4 Tips for Staying Safe & Healthy in the Heat

The heat can certainly take its toll in the warmer months of the year. And with the hotter months seeming to last longer and longer, it’s important to know how to safely be exposed to heat. To avoid heat sickness, dehydration, or other ailments caused by heat, use these tips to ensure your summer and beyond is safe and enjoyable – whether you’re sweating it out under the sun or in an infrared sauna.

Summer Heat Safety Tips

Stay Hydrated

Staying hydrated is always the number one priority when it comes to your health. This tip applies every day, not just when you’re in the heat! However, staying hydrated while in the heat is more of a safety tip than a general health tip. When you are hot you tend to sweat more, which in turn makes your body lose water at a faster rate than usual. Becoming dehydrated is a serious risk in extreme heat, especially if it is accompanied by vigorous exercise. Always have water on hand if you are exercising outdoors, and know where you can easily find water elsewhere if doing any other activity.

If you are continually drinking water but still feel dehydrated, look into incorporating electrolytes into your water. Electrolytes can help replenish essential minerals such as sodium, calcium, and potassium that help you properly maintain water and stay healthy.

Wear Appropriate Clothing

In the hotter months, what you wear is especially important. Look at the weather and determine your activities if you can before leaving the house to get a good gauge of what to wear. Choose clothes that are lightweight and breathable that won’t trap additional heat. Material really matters here, as one tank top can be itchy and hot while another is lightweight and cooling.

It also helps to have clothing that can protect you from the sun, which can cause serious injuries such as sunburn with prolonged exposure. Sleeves might not immediately sound comfortable in the heat, but lightweight sleeves can be barely noticeable while protecting you from the sun’s rays.

Avoid Prolonged Exposure

Spending too much time in the heat can lead to some fairly serious if not careful. A large part of heat illness prevention is avoiding prolonged exposure if you can. In the event of heat or sun exposure becoming too overwhelming for you, seek out shade or a way to cool yourself down. Removing yourself from the situation might not always be an option, so it helps to research your activity beforehand so you can be prepared to bring your own source of shade or cooling.

When exposed to the heat for any amount of time, if you are feeling faint, then rest! Listen to your body when it is telling you that you’re reaching your limits. Do activities in the heat in increments to get your body acclimated to the temperature. Heat can make any activity even more strenuous on your body.

Use Sun Protection

As mentioned above, protecting your skin from sun exposure is highly recommended. If you are exposed to heat outdoors, you’re likely getting hit with the sun’s rays as well. Protect yourself with sun protection such as sunscreen, UV shirts, hats, and sunglasses. Sun damage cannot be reversed, and even small amounts of exposure can build up over time. And whether or not you’ve been in the sun, extend your skin protection by using moisturizers and drinking water. Moisturized skin is healthy skin and can help alleviate discomfort from dry skin or burns.

Heat-Related Illnesses

Sunburn

If you are spending time outside, you run the risk of spending too much time in the sun – which can cause a red, irritated, and painful sunburn to occur. If your sunburn lasts for more than a few days or you experience extreme symptoms, seek the help of a medical provider. Excessive or extreme sunburns can lead to the growth of skin cancer over time, so it’s important to take steps to prevent sunburn.

Heat Exhaustion

Heat exhaustion happens when your body fails to cool itself and overheats due to dehydration, overactivity, or extreme heat. Symptoms typically consist of dizziness, excessive sweating, nausea, muscle cramps, and headache. If you think you are experiencing heat exhaustion, stop whatever activity you are doing, move to shade or a cool spot, and drink chilled water.

Heatstroke

If the symptoms of heat exhaustion are ignored, the condition can progress into heatstroke. Like heat exhaustion, your body has failed to cool itself down to a healthy level, which can cause systems to shut down. Heatstroke is a serious condition and should be treated by a medical professional immediately to prevent damage to the heart, brain, kidney, and muscles.

Sauna Heat Safety Tips

While heat exhaustion and heat stroke can sound pretty daunting, especially when they can happen pretty quickly if exposed to extreme heat. So what does that mean for saunas? It depends on the type! A far infrared heater with a surface temperature of approximately 180-200° F, like our Clearlight True Wave™ Heaters, produces much higher quality far infrared heat than a heater running at 450 degrees or, as some heaters do, 700 degrees. This makes the risk of heat-related illness lower in infrared saunas than in traditional saunas.

No matter if you use a traditional sauna or an infrared sauna, exposure to heat can be safe and healthy with the right precautions. There are a number of things to keep in mind with heat illness prevention in a sauna. The most important thing to take into consideration is your comfort level. If you are feeling uncomfortable in the heat after 5 minutes, then end your session there. You can gradually work your way up until you’re comfortable with a longer session. Always have water on hand to keep yourself hydrated, and wear appropriate clothing to avoid overheating.

Whether using a sauna or feeling the heat from the sun, keep these heat safety tips in mind to keep you healthy! Heat can be an excellent tool in your health, and when handled properly, you’ll be able to enjoy more time in the heat without fear of heat illness.

What is Sound Therapy? The Healing Properties of Sound

Sound can be a healing experience for many reasons, from soothing music to therapeutic vibrations. There are many benefits of sound therapy, including reduced stress, pain relief, and improved memory. Learn more about the healing properties of sound and how you can incorporate sound therapy into your health and wellness routine.

What is Sound Therapy?

Sound healing therapy uses aspects of music to improve physical and emotional health and well-being. How it works depends on the method being used. Most music therapy sessions are experienced one-on-one with a specially trained practitioner. Sound therapy may involve listening to music, singing along to music, moving to the beat of the music, meditating to sound or guided meditation, playing an instrument, or feeling the vibrations of the sound.

A session may involve sitting or lying down while listening to music or sounds from a speaker or instruments, or having vibrations applied using a special tool, such as a tuning fork. Depending on the method, you may be encouraged to participate by singing, moving, or even using a musical instrument, or you may need to remain still and quiet to let the sounds take effect. Along with voice, different instruments used in music therapy include singing bowls, tuning forks, pan flutes, harps, drums, and any other instrument that has high vibrations.

Sound Therapy Benefits

Throughout history, music has been used to boost morale in military troops, help people work faster and more productively, and even ward off evil spirits by chanting. More recently, research has linked music to a number of health benefits, from boosting immune function and lowering stress levels to improving the health of premature babies. Depending on which sound therapy technique you choose, sound therapy benefits may include:

Bone pain relief	Lowered cholesterol
Decreased anxiety	Muscle pain relief
Decreased depression	PTSD relief
Decreased mood swings	Reduced blood pressure
Improved emotional balance	Reduced PMS symptoms
Improved memory	Reduced risk of heart disease
Improved physiological health	Reduced risk of stroke
Improved psychological health	Released tension
Improved sleep	Stress reduction

Types of Sound Therapy

Brainwave Entrainment

Also known as binaural beats or functional music, this method stimulates the brain into a specific state using pulsing sound to encourage your brain waves to align to the frequency of the beat. It’s supposed to help induce enhanced focus, entranced state, relaxation, and sleep. Though more research is needed, there’s some evidence that audible brainwave entrainment reduces anxiety, pain, and symptoms of premenstrual syndrome, as well as improves behavioral problems in children. This is a very popular biohacking technique for inducing a meditative, relaxed state.

