Infrared Sauna Therapy

mPulse Infrared Sauna

Infrared sauna heat is a form of energy that is directly transmitted into objects via its specific wavelength. While traditional saunas generate heat by circulating hot air, the infrared sauna heat frequencies – usually in the 110-150°F range – warm you directly, penetrating up to 45mm into the body, where it can work on deep tissue and organs. Infrared heat is very gentle, similar to laying in the sun, but also allows a deep heat that is far superior to typical saunas from a health benefits perspective, and is more pleasant to experience. Infrared waves produce a deep, detoxifying sweat at the cellular level, where most toxins reside.

Traditional forms of heat therapy can be hazardous, uncomfortable, unhygienic, inefficient and ineffective. Traditional saunas create exposure to extremely high and often fluctuating temperatures, potentially causing heat stress and detrimental effects on health, especially for people with a heart condition or high blood pressure. By comparison, infrared saunas deliver a consistent, stable heat that works at a cellular level instead of an atmospheric level, at temperatures 70-100°F lower than the often stifling heat of wet and dry saunas.

Our sauna is a full spectrum infrared sauna, meaning that it emits not just far infrared heat, but also near and mid infrared.

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Benefits of Infrared Sauna

Detoxification

Sweating is the body’s safe and natural way to heal & stay healthy. Far infrared sauna benefits the body by heating it directly causing a rise in core temperature resulting in a deep, detoxifying sweat at the cellular level, where toxins reside.

Relaxation

Unlike traditional saunas which operate at extremely harsh temperatures, infrared is a gentle, soothing and therapeutic heat that promotes relaxation and improved sleep. Infrared sauna benefits include therapy that helps you relax while receiving an invigorating deep tissue sweat, leaving you fully refreshed after each session.

Lower Blood Pressure

Infrared saunas induce a deep sweat to make the heart pump faster, which in turn increases blood flow, lowers blood pressure and helps circulation. Scientific evidence shows the infrared sauna benefits using an infrared sauna a couple times a week lowers blood pressure.

Anti-Aging & Skin Purification

The near infrared wavelength (sometimes referred to as Red Light Therapy) is the most effective wavelength for healing the epidermis and dermis layers of the skin. Near infrared treatments stimulate collagen production to reduce wrinkles and improve overall skin tone.

Cell Health

Near infrared therapy stimulates the circulatory system and more fully oxygenate the body’s cells. Better blood circulation means more toxins flow from the cellular level to the skin’s surface to improve cell health, aid in muscle recovery and strengthen the immune system.

Weight Loss

Studies have shown that benefits of an infrared sauna session can burn upwards of 600 calories while you relax! As the body works to cool itself, there is a substantial increase in heart rate, cardiac output and metabolic rate, causing the body to burn more calories.

Pain Relief

Infrared heat penetrates tissue, joints, and muscles to relieve anything from minor aches and pains to chronic pain conditions such as fibromyalgia. Pain management professionals incorporate infrared heat therapy into treatment plans to decrease pain and muscle spasms and to speed up recovery time.

Improved Circulation

Heating the muscles with infrared rays produces an increase in blood flow similar to that seen during exercise. Regular infrared sauna use—especially in the mid infrared range—can significantly stimulate blood flow up to twice the normal rate.

Wound Healing

Scientific research has concluded that near infrared therapy greatly enhances the skin’s healing process by promoting faster cell regeneration and human tissue growth. Human cell growth increases to repair wounds and prevent infection.

More information on the benefits of Infrared Sauna are available from the manufacturer of our sauna at SunLighten.com

How Does Infrared Sauna Therapy Work?

What Is Far Infrared Technology?

An infrared sauna works differently from a traditional steam or dry sauna. A traditional sauna heats the environment around you, and you get hot in response to that environment. For a lot of people, the low oxygen level in an extremely hot and steamy environment can result in side effects such as nausea and dizziness and a reduced amount of time that can be tolerated. An infrared sauna, however, works by heating liquid within any object inside the sauna. That means you, comprised of somewhere between 60-70% water. The result is a much more comfortable environment that you can tolerate for much longer than a traditional sauna, producing the same, if not better, sweat response.

Infrared is the ‘warm’ energy in humans, animals and plants; the invisible part of the sun’s energy. It exists just outside the visible light spectrum, on the opposite end of that spectrum from ultraviolet light.

