Clearlight Infrared Saunas, Author at Clearlight Infrared Saunas

10 Tips for Sauna Selection

Now that you’ve decided to enhance your overall health and wellness with an infrared sauna, how do you decide which one to purchase? Although the sauna selection process may seem overwhelming, it doesn’t have to be. Here are 10 helpful tips to ensure you make a sound investment when selecting an infrared sauna.

1: Decide on DIY or Kit

You can choose to build your own custom sauna or you can select from a variety of sauna kits that come with everything you need and install in about an hour.

Ask yourself: ‘How handy am I?’ If your idea of being handy is changing the occasional lightbulb, set your sights on an easy-to-assemble package ready to be put together this weekend. Now, if you’re the jack-of-all-trades, get-it-done-myself type, prove your worth and DIY it from the ground up!

2: Select the Appropriate Sauna Size

Will it just be you or will others be enjoying the sauna as well? Some infrared saunas only accommodate one person at a time. These models may work well if you are looking for a private sanctuary, but can be limiting if used in a family or group setting. A variety of different size FIR saunas are available to ensure you can find a model during your sauna selection to accommodate your individual needs.

3: Choose the Location

Measure the location where the sauna will be placed. What are the dimensions of the allotted space and is there an adequate electrical outlet nearby?

Although infrared saunas have far fewer space and electrical requirements than a steam room, there are a few things to think about before deciding on a location and a model. Factors like ease of access, impact on existing location utility, and the view from inside are important to keep in mind.

4: Find the Right Sauna Wood

Infrared saunas can be composed of various types of wood. Durable wood choices like spruce or cedar are premium sauna selections and should be preferred over materials such as plywood. Cedar, in particular is highly resistant to splitting and shrinking. During the sauna selection process this is something to consider for sweating and detoxifying.

5: Understand the Heating System – Ceramic vs. Carbon vs. Both

Ceramic heaters represent the original infrared sauna heater and have been around for many years. They can get much hotter than a carbon heater and have a longer warm up time to reach their optimal temperature. They are also challenged when providing an even room temperature and often create hot or cold areas. The surface area of these heaters can get quite hot and produce a relatively short infrared wavelength so will not offer as much benefit as a carbon based heater.

Carbon heaters are thin, light, and provide an even and safe surface temperature and they can last up to 50 years! One of the most distinctive features of a carbon heater is its ability to distribute heat evenly throughout the sauna. It heats up quickly (in about 10 minutes) which results in a less expensive energy bill, yet they are not as hot as a ceramic heater when touched. Carbon heaters produce a longer infrared wave and will be more in tune with the human body.

Each heater delivers pros and cons, but which one is best? Clearlight Saunas® is in the process of patenting the only Carbon/Ceramic infrared sauna heater to offer the best of both worlds. The Clearlight True Wave II infrared sauna heater provides the long beneficial waves of a carbon heater and the high output of a ceramic heater combined into one heater.

Also, make sure your infrared sauna has heaters all around you. Many companies do not use front wall heaters in their saunas. All Clearlight Saunas® have heaters on the back wall, front wall, side walls, under the bench, by your calves and in the floor. You are surrounded by infrared heat.

6: Think Safety

Most FIR sauna users are looking to improve health, making safety an important consideration when deciding what sauna to buy. When purchasing an infrared sauna, it is crucial to consider the Electromagnetic Fields (EMF) and Electric Fields (ELF). The EPA has put in place a 3mG (milligauss) safety limit for EMF levels for human exposure. Where you are sitting in the a Clearlight Sauna® , the EMF levels are virtually zero.

7: Ensure Quality

Look for the highest quality and craftsmanship possible during your sauna selection process. This will ensure you are making a solid investment in a sauna that is built to last.