Guided Meditation

Guided meditation is a form of sound healing in which you meditate to voiced instruction, either in a session or class, or using a video or app. Meditation can involve sounds such as chanting or repeating mantras or prayers, listening to a peaceful description of a setting or scenario, breathwork guidance. Research has found that guided meditation offers a number of health benefits including reduced stress, improved memory, pain reduction, and lowered cholesterol. There are plenty of apps, videos, and playlists available for any length of meditation – whether it’s only 5 minutes or 2 hours.

Neurologic Music Therapy

Music therapy can reduce stress and promote relaxation. It’s been shown to be more effective than prescription drugs in reducing anxiety levels before surgery. A study published in 2017 found that a 30-minute music therapy session combined with traditional care after spinal surgery reduced pain. Music therapy is administered by a credentialed provider who assesses the individual’s needs. Treatment involves creating, listening, singing, or moving to music. It’s used for physical rehab, pain management, and brain injuries.

Tuning Fork Therapy

Tuning fork therapy uses calibrated metal tuning forks to apply specific vibrations to different parts of the body. This can help release tension and energy, and promote emotional balance. It supposedly works similarly to acupuncture, using sound frequencies for point stimulation instead of needles. There is research suggesting that tuning fork therapy may help relieve muscle and bone pain, and some say other benefits include better digestion, reduced inflammation, balanced nervous system, and improved sleep.

Vibrational Resonance Therapy

Vibrational resonance therapy (VRT), also known as acoustic resonance therapy (ART), promotes relaxation and healing through the use of sound and vibration. Listening and feeling the music simultaneously allows the body to naturally relax into the harmonic flow, thus allowing the body to reset and return to its natural state of being. With musical harmonic resonance, the body will relax stressed muscles and joints and activate neural-pathways in the brain to help create mental focus and stable heart rate. When the body and mind are able to relax into a state of peaceful listening, it is able to stimulate endorphins that promote balance in the body’, which in turn boosts the immune system.

Using Sound Therapy in a Sauna

Including sound therapy in your home sauna sessions enhances the rejuvenating properties of infrared therapy. Think of it as a light touch massage for your body and mind during your sauna session.

You can easily combine the benefits of sound therapy with the benefits of an infrared sauna. In Clearlight saunas, vibration resonance therapy modules can be attached to the bottom of the sauna bench and use an amplified audio signal to resonate sound waves to the surface of the sauna. Additionally, you can incorporate other forms of sound therapy in your sauna by playing audio. Make a playlist of calming music to play during your session, or tap into the many benefits of guided meditation through the speakers of your sauna.

No matter which sound therapy techniques you choose to try, you will be amazed by just how much sound can improve your health and wellbeing. Whether you simply dance to your favorite song or you tune in to the vibrations of the sound around you, sound has proven throughout history to be a powerful health tool.

Summer Sweat: Benefits of Sweating in the Summer

With summer here, many of us will fail in our attempts to avoid a little perspiration. But that summer sweat may not be such a bad thing. Along with sweat serving as our very own built-in air conditioner, sweating it out can have many other surprising health benefits you may have never known about. Not only are there many benefits of sweating for our bodies, but it helps keep our beauty regimens keep on track as well.

Along with sweat promoting our general health and well-being, research has shown that sweating, especially in terms of sweating in a sauna, can reduce the risk of death due to heart problems. This is due to the similarities of a sauna experience with exercise. Sitting in a sauna increases the heart rate makes you sweat. How else can adding sauna sessions help you this summer?

The Top 7 Benefits of Sweating

It Cools You Down

The most direct benefit of sweating, which many of us already recognize as its ultimate purpose, is to maintain our body temperature and keep us from overheating. When our heart rate increases, speeding up our blood flow and warming us up, that is the cue for our bodies to release sweat. When sweat evaporates off the skin, it serves as a cooling mechanism to prevent overheating. Even though we sweat when we feel our hottest, it’s actually our body’s way of helping us cool down.

It Eases Pain

Did you wake up with back pain? Are you sore from yesterday’s workout? The best way to relieve your pain may be to work up a sweat. It might be very tempting to skip this step since pain will make you want to stay sidelined. But trust us, increasing your heart rate and working up a sweat is one of the best things you can do for your pain while sitting around will just make you even more stiff and sore. When you are experiencing pain, you can still sweat it out in a quick 15-minute sauna session. It will help eliminate toxins, relax the body, and ease sore muscles.

It Gets Rid of Toxins

Our bodies are subject to a lot of toxins throughout our everyday lives. They come from the pollution in the air, our food, and are even created naturally inside the body. Sweating is a great way to expel those toxins from the body, which serves to better your immune system. Proper immune system function is very important in that it protects us from little illnesses like the common cold, and even more serious diseases. The benefits of sweating can also help get rid of substances in your system like alcohol, cholesterol, and salt. Hit the treadmill, go for a bike ride, and spend time hanging out in a sauna to work up a summer sweat and detoxify your body to feel better.

It Clears Up Your Skin

You know those pesky blackheads that you just can’t seem to get rid of, no matter how much you scrub? Set down the face masks, because sweat can actually help eliminate blackheads and other blemishes. Sweating doubles as a natural pore cleanser since your pores open up and release the buildup inside of them when you sweat. This is most effective only if you cleanse immediately after you sweat. If you skip washing off for a while after a sweat session, then you are allowing all the grime that has been released from your pores to stay resting on your skin.

It Prevents Illness

Along with keeping our immune systems healthy by ridding our bodies of the toxins, working up a sweat helps prevent us from getting sick. There are many viruses and bacteria that thrive at our regular body temperature, but die off when our bodies heat up to above 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. Studies have shown that human sweat serves as a natural germ shield. We can confidently say that no one likes being slowed down by sickness, so sweating it out every now and then is not such a bad idea.

It Makes You Happier

Along with the sense of accomplishment you are probably feeling from working out, working up a sweat releases endorphins, which make you happy. Sweating helps relieve stress and promote relaxation due to our bodies heating up. Next time you’re feeling stressed out or need a break to clear your mind, think about hitting up a hot yoga class or taking a few minutes for yourself in the sauna to ease your mind, feel rejuvenated, and embrace the benefits of sweating.

It Helps You Avoid Kidney Stones

One of the lesser-known benefits of sweating is that doing so lowers the risk of getting kidney stones. Research has shown that sweating helps you get rid of salt and keep calcium in your bones. This helps keep those elements from your kidneys where small stones will form. The more frequently you find yourself sweating the better. Make sure to stay properly hydrated when you do sweat – whether you’re sweating through exercise or in a sauna. Staying hydrated also helps prevent those pesky kidney stones.

Whether you break a sweat this summer in a sauna, hitting the gym, playing outside, or all of the above, sweating is a favor to your body that will definitely be worth the extra shower you may have to take. Embrace the heat this summer and sweat it out!

Are Cleanses Good for You? How to Safely Detox Your Body

These days, detox cleanses are all over the place. But are they effective or safe? Unfortunately, health gimmicks are prevalent with loose claims that may do more harm than good. Though fad detoxes and cleanses might not be what they claim to be, there are still a number of ways you can help support your body’s natural detoxification process so you can have long-term results in a safe and effective way. Learn more about healthy ways to detoxify your body that will leave a lasting impact on your wellbeing!

