By Benjamin Canon

Like a traditional steam sauna, FAR Infrared Saunas have various health benefits for people who use them, and both work in the same way by causing the body to sweat out harmful toxins that lay in the skin. However they are very different from each other, mainly by how the traditional sauna uses steam to raise the temperature of the air and the body, while an infrared sauna uses infrared rays to heat up just the body and provides a more direct application of heat. Similar to the rays that cause heat from the sun, infrared emitters penetrate much deeper into the skin to release toxins through sweating, and because there are no ultraviolet rays in infrared rays, its much more healthier than traditional sweating methods which usually involve heat from the sun. The deep penetrating infrared rays also help to kick start different metabolism activity to help detoxify the body and burn calories.

There are several more health benefits to using infrared-ray saunas, including helping reduce pain in situations of muscular pain and physical fatigue. Because an infrared sauna applies direct heat to the body and doesn’t cause the overall air temperature to increase, a user could use the sauna for a much longer period of time than with a standard steam sauna. This is beneficial because long sweating sessions are a great way to help detoxify the body and remove unwanted materials from the body without running the risk of dehydration. Infrared-rays have also been found to help with reducing muscular stress and tension, as well as help with deep cleaning and eradicating impurities of skin cells. Other benefits include increasing hormone levels, improving muscle growth, reducing cellulite, and purifying the tone and color of human skin.

Another benefit of infrared saunas over steam saunas is price – the operating costs of using an infrared sauna are significantly lesser than those of a steam sauna. A traditional steam sauna could take anywhere between 30 to 90 minutes to get to optimal temperatures, where as an infrared sauna takes up to 20 minutes – this difference in time plays a huge factor in operating costs of the saunas. The installation costs of an infrared sauna are also much cheaper and can take a relative short amount of time, where as installing a steam sauna could take days and require both an electrician and a plumber in most cases. In the end there is no doubt that the financial and health benefits of an infrared sauna far outweigh those of the steam sauna.

Benjamin Canon is a pool, sauna, and spa designer based out of New York. An avid runner, he is a proponent for infrared sauna pain treatments while he trains for a 2011 triathlon that he is entering. Benjamin also volunteers with an animal rescue operation in his free time.

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