Here are a few important quality factors to consider:
• No VOC glues should be used to ensure there is no unhealthy outgassing.
• A timer to monitor your sessions to ensure you are following recommended duration times.
• Kiln-dried/air dried, fine-grain wood construction to minimize warping and cracking and to offer a beautiful look.• An even heat that radiates from all areas of the sauna to ensure a consistent temperature throughout and infrared heat over your entire body.

8: Get an Optimal Warranty

Gather all information about the warranty and what coverage entails. If you are buying from a third party, it may be difficult to get in touch with the manufacturer and the warranty may be limited. Here are a few things to ensure are covered in your infrared sauna warranty.

• Heating System
• Power Supply
• Control Panel
• Wood
• Glass

9: Demand Stellar Customer Service

Consider your FIR sauna purchase an investment. Like any other major purchase, you will want peace of mind in knowing you will be well taken care of if anything happens to go wrong.

Much like the warranty considerations, buying from a third party vendor can leave you without adequate customer service. Be sure that you know where to call with any questions or concerns before you decide to buy.

10: Make it Fun with Customization!

Are you interested in light therapy? How about an audio system? There are a variety of entertainment options that can be added to your infrared sauna to make your experience more exciting and customized to your tastes.

The considerations may seem endless when shopping for the right infrared sauna. Using these sauna selection tips as you start your search can help you make an informed decision in no time! Taking the time to research the specific models, materials, and companies ahead of time will ensure you find a reputable infrared sauna company and the right sauna for you.

Can Relaxing in a Clearlight Infrared Sauna Really Help You Lose Weight?

In short, the answer is YES!

How is that possible?

First of all, weight gain and the inability to lose weight can be attributed to a build-up of toxins. Often times these toxins are stored in fat cells making it impossible to lose fat and thus lose weight. By detoxing your body through sessions in a Clearlight Infrared Sauna, your body has the ability to then shed fat that results in weight loss.

Second, the warm radiant heat stimulates your cardiovascular system and increases circulation. Your heart rate is raised and blood flow improves which pushes blood to capillaries and extremities. This of course burns calories resulting in weight loss. Burning calories combined with the elimination of toxins in fat cells can also result in a reduction in cellulite. So you will look thinner and toned as you are achieving your weight loss goals!

Finally, relaxing in your sauna is excellent for reducing stress levels. High stress levels cause cortisol production and that is associated with excess fat around the hips, thighs and belly. By ending this cycle of cortisol production, your body has the opportunity to shed that excess weight caused by stress.

Many studies show that a 30-minute session in your infrared sauna have been documented to burn 250+ calories! How many other ways can you sit and relax, watch your favorite show, meditate or read a book and still shed unwanted pounds?

A recent study at Binghamton University State University of New York showed conclusively that people using a Clearlight Infrared Sauna three times a week can eliminate an average of 4% body fat over a four month period. For a 175 lb man, that represents a reduction of seven pounds of unneeded weight. Control groups that did not use the Clearlight Sauna in the study showed no weight loss. ⁱ

A healthy diet and proper hydration are key to good health as well, but a Clearlight Infrared Sauna can help you achieve your weight loss goals much quicker and easier!

Staying Hydrated Can Taste and Even Look Good Too!

Our bodies transports most of our nutrients in the blood and the blood is made up of 82% water. Our muscles are composed of 75% water: our brain 76% water; our lungs 90% and our bones contain 25% water. It is imperative we drink enough water when you sit in your Clearlight Infrared Sauna.

So how can we spruce up our water to make it enticing? These recipes will make you want to drink more water . By washing your organs daily with fresh water, we assist our bodies in eliminating toxins.