Woman Drinking Infused Water to Stay Hydrated

What is Detoxification?

Detoxification is the body’s process of cleansing the blood. This is done by removing impurities from the blood in the liver, where toxins are processed for elimination. The body also eliminates toxins through the kidneys, intestines, lungs, lymphatic system, and skin during a body detox. However, when these systems are compromised, impurities aren’t properly filtered and the body is adversely affected.

A body detox can help the body’s natural cleansing process by:

Resting the organs through fasting
Stimulating the liver to drive toxins from the body
Promoting elimination through the intestines, kidneys, and skin
Improving circulation of the blood
Refueling the body with healthy nutrients

The Benefits of Detoxing

Directly or indirectly, toxic residues find their way into our air, food, and water supplies. This interference with our natural biological balance results in disease or poor health. Because of this, detoxification is an important function to keep the body safe and healthy. When toxins are properly removed, there are many health benefits such as:

Improved immune system
Healthier internal organs
Weight loss and management
More energy
Improved mental clarity

Are Cleanses Good for You?

Fad detox diets and cleanses are said to eliminate toxins from your body, improve health, and promote weight loss. They often involve the use of laxatives, diuretics, vitamins, minerals, teas, and other foods thought to have detoxing properties. Unfortunately, the glitz and glam of these cleanses often don’t give the long-term results they promise.

Popular detox diets rarely identify the specific toxins they aim to remove or the mechanism by which they supposedly eliminate them. Moreover, no evidence supports the use of these diets for toxin elimination or sustainable weight loss. Some of these cleanses may actually do more harm than good by depriving the body of important nutrients, creating gastrointestinal distress, or even doing long-term damage to metabolism. More often than not, these fad detox diets and cleanses end up being expensive gimmicks with short-term or nonexistent results.

Your body has a sophisticated way of eliminating toxins that involves the liver, kidneys, digestive system, skin, and lungs. Still, only when these organs are healthy, can they effectively eliminate unwanted substances. So, while detox diets and cleanses don’t do anything that your body can’t naturally do on its own, there are other ways you can optimize your body’s natural detoxification system.

Woman in Infrared Sauna for Overall Health

Best Ways to Detox at Home

Use an Infrared Sauna

One of the biggest infrared sauna health benefits is its ability to increase your blood circulation, target fat-stored toxins, and stimulate the sweat glands, all of which help remove built-up toxins in the body. Sweating in a sauna can help your body’s detoxifying process as it rids itself of accumulated toxins. The heat stress of infrared sauna use is an effective method of removing fat-stored toxins from the body.

Move and Exercise

Sweating actually helps you detox by boosting circulation throughout the body, and exercise is a great way to make that happen. While there are several mechanisms behind the health benefits of exercise, reduced inflammation is a key point in terms of detoxification. By reducing inflammation, exercise can help your body’s systems – including its detoxification system – function properly and protect against disease.

Get Plenty of Sleep

Giving yourself a good night’s rest is one of the best ways to detox your body and reset. Quality sleep gives your body the time and space it needs to rid itself of toxins. Sleeping allows your brain to reorganize and recharge itself, as well as remove toxic waste byproducts that have accumulated throughout the day. With sleep deprivation, your body does not have time to perform those functions, allowing toxins to build up and affect several aspects of health.

Stay Hydrated

Hydrating will help your kidneys flush out toxins. Water transports these waste products, efficiently removing them through urination, breathing, or sweating. Feel free to add lemon to your H2O for a hit of electrolytes. The citrus signals the liver produce more enzymes, which keep digestion moving smoothly. Tired of plain water? Switch things up with tea. Green tea has been shown to protect against heart disease and cancer, while milk thistle may boost liver function.

Eat Whole Foods

Whole foods packed with nutrients are your best bet when it comes to keeping your insides clean. Fiber-rich fare like fruit, veggies, and beans, as well as nuts, seeds, whole grains, lean protein, and probiotics can aid gut and liver function so any unwanted buildup gets out of your system quickly. Eating a diet rich in antioxidants can help your body fight oxidative stress caused by excess free radicals and other toxins that increase your risk of disease.

Reduce Alcohol Intake

When you drink alcohol, your body works hard to process it quickly, meaning your body isn’t functioning at its peak performance. Drinking alcohol directly impacts the organs that naturally detoxify your body and can severely damage your liver function by causing fat buildup, inflammation, and scarring. When this happens, your liver cannot function adequately and perform its necessary tasks – including filtering waste and other toxins from your body.

If you are planning on doing a fad detox diet or cleanse, wait! The safest and best way to detox is by naturally helping your body’s detoxification process that is already in place. Try these detox tips to help your body feel better suited to fend off disease, healthier, more refreshed.

13 Ideas to Give a Fun & Healthy Father’s Day to Your Dad

This Father’s Day, treat your dad to something that will leave him feeling great! Whether it’s healthy Father’s Day gifts that your dad can use and enjoy every day or a day filled with healthy activities, nothing really quite beats the gift of wellness. From outdoor activities like golfing to giving the gift of an infrared sauna, there are plenty of things you can do to make a memorable Father’s Day for him.

Healthy Father’s Day Gifts

Infrared Sauna

Giving the gift of an infrared sauna is giving the gift of ultimate health and wellness – and all to enjoy at home! Your dad has gone through a lot to raise a family, which means there is probably a bit of parental stress he has gone through over the years. Luckily, stress relief is one of the many health benefits of using a sauna. Show your thanks to all the hard work your dad has put in with this ultimate Father’s Day gift.

Smartwatch

Whether your dad is tech-savvy or not, a smartwatch is a great gift to give for Father’s Day. From keeping track of text messages and calendar updates to fitness tracking and heart rate monitoring, smartwatches offer a number of benefits to improve your dad’s day. There are many styles to choose from as well! This gift option is perfect for dads who value both health and style.

Eyewear

Everyone uses eyewear to some degree. Sunglasses, computer glasses, eyeglasses, and readers are common parts of someone’s eyewear collection, so why not help dad add another pair to his collection? Glasses can be a personal style choice, so if you aren’t sure exactly what your dad wants, you can always give a gift card to a place like Warby Parker so he can go in and find the perfect fit and style for him.

Cooking Tools

There’s a stereotype of dads loving to grill, but many love spending time in the kitchen as well. There are a bunch of cool kitchen gadgets out there today. Pressure cookers, high-tech blenders, and air fryers are all popular items right now for the dad who already has all the basics. If you’re looking to get him something he’ll use every day, look into getting him a new knife set, cutting board, or pots and pans to take his kitchen to the next level.

Food Delivery Service

Is your dad not so much into cooking himself? Make it a bit easier with a food delivery service subscription. You can order boxes that send fully-prepared meals or just the ingredients to make a recipe at home. This can also be a great option for dads who do like to cook, but are looking for new recipes and ideas to try! In addition to meals, you can also send your dad snack box subscriptions – from international snacks to healthy snacks.

Bathroom Accessories

This one might seem a little off the beaten path for gift-giving, but bathroom accessories can be great for your dad – and they might be things he hasn’t thought to get for himself yet. While bathroom gifts might get a good laugh, they can really be a game-changer for adding comfort to a bathroom. The Squatty Potty has great reviews, and easily installed bidets have been a hit product recently. Don’t knock it until you try it!

