The Quick and Simple Guide to Sauna Therapy

What you need to know and the gear to get the job done

What’s my favorite sauna? The short answer is the Sauna Space - that’s my affiliate link and gives you a nice discount.

I use my SaunaSpace at least 20 minutes every single day, when I have time.

What is the difference between red and infrared light therapy (covered in this post) and sauna? Sauna is defined by heat.

Infrared light, practically speaking, is heat. It is a frequency of light that makes matter "hot." This does not mean that all places where there is infrared light are warm. Far from it. There is infrared light from the falling on the waters of the North Atlantic, and there is infrared light being emitted deep beneath within those waters from the earth's core, but the North Atlantic is cold enough year-round to kill you in a matter of minutes to hours (depending on exact conditions and how you are dressed). The dose makes the poison, whether we are talking about medicine or light (for what, in the end, is the difference?).

Sauna is therefore done at a high dose (intense light) in a confined space that traps the heat. The rest is just details. There are three key factors that affect the health benefits of sauna, and it is these factors that should determine what kind of sauna you get. They are:

1. Heat

2. Light frequency

3. Social contact

These might surprise you. You might have expected me to give you a long lecture on heat shock proteins or detoxification via sweat. *Yawn.* I'm getting too old to find all of that terribly interesting, although all of it is relevant to a point.

Before I go any further into this, you should know that one of the key benefits of red and infrared light from things like sauna or photobiomodulation devices is higher levels of melatonin. If you haven’t fixed your light environment and learned how to use blue blockers then you are not getting all of the value that you could be out of your sauna or photobiomodulation habits.

First, heat. When you heat the body, it starts to shunt blood to the skin, to get rid of heat. You find yourself feeling lazy - the less you move, the less heat you produce. You might get sleepy - that's the blood moving from your brain to your skin. At a certain point, you start to sweat. Sweating removes toxins from the body, but you also lose precious minerals with sweat. These MUST be replaced, which is why I like to eat a nice, salty meal after a sauna. I may or may not wash that down with a pint of beer. As your body gets hotter and hotter, your heart pumps faster and faster. This makes sauna the cardiovascular equivalent to a mild work-out.

Enough power makes any sauna as hot as you can stand it. More is not necessarily better, which is why it is important to talk about the frequency of the light you're using in the sauna.

There are a few ways to generate heat in a sauna, and each of these creates varying frequencies of light. Sauna rocks do not produce any red light, so the frequencies of traditional sauna (with sauna rocks) are all in the infrared range. They are, likewise, distributed across the infrared range. There are certain frequencies of infrared that have healing properties, which is why so many sauna companies out there are telling you that you need to use their special far infrared technology or their magical near infrared technology. That's all well and good, but I have yet to meet someone whose life was changed by switching from a Finnish traditional sauna to an infrared sauna. There are more important things to worry about.

However, the downside to most infrared and traditional saunas is that you will not enjoy the blessings of red light. You have two options - use heat bulbs that emit red light or install red LED lights in the sauna. Either way, I strongly recommend getting red light into your sauna.

The third variable is social contact. Few people appreciate that sauna is supposed to be a social event. It isn't just another thing you add to your wellness routine because you aren't spending enough time already juicing, meditating, exercising, or any of the other million-and-one things that you could choose to engage in to build resiliency. Yet sauna has always been a social event. I learned this from a friend of mine who had a traditional Finnish sauna.

The heat of sauna stimulates the mind wonderfully. I would liken it to the effects of a good work out, a cup of coffee, or a lozenge of nicotine. This gets good thoughts and therefore conversation flowing like water from the mountains in spring. You will have some of your best thoughts and conversations in a sauna, if you give yourself the opportunity. There is an unusual camaraderie that also develops as you endure the stress of the sauna. With traditional saunas, you spread water over the sauna rocks and this evaporates into steam that can be so hot and come on so quickly that it is dangerous (I do love traditional sauna). The more water you put on the rocks, the hotter it gets in the sauna. There is an odd sort of bond that develops as you endure hotter and hotter temperatures. Probably for this reason, sauna is a normal part of diplomacy in extremely cold nations like Finland.

Naturally, if sauna is going to become a social affair in your life, you need a larger sauna. You need spaces for people to change in private and you may want to set up a nice outdoor patio space to cool off between bouts in the sauna.

Which brings me to my favorite sauna set ups. I like the sauna lights from Sauna Space, because they have frequencies from red to infrared. They are good and hot, which is something I have found to be a problem with some saunas. I like to feel almost uncomfortably hot in a sauna. Their bulbs are also very versatile. You can use them to convert a closet into a sauna or you could build a simple shed (cedar is the wood to use, as it naturally repels insects) in your yard and install as many lights as you need to get the desired temperature.

The great thing about Sauna Space is that you can use their equipment to turn any space into a sauna. The downside is that you don't get one of my favorite parts of sauna, which is controlling the temperature in real-time. To do that, you need a traditional sauna, with sauna rocks that you can add water to in order to adjust the temperature. The power of sharing the experience of intense, almost mind-numbing heat coming off the rocks as you pour water onto them cannot be over-stated. I mention it because, if I lived in a cold place, I would have a large barrel-sauna that can accommodate six or more people. I would have sauna parties every week. Some people think this is odd - those people have never enjoyed an ice-cold shot of vodka chased with a cucumber and mint infused sparkling mineral water right before jumping into a cold plunge, just after having exited from a 200 degree (Fahrenheit) sauna. Don't knock it till you try it.

Here is the bottom line. No matter where you are and what your living set-up, Sauna Space has the best equipment to start sauna right now and it gives you all the benefits of sauna. You can turn closets, showers, sheds, or garages into saunas. If you live in a cold place, a larger sauna is something I recommend for the social benefits.

Those are my thoughts on sauna therapy. I hope you’ve enjoyed them!

Until next time, be well,

Dr. Stillman

p.s. this post contains affiliate links. Your affiliate purchases help me keep this content free!