Ideally one would drink your water at room temperature but cooler is fine too – and for me more enjoyable while in my infrared sauna. You can flavor water quickly with just a slice of fresh ginger and a slice of something citrus and an ice cube.. If you want to make a pitcher to drink throughout the day, here are a couple quick recipes. (The pitcher can be left on the counter or refrigerator for the day, but discard at the end of the evening)

Tasty Citrus Water
Fill a pitcher with 8 cups of purified water
Cut citrus fruits thinly:
2 organic organic lemons
2 organic limes
1 medium size organic orange
3 one inch pieces of raw organic fresh ginger (great for digestion and gives the water a “kick”)
For maximum taste, let the water marinate for a few hours before drinking
Berry Good Water
Fill a pitcher with 8 cups of purified water
-Cup of strawberries raspberries – any berries cut in half,
-A couple lemon and or lime slices
Ice Cubes
Into each cube of your ice tray, fill and freeze overnight:
Add purified water and place a single mint leaf and a small piece of pineapple in each cube
Place lemon water in each cube
Add a single strawberry and piece of lemon rind
Note: These fancy ice cubes can spice up any water glass of still or sparkling water.

Stay hydrated during your infrared sauna sessions. Drink water before you get into the sauna and then bring a large bottle of water into the sauna with you to keep hydryated. One rule of thumb we recommend is if you feel thirsty after you get out of your sauna, you did not drink enough water during your sauna session.

Infrared Saunas and Pain Relief

Relieve Pain With Infrared Sauna Therapy

The soothing and relaxing heat from a Clearlight Infrared Sauna offers a variety of healing benefits including a significant reduction in chronic pain often even after the first use! According to Dr. Jeffrey Spencer, a sports medicine expert from the University of Southern California and consultant to Lance Armstrong, “infrared wavelengths penetrate the body to create heat, which creates profound therapeutic benefits. They increase blood flow to the muscles, delivering more concentrated oxygen, which creates more energy to heal.” 1

A study reported in Clinical Rheumatology showed that infrared saunas gave significant relief for patients with chronic pain (such as rheumatoid arthritis). Four weeks of 30-minute, twice-weekly sessions in an infrared sauna resulted in a 40 percent improvement in pain and stiffness. 2
A recent study published in Internal Medicine, showed that patients with chronic pain saw their pain levels drop by nearly 70% after their first session of infrared sauna therapy. Pain scores remained low throughout the observation period. 3

How Do Infrared Saunas Work To Ease Pain?

Our bodies are held together by a web like structure that weaves itself all through the body called fascia. A good metaphor for understanding how fascia plays a role in relaxation is to think of a knitted sweater: if you pull on one string of yarn the entire sweater can unravel. Similarly, as one part of the fascia web begins to relax and unwind, your whole body follows in kind.

With infrared therapy, the infrared wave penetrates 1.5” to 2” into the body stimulating a relaxation response allowing the muscles and tendons to unwind and release tension. The penetrating heat also raises the core body temperature which creates a “false fever” in the body forcing the immune system to spring into action and start making more white blood cells. The result is a reduction in swelling and inflammation, two major factors in easing chronic pain.
In addition, as the infrared heat elevates your core body temperature, capillaries and arteries dilate to increase blood flow allowing more oxygen rich blood to travel to areas of tension and pain. Your muscles, joints, and soft tissue experience relief and healing.

You emerge from a 20-30 minute session in your infrared sauna feeling relaxed and renewed!

http://www.cancerdefeated.com/newsletters/Infrared-Saunas-A-Fun-Relaxing-Way-to-Detox.html
Clinical Rheumatology, January 2009
Internal Medicine (Tokyo) Aug 15, 2008 by Matsushita K, Masuda A, Tei C. The First Department of Internal Medicine, Kagoshima University Hospital, Kagoshima, Japan.

Benefits of Sweating – Infrared Saunas

The health benefits of infrared saunas are numerous. In a Clearlight Infrared Sauna you will sweat profusely. In addition to the detox benefits, there are actual benefits just from sweating. Ward Dean, MD, a US Army flight surgeon who has researched the physiological effects of sweating in a sauna, finds that it can be as effective as regular exercise in conditioning the cardiovascular system and burning calories. Sweating in a sauna, he says, is a good workout for people unable to exercise, such as disabled people in wheelchairs or immobilized athletes recovering from injuries.

