Are you a member of a gym or fitness facility? Maybe you’ve seen they offer a sauna. Other people may have their own infrared sauna waiting for them at home. In bigger numbers, gym-goers and athletes are coming to an infrared sauna to improve their fitness levels and maximize their health.

Post-workout, a sauna’s not just some luxury. It’s meaningful to your athletic performance, alongside other health benefits which are important. If you’re looking for a way to reduce soreness, fatigue, and fix a drop in performance, a sauna’s here to help. As grueling as a gym session can be, a relaxing sauna trip can be a nice way to end it and get you back in the game for the rest of your day.

Sauna use can have an impact on a person’s longevity and how they age. This is no more evidenced in the measured benefits of an infrared sauna. Assuming a sauna can impact your system so positively that it reduces the risk of contracting certain diseases and it limits the symptoms of an illness or keeps illness away altogether, that makes a notable difference.

As we age, our bodies change and although a lot of what’s marketed as anti-aging isn’t necessarily truthful, saunas have some serious health benefits to them. Can a sauna make a person live forever? No, absolutely not. That aside, an infrared sauna or steam room can potentially save lives or at least, extend a person’s life. Here’s how and why.

Are you trying to cut weight? Oftentimes it will take a lot of time and lifestyle changes to get your body to the weight you want it to be. Through heat therapy, available via steam rooms and saunas, weight loss can be amped which helps a person to lose weight safely and faster. Is a steam room or sauna better for weight loss though? An argument can be made for both, certainly. Nevertheless, we want to get to the bottom of which is the more effective option strictly as it applies to losing weight.

An infrared sauna for weight loss.

An infrared sauna is a room constructed of wood wherein infrared rays penetrate the body and produce a dry heat from the inside out. Infrared heat’s been shown to penetrate 1.5” deep, warming the body efficiently. Infrared saunas usually operate between 115 and 130 degrees Fahrenheit, as opposed to the much higher 170 to 200 degrees Fahrenheit common in non-infrared traditional saunas.

In a sauna or steam room, your body is being exposed to heat stress but the good kind. The activation of heat shock proteins, which happens when you use a sauna, can improve energy production in a variety of ways.

A major way is through better mitochondrial function. The mitochondria are the body’s energy generators and exists in all of our cells. The size, power, number, and effectiveness of function of our mitochondria largely dictate the capacity of it to impact our energy. Any time mitochondria is weak, damaged, or unhealthy, this translates to you being as well. There’s more and more research coming out suggesting weak mitochondrial health is related to some chronic diseases and even aging. Here’s how to help yourself.

No miracle cure exists for weight loss but what comes pretty close is a dedicated sauna routine. In a sauna, all a person needs to do is sit. By the minute, calories are being lost. Saunas are an effective and safe weight loss weapon that shouldn’t be discounted. If you’re struggling to lose weight and are looking for a way to get things moving faster without risking your health, we recommend trying a sauna.

The difficult part of weight loss is that if a person loses weight too fast, it can be tough keeping it off. It’s also highly likely you will regain those pounds shed. An effective solution is to lose weight slowly and through lifestyle changes you can continue to maintain. For some people, this is switching up nutrition, going to the gym, and yes, using a sauna. In fact, there are four primary sauna weight loss benefits you can look forward to.

Saunas are incredibly powerful at eliminating environmental chemicals and heavy metals from our bodies. If you’re seeking a simple, inexpensive way to continually detoxify, an infrared sauna or steam room has a lot of promise in removing heavy metals, PCBs, PBBs, BPA, drugs, and organochlorine pesticides from the body.

Let’s face it, none of us are sitting around eating and consuming toxins purposefully. That said, they find their way into us through various means. Unfortunately, toxicants have long half-lives. They can bioaccumulate through the food chain so that even for someone who is going out of their way to avoid any exposure to toxins, they still can’t avoid all exposure.

Saunas are a great way to complement a well-established weight loss regiment. They are a mainstay in weight loss among professional fighters, notably boxers, and body builders. This weight loss can be increased by combining the infrared sauna treatment directly with exercise, rather than just doing it afterwards. One form of this is hot yoga. Hot yoga is for the most part simply performing regular yoga in a hot environment. This method greatly increases the benefits of regular yoga.