Shaving Kit

Want something a little more sophisticated for your dad’s bathroom? A fancy shaving kit can be the perfect addition to his countertop. There are plenty of razor styles available depending on your dad’s preferences, whether he likes a more modern razor or one with a traditional touch. And don’t forget to add the accessories. An exfoliator, shave butter, and post-shave cream can help give your dad the smoothest and most luxurious shave of his life.

Audiobook Subscription

Is your dad a fan of books, but doesn’t have the time to read? Or is he someone who is into podcasts and wants to become a bookworm? An audiobook subscription might be the answer for him. This Father’s Day, gift him a subscription to an audiobook service so he can explore the world of listening to their favorite and new books. Listening to audiobooks is perfect for sharpening minds, using during

Noise-Canceling Headphones

Whether Dad is listening to his new audiobook subscription or training for a half-marathon, he needs light-weight, noise-canceling headphones to improve the experience! Look for a pair that is sweat-resistant, comfortable, wireless, and has great sound quality. Though gifts are always great as surprises, asking your dad if he likes a certain style (over-ear, earbuds, etc.) can help ensure he has the perfect fit.

Masterclass Membership

Give your dad access to a library of more than 80 online lessons taught by industry experts, including science courses from Neil deGrasse Tyson, cooking classes from Wolfgang Puck, and basketball basics from Steph Curry. Each Masterclass lesson lasts about 10 minutes and there are typically 20 lessons per class, so he’ll have time to take courses across a wide range of topics during his yearlong membership.

Healthy Father’s Day Activities

Explore Outdoors

Nothing quite beats some fresh air. Spend some quality time outdoors with your dad this Father’s Day and enjoy the summer weather. The best part about this activity is that there are so many ways to enjoy it. Want to take it slow? Go on a nice stroll or leisurely bike ride. Into sports? Take your dad golfing or to the tennis courts. Looking for a bit of adventure? Try kayaking or exploring a new hiking trail. The possibilities are endless!

Take a Class

One great way to keep the mind sharp is by taking classes. Sign up for a class or workshop with your dad and find a unique way to bond this Father’s Day. Who knows, maybe it’ll start a new shared hobby. Whether your dad is interested in learning more about glassblowing or wants to hone his cooking skills, there is a wide range of classes to choose from depending on what your dad’s interests are.

Have Family Time

At the end of the day, the most meaningful gift you can give your dad on Father’s Day is family time. Gifts and activities are always a great addition to family time as an extra celebration of your father, but time together is the most important gift. Family time doesn’t have to be in person, either. Give your dad a call on the phone or on video to simply catch up and say thank you for all the years he spent raising a family. It means the world and is priceless.

This Father’s Day, really step up your gift-giving! These Father’s Day gift ideas are sure to impress your dad and really show him how much you appreciate all he has done for you. And by helping your dad improve his health, you’re also giving him the gift of a long and happy life.

13 Ways to Upgrade Your Daily Routine for Better Health

Many people made New Year’s Resolutions for better health, and the most effective way to achieve those goals is by having a healthy daily routine. Your daily routine consists of all of your habits, and forming healthy habits is key to all good daily routines. These actions structure your day and make the difference between operating at peak efficiency and struggling to make it through a poorly-planned day. From infrared sauna use to stretching every morning, find ways to upgrade your daily routine below!

How to Make a Daily Routine for Yourself

The key to good daily routines is forming good habits and putting the effort into adopting healthy habits that you can easily incorporate into your routine. A habit is something that is done regularly or repeatedly, and creating regularly healthy habits is essential for your wellbeing. The structure of your daily routine and the habits you chose to follow can have a major effect on your physical, mental, and emotional health. Healthy habits that are done on a regular and consistent basis can be the difference between operating at peak efficiency or struggling to reach your health goals.

Example of a Healthy Daily Routine

Wake Up and Stretch

Stretching in the morning improves your energy levels, improves your circulation, relieves any tension or pain from sleeping the night before, encourages good lymphatic function, and prepares your body for the day ahead. If you have an infrared sauna, a quick hot yoga session will really invigorate your day.

Start your Day with a Glass of Lemon Water

Make your first sip of the day be refreshing lemon water. Simply add the juice of half a lemon to your glass and drink it to enjoy a refreshing start to the day. Lemon juice reduces your body’s acidity levels, which in turn protects you against inflammatory diseases such as fungal infections and osteoporosis.

Eat a Good Breakfast

Fuel yourself with a healthy mix of protein, slow-release carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals. Sensible options include yogurt with nuts and berries, a vegetable omelette, and low-sugar granola bars with a piece of fruit. If eating a full meal in the morning isn’t your thing, try packing in nutrients through healthy smoothies.

Stay Hydrated

Did you know that becoming even slightly dehydrated can lead to lowered mood and decreased concentration? Keep water or other low-sugar drinks on hand to sip throughout the day. If you need to, set an alarm every hour to drink water until it becomes a natural part of your healthy daily routine.

Have a Healthy Lunch

Even the busiest of us can grab a healthy lunch. You just need to think ahead! Avoid too much fat at lunch time, as it promotes afternoon lethargy, which isn’t going to help you get through a busy day. Opt for fresh and whole foods that will power you through the afternoon until it’s time for dinner.

Get Moving in the Afternoon

Most of us have a mid-afternoon “slump” somewhere between 2pm and 4pm, but you can keep yourself going through the day by choosing a healthy lunch and taking some moderate exercise in the afternoon. This doesn’t have to be strenuous. Just a 10-minute walk and a few stretches at your desk can work wonders.

Sit Down for Dinner

Life can get hectic, and it can be easy to grab a quick dinner at the end of the day. Make an effort to slow down in your healthy daily routine and actually sit to enjoy your meal. Whether it’s a homemade dinner or a to-go meal you ordered, sitting down for dinner allows your body to start to wind down from the day.

Pick Up Your Home

Whether you are aware or not, the physical space we live in has a large effect on how we behave. A messy home can all have a negative impact on our mental state and our health. This doesn’t have to be a deep clean, but picking up your home from your daily activities can cut down on frustration and give you a fresh start the next day.

Avoid Screens for the Last Hour Before Bed

Turn off your phone and computer at least an hour before bed to help calm your mind and prepare yourself for sleep. The blue light from phone, computer, and TV screens can keep your brain in a more active state, so find a pre-bed activity that cuts down on screen time to help you wind down and improve your sleep.

Happy Couple Enjoying Infrared Sauna for Mental Health

Take Time to Relax

Find a healthy activity that relaxes you every day. This could be reading, spending time with a pet, or meditating. For ultimate relaxation in your healthy daily routine, invest in an infrared sauna. With a plethora of health benefits packed into a 20-minute session, sauna use is one of the easiest and most effective ways to incorporate health into your daily life.

Journal About Your Day

Journaling has become a popular part of many peoples’ healthy daily routine, and for good reason. It helps you collect your thoughts at the end of every day, which is great for mental stimulation. It can also be helpful for planning out your next day so you can go to sleep ready to take on the next morning when you wake up.

