SaunaScape

Image via Wikipedia

Dear Infrared Sauna Industry:

I’m a traditionalist myself, but I will admit, I’ve been inside an infrared sauna or two in my day and it was an enjoyable experience. I can see the advantages of an infrared sauna. The low prices, easy assembly, quick heat up and localized heating all make it an option for many people who may not otherwise be able to enjoy a sauna. I get it.

Just please tell me, why do you insist on discrediting the sauna industry with lies? It damages all our credibility.

My point is illustrated by this quote from a business offering infrared sauna sessions that aired on a Fox affiliate a few days ago.

“If you sweat profusely, clinical studies show that you can burn up to 600 calories in a hour of being in there,” says [redacted].

The infrared sauna makes the same rays that come from the sun, but filters out UV radiation.

“The traditional saunas of the past go a half inch into the tissues,” [she] says. “This goes an inch and a half, so three times deeper. Even the sweat produced for this is different.”

That’s because the heat is different. The infrared sauna reaches temps up to 140 degrees and breaks up the water molecules that hold toxins in your skin. So when you sweat in here, you sweat toxins out.

Four paragraphs, lots of false claims. Let’s look at them:

“Burn up to 600 calories in an hour.” This is false. In a sauna, you don’t burn many more calories than you would otherwise sitting on a couch. You’re definitely not going to burn the same number of calories that you would during a strenuous workout on a stair climbing machine.

The truth is saunas do help with weight loss. Researchers don’t completely understand it, but regular sauna sessions help your brain better regulate your appetite to get your body back to a healthy weight. If you are overweight, the sauna will help you lose weight. If you are underweight, the sauna will help you gain it back.

“The infrared sauna makes the same rays that come from the sun…” This is partially true. All hot things give off infrared rays. Light bulbs, the sun, even your body now is emitting infrared rays to heat something in the room cooler than you. Infrared saunas use specialized heater panels to create their infrared rays, while a traditional sauna uses heating elements and rocks to create infrared rays.

“Infrared sauna radiation goes deeper into your skin than a traditional sauna.” Unfortunately, that is not true. Traditional saunas have, if anything, more sources of infrared radiation than a “pure” infrared sauna.

“The sweat produced is different.” True, but unfortunately not the way they would like you to think. Because the heat in the infrared sauna is lower and the heat is localized to the parts of your body closest to the heating panels, the sweat is less intense than in a traditional sauna.

“The heat is different” This is partially true. Infrared saunas use infrared heat only from special radiant panels. A traditional sauna heats with infrared heat from the stove, the walls and even the water vapor in the air surrounding you. In addition, the heat of the air directly transfers heat to you.

“The infrared sauna breaks up the water molecules that hold toxins in your skin” False! The heat of a sauna does not break up the water in your skin. It also doesn’t break up the fat in your skin. What all hot baths do is send blood from your internal organs to your skin to help keep your body cool. This changes your circulation and can help move toxins in your blood stream past specialized organs in your skin that will eject toxins as part of your sweat. These toxins are mainly metabolic wastes, but can include some other environmental toxins.

So, infrared sauna industry, you’ve made a big point of making claims which are nonsense, yet on closer inspection, turn out to be not that far from the truth after all. It would do us all a lot better if you came clean and purged your marketing material of this junk.

We’re all in this together. The more people who are aware of saunas and their legitimate benefits, will give you more potential customers. Sure some of them will choose to get a traditional sauna, but for those who don’t, you’ve got a pretty decent product for them.

