lot of flaky stuff on the web about infrared sauna, like the often-quoted study that found infrared saunas make you sweat five times as much toxins as regular saunas. Although I have found at least a dozen references to this study (mostly on websites promoting infrared saunas), I have been unable to Read more…
Infrared Sauna for Your Heart
There is evidence that sauna can improve your heart health. A 2015 study of 2,315 middle-aged Finnish men found that increased sauna use reduced the risk of sudden cardiac death, coronary heart disease, fatal cardiovascular disease, and all-cause mortality. The study had an impressive followup of more than 20 years, so you can take those Read more…
Infrared Sauna for Back Pain
Back pain comes in many varieties, but the most pervasive one is probably low back pain. The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke publishes a Low Back Pain Fact Sheet that makes for rather bleak reading: “About 80 percent of adults experience low back pain at some point in their lifetimes. It is the Read more…
Infrared Sauna for Arthritis
Arthritis is a condition of joints. There are at least 100 kinds of arthritis, but the most common forms are osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Osteoarthritis is a breakdown of cartilage in the joints. Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune response, in which your immune system attacks the linings of your joints. Osteoarthritis is wear and tear, Read more…
Infrared Sauna for the Common Cold
Colin Cook Everyone is familiar with the common cold, but when you’re in the throes of one, you could be forgiven for thinking there’s nothing common about it. Symptoms might include a runny or stuffy nose, cough, sore throat, body ache, headache, congestion, sneezing, slight fever, and just feeling like crap. And one of the Read more…