Far Infrared Sauna Therapy

With the popularity of infrared saunas comes decisions to be made as to which one would work for your particular health and beauty needs. We try to explain what infrared therapy is and how it can benefit your own unique situation.

Far Infrared Sauna Therapy

What exactly is infrared, sometimes referred to as radiant heat? No need to worry – it has nothing to do with either ultraviolet radiation (which gives you a sunburn and damages your skin) or atomic radiation (the kind from a nuclear bomb).

Radiant (or far infrared) heat is basically a energy that heats objects directly through a process called conversion, without having to heat the air in between. Radiant heat is also called infrared energy (IR). Our sun is the principal source of radiant energy that we enjoy daily (some more so than others).

Have you ever been outside on a partly cloudy spring day of about 50 degrees F. and felt quite comfortable until the sun was suddenly obscured by a cloud? Although the air temperature had not had time to drop, you felt chilled, as the cloud would not let the warming infrared rays through to reach you.

Infrared light is an important energy force that promotes healing – a raising of the white blood cell count, faster metabolism, greater circulation, and detoxification.

Today we’re seeing new technologies employing far-infrared energy in health care products and in clinical environments such as hyperthermic therapies for detoxification and cancer treatment. Europe routinely uses whole-body hyperthermia to treat a host of maladies.

Energy medicine is an ancient practice and Chinese health practitioners would use healing touch therapies for improved cell growth, DNA synthesis and protein synthesis in cells. Although these ancient practitioners did not know the technical terms as to why their therapy improved health, they were sure their patients got better.

Yes, the human heat from their touch increased immune defense response in which white blood cells surround and ingested small living things (like bacteria) and cell wastes.

Far-infrared heat follows the same principle: warm the injury site to speed healing. Why is infrared heat better than say, a heating pad? Because the vibrational energy of far-infrared light is unlike that of the heat energy we use for everyday functions, like cooking. Boiling water could actually damage our skin and it doesn’t even heat internal organs.

Sunlight heats us in a profound way, however, because it contains penetrating far-infrared rays as well as the full range of energy in the electromagnetic spectrum.

A few companies have captured the essence of this healing energy by creating vertical and horizontal saunas and smaller wraps for localized healing in specific areas of the body.

Over the past 25 years, Japanese and Chinese researchers and clinicians have done extensive research on infrared treatments and reported many provocative findings. Whole-body infrared therapy has been used for over 80 years by German physicians in an independently developed form.

Among other benefits, whole-body infrared thermal systems make it possible for people in wheelchairs, or those who are otherwise unable to exert themselves, or who won’t follow through on an exercising and conditioning program to achieve a cardiovascular training effect. This also allows for more variety in any ongoing exercise program.

As for infrared’s outstanding effect on caloric consumption and weight control, we find that burning from 600 to 2,400 calories in a 30 minute session to be quite routine. The infrared thermal system might then simulate the consumption of energy equal to that expended in a 6 to 9 mile run during only a single session. This would be invaluable for those who don’t exercise and those who can’t exercise yet want an effective weight control and fitness maintenance program.