Take Vitamin C Before Going to Sleep

Take half a teaspoon of buffered vitamin C powder in a glass of water before turning in for the night. This is a quick, effective means of reducing the acidity in your body. It will also ensure that you go to bed well-hydrated, which will help you wake up with a clear head and ready to take on the next day.

Go to Sleep at a Reasonable Hour

It sounds obvious, but if you want to feel your best then you must get enough sleep. Most experts recommend that we get between 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night. Some of us can get by on six hours of sleep, but be honest with yourself – if you feel better having had more sleep, bear it in mind when setting your alarm clock.

Setting a healthy daily routine can set you on the path toward a healthier and more efficient lifestyle. Incorporate as many of the above tips for good daily routines into your life as you can and start to form healthy habits that will have lasting benefits on your wellbeing. Good habits take some time to form, and bad habits can be difficult to break, but the end result is well worth it in your daily routine!

Not Just an Infrared Sauna, it’s a Clearlight Sauna®

When you buy a Clearlight Sauna®, you’re buying more than just an infrared sauna, you are buying an entire health and wellness experience. There are specific aesthetic, technical, and service advantages that make a Clearlight a Clearlight. From expert design to unique features, we take great pride in providing more than just an average sauna experience. Read on to learn more about what makes a Clearlight Sauna® stand out against the rest.

Friends Enjoying Infrared Sauna Health Benefits

Doctor-Designed and Recommended

All Clearlight Sauna® models are not just made with high quality and craftsmanship, but with the knowledge and experience brought by Dr. Raleigh Duncan. With many years of experience as a Doctor of Chiropractic and research into infrared therapy, Dr. Duncan’s knowledge and expertise can be felt in every model. Our proprietary True Wave™ far infrared and full spectrum infrared sauna heaters were designed, tested and approved by Dr. Duncan.

In addition to the design and endorsement from Dr. Raleigh Duncan, Clearlight Infrared Saunas are also recommended by a number of trusted doctors and experts, including Deepak Chopra, Dr. Sara Gottfried, Dr. Brian Clement, Dr. Joel Fuhrman, and many more. Clearlight Saunas also have Class I Medical Device Licensing in Canada

True Wave™ Carbon/Ceramic Heating Technology

As a leader and innovator in the infrared sauna industry for over 20 years, we have been manufacturing infrared saunas that are both luxurious and effective. While our cabins are exceptional quality, the therapeutic benefits of infrared heat are our main focus. Our research and development department has developed the ONLY combination Carbon/Ceramic far infrared heater to ensure you have the best infrared sauna experience on the market. Clearlight True Wave™ Far Infrared Heaters combine carbon and ceramic to produce healing infrared heat that is unmatched.

The carbon in our heaters allows the heater to produce long wave far infrared heat. This long wave infrared heat penetrates deeper into your body and the infrared heat is more readily absorbed. The ceramic in our heaters gives them a very high infrared output when compared to traditional carbon heaters so we can concentrate the heat directly onto your body.

Strategic Infrared Heat Emitter Placement

Heater placement in an infrared sauna can make or break a sauna experience. Many saunas on the market have poorly-placed heaters, which causes uneven heat distribution, hot spots, wasted heat, and lost health benefits. Clearlight Saunas® change the game with the positioning of our infrared heating emitters completely “Surround You in Wellness” with healing infrared heat from all angles.

Our infrared heat emitters aim directly at your core for maximum infrared penetration and absorption – to raise your core body and give you a wellness experience second to none. Heaters are aimed directly at the back, sides, behind the claves, front, as placement above the head is unnecessary. The strategic placement of infrared heat allows for optimal heat distribution and comfort.

Woman Using Clearlight® Infrared Sauna for Better Sleep

Low EMF/ELF Emitters

Our True Wave™ far infrared and full spectrum infrared heaters are the best in the industry and are the most effective and safest infrared heaters available. Clearlight® saunas are one of the only infrared saunas with the electrical wiring run through metal conduit. This shields both the ELF and EMF to ensure that your sauna is the safest available. Electromagnetic Fields (EMF) are energy waves with frequencies below 300 hertz or cycles per second. Extremely low frequency (ELF) are the electric fields with frequencies from 3 to 30 hertz.

As the pioneer of low EMF carbon infrared sauna heaters, our patent-pending infrared heater technology reduces EMF levels where you are sitting in the sauna to virtually zero. Our exclusive manufacturing process allows us to cancel out EMF to levels that are virtually undetectable. In addition, when testing Clearlight Saunas® with our low-ELF technology, users test as low as 200 mV – five times below the threshold of concern.

High-Quality Construction and Craftsmanship

From the wood press in our factory to the final stages of packaging, Clearlight® infrared saunas are beautifully crafted and built to last. We start with the highest-grade materials and adhere to the highest standards of design, manufacturing, and assembly. Each cabin is engineered proportionately with the right amount of eco-certified wood – either Grade “A” Clear Western Red Canadian Cedar or hypoallergenic Basswood.

We ensure that nothing goes to waste and reinforce each cabin structure with lightweight metal in the wood walls to add rigidity, rather than excess weight. Additionally, each sauna is rigorously tested and certified for product safety. Clearlight Saunas® are stronger. Not Heavier. Given today’s advancements in manufacturing, smaller amounts of material evenly distributed can yield stronger structures by applying smarter design processes:

Applied Engineering

Material measurements
3-D structural analysis
Computer modeling to test loads and forces

Quality Construction

Material selection
Refined craftsmanship
4-stage quality control

Practical Benefits

Less environmental impact
Easier cabins to lift and install
Safer structure

Unique Add-Ons and Features

Clearlight Sauna® Chromotherapy

Your home sauna from Clearlight has chromotherapy lights built in to help you reap all the benefits of color therapy. Chromotherapy, also called color light therapy, is the process of restoring balance to the body by applying color. Color light therapy relies on the premise that each color is associated with a different bodily response. For example, red is typically associated with stimulation, while blue is considered a mentally relaxing color.

Color light therapy has been reported to temporarily reduce swelling, relieve pain, decrease inflammation, accelerate open wound healing and greatly reduce overall recovery after medical and surgical procedures. When paired with a healthy lifestyle, chromotherapy patients have demonstrated increased range of motion, decreased muscle tension and spasm, and improved circulation.

Clearlight® Light Therapy

Clearlight Saunas® use powerful dual-optic technology that combines red light and near infrared technology. Red light therapy works by using red low-level wavelengths of light to produce a biochemical effect in cells by penetrating approximately 5 millimeters below the skin’s surface. This effect helps strengthen the mitochondria and increase cell energy to improve performance of cells. Red light is considered “low level” because it works at an energy density that’s low compared to other forms of laser therapies.

The light from near infrared LEDs has been shown to bring energy to cells, reduce pain, increase collagen and elastin production in skin cells, speed up the wound healing process, reduce inflammation and provide numerous anti-aging benefits. To use red light therapy with your sauna at home, you can attach a Clearlight® Light Therapy tower to the door of your sauna.

Vibration Resonance Therapy (VRT)

This additional therapy combines the healing effects of sound and vibration to soothe all systems of the body to bring you to a deeper state of relaxation. In your sauna, the vibration resonance therapy (VRT) modules attach to the bottom of the sauna bench and use an amplified audio signal to resonate sound waves to the surface of the sauna.