Cheers,

Chris

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Image via Wikipedia"][/caption] Dear Infrared Sauna Industry: I'm a traditionalist myself, but I will admit, I've been inside an infrared sauna or two in my day and it was an enjoyable experience. I can see the advantages of an infrared sauna. The low prices, easy assembly, quick heat up and localized heating all make it an option for many people who may not otherwise be able to enjoy a sauna. I get it. Just please tell me, why do you insist on discrediting the sauna industry with lies? It damages all our credibility. My point is illustrated by this quote from a business offering infrared sauna sessions that aired on a Fox affiliate a few days ago. “If you sweat profusely, clinical studies show that you can burn up to 600 calories in a hour of being in there,” says [redacted]. The infrared sauna makes the same rays that come from the sun, but filters out UV radiation. “The traditional saunas of the past go a half inch into the tissues,” [she] says. “This goes an inch and a half, so three times deeper. Even the sweat produced for this is different.” That's because the heat is different. The infrared sauna reaches temps up to 140 degrees and breaks up the water molecules that hold toxins in your skin. So when you sweat in here, you sweat toxins out. Four paragraphs, lots of false claims. Let's look at them: "Burn up to 600 calories in an hour." This is false. In a sauna, you don't burn many more calories than you would otherwise sitting on a couch. You're definitely not going to burn the same number of calories that you would during a strenuous workout on a stair climbing machine. The truth is saunas do help with weight loss. Researchers don't completely understand it, but regular sauna sessions help your brain better regulate your appetite to get your body back to a healthy weight. If you are overweight, the sauna will help you lose weight. If you are underweight, the sauna will help you gain it back. "The infrared sauna makes the same rays that come from the sun..." This is partially true. All hot things give off infrared rays. Light bulbs, the sun, even your body now is emitting infrared rays to heat something in the room cooler than you. Infrared saunas use specialized heater panels to create their infrared rays, while a traditional sauna uses heating elements and rocks to create infrared rays. "Infrared sauna radiation goes deeper into your skin than a traditional sauna." Unfortunately, that is not true. Traditional saunas have, if anything, more sources of infrared radiation than a "pure" infrared sauna. "The sweat produced is different." True, but unfortunately not the way they would like you to think. Because the heat in the infrared sauna is lower and the heat is localized to the parts of your body closest to the heating panels, the sweat is less intense than in a traditional sauna. "The heat is different" This is partially true. Infrared saunas use infrared heat only from special radiant panels. A traditional sauna heats with infrared heat from the stove, the walls and even the water vapor in the air surrounding you. In addition, the heat of the air directly transfers heat to you. "The infrared sauna breaks up the water molecules that hold toxins in your skin" False! The heat of a sauna does not break up the water in your skin. It also doesn't break up the fat in your skin. What all hot baths do is send blood from your internal organs to your skin to help keep your body cool. This changes your circulation and can help move toxins in your blood stream past specialized organs in your skin that will eject toxins as part of your sweat. These toxins are mainly metabolic wastes, but can include some other environmental toxins. So, infrared sauna industry, you've made a big point of making claims which are nonsense, yet on closer inspection, turn out to be not that far from the truth after all. It would do us all a lot better if you came clean and purged your marketing material of this junk. We're all in this together. The more people who are aware of saunas and their legitimate benefits, will give you more potential customers. Sure some of them will choose to get a traditional sauna, but for those who don't, you've got a pretty decent product for them. Cheers, Chris    

A slightly older version of an infrared sauna that uses infrared elements that emit visible light. Image by Alesa Dam via Flickr

When we search the internet for “sauna” (and trust us, we search it a lot), most of the results and nearly all of the ads are for infrared saunas or their many synonyms: IR saunas, FIR saunas, far infrared saunas, or portable saunas. They are featured on TV, many spas have them – in fact, you can now even buy into an infrared sauna spa franchise.

Like any new thing, there are proponents and detractors of this new type of sauna. But what is it, and how does it work?

Some History

Saunas have been around for nearly as long as modern man. Getting a good sweat in the sauna felt good to our early ancestors. Many people still believe it feels good today. It more than feels good, there are proven health benefits for regular sauna users.

An open fire heated the original sauna. As technology improved, saunas became dedicated rooms or buildings that people would use. The fire was contained to keep the smoke out of the sauna: First by using rocks to store the heat, then by enclosing the fire in a stove. With the invention of electricity, fire was eliminated in most stoves and replaced with electric heating elements.

Some of these electric stoves heat rocks like the original saunas of old, while others capitalized on the instant-on properties of electricity and sought to improve on the age-old design.