Sauna exercise is performed in several different ways. One method is the use of a specialized “sauna suit”. The suit helps elevate the local temperature surround the body. This method is great for those who don’t have easy access to a genuine sauna. The other method is to simply perform exercise within an active sauna. This is less restrictive and likely more appealing to most looking to try it out. Performing light exercise inside of a sauna can greatly increase the potential to burn fat.

Aromatherapy is one of the oldest forms of medicine ever practiced. The use of plant extracts and essential oils for aromatherapy dates back to the days of Ancient Egypt. Today these benefits are can be compounded through combination with infrared sauna. The two together can be highly beneficial and relaxing. Here are some of the best essential oils to be used with a sauna.

Cinnamon

Cinnamon oil is one of the most popular essential oils around. It is a warm and welcoming spice that will leave any sauna user refreshed. Cinnamon oil acts as a natural decongestant, great for during cold and flu season. It also has properties that make it ideal for alleviating muscle soreness. Cinnamon oil can also help to reduce inflammation and can help to promote blood circulation.

It’s always said, when you use a sauna, drink water before, during, and after. It saves you from dehydration and being lightheaded during or following a sauna. Hydration is so important but admittedly, water’s a little boring sometimes. Then, there are times when your body needs more than water to rejuvenate yourself and replenish what you washed out in your steam room, sauna, or post-workout. This is a quick list of things you can take to stay healthy and engaged, and to maximize your post-sauna nutrition.

Celery juice

Celery juice is a highly nutritious sauna beverage you can have afterwards or when you need a little pick-me-up. Celery comes with high amounts of vitamin C and K, folate, potassium, and numerous studies have been shown it can help fight cancer, liver disease, and reduce inflammation. They’re also extremely low-calorie. When it comes to juicing, this is one drink that’s going to help elevate your mood without sacrificing your weight or interfering with the gains you’ve made in a sauna.

Chromotherapy is another term to call ‘color light therapy’ which applies colored lighting to restore balance in the body. Chromotherapy in a sauna enhances the wellness element, under the assumption that each color in the alphabet of shades and hues is associated with a body response. There’s actually something to this, as color therapy has been scientifically tested and has been used to treat different medical conditions across ancient civilizations in Egypt, India, China, and is still used to this day in hospitals all over the world.

Circulation

Every color vibrates at a different frequency and certain colors can affect our body’s circulatory system. Chromotherapy used correctly in a sauna, which also helps circulation, can help lower blood pressure and regulate one of your body’s fundamental systems.

Living healthy and plugged into the wellness community can be addictive. Buying a sauna for yourself can be the start towards the ultimate wellness journey, activating parts of the mind and body you may not have used in years.

If you’re looking for the next step in how to enhance you wellness, consider any of these health tech to combine with your sauna. There are some absolutely excellent meditation apps, sleep monitoring systems, and more, available and ready to provide more information on your health and wellness.

TENS units.

Sometimes, relaxing your muscles in an infrared sauna doesn’t quite get the whole of the job done. On days when you need something extra, a transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) unit uses electrical pulses to stimulate muscles. This soothes muscles and is a great alternative to things like foam rolling. Just put it on, sit back, and give it a few minutes.

How we define healthiness in North America tends to lean more towards a person who is cured rather than someone who is healing. The reality of who is and isn’t healthy is not defined by whether a person is plagued by a chronic condition or disease, or what physical or mental problems they may be struggling with. Health is defined by the connection between physical, emotional, and mental, and the balance between. A balanced person is the healthiest person, regardless of whether they are sick, dying, or struggling with disease.

Saunas have been praised by a lot of people for being ‘the ultimate cure’ for things like headaches, muscle pain, stomach pain and digestive issues, arthritis and joint pain, and more. The truth is that there are some massive health benefits of saunas but they are no cure. To think that after a few sessions, you’re going to be cured of all woes is not a realistic mindset.

Saunas are in fact a heart healer for some people, according to recent evidence. Patients with heart disease are oftentimes met with medications, surgeries, and medical devices to compensate. Oftentimes, no one thinks about the impact infrared sauna therapy can have on the heart.

