ARE INFRARED SAUNAS ACTUALLY GOOD FOR YOU?
Nothing beats a quick 30-minute sauna session. However, advancement in technology has caught up with this traditional therapeutic activity and infrared saunas are the talk of the town.
Everyone wants to know if infrared saunas are healthy for you or not?
A sauna session — whether traditional or infrared — undoubtedly rests and relaxes your body. The heat helps to relieve sore muscles and improve your blood circulation, while the calm environment can help your overall well-being and health.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN INFRARED AND TRADITIONAL SAUNAS
An Infrared sauna operates at a lower temperature than a traditional sauna, ranging from 120⁰F to 140⁰F, whereas the conventional sauna temperature varies from 150⁰F to 190⁰F.
Traditional sauna’s high temperatures can be uncomfortable for some. That’s because a traditional sauna heats the air directly, slowly heating internal body temperature. An infrared sauna, on the other hand, does not heat the air surrounding you. Instead, it uses infrared lamps emitting electromagnetic radiations to warm your body. This allows the heat to easily penetrate your body tissues by heating your body.
That means your body will experience intense sweating at lower temperatures...
The infrared sauna environment is more tolerable for most, and because of such, beneficial. The lower heat temperatures allow you to experience longer sauna sessions and its benefits, without having to bear the extreme heat.
HEALTH BENEFITS ASSOCIATED WITH INFRARED SAUNAS
Several studies have been conducted on the health benefits of traditional saunas. However, there has also been some interesting research into the benefits of infrared saunas, too, which we cover below.
LOWERS BLOOD PRESSURE
Unsurprisingly, several studies have found that infrared saunas can help reduce blood pressure in individuals with hypertension. This is because the heat relaxes your heart and veins, letting blood flow more easily through, lowering your blood pressure.
Reports have shown dramatic reductions in blood pressure from regular sessions of 15-30 minutes in far infrared saunas.
REDUCES FATIGUE & FEELINGS OF DEPRESSION
Are you tired of feeling tired? Infrared sauna sessions may help. One study of those with mild depression and fatigue found those who participated in 15 minutes of infrared sauna time (20 sessions over 4 weeks) produced “statistically significant improvements” in complaints of hunger, ability to relax, and feelings of depression.
And another small study of those living with chronic fatigue has shown infrared sauna therapy effectively reduced negative symptoms, including perception of fatigue and improvement of mood (including anxiety and depression). Two women with severe chronic fatigue who participated in 15-minute far infrared sauna sessions 11 months (5x a week for 2.5 months, then just 2-3x times a week), reported “dramatic improvements” in fatigue, pain, and sleep disturbances.
RELIEVES MUSCLE SORENESS & ARTHRITIS
People with injuries find themselves healing better with regular infrared sauna use, and a ten-person study supports it. This study found that infrared saunas could help ease muscle soreness and increase recovery progress after strength training sessions.
Not only that, far Infrared saunas may temporarily relieve joint pain and improve range of motion in people with arthritis, and may also help people maintain bone health.
Sitting in warmth and quiet can always relieve mental pain, but it’s good to know it can ease physical pain as well.
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WEIGHT LOSS & SKIN DETOX BENEFITS
Far-infrared saunas have also been studied for obesity and weight loss. In one study, participants did either cardio exercise for 15 minutes with 30 minutes of far-infrared sauna or the same exercise with NO sauna.
Subjects who USED the sauna lost NEARLY 2X as much weight and 5X as much body fat as those who did not use the far-infrared sauna.
As you can imagine, using an infrared sauna puts your body through a small amount of heat stress. As your body works hard to re-acclimate to the new temperature, that work burns calories.
When it comes to detoxing, sweating is usually believed to help, but claims for whether or not they help you detox heavy metals are much debated. An infrared sauna might help your body to remove environmental toxins through sweat. One study has shown that 15-20% of infrared sauna-induced sweat is composed of cholesterol, fat-soluble toxins, heavy metals, sulfuric acid, and ammonia.
CONCLUSION
As you can see, the regular use of infrared sauna is associated with a number of health benefits. And thus far, according to the MayoClinic no negative side effects have been found.
If you’re looking for a safe and natural way to improve your overall health, consider adding a personal infrared sauna into your daily routine and home. If you have any questions about finding the infrared sauna for you, the different models available, and more, please reach out to us or use the chat option on this page and we’ll be happy to help.
Let customers speak for us
I haven't even built this sauna yet (Rainelle), but I have to give an ENORMOUS shoutout to Adora and especially KELLY for their help on this one. This was a big purchase for us, and these ladies went way out of their way to make it work out for us. The first sauna that showed up was badly damaged in shipping, and from what it sounds like - that is not typical. At all. So Kelly helped us to get it squared away, and it took what could have been a horrible customer experience into a fantastic one. Give this woman a raise!
We really like our sauna! Quality of the sauna seems decent. The quality of the accessories was not! The back recliner was all busted up out of the box.