Image via Wikipedia

The Corn Flakes Connection

In the late 1890′s, electricity and electric light bulbs had started to become popular. So much so that health researcher and Corn Flakes inventor, John Harvey Kellogg, installed a newly developed technology, the electric light bath, in his Battle Creek Sanarium. Thus, the infrared sauna was born.

Infrared technology did not change much from the 1900′s until the 1990′s when light bulbs could be replaced with lightweight radiant heating panels.  Now a person could use the sauna without risking permanent blindness from all the light bulbs. Since these heaters emit nearly pure infrared rays instead of light, a sauna could be built that ran on normal household current.

Some compare an infrared sauna to a microwave oven: It is inexpensive, compact, and can give a similar result to a larger piece of hardware in much less time. It is the perfect mass-market appliance.

What is Infrared?

An infrared photo of two people. Image via Wikipedia

Infrared rays are the secret to an infrared sauna. Infrared is a type of light, and it is a way of transferring heat.

Let’s go back to high school physics for a minute. If you take sunlight, and pass it through a prism, your eye can see a rainbow of colors. However, there is more light there that your eyes can’t see. Where the red light ends, infrared begins. Infrared created by things that aren’t very hot is called near infrared, because it is close to red light on the rainbow. Infrared created by things that are very hot is called far infrared, because it is further away from visible red light.

If you spend any time studying heat transfer, what you find is that if there are two things close to one another, and they are at two different temperatures, one will radiate infrared energy to the other. So, when you are in an infrared sauna, the heating panels radiate infrared energy to you. If you left the sauna and walked into a freezer, you would radiate infrared energy to the freezer walls.

Finally, since infrared is a type of light, all the rules that affect light affect infrared. Like light, it can travel through space and some solid objects that act as infrared “windows.” Also like light, the further away you get, the less you feel its effects. It also travels pretty much in a straight line, so if there is an obstruction, you’ll get an infrared shadow and you won’t feel the heat there.

Is infrared radiation dangerous?

Radiation! The word radiation brings up images of nuclear power gone awry and the “duck and cover” drills from the cold war. The truth is all light is radiation, and for the most part, infrared radiation is as dangerous as sunlight: If you limit your exposure and listen to your body, nothing bad will happen. If you don’t you will get burned (Infrared is heat, remember?).

How does an infrared sauna work?

The current crop of infrared saunas have heat-emitting panels that surround your body. Since these are essentially a type of light bulb, you can plug your sauna in, and turn it on and by the time you are undressed, it will be ready to use.

A good infrared sauna will have large panels on a bunch of different surfaces so that you can sit, stand or lie as you prefer inside of the sauna cabin. Less expensive models have smaller panels, so you may only use these units in their manufacturer’s preferred position. This may not be your preferred position.

To make the interior of the sauna cabin more comfortable, some manufacturers add an electric heater and fan to heat the air to a more comfortable temperature. Others add a small humidification device to make it easier to breathe the air inside. Still others go back to the old electric light bath design, and have a tent that encloses your body, while your head and hands are kept outside.

When you are inside, the heating panels transfer heat directly to your skin, without heating the air inside of the sauna. Since your skin is partly transparent to infrared, the heating takes place in your skin, giving your body a pleasant warming experience. Since the air is still cool, many people, especially those with respiratory or heat sensitivity issues, find these more comfortable than a traditional sauna.

So that’s the infrared sauna. Many sauna purists disparage these as toaster ovens. Of course, the infrared sauna industry brings some of this on themselves by making truly false claims. We’ll take a look at some of these claims in a future post.

