Infrared sauna: good or bad for your health?

Recently, infrared saunas have become popular in fitness clubs, sanatoriums, medical institutions, the benefits and harms of which are not always known to ordinary visitors. Most often, they are a small tightly closed booth, inside which there are special heating elements that emit waves of a certain length.

What is infrared radiation

Infrared is called radiation with a wavelength of 0.74 to 2000 microns, the most useful part of the spectrum for humans, which is devoid of negative consequences – from 2 microns to 5.6 microns, because it is in this spectrum that the person himself radiates heat.

To date, the effects of infrared rays have been well studied, since infrared heaters have been used for more than a decade. So if you are interested in whether an infrared sauna is useful or harmful to health, you should get an opinion; expert opinion;: the therapeutic effect of "live heat" is well known and used in various fields of medicine, there are almost no side effects and contraindications.

How does an infrared sauna work?

When visiting such an infrared cabin, you will feel that the body warms up almost instantly. However, you will not feel any discomfort, since the heat is very slight – your temperature will rise to only 38 ° C.

Four centimeters is deep enough to steam the layers of the skin, warm up the subcutaneous fat, warm up the joints and bones. 38°C is the optimal temperature to activate the body’s defense systems, disperse lactic acid – the main scourge of all athletes, causing muscle pain, and speed up metabolic processes. So the body seems to be experiencing very, very light stress, pushing it to active self-healing.

Who is shown the infrared sauna

To visit infrared saunas, the benefits and harms of which for children and adults are well known, no doctor’s prescriptions are needed. You can read the instructions and, if you have no contraindications, the list of which is very short, install such a booth at home without any problems.

Cosmetologists and nutritionists recommend this procedure because it

• promotes strong sweating and removal of toxins;
• unblocks pores;
• helps to remove dead skin particles;
• activates metabolic processes;
• breaks down fat cells in the deep subcutaneous layers, that is, it contributes to the fight against obesity, cellulite;
• improves the general condition of patients;
• after the procedure, skin turgor improves, pigmentation disappears, complexion improves;
• the general mental health of the patient is normalized.

Rehabilitologists and sports physicians seized on the idea of ​​using infrared saunas no less, since

• Lactic acid is dispersed in the sauna;
• joints recover faster after exercise;
• there is an acceleration of bone tissue growth, although insignificant;
• improves blood flow;
• easily relieve stress;
• the general state of health is normalized;
• strength is restored faster.

Contraindications to the use of infrared saunas

• the use of certain pharmaceuticals;
• the presence of malignant tumors;
• high blood pressure;
• pregnancy, lactation;
• recent abdominal operations;
• high temperature (above 37.6 °).
• In these cases, any doctor will forbid you to use any sauna.

As they say, there is a blessing in disguise, and some researchers who have studied the effects of infrared radiation on humans believe that it can be potentially hazardous to the health of those people who have some chronic diseases, in particular, cardiovascular diseases.

IR saunas: reviews

To help you understand whether infrared sauna is beneficial or harmful, reviews of real users:

Benefits of an infrared sauna

Infrared saunas have a number of advantages over conventional saunas:

• mobility, compactness;
• ease of installation;
• low power consumption (compared to saunas with electric heaters);
• warming up in 10 minutes;
• heating the body to a depth of 4 cm and to a temperature of 38 ° C compared to 0.5 cm and 37 degrees;
• the possibility of frequent visits;
• a short list of contraindications;
• greater therapeutic effect.

Where did infrared sauna come from?

The inventors of infrared saunas are the Japanese, more precisely, the doctor and engineer Tadashi Ishikawa, who brought his invention to the market more than 20 years ago. During this period, the world managed to appreciate the convenience and usefulness of such booths, and today they are very popular with both medical and rehabilitation institutions and ordinary users.

The main competitive advantages of an infrared sauna are its compact size, ease of installation and operation. Agree, not in every city apartment or in a rehabilitation center you can organize a full-fledged Russian steam room or a Finnish bath. So infrared saunas are a very modern solution for those who like to steam bones.