Clearlight Saunas® use VRT to allow the sounds and vibrations resonate throughout the body and stimulate the body’s natural relaxation response. Including vibration resonance therapy in your home sauna sessions enhances the rejuvenating properties of infrared therapy. Think of it as a light touch massage for your body and mind during your sauna session.

Award-winning HALOONE™ Halotherapy

The HALOONE™ is a halotherapy device designed to provide salt therapy in many areas, including use in Clearlight infrared saunas. Its portability enables use by both home users as well as wellness clinic owners by removing the need for investment in large infrastructure like salt rooms. The HALOONE™ is the only halotherapy device that offers a vapor salt therapy system with the full spectrum of salt particle sizes from 1-10 microns. This combined with intuitive usage and smart design designate it as a superior salt therapy solution.

The HALOONE™ has won the Good Design Award 2020, which recognizes various products, including industrial goods, architecture, software, systems, and services, and evaluates design and quality. It has also won the German Design Award, where expert committees on the German Design Council honor products that stand out from the competition in regard to design excellence.

Clearlight® UV Disinfectant Wand

Harmful germs and bacteria are everywhere. Now more than ever it’s important to ensure that the space around us is healthy and safe. Sterilizing hand gels, disinfectant sprays and sanitizing wipes are not enough to ensure a healthy environment. Many bacteria and viruses are heat, cold and drug resistant, but they are not resistant to Ultraviolet light (UV). It is widely accepted that it is not necessary to kill pathogens with UV light, but rather apply enough UV light to prevent the organism from replicating.

Emitting both UV-C and UV-A, the Clearlight® UV Wand damages the DNA and RNA in bacteria and viruses rendering them harmless. Using high powered LEDs, the UV Wand allows you to disinfect up to 10x faster than most fluorescent UV devices and the Clearlight® UV Wand is up to 2x more powerful than other LED UV devices.

Exclusive Clearlight Sauna® Lifetime Warranty for Home Use

Your Clearlight® sauna comes with another exclusive – the Clearlight Infrared® Limited Lifetime Warranty for residential use. Few other companies can offer this type of warranty because no one builds saunas like Clearlight Infrared®. Our True Wave™ infrared emitters have an estimated operational life of 30,000 hours. Using your sauna 5 times per week your True Wave™ heaters can last up to 125 years.

In the rare event that you might have an issue with your sauna, our limited lifetime warranty covers the entire sauna – heaters, controls, electrical, and wood. Even the included audio system is included. You will never have to worry if anything should go wrong with your Clearlight® sauna. If you are using your sauna in a commercial location, you are still covered under our 5-year warranty.

The Advantages of Buying a Clearlight Sauna®

Buying a Clearlight Sauna® is more than just purchasing a sauna – it’s an investment in your health and wellness. Over the years, we have dedicated an immense amount of research and care to design the best infrared technology available. Each element is strategically planned to help you surround you in wellness. Join the Clearlight® sauna family today and see for yourself what makes a Clearlight a Clearlight!

How to Deal with Burnout: Recovery, Tips, and More

During this day and age, for many of us the lines between work, play, and personal time have started to blur. With everything merging into one, burnout happens to the best of us. Working from home, disrupted routines, and the overall business of the world can lead to stress, uncertainty, and fatigue. Luckily, putting a focus on your mental health can help you learn new habits that will improve your wellbeing in the future. Learn about burnout and find ways to avoid it, or how to recover from it, below.

What is Burnout?

Burnout is a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion. It can affect anyone and is namely caused by excessive and prolonged stress. Burnout can be caused by personal or professional stress and is often exasperated when you feel overwhelmed, emotionally drained, and unable to meet constant demands. General symptoms of burnout include:

Lower resistance to illness
Pessimistic outlook on work or life
Physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion
Irritability and behavior changes

Demotivation and detachment from your work
Depleted energy levels
Detachment in personal relationships
Lower productivity

The 5 Stages of Burnout

Burnout can affect anyone, at any time in their lives. However, burnout is most common in people between the ages of 25 and 44. As with any illness, symptoms of burnout change from person to person, however these five stages are commonly observed:

Stage 1: Honeymoon Phase

When we undertake a new task, we often start by experiencing high satisfaction, commitment, energy, and creativity. In this first phase of burnout, you may begin to experience predicted stresses of life, so it’s important to start implementing positive coping strategies, such as taking practical steps in your job or prioritising your mental health. The theory is that if we create good coping strategies at this stage, we can continue in the honeymoon phase indefinitely. Common symptoms include:

Job satisfaction
Readily accepting responsibility
Sustained energy levels
Unbridled optimism

Commitment to the job at hand
Compulsion to prove oneself
Free-flowing creativity
High productivity levels

Stage 2: Awakening

The second stage of burnout begins with an awareness of some days being more difficult than others. You may find your optimism waning, as well as notice common stress symptoms affecting you physically, mentally, or emotionally. Common symptoms include:

High blood pressure
Inability to focus
Irritability
Job dissatisfaction
Reduced sleep quality
Lack of social interaction
Lower productivity
Unusual heart rhythms

Anxiety
Avoidance of decision making
Change in appetite or diet
Fatigue
Forgetfulness
General neglect of personal needs
Grinding your teeth at night
Headaches

Stage 3: Chronic Stress

The third stage of burnout is chronic stress. This is a marked change in your stress levels, going from motivation, to experiencing stress on an incredibly frequent basis. You may also experience more intense symptoms than those of stage two. Common symptoms include:

Lack of hobbies
Missed work deadlines and/or targets
Persistent tiredness
Physical illness
Procrastination at work and at home
Repeated lateness for work
Resentfulness
Withdrawal from relationships

Uptake of escapist activities
Anger or aggressive behavior
Apathy
Denial of problems at work or at home
Feeling threatened or panicked
Feeling pressured or out of control
Increased alcohol/drug consumption
Increased caffeine consumption

Stage 4: Burnout

Entering stage four of burnout is where symptoms become critical. When burnout is talked about more generally, this is the stage that is often referred to. Continuing as normal is often not possible, and it’s key that you seek intervention. Common symptoms include:

Having an escapist mentality
Feeling empty inside
Obsession over problems
Pessimistic outlook on work and life
Self-doubt

Social isolation
Chronic headaches and stomach problems
Complete neglect of personal needs
Desire to “drop out” of society
Desire to move away from obligations

Stage 5: Habitual Burnout

The final stage of burnout is habitual burnout. This means that the symptoms of burnout are so embedded in your life that you are likely to experience a significant physical or emotional problem, as opposed to occasionally experiencing stress or burnout. Common symptoms include:

Chronic sadness
Depression
Chronic mental fatigue
Chronic physical fatigue

How to Deal with Burnout

Burnout Recovery Tips

Accept Help when Needed: One of the big symptoms of burnout is social withdrawal. When recovering, make an effort to open the door to help when needed. Whether it’s through coworkers, friends, or counselling, using your resources and accepting help when needed can help relieve stress and improve your situation.

List Things that Overwhelm You: It can be easy to get lost in worrying about the things in life that are overwhelming. Instead of letting these thoughts take control, make a list of the things that are on your mind. This will help you visualize what is happening and better focus on what you can do to find solutions.