My wife and I would occasionally sit in the sauna at our gym after a workout. It was hot but a little gross. I can't tell you how many times we bailed on the gym sauna session because someone else was playing their phone too loud, someone was breathing like they were gasping for air, someone decided to be shirtless in public, someone is weird or any number of other reasons. Loved the sauna feeling but HATED the gym sauna.
We bought a sauna for our home and installed it in our basement to escape the gym sauna experience. We absolutely love it! We sauna daily. Without the angst and frustration of hoping to avoid an awkward gross experience at the gym sauna.
If you are considering a sauna purchase, spend a little extra and get the WIFI enabled heater. This is the best way to make sure you get the benefit of owning a sauna. The app on our phone is easy to use. Just click the on/off button on the app and set your temperature to your desire. I like 171. My wife likes 153. Once it hits the temperature, the app will let you know. You can even turn on your sauna while you are on the way home from the gym. The WIFI version and the app make all the difference in usability and enjoyment of your investment. If we did not have the app and the WIFI version, we probably would probably skip 2/3 of the sessions we currently take.
The sauna is well made. Wood quality is excellent. Very few knots and blemishes. Hillsboro Almost Heaven saunas are a great choice for quality components, solid electronics, easy to use controls and an enjoyable sauna experience.
This is a standard kit sauna. I made several modifications but I am very satisfied with it so far. I have a few shingles left to install tomorrow and then will move onto to interior. MSW has been easy to work with and I recommend them.
I really love this sauna. I use it about four times a week to help me wind down before bed and calm my ego. Customer service at MySaunaWorld was great.
Assembly took me roughly 8–10 hours total over two days, and I’m not a particularly handy person. The step by step instructions video was straightforward and easy to follow.
I paired the sauna with the HUUM Drop 9 heater (the largest HUUM Drop), and it performs very well. I hired an electrician to install it (about $900 extra). It easily heats the sauna to 190°F plus. I personally like it around 180°F, which it reaches in about an hour. Also, you can pour water over the hot rocks to make the air hotter and steamier. Make sure to mount it low so that it can heat everything above it. (I mounted mine 6” from the ground to the base of the heater.) I love that I can start heating the sauna from my iPhone, even when I’m not on my home Wi-Fi.
I got the double-bench configuration going across the back of the sauna which lets two people lay down. The area around the lower bench is cooler which is nice to have different temperature seating options.
The sauna looks fantastic, smells great, and feels solid. I would recommend this sauna to a friend.
We love our new Almost Heaven Pinnacle barrel sauna!
Delivery was perfect, the assembly was a breeze, and the sauna fits perfectly in our space.
The only regret we have is not to have made this purchase 10 years ago!
I had been thinking about installing a sauna for quite some time. I kept going back and forth between framing one in or a prefab that I assemble. I spent several weeks going over the various websites looking at designs for both and writing out the pros/cons for each. After much deliberation, I reached out to My Sauna World to purchase an Almost Heaven Greyson.
It came way sooner than expected which was a good thing, so I had to arrange for my electrician. I assembled it very easily, with my wife holding just one panel, and then I ran into a problem. The last wall was short. It took a lot of head scratching and measuring and remeasuring as well as back and forth communication with both My Sauna World and Almost Heaven. It turned out that I had been sent 2 glass panels that were the same dimension when the 2 glass panels are actually designed with different dimensions. The new panel was sent out without question, and the rest of the assembly went easy.
I will say that the folks at My Sauna World were extremely responsive and did a great job as liaison back to the manufacturer.
Overall, I had a really positive experience, and we are very happy with the Greyson with the Harvia Spirit 8kW stove.
We also have the duckboard flooring (that is a must) sitting on top of the concrete floor. The back and leg rest are also recommended.
Note: this is advertised as a 3-4 person but in reality it is a good 2 person. And lastly, I grew up with sauna my whole life, starting with my grandpa’s wood burning sauna. This non insulated Greyson type will not get up to the same temperatures, but it does get the job done. Very pleased with the product and do recommend (to frame one in my self and buy a pre-cut kit would have cost a few thousand more overall)
Their customer service is refreshing in a world where most companies fail miserably with service. They should teach customer service to other companies and government agencies. We have only tested the actual product to make sure it works, but along the way, we had multiple questions and the replies were quick and helpful. The sauna was easy to assemble.
Frankly, I was stunned at the quality of this product. Equally stunning is how easily everything fits together. It’s well and I’m looking to an improved lifestyle.
Back rests are a nice size and fit perfectly in my Lugano 3-person sauna. They are very comfortable (especially considering they are wood) and make sitting in the sauna an even more pleasant experience. To think that they were added in free to my purchase of the sauna is hard to believe. Very pleased with customer service from My Sauna World.com !
Well built, good quality, reliable, and matches my barrel sauna very well
I purchased this since it was significantly more affordable than from the brands website. It arrived quickly and is function perfect. It's easy to install and looks great. I had issues with water leaking into the sauna before that used to annoy me. Now it stays completely dry and the wood also is protected from damage and weathering.
The best Sauna ever, and the quickest delivery, 100% recommend !!!!
Works exactly as advertised. Easy install and perfect coverage. Highly recommend.
Very good customer service. My sauna came as expected.