You can see the article published in the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) by CLICKING HERE.

How Does Your Clearlight Infrared Sauna Reduce Stress?

Today, our fast paced lives can be exciting and rewarding, but doctors tell us that the chronic stress that comes with it is literally killing us with increased levels of heart disease, high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, digestive disorders, premature aging and even death that can arrive years before our time.

Regular use in an infrared sauna has been shown to reduce stress, but just how does this actually work?

Our autonomic nervous system is set up with two opposing positions, fight or flight (sympathetic) and rest and digest (parasympathetic). We need both to survive but our ANS system evolved when we lived under real survival threats (think tiger). When faced with such a threat the sympathetic part of our ANS informs the hypothalamus to immediately release sugar from our liver and cortisol from our adrenal glands so we can run like lightning and live to see another day. Today, our higher thinking brain can perceive threats like being stuck in traffic or being behind at work or a news program about trouble far away as actually being a real threat, just like a tiger. We can get caught in what is called a cortisol cascade until we are burned while our immune function becomes depressed making us susceptable to colds and flu. We can literally get stuck in this harmful loop. It is only when we get back more into the parasympathetic mode that our health has a chance to return. This is where the infrared sauna comes in.

When we get into the infrared sauna, the first thing that happens is vasodilation. This is the blood vessels opening up as the warming infrared wavelengths penetrate into the soft tissue. Your muscles relax and pain starts to disappear both in muscles and joints. When the body senses these changes it naturally starts to relax and calm down. Breathing becomes slower, blood pressure drops and you may even feel a little smile appear feeling this good. This is the parasympathetic part where healing occurs and it happens naturally in the sauna. This is the simple secret.

Using the infrared sauna for twenty minutes, three times a week is a good way to affect this sympathetic/parasympathetic set point. Regular sauna usage will actually diminish stress over time. The harmful cortisol cascade will lessen or leave entirely as the body/mind learns how to live without the harmful effects of paper tigers. It works, it really does.

The Facts About Sweat and Infrared Saunas

Sweating is great for your body. It is not only an organic cooling mechanism and immune response to certain illnesses, but also a means of natural detoxification as it carries heavy metals and other harmful substances out of your system. If you’ve ever wondered where the phrase “work up a healthy sweat” comes from, you can be sure these terrific benefits had something to do with it.

But who has time to run five miles or play a competitive game of hoops every day in order to enjoy the healthful effects of a good sweat? Devoting a couple hours to exercise simply isn’t feasible when work and family commitments constantly vie for your attention, which is why many folks are turning to infrared saunas instead.

Infrared saunas generate heat waves that penetrate deep into the body and produce the same kind of sweat you would experience with vigorous exercise. This means you also derive the same amazing benefits, including the following:

Detoxification
Weight loss
Improved circulation
Unclogged pores and better looking skin
Stronger immune system
Stress reduction

There’s no question that the realities of daily life can interfere with your best intentions and prevent you from doing things you know are vital for your health. But even if you don’t have time to hit the gym as often as you’d like, you can still enjoy the advantages of working up a healthy sweat by spending as little as 15 minutes a day in one of our Clearlight infrared saunas. Visit our website today to discover which home sauna model would be right for you.

Infrared Saunas and Fibromyalgia

An infrared sauna is a versatile wellness tool that can be used to treat a wide range of mild to severe physical complaints, including fibromyalgia.

Fibromyalgia is a medical condition characterized by chronic muscular pain in the neck, shoulders, chest, elbows, hips, or other so-called “tender points” throughout the body. The pain may also be accompanied by additional symptoms such as insomnia, irritability, anxiety, fatigue, and depression, making it virtually impossible for the afflicted person to perform everyday activities.

