Saunas are a common feature in fitness centers, spas, and even in some homes. They can give you a sweat session that can make you feel relaxed, relieve sore muscles and go a long way in improving your health and well-being.

Saunas can often have extreme heat that some people may find uncomfortable and traditional saunas have temperatures that can produce heat that is as high as 180 degrees Fahrenheit and can be overwhelming for those who are sensitive to heat. Steam saunas will have lower temperatures but use large amounts of heated steam that creates a humid atmosphere. Infrared sauna heaters, on the other hand, will produce temperatures that are between 120 and 150 degrees and are, therefore, milder and bearable.

The heat from infrared sauna travels deeper into the body and this helps you to sweat at lower temperatures. The power needed to run infrared sauna heaters is almost a third of that required for a traditional sauna, and this makes them much more economical to run. These heaters heat the surrounding air just like traditional saunas do, but do so to a lesser degree. These heaters emit a specific wavelength of infrared light and this wavelength is absorbed by the skin, which in turn causes the temperature of the body to rise. The effects are the same as in traditional saunas but the overall heat required is far less.

In an infrared sauna the body heats up much before the air around is heated, which is a reverse of what occurs in traditional saunas. In these saunas, 20 percent of the heat goes to heating the air, while the other 80 percent directly increases the heat in the body. Environments in saunas that use infrared heaters are more tolerable, allowing a person to stay in the sauna for a longer time, and can increase core body temperatures by anywhere between two and three degrees.

The use of these saunas can help in improving sleep, allowing you to relax, help in detoxification, weight loss, give relief from sore muscles and joint pains, lead to clearer and tighter skin, improve circulation and be of great help to people who suffer from chronic fatigue. The use of infrared heaters for saunas has not been reported for any negative effects, other than the normal problems that even traditional saunas have, like dehydrating, overheating, and possibly interfering with mediation. Using them constantly requires the same care that is otherwise required in saunas of all kinds.