Set Boundaries: Burnout is easy to achieve when you’ve spread yourself too thin. Set boundaries for yourself, especially during a time of burnout recovery, so you can give yourself the adequate space to feel better while putting better habits into place to avoid burnout in the future. It is okay to say no, especially when it comes to your health.

Focus on Your Capabilities: Don’t let the symptoms of burnout make you feel like you aren’t capable of achieving things. Focusing on your capabilities highlights your strengths. If you are recovering from burnout, try to only take on tasks that you know you can achieve and feel confident in to boost your confidence and motivation.

Understand Your Weaknesses: Your weaknesses are an important factor in burnout recovery. Instead of beating yourself up over them, take time to remember that weaknesses are not failures and are instead a chance to continue growing. Don’t commit yourself to tasks that make you feel frustrated or underprepared – both feelings can further burnout.

5 Ways to Avoid Burnout

Meditate: Burnout is felt heavily in the mind, and meditation might be just what you need to help quiet it. By learning how to meditate, you can learn how to manage your thoughts and feelings before they become negative. Pair meditation with breathing exercises or time in an infrared sauna for a full mental reset to really avoid burnout in the future.

Exercise: Getting active in any way is a proven way to help reduce stress and avoid burnout. If you find yourself getting in a rut or feeling overwhelmed, simply get your body moving and your blood pumping. Not only does this help your overall health, it also is a great mood booster and distraction from whatever might be on your mind.

Make Time for Yourself: As mentioned earlier, burnout often happens when you spread yourself too thin. Dedicating your time to work, relationships, and other external factors can become draining. Block out time for yourself every day, even if it’s just for 15 minutes. We highly recommend a home spa day to create an escape and truly pamper yourself.

Allow Yourself to Unplug: Constantly being plugged in can take a real toll on your mental health. Whether it’s work emails always on your phone or the need to check social media, looking at a screen doesn’t allow you to take a break from continually being engaged with a screen. Give yourself time often to unplug and give your eyes and mind a break.

Establish a Support System: Having people on your side can definitely make a lasting impact on avoiding burnout. Your support system will help lift you up when needed and staying social can be a distraction from the other things in life that might be overwhelming. As overplayed as it may be, we’re all in this together. Strong relationships truly help.

Burnout is a very real experience many are having today. Try to take the steps to avoid burnout and make it a large priority of yours to put a focus on your mental and emotional health. Make time for yourself, praise yourself for your wins, and form a support system that can help you through the tougher times.

If you are feeling overwhelmed or stressed, it is totally understandable – it can happen to the best of us. However, if it ever extends past the one-off stressful days and develops into a desire to withdraw from life, reach out to a professional to determine how to get you on the road to burnout recovery.

Spring Exercise Tips & Outdoor Workouts to Enjoy this Season

Spring is officially here and the weather is here to prove it! What better way to celebrate than enjoying the great outdoors? Now that the weather is warming up for the spring, take advantage of the change in season. Read on to find workouts and activities to do outside to get fit in nature while enjoying the nature around you, along with tips on what to do before and after your spring outdoor workouts to keep you feeling healthy all season (and year) long!

Tips for Outdoor Workouts

Have a Warmup Session

Warming up for exercising outdoors is just the same as if you were about to do a gym workout. Warmup sessions help prepare your body for movement, which helps reduce your risk of injury or strain during your workout. Try some stretches and low-intensity exercises to get ready to work out in nature safely and effectively.

Dress Appropriately

The right clothes can make or break your outdoor workouts! With so many different outdoor activities, be sure to check which gear you might need to be safe during your excursion. Wear something that is breathable and comfortable for what you’re about to do, and double-check to see any additional items like harnesses, life vests, or helmets are needed.

Wear Sun Protection

Even if Earth Day takes place in the spring and not during the hotter months of summer, the sun can still definitely take its toll if you aren’t prepared. Always put on sunscreen when doing a workout in nature and consider wearing other sun-protective items like hats or light jackets to keep the sun damage at bay.

Stay Hydrated

Hydrating is one of the most important things of any workout, especially if you are exercising outdoors! Outdoor workouts typically mean exposure to the sun and less access to fresh water, so be sure to bring a water bottle to ensure you stay healthy and avoid serious dehydration.

Recover with an Infrared Sauna

Hitting the sauna after working out can make your outdoor fitness efforts even more worthwhile. Not only will your muscles heal quicker, but you’ll also feel more rejuvenated and extend the benefits of exercising well past your workout. Using a sauna enhances the muscle recovery process by increasing blood circulation and helps relieve muscle tension.

9 Ways to Workout in Nature

Biking

Cycling has plenty of benefits for both the mind and body. To start, it’s a great lower body workout that works your quads, hamstrings, and calves. It’ll also help you get your cardio in, and therefore improve your cardiovascular health.

Plus it’s non-weight-bearing, which makes it a good option for people dealing with joint pain or injury. Pedaling while maintaining balance and steering also improves your coordination. A bike ride is great for your mental health too! Cycling can relieve stress and boost mood, plus it’s a great opportunity to bond with your friends and family.

Hiking

Hiking can be a peaceful walk in the park or a heart-pounding workout. Hiking tones your lower body, and upper body if you use poles. It’s great cardio to keep your heart healthy and boosts bone density as a weight-bearing exercise. Feeling stuck? Hiking can improve creative thinking and problem-solving. As you make your way down the trail, you’ll hear nature sounds like birds and rushing water. These sounds are proven to have a calming effect. Hit the trails today, and see the health benefits of hiking for yourself!

Jogging

Jogging is often defined as running at a pace less than 6 miles per hour and, like running, it improves your cardiorespiratory health and boosts your mood. Aside from the physical health benefits of jogging, there are also many psychological benefits as well. Some of these include increased mental flexibility, confidence, stress relief, and the emotional boost of the runner’s high. Jogging is a cardiovascular exercise. Such activity sends more nourishing blood to the brain, which can help you think more clearly. It also releases your natural mood-elevating compounds.

Kayaking

Lovers of kayaking often say the biggest draw is the peace and serenity of being on the water. Research shows that kayaking has benefits to our physical and mental health. Kayaking works your upper body, increasing muscle strength in the back, arms, shoulders, and chest. It also works your core strength and leg strength for kayakers. It is also low-impact, creating a smaller risk of injury or strain, and improves your heart rate and cardiovascular health. Paddling has mental benefits, too. Being out on the water has a calming effect on the brain, and can help lower stress and anxiety levels.

Paddleboarding

Stand-up paddleboarding, or SUP, is an excellent workout while getting you some quality time exercising outdoors. Few activities provide such an extensive range, from upper body training to leg work and core strength building. At the same time, it’s also a fairly low-intensity and fun thing to do. SUP outdoor workouts can be as laid back or intensive as you want them to be. Paddle around calm waters and activate your core, or step it up by doing SUP yoga to help engage your muscles for a full-body workout.

Rock Climbing

Exercise is all about engaging your muscle – from your heart to your biceps and quads – and asking those muscles to perform work. And when it comes to activating and training a diverse range of muscles, few exercises rival climbing as climbing is a more complex movement than most exercises. No climbing surface or route is quite like another, so the work you ask your muscles to perform during a climb changes each time you exercise. Make sure you have the right safety gear in place and see nature in a way you haven’t seen from the ground!