The intensity of Infrared produced by the human body constantly fluctuates. When its intensity is high, we feel healthy and are able to overcome ailments. When the Infrared begins to decline, we are subject to disease and illness and tend to age more quickly. We can be exposed to Infrared heat for hours and it will never cause our skin to burn. Infrared heat is completely healthy and safe for all living things.

Our bodies radiate far infrared energy through the skin at 3 to 50 microns, with most output at 9.4 microns. Our palms emit FIR energy also, between 8 and 14 microns. ‘Palm Healing’, an ancient tradition in China, has used the healing properties of far infrared rays for 3,000 years. These natural healers emit energy and heat radiating from their hands to heal, much the same as Reiki healers do. Current research conducted in Taiwan has measured significant far infrared energy emitted from the hands of Chi Gong masters.

Our sauna is a full spectrum infrared sauna, meaning you are exposed to not just far infrared, which is a typical form of infrared sauna therapy, but also to near and mid infrared. Hence, full spectrum. This diagram illustrates where these three forms of infrared heat sit on the light spectrum:

infrared_full_spectrum

Infrared + S.A.D. Therapy

Infrared + Seasonal Affective Disorder Treatment
Seasonal Affective Disorder treatment in Olympia, WAWe all know that the winter months can be pretty bleak in the Pacific Northwest. It’s one of the world’s epicenters for Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD, affecting approximately 30% of Pacific Northwesterners.  Often striking in October to November, when our sun exposure declines and our vitamin D levels drop, SAD is a major contributor towards debilitating depression throughout the winter.

Fortunately, in addition to our infrared sauna, our Fire & Water Room is also equipped with a 17,000 Kelvin color temperature light lamp that emits a full spectrum light, simulating the effect of exposure to summer sunlight.

The benefits of full spectrum “lightboxes” on seasonal affective disorder have been clinically proven over multiple decades of research. The Center for Environmental Therapeutics is a good resource for learning more about the scientific evidence supporting the therapeutic benefits of SAD lights.

Himalayan salt lampsIn addition to directly absorbing 17,000 Kelvin of winter blues-busting light, our lightbox also has a negative ionizer, releasing 4.5 x 10^14 Ions per second. This release of thousands of charged particles of energy is similar to what experienced when near nature’s most beautiful environments, such as rainforests and waterfalls.

Combined with our resident Himalayan salt lamps that also release Ions into the air, a session in the infrared sauna with our full spectrum light helps off-set the damaging effects of electromagnetic frequencies that are all around us.

These combined features of infrared sauna sessions not only help those with seasonal affective disorder, but those yearning for a holistic approach to decreasing low mood and energy with a chemical-free solution.

Negative Ions Explanation

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Book An Infrared Sauna Session

All Full Spectrum Infrared Sauna sessions are held in our Dojo room, and are 45 minutes long, giving you a full 30 minutes of private sauna time plus 15 minutes for a shower. Or you can take a 44 minute sauna and have no shower. You’re choice! If you’d like longer than this, just give us a call at 360-972-3031 and we’d be happy to book you two sessions back to back.

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If you’d like, you can bring a guest with you for an additional $10. Our sauna comfortably seats two average-sized people.
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Float Club Members: You get a free infrared sauna session each month with your membership. Just book yourself a regular 45 minute sauna session, and it will be paid for from your membership benefits.

Sauna Club Members: Similarly, book yourself a regular 45 minute sauna session, and it will be paid for from your Sauna Club membership benefits.

We do not recommend sauna sessions any longer than 60 minutes, and if you are working on a specific form of detoxification, such as heavy metals, biofilm or a pathogen, you should consult your doctor first and limit your sessions to 15-20 minutes. See the FAQs section below for more details.

Book by phone: (360) 972-3031

Pricing

Sauna Package

10 Sessions: $150 (25% discount off regular pricing)
Add a 2nd person to a session for just $10

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Sauna Club Monthly Membership

10 Session Sauna Club Membership: $150  (25% discount)

  • Member Session Length: All member sessions allow 30 minutes in the sauna, plus a few extra minutes for a shower. You can schedule two back-to-back if you’d like a full 60 min session.
  • Session Banking: If you don’t use all 10 sessions within a month, they’ll just roll over – or bank – to the next month, and continue to accumulate until you use them all. Basically, they’re your sessions, you bought them; you get to use them whenever you want
  • Share Your Sessions: You can share your Sauna Club Membership sessions with friends and family, or give them away as gifts. We’d be happy to provide you with a nice gift certificate, “written” off of your Sauna Club membership.
  • Sweat With Your Sweet For Free: With a Sauna Club membership, your significant other or friend can join your sauna session for no extra cost.