Are infrared saunas the best new thing, or just a marketing gimmick? Let us know in the comments.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="162" caption="A slightly older version of an infrared sauna that uses infrared elements that emit visible light. Image by Alesa Dam via Flickr"][/caption] When we search the internet for "sauna" (and trust us, we search it a lot), most of the results and nearly all of the ads are for infrared saunas or their many synonyms: IR saunas, FIR saunas, far infrared saunas, or portable saunas. They are featured on TV, many spas have them - in fact, you can now even buy into an infrared sauna spa franchise. Like any new thing, there are proponents and detractors of this new type of sauna. But what is it, and how does it work? Some History Saunas have been around for nearly as long as modern man. Getting a good sweat in the sauna felt good to our early ancestors. Many people still believe it feels good today. It more than feels good, there are proven health benefits for regular sauna users. An open fire heated the original sauna. As technology improved, saunas became dedicated rooms or buildings that people would use. The fire was contained to keep the smoke out of the sauna: First by using rocks to store the heat, then by enclosing the fire in a stove. With the invention of electricity, fire was eliminated in most stoves and replaced with electric heating elements. Some of these electric stoves heat rocks like the original saunas of old, while others capitalized on the instant-on properties of electricity and sought to improve on the age-old design. [caption id="" align="alignright" width="126" caption="Image via Wikipedia"][/caption] The Corn Flakes Connection In the late 1890's, electricity and electric light bulbs had started to become popular. So much so that health researcher and Corn Flakes inventor, John Harvey Kellogg, installed a newly developed technology, the electric light bath, in his Battle Creek Sanarium. Thus, the infrared sauna was born. Infrared technology did not change much from the 1900's until the 1990's when light bulbs could be replaced with lightweight radiant heating panels.  Now a person could use the sauna without risking permanent blindness from all the light bulbs. Since these heaters emit nearly pure infrared rays instead of light, a sauna could be built that ran on normal household current. Some compare an infrared sauna to a microwave oven: It is inexpensive, compact, and can give a similar result to a larger piece of hardware in much less time. It is the perfect mass-market appliance. What is Infrared? [caption id="" align="alignright" width="180" caption="An infrared photo of two people. Image via Wikipedia"][/caption] Infrared rays are the secret to an infrared sauna. Infrared is a type of light, and it is a way of transferring heat. Let's go back to high school physics for a minute. If you take sunlight, and pass it through a prism, your eye can see a rainbow of colors. However, there is more light there that your eyes can't see. Where the red light ends, infrared begins. Infrared created by things that aren't very hot is called near infrared, because it is close to red light on the rainbow. Infrared created by things that are very hot is called far infrared, because it is further away from visible red light. If you spend any time studying heat transfer, what you find is that if there are two things close to one another, and they are at two different temperatures, one will radiate infrared energy to the other. So, when you are in an infrared sauna, the heating panels radiate infrared energy to you. If you left the sauna and walked into a freezer, you would radiate infrared energy to the freezer walls. Finally, since infrared is a type of light, all the rules that affect light affect infrared. Like light, it can travel through space and some solid objects that act as infrared "windows." Also like light, the further away you get, the less you feel its effects. It also travels pretty much in a straight line, so if there is an obstruction, you'll get an infrared shadow and you won't feel the heat there. Is infrared radiation dangerous? Radiation! The word radiation brings up images of nuclear power gone awry and the "duck and cover" drills from the cold war. The truth is all light is radiation, and for the most part, infrared radiation is as dangerous as sunlight: If you limit your exposure and listen to your body, nothing bad will happen. If you don't you will get burned (Infrared is heat, remember?). How does an infrared sauna work? The current crop of infrared saunas have heat-emitting panels that surround your body. Since these are essentially a type of light bulb, you can plug your sauna in, and turn it on and by the time you are undressed, it will be ready to use. A good infrared sauna will have large panels on a bunch of different surfaces so that you can sit, stand or lie as you prefer inside of the sauna cabin. Less expensive models have smaller panels, so you may only use these units in their manufacturer's preferred position. This may not be your preferred position. To make the interior of the sauna cabin more comfortable, some manufacturers add an electric heater and fan to heat the air to a more comfortable temperature. Others add a small humidification device to make it easier to breathe the air inside. Still others go back to the old electric light bath design, and have a tent that encloses your body, while your head and hands are kept outside. When you are inside, the heating panels transfer heat directly to your skin, without heating the air inside of the sauna. Since your skin is partly transparent to infrared, the heating takes place in your skin, giving your body a pleasant warming experience. Since the air is still cool, many people, especially those with respiratory or heat sensitivity issues, find these more comfortable than a traditional sauna. So that's the infrared sauna. Many sauna purists disparage these as toaster ovens. Of course, the infrared sauna industry brings some of this on themselves by making truly false claims. We'll take a look at some of these claims in a future post. Are infrared saunas the best new thing, or just a marketing gimmick? Let us know in the comments.