Sports

This is a broader option for exercising outdoors, which makes it an option for nearly anyone! From tennis to soccer, find a way to get active on the court or the field to really enjoy being outside. Playing a sport with someone is a great way to be social and bond while reaping the benefits of exercise and being outdoors. You certainly don’t have to be a pro to play a sport! Play with someone who is on the same level as you to have a friendly match. Who knows, maybe your one-time outdoor sports workout may grow into a new hobby!

Swimming

Swimming is another great low-impact exercise, which means it allows people recovering from injury to stay fit without straining their bodies. The water also provides resistance, which increases muscle strength and tone as you swim. Lastly, swimming stretches your muscles and increases flexibility. Swimming helps you relax and destress. Floating in the water dulls the sensory information that can overwhelm, creating feelings of calm. The rhythmic movements and breathing can also provide meditative benefits.

Yoga

Seeking some peace and stability, while enjoying the fresh air? Outdoor yoga could be for you! The combination mind-body workout of yoga pairs perfectly with the all-over health benefits of time spent outdoors. Feel your worries melt away as you breathe in the fresh air and focus on your wellness. Contact with nature has been found to lower blood pressure, strengthen the immune system, help mitigate disease, and reduce stress levels. The combination of peaceful yoga with nature makes for a great mental and physical exercise this spring.

This spring, make a point to get outside and be active! There are plenty of outdoor workouts for every skill and activity level to “spring” into fitness for anyone. Use these tips and ideas to workout in nature and fully appreciate the change in season while keeping your body healthy and happy.

How to Use Essential Oils for Sauna Aromatherapy

Aromatherapy has long been used by many civilizations and is still being enjoyed today. Ancient Egyptian, Chinese, and Greek cultures used this practice of using aromatic plant extracts and essential oils for various purposes. The term was originally coined in 1937 when it was discovered that lavender essential oil had medicinal properties to help relieve burn victims. Now, the use of essential oils for aromatherapy has become widespread, being used for homeopathic remedies like reducing pain, soothing sore muscles, preventing depression, reducing stress, and promoting better sleep.

Spending time in an infrared sauna is relaxing on its own, but you can enhance the experience even further by incorporating essential oils. It is important to note that essential oils are very strong and should be diluted or used with a carrier oil to avoid too much exposure. Learn more about the 10 best essential oils for sauna usage, and how you can utilize different scents for a range of revitalizing uses, from relaxation to reinvigoration!

Best Essential Oils for Sauna Aromatherapy

1. Birch
In traditional Finnish saunas, birch is one of the most commonly used scents, featuring a minty smell. Birch essential oil offers a wide range of health benefits, including bacterial and fungal prevention, pain reduction, improved circulation, skin toning, body detoxification, and skin condition treatment. This essential oil contains both Salicylic Acid and Methyl Salicylate to help cure ailments such as ringworm and eczema. The antiseptic properties not only clean the body, but they clean the sauna as well!
2. Cinnamon
If you’re looking for a pick-me-up during your sauna use, diffuse some cinnamon oil during your next session. The warmth and spice of this essential oil isn’t just a treat for the taste buds but is also an invigorating sensation for the rest of the body. Cinnamon essential oil is wonderful for soothing sore muscles and can be used as a natural decongestant if suffering from a cold. This oil also reduces inflammation, promotes blood circulation, boosts mood, and improves metabolism.
3. Citrus
The citrus family of essential oils comes in a number of scents, with lemon and orange being some of the most popular. Starting off your day with an invigorating sauna session filled with zesty citrus notes will wake you up more than a glass of orange juice. On top of giving you a boost of energy, citrus oils feature anti-inflammatory, cleansing, and antidepressant properties. Avoid using these types of oils before going to bed, as they will most likely wake you up instead of creating a calming effect.

4. Eucalyptus
While peppermint and lavender oils have topped the list of most popular essential oils for a while, eucalyptus essential oil has been climbing the ranks. This refreshing oil eases mental exhaustion and offers many health benefits. Eucalyptus has a pleasant scent that works as a deodorizer and helps kill germs and bacteria in the air. Because of this, diffusing eucalyptus oil helps aid in respiratory issues. If you have any wounds, this oil is germicidal and antimicrobial, meaning it aids in faster healing while soothing at the same time.
5. Frankincense
Using frankincense in your sauna is a particularly great choice if you are fighting a cold or other sicknesses. This essential oil comes from the Boswellia carterii or Boswellia sacra tree and has been known to aid in enhancing immune system performance. Some studies show that using frankincense can help fight certain cancers and lessen the negative side effects of chemotherapy. Using this essential oil is also great for preventing signs of aging, improving digestion, and balancing hormones.
6. Lavender
Lavender essential oil has long been a favorite for aromatherapy. Known for its soothing properties, this oil is wonderful for winding down after a long day. The relaxing scent helps calm headaches and promote a good night’s rest, but other healing properties of lavender include burn and wound treatment, anti-aging antioxidants, diabetes protection, and improved brain function. Sitting back and relaxing in a sauna with lavender aromatherapy is sure to be a restoring experience.
7. Peppermint
On the opposite end of calming lavender is peppermint oil. Peppermint essential oil is a stimulant and boosts energy. If you’re having trouble waking up in the morning, sit in a sauna and diffuse peppermint oil to awaken the senses. On top of boosting energy and mood, peppermint contains antispasmodic properties, making it a perfect natural remedy for stomach ailments such as nausea. The cooling properties of this oil will make for a truly reinvigorating sauna session.

8. Pine
If you suffer from headaches or congestion, pine essential oil may be the remedy for you. Offering the refreshing scent of a forest, diffusing pine oil in your sauna is a totally unique, natural experience. It can be particularly helpful as a natural decongestant, helping loosen phlegm in your lungs. The anti-inflammatory nature of pine oil also aids in reducing joint pain, relieving headaches, boosting mood, and treating acne. Don’t use before bed, as pine oil is known to boost focus and energy.
9. Sandalwood
For increasing mental clarity and boosting memory, sandalwood essential oil is a great addition to your aromatherapy sessions. Researchers have found that this scent is calming like lavender, but without the drowsy effects, leading to a feeling of harmony. Sandalwood is anti-inflammatory, anti-aging, anti-spasmodic, and can help lower blood pressure when applied to the skin. Using this oil for sauna aromatherapy would be a great option for sauna meditation and relaxation.
10. Tea Tree
Widely known as one of the best essential oils for fighting infections and boosting your immune system, tea tree oil is a must-have for aromatherapy. Many use this oil when feeling under the weather, as its antiseptic properties are highly effective for fighting respiratory issues and sicknesses like the flu. Other conditions that can be treated with this oil are athlete’s foot, dandruff, and other skin conditions. Because of its healing strength, be sure to dilute this essential oil, and avoid contact with your eyes and nose.

Depending on your desired results, try mixing different essential oil combinations. It may take some tries to find the perfect blend, but every attempt is sure to be a positive one! Some simple combination ideas include citrus + peppermint for an energizing experience, pine + birch to go woodsy, and lavender + sandalwood for mental clarity and relaxation. Simply place a few drops of your favorite oil in a small container and place it in your sauna to be heated and enjoy. Pair the aromatherapy with sauna chromotherapy and halotherapy at home for a truly spa-like experience.