The INFRARED SAUNA
AUTHOR: Lachlan Bisshopp
What is an Infrared Sauna?
To answer this question lets start with another question. What is Infrared?
This refers to a wavelength of light that is just above what humans can see. Humans can see what’s called visible light; I mean That makes sense right? Infrared light instead will be felt by the human body as heat. An infrared sauna has a whole heap of heaters that emit Infrared light that your body will detect as increasing amount of heat.
How does an Infrared Sauna work?
Lets dive a little more deeply into how infrared light actually causes you to heat up. You wouldn’t be alone in your confusion.
We have probably heard of a lot of other different types of light and perhaps not really pieced together that these really are just different forms of energy, that fall on different levels of the total light spectrum. X ray, Gamma Rays, MicroWaves and Radio waves are all examples of different types of lightwaves, in which Infrared is included. Different wave lengths have differing forms of energy and will act in slightly different ways.
Infrared is perceived by our body as heat. And more specifically it is a deeply penetrating form of energy that has the ability to cause a cellular vibration that results in the body’s natural heat response mechanisms being stimulated. Most other wave lengths of light; energy is used interchangeably here, are absorbed at the superficial skin level, infrared has the ability to penetrate subcutaneous tissues (below skin level) which creates an effect of being heated up from the inside out.
What are the Bodies Cooling Mechanisms?
Lets not spend to much time on these but to summarise, our bodies main objective is to keep our body temperature fairly stable. As we are exposed to heat our body will begin to open our blood vessels wide and direct our blood flow towards our periphery (The skin). This has several effects, the opening of the blood vessels causes our Heart rate to increase as we attempt to maintain our blood pressure; which drops due to having the same volume of blood contained in our snow more spacious dilated vessels. On top of this having our blood run closer to the surface allows for heat dispersion into the atmosphere (as long as there is a lower temp outside than inside the body, which is not the case in the sauna haha).
We will also get a stimulation of the sweat response in an attempt to cool down via evaporation or sweat from our skin which usually takes heat with it. As we know from previous sauna experiences sweat is abundant in the sauna environment. Due to the increasing temperature within the Sauna your rate of sweat formation will continue to increase in an attempt by the body to regulate its temperature. This sweat has been shown to have a detoxifying due to higher excretion of some heavy metals including aluminum (3.75-fold), cadmium (25-fold), cobalt (7-fold), and lead (17-fold), compared to elimination via urine.
Sooo.. What are the benefits and How do they Occur?
Lets get to the stuff that you really want to read about. Why the heck should I sauna and is it as simple as just jumping in at any random temperature?
Depending on what you want to achieve from it the answer is yes and no. It can be as simple as that but your time can also be utilised more efficiently than just sitting at any O’ll temperature. I usually recommend finding what’s called your baseline temperature; note that everyones will be different based upon heat tolerance and the speed and efficiency of bodies cooling response. Your baseline temperature is usually between 48-55 degree’s celsius, and is the temperature that you can sit at for 30 minutes straight without struggling too much. You aren’t counting down the minutes wishing it would be over.
Why do we need to know our baseline? Well for one thing this baseline will improve as you get better at using the sauna. This baseline is also used as our base measure to go up or down from when we are targeting specific sauna related avenues of your health.
Heart Health
We have already touched on how the IR Sauna can influence our cardiovascular system through heart rate increases and vessel dialtion but lets get a little more into into it. Our heart rate increases and consequent blood flow improvements (Assuming stroke volume increases aswell) results in a higher cardiac output. Cardiac Output is the amount of blood pumped by the heart, expressed as litres per minute. A higher top C.O is used as a measure to show an improvement in Cardiovascular fitness. With the absence of the muscular contractions that occur with exercise you are missing out on a plethora of other benefits (so don’t stop your exercise routine is what I’m saying and instead use this to enhance your current routine), so instead think of using this to enhance your current exercise regime.
Your heart's variability reflects how adaptable your body can be. If your heart rate is highly variable, this is usually evidence that your body can adapt to many kinds of changes. People with high heart rate variability are usually less stressed and happier. IR Saunas have been shown to have a positive effect on your bodies heart rate variability and on its overall adaptability. They also have a positive influence on the amount and effect of Nitric oxide release within blood vessels which can enhance the dilatory capacity of blood vessels.
Studies have also found a transient increase in plasma volume occurs during heat stress, this provides extra blood volume around the core and allows for us to shuttle more blood volume to the periphery in an attempt to regulate our body temperature through sweating.
How to use the sauna for Heart health: Hot 50-70 Degree’s Celsius, 30 minutes +. Green light. Drink 1.5L of water
Heat Shock Proteins
When cells are exposed to thermal stress, stress proteins called heat shock proteins (HSPs) numbers are increased within our cells, they are thought to serve as chaperone molecules to prevent protein breakdown, help transport repair proteins and assist cell survival against a variety of environmental and metabolic stresses. A continuous interplay between mechanisms that drive protein synthesis (Building) and those that boost protein degradation (Breaking) is an important regulating factor of skeletal muscle mass, where HSPs may have a role in repairing our damaged proteins. Increased expression of HSPs also slows muscle atrophy and promotes longevity.
