Infrared Sauna Tips and Tricks

Infrared saunas are one of the most popular methods for improving overall health and well-being, and there are some basic tips and tricks that you can utilise to make them even more effective!

There are many different types of saunas, from steam rooms to Finnish dry saunas, traditional saunas to infrared saunas.

Infrared saunas use gentle heat to open your pores and release toxins from your body, improve circulation, reduce stress, improve skin health, and much more.

So, if you're looking for a way to improve how many infrared sauna health benefits you can get out of a single sauna session, then this blog is for you!

The Many Benefits of the Infrared Sauna

The health and wellness benefits of a sauna are undeniable. Its popularity in recent years comes from the many positive outcomes it has on your body, such as weight loss, improved circulation or detox, just to name just a few!

Infrared Saunas for Weight Loss

One of the most popular benefits of the infrared sauna is weight loss. The infrared heat penetrates the body, causing it to sweat and burn calories.

A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that using an infrared sauna for just 30 minutes can burn up to 600 calories.

How Infrared Saunas Improve Circulation

The infrared heat also dilates blood vessels, which improves circulation and helps to deliver more oxygen to cells and tissues.

This increased circulation can help to reduce pain, inflammation, and stiffness.

Infrared Saunas Provide the Ultimate Detoxification

The sweating caused by an infrared sauna gets rid of toxins that have built up in the body over time.

These toxins can come from the food we eat, the air we breathe, and even our own metabolism.

By getting rid of these toxins, we can improve our overall health and well-being.

Providing Even More Sauna Benefits

There are many more health benefits provided by infrared saunas, such as:

• Sauna benefits for sleep
• Sauna benefits for pain relief
• Sauna benefits for diabetes
• Sauna benefits for heart health
• Sauna benefits for stress reduction
• Sauna benefits for immunity
• Sauna benefits for muscle recovery

Tips for Using Your Infrared Sauna

Before we get to maximising your infrared sauna sessions, there are a few basics that you should master first!

This is not only for your general health and safety but also because the tips to maximise your sauna sessions are a little more extreme and thus a good foundation of sauna practice is essential.

Before you go looking for an infrared sauna for sale, here are a few tips to help you get started in the basics of sauna bathing:

Drink Plenty of Water During Infrared Sauna Use

Water is essential for overall health and it's especially important when you are detoxing.

Make sure to drink plenty of water during, and after your infrared sauna session. This will help flush toxins from your body and improve your overall health.

Focus on Sweating it out

The main benefit of infrared saunas is that they help you sweat out toxins. So make sure to really sweat it out during your session!

The more you perspire, the more toxins will be released from your body. Get into the habit of wiping the sweat off your body so that your body can continue to perspire.

What you should wear in a sauna is to go naked, as the infrared light should be in direct contact with your body at all times. However, it is important to take a sufficient amount of towels to be able to wipe the sweat from your body.

Take Some Breaks

It's nice to know that taking breaks in between your sauna sessions is good for you.

Because infrared works by raising your core body temperature with infrared light, the overall temperature of the cabin isn't as important as you might think.

Simply reach the point of being uncomfortable and then take a break. There's no need to push it in an infrared sauna!

It's Not All About the Heat

The actual temperature of the air is irrelevant depending on the temperature of your core body.

While a hotter cabin may raise your core faster, it will also be uncomfortable in the long run.

A cooler cabin however will be much more enjoyable, and the infrared wavelengths will continue to heat up your core no matter the temperature of the cabin.

So instead of focusing on the temperature of the cabin, try to focus on the infrared wavelength heating your core body temperature!

How hot a sauna should be will be determined by a few factors, however, we recommend staying around the 55ºC range.

The Best Time of Day to Use Your Infrared Sauna

Using your infrared sauna at a specific time in the day really depends on personal preference over any real health benefit advantage.

For some people, infrared saunas have a relaxing and drowsy effect, while for others it has an energising and alerting effect.

Depending on which category you fall into, you might want to tailor the time of day to the sauna - either morning or evening.

There does seem to be a correlation between infrared saunas and your circadian rhythm and so if infrared saunas energise you, try using them when the sun is rising.

If you're someone who gets drowsy from infrared saunas then use it when the sun is setting.

How Often to Use Your Infrared Sauna

Like most things in life, consistency is the key to achieving results, and the health benefits from infrared saunas are no different.

