Infrared Sauna
By Anna Lynn Sibal
The infrared sauna is quickly gaining popularity among people who would love to have the sauna or spa experience right in their own home. The infrared sauna is typically a portable room fitted with heaters that give off infrared radiant heat.
Technically speaking, the infrared sauna is not really a sauna. It was only called thus so that the public can easily associate it with the pleasure and the health benefits ascribed to the traditional sauna. However, the only similarity between an infrared sauna and a traditional sauna is that they are both supposed to make the people using them sweat a lot.
How the Infrared Sauna Works
With traditional saunas, the necessary heat is produced by setting heat-absorbing stones on an open flame. After the fire is put out, water then poured onto the stones to release the heat they have absorbed. It usually takes an hour or more for the stones to absorb the energy required for people to enjoy the sauna.
The infrared sauna, on the other hand, works using infrared heat generators made from ceramic plates or fiberglass. The infrared rays produced are just like those radiated by sunlight or by a hot light bulb, except that these rays are not accompanied by ultraviolet radiation.
The traditional sauna works by heating the air inside the sauna room. The infrared sauna, on the other hand, works through the penetration of infrared rays into the skin itself. This causes the body to start sweating more quickly and copiously.
Penetration of these infrared rays can reach an inch or more into the skin, creating what is called a “deep heating” process. Through this process, the tissues deep inside the body themselves benefit from the heat generated by the infrared rays.
It does not take long for an infrared sauna to heat up. All you need to do is to flip the switch and sit inside the room to start sweating. It is also reported that the temperature inside an infrared sauna is a lot lower than in a traditional sauna so people can enjoy the sauna session a lot longer than usual.
Health Benefits with Infrared Saunas
There are many health benefits that infrared sauna advocates claim can be received from sitting inside an infrared sauna. However, these claims of therapeutic value are as yet unproven because they have not been scientifically tested yet.
One of the main health benefits of infrared saunas is that using them can help hasten the removal of toxins and waste material from the cells of the body. Since infrared rays penetrate the skin deeply, the heat received by the body’s tissues help improve the circulation of blood. Thus, more nutrients are brought to individual cells by the blood, and the waste materials are taken away from these cells more quickly.
The infrared sauna can certainly provide relaxation. You can sit in there for a while and let the sweat flush out the stress from your body.
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