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Free Monthly Session For Float Club Members

As a benefit of membership to Oly Float’s Float Club, all members receive a free monthly 30 minute Infrared Sauna session. Following up your float session with an infrared session is doubling-down on your health benefits at The Soul Space. With your body and mind in a fully relaxed post-float state already – with your parasympathetic nervous system unwound and ready for healing – the benefits of 30 minutes in the infrared sauna are compounded.

FAQs

Frequently asked questions:

Q:Under which conditions should I NOT use an infrared sauna?

You should not use the sauna if you have any known medical condition that is exacerbated by dehydration, overheating, or electrolyte depletion; or are currently on any medication that affects blood circulation.

You should avoid sauna use completely in the case of:

  • Stroke
  • Severe aortic stenosis
  • Recent myocardial infarction (heart attack)
  • Unstable angina pectoris
  • Lupus erythematosus, if you are on steroids
  • Brain tumors

Avoid sauna use completely unless under the care of a doctor with expertise in sauna detoxification in the case of:

  • Multiple sclerosis
  • Silicone implants

Check with your doctor in the case of:

  • Your specific medical condition
  • Pacemakers (check with doctor and manufacturer)
  • Pins, rods and other implants, such as cochlear implants
  • Diabetes (due to potentital impact on blood sugar)

If you any medical concerns about using sauna, always consult your doctor – particularly, a doctor experienced with sauna therapy – before using one. Dr. Evan Hirsch at the Hirsch Center for Integrative Medicine is an excellent resource.

Q:What should I bring with me?

As with floating, just you! We provide all the towels and shower soap you need, as well as a fresh supply of filtered water.

Q:What do I wear?

In order to minimize clean-up, we’ll ask you to wear one of our spa robes while in the sauna. If you’d prefer, you can wear a tank top and sit on a towel. Basically, we try to minimize direct sweat contact on the seat.

Q:How hot does the sauna get?

The recommended temperature range for infrared sauna sessions is 120-150 degrees. Infrared heat is a different type of heat than traditional wet or dry saunas, so while you do sweat you don’t feel as hot as you might in a traditional sauna. If you have concerns about getting too hot, start out at the low end – 120 degrees – and adjust upwards from there based on your comfort level. You have full control over the temperature while you’re in the sauna.

Q:Is it safe to use if I have heavy toxification?

Infrared Sauna therapy is an outstanding treatment option for detoxifying the body. Please be aware, though, that we do not have a doctor on staff and we do not provide medical consultation for you while using our infrared sauna. If you have concerns about the interaction of infrared heat with any level of known toxicity that you aware of, or are otherwise working on a chronic health issue, we recommend only using our sauna under the guidance of a doctor.

Dr. Evan Hirsch at The Hirsch Center for Integrative Medicine is an outstanding physician who is well educated in the therapeutic use of infrared sauna for detoxification. We recommend working with him if you are dealing with a chronic toxicity burden, and formulating a plan for how often, and for how long, you should use our infrared sauna.

Q:Do I need to consult a doctor prior to using the sauna?

No. But if you’re working on a chronic health issue and even have this question in your mind, we recommend you do work with a qualified doctor to integrate far infrared sauna therapy into your treatment program wisely.

Dr. Evan Hirsch at The Hirsch Center for Integrative Medicine is an outstanding physician who is well educated in the therapeutic use of far infrared sauna for detoxification. We recommend working with him if you are dealing with a chronic toxicity burden, and formulating a plan for how often, and for how long, you should use our far infrared sauna.

Q:What’s the lowest-cost way I can use your IR sauna?

See the Pricing tab for details on getting infrared sauna sessions at up to 50% off the regular cash rate. We want the sauna to be as accessible as possible, especially for those working on chronic health issues (we know how those medical bills can add up!), and offer a variety of ways of reducing the per-session cost.

Q:What type of S.A.D. light therapy do you use?