Infrared saunas use what’s essentially heat therapy to help strengthen several of the body’s systems as well as the heart. What scientists in Japan have discovered through more than 20 years of studying this is what patients using saunas and steam rooms regularly come out with healthy, strong hearts at a rate above the average population.

For sauna enthusiasts and people who love staying on track with their fitness goals, pregnancy can be a big challenge. Suddenly, there are all these new rules about what to eat, what’s expected with regards to health and fitness, and all these limitations are put on you. That’s not even talking about the pain and discomfort which sits in on someone who has conceived a child.

If you’re already pregnant, unfortunately, a sauna, steam room, or any sort of similar environment which raises the body’s core temperature is not recommended. Why an infrared sauna is problematic for someone who is pregnant is because of several reasons. Sauna overheating is associated with an increased risk of miscarriage and early labour. Now what about if you’re trying to get pregnant, should you still avoid using a sauna or steam room – this is a difficult question to answer.

There’s a history of steam baths, sauna baths, steam rooms, and all sorts of different heat treatments in cultures from all over the world. Although we associate contemporary saunas so closely to Finland, they’re far from the only sauna culture out there. Here’s a quick list of a few countries who have a strong history of saunas, steam rooms, and sauna baths.

Japan

The Japanese Sento is a body cleaning ritual in tribute to Buddha. Japan has a strong bathing culture, with a Sento being a temple-style bathhouse used for public bathing and socializing. Japanese Sentos involve getting nude, washing the body under any of the available faucets, entering a warm bath when one relaxes with the others who are there, and sometimes there’s a massage room or sauna to compliment the experience.

This summer, don’t forget to spend time in a sauna to keep you happy and healthy. The hottest temperatures of the year are right around the corner and now’s the time to begin making encompassing, healthy choices to live your best life.

Don’t underestimate the importance of self-care. In fact, every day’s an opportunity to treat yourself by investing the time into being more mindful and to be nice to yourself. Here are some important summer self-care tips you can combine with a sauna to keep your wellness in top shape.

Regular steam room and sauna sessions can have a terrific impact on the heart and cardiovascular system. Every day in Finland, saunas are used to unwind and reduce stress among other things. In fact, sauna bathing is a sort of national tradition here and far more normalized than in North America. Recent studies have shown that not only do saunas benefit relaxation, it also provides a sizeable boost to the cardiovascular health of people who indulge regularly.

For men and women, it appears that mortality rates related to cardiovascular disease and subsequent cardiovascular events are minimized by stepping into a sauna from time to time. It’s unknown why the infrared sauna strengthens the heart so well but there’s no questioning it does. Analyzing a group of adult sauna goers, the University of Eastern Finland produced a groundbreaking study that displayed some very interesting findings.

Although the average North American diet is improving, the truth of how we eat is that we continue to prioritize convenience over health. Nutrition is well recognized as the building block to how we feel and look.

More sugar, saturated fats, and sodium are a bad thing, and unbalanced, unhealthy diets can easily sabotage the benefits of a sauna. Here are some disturbing facts about how we eat and why using a sauna doesn’t always lead to benefit for some.

Luxury spas and saunas exist all over the world in key international travel destinations. As exhilarating as exploring a foreign region can be, sometimes just staying in the hotel and taking in some time in the steam room is a nice way to rejuvenate your energy.

Be it business travelers, road-weary explorers, or arriving in a new country after a long flight, we thought we’d count down some of the most impressive world-class saunas and spas from international travel hotels.

Are you in the market for an infrared sauna for your home – you’re not alone. This year, there are thousands of households across North America who will install their very own sauna in their home. Health experts, fitness enthusiasts, and medical doctors all agree that the long list of benefits for people of all ages make saunas a consideration for virtually anyone.

Be it treating a chronic condition, minimizing stress, detoxification, improving muscle recovery in a workout, or purifying the skin to leave you absolutely glowing, there are real, tangible health benefits to indulging in a sauna on the regular. Before you decide to make a sauna purchase, here are a few things you may want to keep on your mind as you browse.