Unfortunately, toxins are not something you can avoid. They are everywhere — air, water, food and even on the things we wear, sit on, and put on our skin. You can go for a run and collect countless toxins from pesticides and insecticides used in parks, gardens or any maintained green surface on your route. If you take a walk in the city, you will be exposed to exhaust fumes from cars, factories and other known pollutant producers.

Being regularly exposed to toxins, human bodies store these hazardous materials which may lead to certain diseases and conditions impairing their health. While primary detoxification comes from the liver and kidneys, it was discovered that sweat can also be good for eliminating harmful agents from the body [1]. This is not a new practice and has been present across history as a method of improving health with sweat lodges and dry/wet saunas. As an example, sick mercury miners were sent to work in the heat as a method of eliminating the poisonous metal from their bodies [2].

Infrared saunas present the most comfortable way to sweat since they heat the body from the inside out without drastically increasing the air in the cabin. They have a wide spectrum of health benefits identified through studies and their practical use. Considering one of their main results is sweating, here is how an infrared sauna can help you detox.

Understanding How Toxins Attack

Modern society is not without its side effects. While the Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency are trying to identify and ban harmful chemicals, this is not a process that yields 100% results. For example, lead damages the lining of arteries and leads to hypertension even during chronic low exposure to this heavy metal [3].Also, low-level exposure to mercury can cause reproductive and cardiovascular toxicity [4]. The most common way to get this metal into your system is by eating fish and shellfish.

Another harmful chemical is Bisphenol A or BPA, which is present in epoxy resin and plastic products, like water bottles, toys, toiletries, etc. It is believed that it can alter thyroid function, influence growth, fetal development, reproduction, and other conditions. These and other toxins are in shampoos, lotions, dust, water — virtually everywhere. Once in the body, they can damage DNA, cell membranes, poison metabolic enzymes and displace important minerals. The good news is that some can be eliminated through perspiration [5].

A Little Bit About Sweating

Although the main function of sweating is to regulate body temperature, it can do more. Sweat is produced in sweat glands located in the armpits, on the feet and palms. The main ingredients of sweat are water and salt excreted from the body, but it can also consist of other substances, some of them considered harmful [6]. This lowers the internal quantities of these harmful chemicals and helps organs, such as kidneys and liver, to detox the body.

How An Infrared Sauna Can Help

People sweat all the time — when physically active, when one is nervous or during high temperatures. While this can be detoxifying, people do not sweat in the same way, and not all conditions can have the same effect on the body. Infrared therapy exposes the body to electromagnetic waves that can induce sweating by raising the temperature from within the body.

Traditional saunas are notorious for their stuffy air and unbearably high temperatures, causing many to avoid them. Water used in a steam sauna can contain metals, chemicals, chlorine, and fluoride — all released in the cabin during one session. Infrared saunas offer a completely different experience, even though they also depend on heat to induce sweating; the main difference being that they heat the airs lightly, making the inside of the booth soothing and pleasant.

Since infrared light penetrates deep into the skin, it causes more toxins to come out. It is no wonder that infrared therapy was used to improve the well-being of employees with chemical occupational hazards [7]. For example, American firefighters use infrared saunas for detoxifying– to sweat out from their systems the chemicals they come into contact with when doing their jobs. According to the International Association of Fire Fighters, 60% of firefighters die of cancer because they are constantly exposed to these toxins.

Choose To Sweat

Personal infrared saunas, like JNH Lifestyles’ Joyous Collection, are a great in-home solution you can install anywhere. They have spacious and comfortable booths offering a relaxing environment to detoxify your body. Toxins are invisible enemies and with all the best efforts to eliminate them from the environment, that is never going to be 100% possible. With an infrared sauna, you can take control of your health and make your body safer from all the environmental pollutants present in everyday life.

Sources:

[1]Sears, Margaret E, et al. (2012). “Arsenic, Cadmium, Lead, and Mercury in Sweat: A Systematic Review.” hindawi.com, Journal of Environmental and Public Health, February 2012, https://www.hindawi.com/journals/jeph/2012/184745/.

[2]Brown, Kendall W. (2001). “Workers' Health and Colonial Mercury Mining at Huancavelica, Peru.” cambridge.org, Cambridge University Press, December 2015, https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/americas/article/workers-health-and-colonial-mercury-mining-at-huancavelica-peru/86B15D8D87DD7A8F866305E22C4039A2.

[3]Navas-Acien,Ana,Guallar, Eliseo, et al. (2006). “Lead Exposure and Cardiovascular Disease—A Systematic Review.” ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, National Center for Biotechnology Information, December 2006, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1849948/.

[4]Genchi, Giuseppe, et all. (2017). “Mercury Exposure and Heart Diseases.” ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, National Center for Biotechnology Information, January 2017, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5295325/.

[5]Cohn JR, Emmett. (1978). “The excretion of trace metals in human sweat”. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, National Center for Biotechnology Information, July–August 1978, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/686643.

[6]Genuis, Stephen J, et al. (2010). “Blood, Urine, and Sweat (BUS) Study: Monitoring and Elimination of Bioaccumulated Toxic Elements.” link.springer.com, Springer Nature, Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, November 2010, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00244-010-9611-5.

[7]Parpaleĭ IA, et al. (1991). “The use of the sauna for disease prevention in the workers of enterprises with chemical and physical occupational hazards”. europepmc.org,Europe PMC, May 1991, https://europepmc.org/article/med/1866932#similar-articles.