Discover how getting into the infrared sauna habit can help your body break down unwanted body fat.

Losing weight - and keeping it off – is no easy task. With all of the tempting calorie dense foods that saturate our world, that’s hardly surprising. Throw in our sedentary lifestyle and you’ve got a recipe for fat loss frustration.

Successful weight loss takes balanced, healthy nutrition and regular exercise.

But it requires more than that.

There are a number of lifestyle habits that can help you to achieve your weight loss goals. One of them is to have regular sessions in an infrared sauna.

Let’s discover why.

The Sauna Weight Loss Connection

A sauna is a room that is heated to temperatures of 150 to 195°F. People typically spend between 15 to 30 minutes in them for relaxation and health benefits. The body’s outward response to time spent in a sauna is to sweat. This may cause a slight decrease in body weight due to the loss of water weight. However, that weight will return as soon as you re-hydrate [1].

The real fat loss benefits of an infrared sauna session come, not from short term water loss, but from the detoxifying effects of sweating. A consequence of living in this modern world is that our bodies become filled with toxins. These poisonous compounds come through the foods we eat and the air we breathe. They then get stored in our body fat.

When you use a sauna, the heat that you are exposed to goes to work on your fat cells. It separates the bonds between the toxins and your cells, allowing the toxins to be removed with your sweat.

With the toxins released from your fat cells, your body can more easily breakdown stored body fat to be used as energy.

There is also a thermogenic effect to spending time in the sauna. As your body temperature increases, so does your metabolism, burning more calories in the process. This effect is small but, when combined with diet and exercise, can significantly improve results.

The Added Benefit Of Infrared Saunas

Radiant heat is a form of energy that heats objects directly through conversion without heating the surrounding air. This radiant heat is from the infrared band of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Approximately two thirds of the heat waves emitted by infrared saunas are in the ideal penetration range for humans of around 9.4 microns. This produces a mild fever-like effect without the illness. This induced fever effectively remove toxins from the body’s fat cells.

Infrared saunas differ from conventional saunas in that they only heat around 20% of the surrounding atmosphere within the cabin. The remaining 80% of heat waves are able to concentrate on the body. That’s why infrared saunas are considered to be a source of direct heat compared to the indirect heat of conventional saunas. They heat the body without heating the surrounding air [2].

As a result of this ability to keep the surrounding air cool, many people find an infrared sauna to be far more comfortable than a conventional sauna. They no longer have to breathe in hot air which can feel very stifling.

The bottom line is that an infrared sauna will do a far more effective job of heating the body. This will result in more toxins being released through sweat. Research demonstrates that the resultant perspiration from an infrared sauna session contains 90% toxins [3].

Other Health Benefits

In addition to the indirect fat loss benefits of toxin removal from the stored fat cells of the body, infrared saunas provide the following health benefits:

• Improved skin tone
• Reduced muscle and joint tenderness
• Faster healing of cuts and bruises
• Improved sleep
• Reduced stress

How To Get The Most Out An Infrared Sauna

Want to maximize the detoxifying effect of your time in the sauna? Here are seven tips that’ll help boost the fat burn and make the experience more comfortable.

• Preheat the sauna to 100-120 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Enter after 15 minutes.
• Place folded 100% cotton towels on the benches of the sauna and on the floor to absorb wetness.
• Drink a full glass of water before going into the sauna and take water in with you.
• Wear minimal clothing; the more skin that is exposed, the greater the detoxifying effect.
• Do not stay in for more than 60 minutes.
• Follow up your session with a shower.

Final Word

An infrared sauna will not deliver the magic bullet to catapult you to your weight loss goals. What it will do is to supplement your existing nutrition and exercise habits by removing the toxins from your fat cells. This will then free up those unwanted cells to be converted to energy. Apply all three strategies – diet, exercise and infrared saunas - and you’ll not only lose the unwanted weight; you’ll keep it off!

References:

[1] Pietro De, MaryAnn, (2019). “What Are The Benefits And Risks Of A Sauna?” medicalnewstoday.com, Red Ventures Company, 17 June 2019, https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/313109.

[2] Vatansever, Fatma & Hamblin, Michael, (2013). “Far infrared radiation (FIR): its biological effects and medical applications.” ncbi.nim.nih.gov, US National Library of Medicine National Institute of Health, 1 November, 2013, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3699878/.

[3] Black, Kathie (2011). “Need for Heat: A Complete Guide to Far-Infrared Saunas.” scribd.com, Khosla Ventures, 23 September 2011, https://www.scribd.com/read/206627040/Need-for-Heat-A-Complete-Guide-to-Far-Infrared-Saunas#.