Image by Xavier de Jauréguiberry via Flickr

In the upcoming issue of The American Journal of Physiology – Heart and Circulatory Physiology, a team of Japanese physicians is publishing that regular sauna use may be a recovery method for heart attack victims.

The team induced heart attacks in two groups of rats. One group was allowed to recover normally. The other group was given two sauna baths a day in an infrared sauna. They found that the rats who were given the sauna baths were less likely to see heart tissue get re-purposed after the heart attack. They attribute this to the sauna helping to increase the amount of blood flow to the non-affected areas of the heart post-attack.

The sauna sessions the rats were given were very gentle: First a 15 minute session at 106°F (41°C) followed by a 20 minute session at 93°F (34°C).

With results like this, your doctor might soon be prescribing a daily sauna along with a baby aspirin every day. Personally, I’m waiting for the day when I can deduct a new sauna as a qualified medical expense.

For the full abstract, see “Repeated Sauna Therapy Attenuates Ventricular Remodeling After Myocardial Infarction in Rats by Increasing Coronary Vascularity of Non-infarcted Myocardium.” on PubMed.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="240" caption="Image by Xavier de Jauréguiberry via Flickr"][/caption] In the upcoming issue of The American Journal of Physiology – Heart and Circulatory Physiology, a team of Japanese physicians is publishing that regular sauna use may be a recovery method for heart attack victims. The team induced heart attacks in two groups of rats. One group was allowed to recover normally. The other group was given two sauna baths a day in an infrared sauna. They found that the rats who were given the sauna baths were less likely to see heart tissue get re-purposed after the heart attack. They attribute this to the sauna helping to increase the amount of blood flow to the non-affected areas of the heart post-attack. The sauna sessions the rats were given were very gentle: First a 15 minute session at 106°F (41°C) followed by a 20 minute session at 93°F (34°C). With results like this, your doctor might soon be prescribing a daily sauna along with a baby aspirin every day. Personally, I'm waiting for the day when I can deduct a new sauna as a qualified medical expense. For the full abstract, see "Repeated Sauna Therapy Attenuates Ventricular Remodeling After Myocardial Infarction in Rats by Increasing Coronary Vascularity of Non-infarcted Myocardium." on PubMed.

How long and how often can I safely sit in the Sauna? Image via Wikipedia

Reader Alex writes:

Dear Saunascape:

I’ve heard a lot about the benefits of using a sauna. When I take a sauna bath, is there a recommended amount of time I should spend in the sauna? How many days a week can I safely go in the sauna?

Thanks

Alex, we’ll start with the easy one first.

The sauna is safe to use every day.

Many people in Finland and Korea use the sauna every day. The safety of the sauna is backed up by numerous medical studies that have tested different populations, both healthy and ailing. All these studies have found that daily sauna users are at least as healthy as the control group who did not use the sauna. In many cases, the daily sauna users had measurable benefits over the non-sauna using group. These ranged from improved feelings of well being, to better sleep, to lower chances of catching a cold, even to lower blood pressure and weight loss and lowered blood insulin levels.

These tests have been made in many different types of sauna: From traditional Finnish-style saunas to gently-heated steam saunas and even in infrared saunas. All showed a benefit.

There are a few risks in the sauna: If you have heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes or are on any type of medicine, you should talk to your doctor first. The sauna can put a strain on your system and can make your body react differently to any medicine. There are reports of lowered sperm counts after a sauna. However, the Finns and Koreans have not gone extinct yet, so this should not be a huge concern for you or your partner. There is also some evidence that recovering from a strength-building workout in a warm environment can inhibit muscle growth.

Now for your second question, which is more difficult to answer:

How long can I stay in the sauna?

There are many different types of saunas out there, and all feel different. You want to stay in long enough that your body starts to really sweat, but not long enough that you begin to feel lightheaded or uncomfortable.