Regular sauna sessions of 3-4 times a week have been clinically proven to provide long-term fat percentage loss of up to 4%, increased cardiovascular endurance of up to 30%, and long-lasting mental health and stress reduction effects!

Similarly to exercise, infrared saunas are still tough on your body and so be mindful not to overdo it. There is no evidence to suggest that too many sessions are bad for you, however, heat stress can be hard on the human body - so if you choose to sauna daily, be careful!

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Ways to Maximise the Benefits of Your Infrared Sauna Session

As outlined above there are many infrared sauna benefits that support varying health conditions, from joint pain and muscle soreness to high blood pressure and more.

While sauna bathing itself provides these benefits there are actually small hacks that can be used in conjunction with infrared sauna treatments to enhance these benefits.

Firstly, let's understand infrared heaters and how they affect the body before we explain how to maximise these benefits.

Infrared Heat: What is it and Why Use it as a Heat Source?

Infrared is a form of light that is invisible to the naked eye and is felt as heat. Infrared light is also known as dry heat or radiant heat and typically produces a lower temperature in comparison to steam saunas.

Due to its nature, infrared waves are exceptional at heating the body directly and not the air temperature around you.

For this reason, they are optimal for infrared sauna therapy, being able to avoid extreme heat and the sauna risk of heat exhaustion makes it a safe and reliable option to treat many health conditions.

Now that you know how infrared sauna therapy works, let's move on to how you can maximise using it!

Maximise Your Infrared Sauna Detoxification Power

To maximise the detoxification benefit you get from an infrared sauna, you un-intuitively need to incorporate cold water into your sauna routine! This is because of how the body detoxifies heavy metals and toxins in the first place.

When you use infrared therapy, the fat cells that hold the toxins get targeted and begin to release the stored toxins. Infrared light is able to easily penetrate human tissue, unlike conventional heat.

These toxins then re-enter your bloodstream and can now be processed by the liver, kidneys, lymphatic system and of course your skin. As your temperature rises, your body activates its cardiovascular function.

Saunas can benefit kidney function and infrared saunas can benefit the lymphatic system for even greater detoxification!

This means an increased heart rate and blood circulation. The heat also widens your blood vessels which in turn increases blood flow and results in improved blood pressure result.

These toxins are now circulating around your body more than ever before, and during this process, the bloodstream also grabs any waste materials from sore muscles and joints.

While some of these toxins and heavy metals make their way out through your skin pores, the majority are kept in the bloodstream. This is where cold showers come in.

Once you are sweating and your heart is pumping it means the above is happening inside of you.

If you then make your way into a cold plunge, ice bath, or in this instance a cold shower, the cold water shocks the system and forces the body to constrict.

This means your blood vessels shrink, and your muscles contract. All the circulated blood flow is forced into the centre of your body and pushed into your organs.

This allows for all the toxins and heavy metals that are left circulating in your bloodstream to enter the liver, kidney and lymphatic system to naturally get processed by the human body.

Not only are you getting the additional detoxification power of infrared therapy, but you are turbo-charging it by activating all of your body's detoxification pathways at once.

As soon you the cold becomes not so cold anymore, you can re-enter your sauna and repeat this process 3-4 times for a truly unparalleled detoxification treatment.

Take the guesswork out of your wellness spa routine with our latest blog post! Find out from Dr. Susanna Søberg's research whether to start with the sauna or the ice bath for the best health outcomes.

Maximise Weight Loss in Your Infrared Sauna

When it comes to weight loss and infrared saunas it is most commonly believed that you only lose water weight.

While this may be true for traditional saunas and your everyday steam sauna, far infrared saunas have actually been shown in peer-reviewed studies to lower body fat percentage.

And so it's no surprise that there are some simple ways to maximise weight loss in an infrared sauna treatment.

To do this, you want to increase the amount of time your heart is being activated and maintain a low to medium heart rate.

Simply doing some light cardio before entering your sauna or some form of pre-sauna workout, will ensure your heart is at a healthy rate.

Using the lower temperatures you are able to sauna longer and while your heart continues to work and burn calories you can simply relax and let the infrared sauna therapy melt away your waistline.

We hope you've enjoyed learning these two ways you can maximise the health benefits you receive from your infrared sauna and put yourself through a more intense sweat!

If you're looking for an infrared sauna for sale make sure to remember our top tips to enjoy safe and effective infrared sauna therapy.