Because the precise cause of fibromyalgia is not known, the disorder is extremely difficult to diagnose and treat. The symptoms may be attributed to other causes, and common remedies like prescription analgesics or antidepressants are not effective for all patients. Though no known cure exists for fibromyalgia, regular sauna sessions can help manage the pain and reduce the severity of symptoms because saunas:

Provide warmth and heat to relax tense muscles
Accelerate blood flow to help deliver more oxygen to tissues, thus alleviating both pain and inflammation
Create a tranquil atmosphere that lowers anxiety and irritability
Fire up the metabolism to restore balance in digestive processes and increase energy

If your ability to function normally is compromised by the chronic aches and pains of fibromyalgia, then you owe it to yourself to give infrared heat therapy a try. Installing a Clearlight infrared sauna from Sauna Works in your home allows you to have unlimited access to a comforting, heated environment that can help alleviate your suffering now. Be sure to check out InfraredSauna.com today for a closer look at our entire product line.

Dr. Brian Clement Discusses the Power of Infrared Saunas and Detoxification

According to Dr. Brian Clement, who has been the director of the Hippocrates Health Institute for more than 30 years, we are being assailed from all directions by harmful chemicals and heavy metals. These pollutants are found in air, water, processed food, and even clothing, and constantly seep into our bodies. The best way to get rid of them, he says, is by detoxing with infrared saunas.

Dr. Clement’s claim is based not only on personal experience, but also from prescribing heat therapy to patients suffering from toxicity-induced health problems ranging from chronic fatigue to gout. A majority of these patients, as well as some cancer-stricken individuals, have responded positively to daily sauna sessions.

Why are infrared saunas such a powerful detoxification tool? Dr. Clement attributes their success to the following facts:

Infrared heaters generate deep-penetrating heat to mobilize toxins for elimination.
Lack of regular sweating (due to a sedentary lifestyle or clothing made of non-breathable fabric) reduces the skin’s elimination function; sauna use can help restore that function.
All toxins, including mercury, lead, and unprocessed minerals from nutritional supplements, can be excreted through sweat.

Dr. Clement further notes that the detoxification effect derived from sauna use can be boosted when combined with additional lifestyle changes, such as regular exercise and a raw food diet.

Many other medical practitioners share Dr. Clement’s views on the efficacy of infrared saunas not only as a detoxification tool but also as a stepping stone to better overall health. To see if a sauna is the answer to your physical ailments, visit InfraredSauna.com to learn more about the health benefits of our products.

Removing Mercury with Infrared Saunas

Besides radioactive substances, mercury is the most toxic element you’ll ever come into contact with. It gets into your body from old dental fillings, large ocean fish such as tuna and swordfish, and polluted air or water. Once there, it binds to sulfur-containing molecules and concentrates in fatty tissues, where it can cause a whole host of health problems, including frequent headaches, fibromyalgia, and even dementia. The only way to purge this poison from your body is through detoxification.

Far infrared saunas are a critical tool in any heavy metal detox protocol. They produce heat that penetrates more deeply into tissue than a traditional sauna, thereby helping to mobilize the mercury and other toxins stored in fat. These mobilized toxins can then be excreted by the kidneys, bowels, and sweat glands to lower your total toxicity.

Research supports the case for using infrared saunas to remove mercury. One study showed that sweat generated from a regular sauna or ordinary exercise was 95 to 97% water. By contrast, sweat produced by an infrared unit was only 80 to 85% water, with the remainder made up of harmful substances like cholesterol, sulfuric acid, ammonia, and heavy metals.

To further enhance your results, you might want to consider using your Clearlight sauna in conjunction with the following detox aids:

Doctor-administered DMPS injections
Chlorella
ProChitosan
Chelating agents
Clay baths

In today’s world, it’s virtually impossible to avoid all exposure to mercury and other heavy metals, so using infrared saunas as part of a detoxification plan is vital to your long-term health. Contact Sauna Works now to get one of our high-quality units into your home as soon as possible.

Author: Clearlight Infrared Saunas