In my experience, this is about 5-20 minutes per round. It depends on the temperature of the sauna, the air movement inside the sauna, the humidity of the sauna, and even how you are feeling that day. Some people keep their saunas cool, and as long as you stay hydrated, you could spend the whole day in there. Others are blazing hot and spending five minutes inside feels like a lifetime.

A sauna should best be enjoyed in rounds, so you don’t want to just go in the sauna once. You will not get as much benefit from a single sauna session as you will from multiple rounds.

When you leave the sauna, you want to cool down. If your heart is healthy, the best way is to jump into cold water or stand under a cold shower. This contrast from hot to cold really sends your body into overdrive.

If the cold isn’t your thing, you can cool down in a warm shower, take a swim in a pool, or even just sit, relax and drink a cool beverage.

Once your body has stopped sweating, it is time to head back into the sauna or steam room. If you are using a Finnish sauna, the second round is a good time to sprinkle some water on the rocks to generate some steam in the sauna. This increases your feeling of the heat.

Conventional wisdom for many cultures says that you should take no more than three sauna rounds in a day. Any more and the sauna spirits who live behind the stove will think you are greedy. We have not seen any medical studies that explain this. However, like a lot of folktales, we can only assume that there was some basis in fact for these. Three sauna rounds feels better than two or four to us.

Good luck and enjoy the sauna!

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="300" caption="How long and how often can I safely sit in the Sauna? Image via Wikipedia"][/caption] Reader Alex writes: Dear Saunascape: I've heard a lot about the benefits of using a sauna. When I take a sauna bath, is there a recommended amount of time I should spend in the sauna? How many days a week can I safely go in the sauna? Thanks Alex, we'll start with the easy one first. The sauna is safe to use every day. Many people in Finland and Korea use the sauna every day. The safety of the sauna is backed up by numerous medical studies that have tested different populations, both healthy and ailing. All these studies have found that daily sauna users are at least as healthy as the control group who did not use the sauna. In many cases, the daily sauna users had measurable benefits over the non-sauna using group. These ranged from improved feelings of well being, to better sleep, to lower chances of catching a cold, even to lower blood pressure and weight loss and lowered blood insulin levels. These tests have been made in many different types of sauna: From traditional Finnish-style saunas to gently-heated steam saunas and even in infrared saunas. All showed a benefit. There are a few risks in the sauna: If you have heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes or are on any type of medicine, you should talk to your doctor first. The sauna can put a strain on your system and can make your body react differently to any medicine. There are reports of lowered sperm counts after a sauna. However, the Finns and Koreans have not gone extinct yet, so this should not be a huge concern for you or your partner. There is also some evidence that recovering from a strength-building workout in a warm environment can inhibit muscle growth. Now for your second question, which is more difficult to answer: How long can I stay in the sauna? There are many different types of saunas out there, and all feel different. You want to stay in long enough that your body starts to really sweat, but not long enough that you begin to feel lightheaded or uncomfortable. In my experience, this is about 5-20 minutes per round. It depends on the temperature of the sauna, the air movement inside the sauna, the humidity of the sauna, and even how you are feeling that day. Some people keep their saunas cool, and as long as you stay hydrated, you could spend the whole day in there. Others are blazing hot and spending five minutes inside feels like a lifetime. A sauna should best be enjoyed in rounds, so you don't want to just go in the sauna once. You will not get as much benefit from a single sauna session as you will from multiple rounds. When you leave the sauna, you want to cool down. If your heart is healthy, the best way is to jump into cold water or stand under a cold shower. This contrast from hot to cold really sends your body into overdrive. If the cold isn't your thing, you can cool down in a warm shower, take a swim in a pool, or even just sit, relax and drink a cool beverage. Once your body has stopped sweating, it is time to head back into the sauna or steam room. If you are using a Finnish sauna, the second round is a good time to sprinkle some water on the rocks to generate some steam in the sauna. This increases your feeling of the heat. Conventional wisdom for many cultures says that you should take no more than three sauna rounds in a day. Any more and the sauna spirits who live behind the stove will think you are greedy. We have not seen any medical studies that explain this. However, like a lot of folktales, we can only assume that there was some basis in fact for these. Three sauna rounds feels better than two or four to us. Good luck and enjoy the sauna!

photo by whoaitsaimz on Flickr

You can’t explore “sauna” on the internet very long without coming across infomercial style weight loss claims: “Lose weight fast! With our new Super Sauna, you’ll be burning up to 600 calories every half hour, all without moving a muscle! Act now! Operators are standing by!”