No Specific Protocol however most studies have been conducted at temperatures exceeding 60 Degrees Celsius.
Pain Relief
Some pain relief can be found around joints due to the lubricating nature of blood and liquid flow through the body in a heat based environment. The increased circulation also allows for more regular flow of nutrient and oxygen rich blood into areas of pain. (Note: In Acute injuries this should be avoided as it will cause swelling and occlusion of the area, resulting in less blood circulation). The pain relief in these instances are refering more to generalsied inflammation around a joint, ligament tor tendon and potential Arthritic based pains. Post sauna interventions, several studies have shown a reduction in C reactive proteins which are used as markers of total body inflammation; indicating a potential decrease in systemic inflammation through sauna use.
How to use the sauna for Pain Relief: 45-55 Degrees Celsius, for 30-45 minutes. Red or orange light. Note?: Don’t push yourself too hard.
Hormones and Recovery
Sauna use promotes transient growth hormone (HGH) release, which varies according to time, temperature, and frequency of exposure. In people of all ages, GH boosts protein production (Potential for Muscle mass gain or maintainence), promotes the utilization of fat. GH also raises levels of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), which can have positive effects on the amount of lean body mass someone maintains. It is noteworthy, however, that sauna use and exercise work synergistically to significantly elevate growth hormone when used together.
Heat stress and exercise increase the expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a protein that acts on neurons in the central and peripheral nervous systems, to promote the growth of new neurons. BDNF modulates neuronal plasticity (the capacity of the nervous system to modify itself, functionally and structurally, in response to experience and injury) and can assist with anxiety and depression from early-life stressful events. BDNF is also produced in exercising muscle tissue, where it plays a role in muscle repair and the growth of new muscle cells
Infrared saunas can have a positive influence on the immune system through stimulation of white blood cell production; These cells circulate through your bloodstream and tissues to respond to injury or illness by attacking any unknown organisms that enter your body, stress reduction and increased circulation of blood.
How to use the sauna for HGH: High temp 65-70 (+10 from baseline) for 30 minutes. Drink 1000ml+ water. Have a cold shower afterwards.
How to use the sauna on your recovery day: Baseline Temp for 30 minutes. Drink 1000ml+ water. Red Light
Sleep
Many people now days are over stimulated by the sympathetic nervous system, we live in a time where a huge portion of the population are living in a chronically stressed state; due to so many reasons, use your imagination with why you might be always low level stressed. This over stimulation or better worded this lack of time spent not being in this state causes a huge number of health issues from cardiovascular disease to sleep disturbances. Enter the IR Sauna, The Deep penetration of the IR light has been shown to encourage and enahce the Para Sympathetic Nervous System Stimulation. This part of our NS is linked to a reduction in stress, an enhancement of quality and depth of sleep, as well as a feeling of waking up refreshed.
Without going to deep into these (or the above paragraph) the IR Sauna can enhance and regulate your Cirrcadian ryhtm, In the past, humans experienced predictable periods of daily light and dark driven by the solar day, which allowed for entrainment of intrinsic circadian rhythms to the environmental light–dark cycles. Since the adoption of electric light, however, pervasive exposure to nighttime lighting has blurred the boundaries of day and night, making it more difficult to synchronize biological processes. Many systems are under circadian control, including sleep–wake behavior, hormone secretion, cellular function and gene expression. The use of Sauna, more specifically RED light therapy within the sauna has the ability to stimulate melatonin release similar in amounts to that found when watching the red of the sunet. This has shown to assist in Circadian Normalisation in regards to the ‘normal’ day night cycle.
Finally we get an Incraese in adenosine sleep pressure due to ATP utilisation within the body due to stimulation of our cooling repsonses when exposed to extreme heat. This adenosine pressure builds throughout the day and will make as sleepier as its concentration increases, until we cross that ‘its time to sleep threshold’.
How to use the sauna for sleep Improvements: Low temp 45-55 (-10 from baseline) for 30-40 minutes. Drink 500-1000ml water. Use the Red light
Are there any Contraindications to the Infra Red Sauna?
Alight lets talk Safety here. Yes there are times in which you shouldn’t be using a sauna or at least shouldn’t be using the sauna at high temperatures. Here is a list which is by no means exhaustive:
During Pregnancy
If you have Acute Injuries
If you have any heart related issues. Seek Dr approval before entering into a sauna.
Those on Medications that may impair the body's natural heat loss mechanisms. Often Cardiovascular based medications, so again check with your Dr before hand.
Optional: During Menstruation. Heating of the low back area of women during the menstrual period may temporarily increase their menstrual flow.
Let’s wrap it all up
There is your comprehensive guide to the Infrared Sauna. Once having read this you’ll have an understanding of how the sauna can enhance your health, fitness and your recovery time between sessions. Please i want it to be noted that new studies are always coming out which can both confirm the information provided above as well as potentially disprove them as more information is discovered. Try to make your saunas as specific to your needs and desires as possible to really get the most out of the time invested. As all the information stands currently, this author will be continuing to sauna several times per week for all the reasons listed above and for the social aspect it provides.