We use a Naturebright lamp, which emits 17,000 Kelvin of blue light. You can find out more at naturebright.com.

Q:Does the S.A.D. light therapy boost vitamin D?

No. This is a common misconception with light therapy. Only ultraviolet light boosts vitamin D production. The Naturebright light that we have available with the sauna operates by exposing your eyes (and therefore brain) to 17,000 Kelvin of blue light. We couldn’t really word it any better than the Naturebright people, so here’s an explanation from their web site:

“By harnessing the healing powers of the blue sky — Nature Bright’s gold standard — Sky Effect™ technology produces a prescription strength light — an optimized amount of blue light rated at 17,000 degrees Kelvin. It’s cool, safe, and comfortable. When you think about how many medical experts are recommending light therapy, it’s hard to argue: This technology is just what the doctor ordered!

Okay, so studies have proven that our highly refined, clinically tested branch of light therapy works … but how does it work? The basic idea is that the eye’s retinal receptor senses blue light and sends signals to the hypothalamus, that area of the brain where sleep and emotive functions are regulated. Extra blue light signals can help us get back on track if we’re restless, nervous, or have just travelled across time zones.

This recently discovered receptor also affects the secretion of a hormone that is key to regulating our circadian rhythms: MELATONIN. When it senses darkness coming on, melatonin goes into production and signals to our body that it’s time for sleep. It even dips our blood pressure. This could be why it is often referred to as the “hibernation hormone.”

As you can imagine, daytime melatonin can present challenges, such as depressive disorders, irritability, moodiness, disorientation or energy drains. You certainly don’t want to hibernate your day away! Almost everyone with a mood disorder suffers worse in the winter because of excess melatonin in his or her system.

NatureBright’s bright light therapy™, which is light therapy that leverages their Sky Effect™ technology, does a spectacular job of suppressing melatonin – on schedule, even on dark days or when the body’s clock seems to have a mind of its own. This fact has led many clinicians to use light to treat depression successfully. It often outperforms standard antidepressants.

Q:What do I do while I’m in there?

You can do nothing. We love nothing here at Soul Space. We don’t do nothing often enough in our culture.

But if just sitting and being is, well, boring … you can:

  • Read while you’re in there; the air itself isn’t humid, so books won’t get wet and messed up. Your hands may get sweaty, though, so maybe turn pages carefully. 🙂
  • Listen to music, podcasts or audio books; our sauna has an audio system that you can connect your phone or other media device to, either through a wired connection or via bluetooth, so you can control the audio from inside the sauna
  • Use your phone; if you must. We highly recommend just taking a break from devices for 30 minutes, keeping them on Airplane Mode while you relax. But … we have successfully tested iPhones in there without any apparent overheating issue in a typical 30-45 minute session, though phones have overheated at longer exposure times than that. Take in electronics at your own risk.

Q:Should I smoke a bowl or get some drinks in first to, you know, relax?

In a word: no! Any state of mind alteration – whether it’s from drugs, alcohol or plants – is a danger when combined with high heat. Never consume alcohol, marijuana, or recreational drugs prior to using a sauna.

Q:Can children use the infrared sauna?

Children, particularly before puberty, don’t have the same ability to regulate their body temperature, so there’s definitely some watch-outs for younger kids with any kind of sauna as they are more at risk of heat exhaustion or heat stroke. We don’t allow children under 8 to use our sauna. Children between 8 and 15 can use it with a parent sitting in the room with them (not in the sauna, necessarily; but in the room). And young adults between ages 15 and 18 can use the sauna with a parent available in the building at all times.

We require the first 1-2 sessions for a minor to be limited to 15 minutes, just to see how their bodies react. If they can handle 15 minutes without any apparent negative effects of overheating, they can extend further sessions to 30 minutes. We do not allow sessions longer than 30 minutes for minors.

As always, remind your child about the importance of thorough hydration after use of a sauna.

This article has some good information on kids and saunas.

 

Free Monthly Session For Members

As a benefit of our 2+ session membership plans is that members receive a free monthly 30 minute Infrared Sauna session every month. Following up your float session with an infrared session is doubling-down on your health benefits at The Soul Space. With your body and mind in a fully relaxed post-float state already – with your parasympathetic nervous system unwound and ready for healing – the benefits of 30 minutes in the infrared sauna are compounded.