Meanwhile, the fitness gurus, like Chris Klebba all say “the effects of saunas on weight loss are due to a loss of water from sweating, not actual fat loss. Bottom line, forget it for fat loss.”

So who’s right? Well in a strange twist of science, both of them are wrong! Saunas do help with weight loss by helping the body to equalize the hormones that control our desire to overeat. Interestingly, they also help those who don’t eat enough to eat more. Better still, regular sauna users have better circulation, which can help prevent  atherosclerosis, and reverse the effects of coronary heart disease.

These are conclusions from a 2003 study that was conducted at Kagoshima University in Japan, where a team of researchers studied the effects of thermal therapy on lifestyle diseases. The study began as a test to see if heat bathing could be used as a way to improve the health of patients with congestive heart failure. The team noted improvement in both the symptoms and cardiac function of their subjects after a single session, and continued improvement with additional, regular sessions.

When they examined the underlying mechanism of these improvements, they hypothesized that a similar improvement in the health of paitents with lifestyle-related diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, smoking and obesity could also be improved with sauna therapy.

They tested a group of “at risk” people, who each had one or more of these conditions, and were not receiving treatment for any of these. What they found surprised them. After 2 weeks of daily sauna therapy at 140°F / 60°C, where their body temperature was elevated by 2°F / 1°C for 30 minutes, they found that blood pressure was significantly lowered.

Surprisingly, fasting plasma glucose, and body weight also went down for the group.

To study this further, they repeated the study with a group of 5 men and 5 women. For 2 weeks, they all ate a controlled diet of 1800 calories / day, and each took a single sauna session each day. At the end of the period, all 10 had lost weight, with their collective body fat falling from an average of 42% to 37%.

They did not attribute these results to calorie burn in the sauna, but instead to a better regulation of the body’s hormones that control appetite. They found that during the period, none of the subjects were not hungry as quickly, and did not tend to overeat or snack between meals.

The opposite effect was seen in coronary heart disease patients who were under eating as a result of their disease. Regular sauna sessions improved their appetite, and increased the quantity of food they consumed.

For the infrared marketers out there: Yes, this study was done in an infrared sauna, but they cited other similar research that was done using a hot bath. So these effects are not just for IR Sauna users.

[Clinical Implications of Thermal Therapy in Lifestyle-Related Diseases] via Stephen Colmant

[caption id="attachment_248" align="alignright" width="300" caption="photo by whoaitsaimz on Flickr"][/caption] You can't explore "sauna" on the internet very long without coming across infomercial style weight loss claims: "Lose weight fast! With our new Super Sauna, you'll be burning up to 600 calories every half hour, all without moving a muscle! Act now! Operators are standing by!" Meanwhile, the fitness gurus, like Chris Klebba all say "the effects of saunas on weight loss are due to a loss of water from sweating, not actual fat loss. Bottom line, forget it for fat loss." So who's right? Well in a strange twist of science, both of them are wrong! Saunas do help with weight loss by helping the body to equalize the hormones that control our desire to overeat. Interestingly, they also help those who don't eat enough to eat more. Better still, regular sauna users have better circulation, which can help prevent  atherosclerosis, and reverse the effects of coronary heart disease. These are conclusions from a 2003 study that was conducted at Kagoshima University in Japan, where a team of researchers studied the effects of thermal therapy on lifestyle diseases. The study began as a test to see if heat bathing could be used as a way to improve the health of patients with congestive heart failure. The team noted improvement in both the symptoms and cardiac function of their subjects after a single session, and continued improvement with additional, regular sessions. When they examined the underlying mechanism of these improvements, they hypothesized that a similar improvement in the health of paitents with lifestyle-related diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, smoking and obesity could also be improved with sauna therapy. They tested a group of "at risk" people, who each had one or more of these conditions, and were not receiving treatment for any of these. What they found surprised them. After 2 weeks of daily sauna therapy at 140°F / 60°C, where their body temperature was elevated by 2°F / 1°C for 30 minutes, they found that blood pressure was significantly lowered. Surprisingly, fasting plasma glucose, and body weight also went down for the group. To study this further, they repeated the study with a group of 5 men and 5 women. For 2 weeks, they all ate a controlled diet of 1800 calories / day, and each took a single sauna session each day. At the end of the period, all 10 had lost weight, with their collective body fat falling from an average of 42% to 37%. They did not attribute these results to calorie burn in the sauna, but instead to a better regulation of the body's hormones that control appetite. They found that during the period, none of the subjects were not hungry as quickly, and did not tend to overeat or snack between meals. The opposite effect was seen in coronary heart disease patients who were under eating as a result of their disease. Regular sauna sessions improved their appetite, and increased the quantity of food they consumed. For the infrared marketers out there: Yes, this study was done in an infrared sauna, but they cited other similar research that was done using a hot bath. So these effects are not just for IR Sauna users. [Clinical Implications of Thermal Therapy in Lifestyle-Related Diseases] via Stephen Colmant

