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How Infrared Sauna Therapy Can Help Improve Your Mood
Find out how infrared sauna therapy positively impacts mood and mental health. Explore the benefits of this relaxing wellness practice.Read to learn more today.
Next Health Staff
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December 6, 2023
These days, more and more people are trying infrared sauna therapy as opposed to a traditional, steam-based sauna experience. There are lots of good reasons for this. Infrared sauna therapy is an advanced treatment that uses high-tech capsules or beds to bathe your body in infrared light, inducing several excellent physiological effects as a result.
But although the physical effects of infrared sauna therapy are well-known, some people are less convinced that infrared sauna therapy can really improve their mood. How exactly can sitting in infrared light make you feel happier? It all stems from how it affects your body, in fact.
Let’s explore how infrared sauna therapy works and why it can improve your mood in detail.
What Is An Infrared Sauna?
An infrared sauna uses specialized infrared light panels to directly warm your skin and deeper tissues simultaneously. It all stems from the fact that infrared light – which is invisible to the eye but which can be felt on your skin – can penetrate your skin quickly and easily.
An infrared sauna works more effectively in many ways compared to a traditional, steam-focused sauna experience. Steam saunas rely on warming the air around your body to induce a number of biological benefits. But infrared saunas can directly heat your body up for maximum effect.
Infrared saunas come in a few different forms. Some look like traditional saunas and have places to sit, while others, such as Next Health’s Infrared Sauna Capsules, place special high-intensity lights in close proximity to your body to promote ultimate wellness and physiological effects.
How Do Infrared Saunas Work?
Infrared light is on a part of the electromagnetic spectrum that we can’t see. But infrared light feels warm and comforting – many people liken its effects to sitting in sunshine. Despite its similarity to sunlight, however, you don’t need to worry about getting burned by an infrared sauna.
Infrared saunas usually operate at slightly lower temperatures compared to regular saunas: typical temperature ranges are between 120°F and 140°F. Therefore, these saunas are often more comfortable or easier to experience as a beginner.
Infrared saunas use either infrared panels or high-intensity lights to project near, far, or full-spectrum infrared light to your body. Infrared light instantly penetrates your skin down to between 1 and 5 mm, allowing the heat to warm your muscles and other tissues in addition to your skin’s pores.
By warming your body and allowing its cells to soak in infrared light, your body will also benefit from a number of physiological effects. Infrared sauna therapy is so effective and appreciated by many because of these benefits.
Infrared Sauna Therapy Health Benefits
Let’s explore how infrared sauna therapy can help you by examining each benefit one by one.
Relaxation
Just like traditional saunas, infrared saunas can induce a deep sense of relaxation. The infrared light will widen your body’s blood vessels and your skin’s pores, as well as coax your muscles into a loose, relaxed state. Your body overall will feel much more comfortable and less tense, potentially alleviating any muscle aches or tension spots you feel.
The heat itself from an infrared sauna is also quite soothing to experience. Although an infrared sauna will cause you to experience a detoxifying sweat, you’ll feel less sticky or wet since steam isn’t utilized.
Improved Mood & Stress Relief
By the same token, an infrared sauna session can significantly improve your mood by relaxing your body and alleviating spots of significant muscle tension. Infrared saunas are stress relievers for many users.
In addition to coaxing your body into a relaxed state, infrared sauna therapy can stimulate the release of certain hormones that may improve your mood and relieve you of even more stress. In this way, an infrared sauna is a great solution at the end of a tough work week or as a treat when you’re feeling stressed over life’s many challenges.
At the same time, infrared light can stimulate the release of certain endorphins that boost pain relief and provide a general feeling of satisfaction.
All in all, infrared sauna therapy can improve your mood because of a variety of effects, not just one targeted boost. You’re likely to feel happier because of all of the above.
In a way, the mood-boosting benefits of infrared sauna therapy are incidental. But they’re certainly appreciated by working professionals who sometimes need a therapeutic, relaxing experience before the next big day.
Better Skin Health
Infrared sauna therapy does more than just boost your mood. It can also directly impact your skin’s health by stimulating collagen production.
Collagen is one of the two primary proteins needed for your skin to retain its elasticity and firmness over time. The more collagen your skin has, the better and more useful it will look. Infrared sauna therapy can stimulate collagen production by boosting oxygenated, nutrient-rich blood flow to your skin's cells, helping them to reproduce more successfully.
Detoxification
At the same time, infrared sauna therapy will induce a deep, detoxifying sweat. As your body sweats, it removes oils and other toxins from deep in your skin, bringing them to the surface so they can be rinsed away after your sauna session.
Over time, your skin’s pores will look a lot healthier and your skin may seem clearer or less acne-prone. Overall, infrared sauna therapy is an excellent choice if you have acne over your body or if you want to improve your skin’s general appearance.
Improved Regeneration
As mentioned, infrared sauna therapy stimulates blood flow and circulation throughout the body by widening your body’s blood vessels. This improves your body’s ability to circulate oxygenated, fresh blood, meaning more tissues get what they need to repair themselves successfully.
As your body’s muscles relax, you may experience faster athletic recovery or muscle regeneration after an intense workout. Your muscle fibers and other tissues will get the nutrients they need to repair more effectively than they would otherwise.
In fact, infrared sauna therapy helps through the same physiological effects that heat patches and other heating elements produce. Just like a hot patch stimulates muscle repair, so too does an infrared sauna session.
Your body's cells, once exposed to intense infrared light, should produce more ATP, the key energy product for cellular reproduction and function. As they gain more ATP, your body’s cells should reproduce more quickly and correctly.
Weight Loss
Lastly, infrared sauna therapy can provide some mild weight loss benefits (at least when combined with a good workout routine and diet). By increasing your body's temperature and blood circulation, an infrared sauna will also help you to burn a few calories while you relax.
While infrared sauna sessions cannot help you lose weight by themselves, they’re a great complementary aspect of any weight loss regimen or schedule.
Are Infrared Saunas Right For Everyone?
If you’ve already enjoyed a traditional sauna experience, chances are any infrared sauna will be an upgrade. A regular sauna is not as effective as an infrared sauna. Infrared light can reach your body's deeper tissues more quickly and more effectively, as well as promote a deeper, more cleansing sweat.
Furthermore, infrared saunas do not require a long warm-up period. You can step into one of Next Health’s infrared sauna capsules and not have to wait for steam to fill a small space before you start feeling the benefits.
How To Enjoy An Infrared Sauna Session
You can find infrared saunas at a variety of wellness clinics, such as Next Health. At our clinic, the best way to enjoy your sauna session is to drink a good amount of water beforehand to prevent dehydration and to show up on time for your appointment.
We have a variety of health optimization centers in LA and other major cities, so you should be able to find an available infrared sauna capsule near you. Each infrared sauna session will be kept relatively short to prevent the risk of side effects and to make sure that your body benefits as intensely as possible from the therapy.
Common appointment lengths are between 15 and 30 minutes long. If you have any questions, one of our wellness specialists will be on hand to assist you with your sauna session or to take care of anything you need.
Summary
Ultimately, infrared sauna therapy is the next evolution of a traditional sauna experience. Infrared saunas are intense but enjoyable experiences that are perfect for a variety of needs, including general relaxation, muscle recovery, and even skin care.
Even better, Next Health’s other therapies and offerings go perfectly well with infrared sauna therapy. Be sure to contact us soon about available appointment dates and locations so you can try out infrared sauna therapy for yourself.
Sources
https://www.healthline.com/health/infrared-sauna-benefits#How-do-you-use-an-infrared-sauna?
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