Poll Answers
It’s time for a new poll here. This week, we’re wondering what is your favorite type of heat bath. Thanks for answering.

Poll Answers It's time for a new poll here. This week, we're wondering what is your favorite type of heat bath. Thanks for answering.

Dr. Oz and Oprah with an infrared sauna on her set.

Oprah had her regular medical guest, Dr. Oz on yesterday for her “Extreme Life Extension” episode.  In the same episode where he presented novel concepts like tissue regeneration, restricted calorie diets, hyperbaric oxygen chambers and custom-grown replacement organs, Dr. Oz presented an infrared sauna as an extreme life extension tool.

On the set, Dr. Oz had Oprah try out the sauna (dressed to the nines of course):

After a few minutes in the sauna, Oprah says she’s starting to feel the heat. Dr. Oz says the high temperature helps lower blood pressure and increase blood circulation. “It gets your heart to beat faster, and it burns calories,” Dr. Oz says. “It raises your metabolism a little bit, and also when you sweat, you sweat out toxins through the skin.”

As part of the piece Dr. Oz explained that the sauna helps you “burn 700 calories…without lifting a finger.”

I’m not a huge fan of infrared saunas, as I think you’re missing out on a lot of the sauna experience with them. (I’ll be writing more about this in the near future.) Another TV doctor, Dr. Weil, agrees with me on this topic. However, any show that features a sauna with 8.5 million daily viewers is a great help to promoting the sauna culture to more people.

I haven’t been able to find a video of this segment posted online anywhere. If you know of one please leave the link in the comments.

[caption id="attachment_142" align="alignright" width="290" caption="Dr. Oz and Oprah with an infrared sauna on her set."][/caption] Oprah had her regular medical guest, Dr. Oz on yesterday for her "Extreme Life Extension" episode.  In the same episode where he presented novel concepts like tissue regeneration, restricted calorie diets, hyperbaric oxygen chambers and custom-grown replacement organs, Dr. Oz presented an infrared sauna as an extreme life extension tool. On the set, Dr. Oz had Oprah try out the sauna (dressed to the nines of course): After a few minutes in the sauna, Oprah says she's starting to feel the heat. Dr. Oz says the high temperature helps lower blood pressure and increase blood circulation. "It gets your heart to beat faster, and it burns calories," Dr. Oz says. "It raises your metabolism a little bit, and also when you sweat, you sweat out toxins through the skin." As part of the piece Dr. Oz explained that the sauna helps you "burn 700 calories…without lifting a finger." I'm not a huge fan of infrared saunas, as I think you're missing out on a lot of the sauna experience with them. (I'll be writing more about this in the near future.) Another TV doctor, Dr. Weil, agrees with me on this topic. However, any show that features a sauna with 8.5 million daily viewers is a great help to promoting the sauna culture to more people. I haven't been able to find a video of this segment posted online anywhere. If you know of one please leave the link in the comments.