I love a sauna. There’s probably no better way to relax, sooth aching limbs and sweat away accumulated toxins than relaxing in a hot sauna.

Traditional Finnish style saunas use water, turned into steam on heated stones, which then heats the air and your body. An infrared sauna is completely different. The air isn’t heated at all.

Infrared radiation heats the body through a process called conversion. This simply means that the electromagnetic radiation is converted to heat. The air is not heated at all so it is often possible to spend longer in an infrared sauna than it would be in a conventional rock or Finnish style sauna.

Although there is some controversy as to whether infrared saunas actually detoxify the body there is much anecdotal evidence to support claims that they can help sweat away accumulated toxins.

Infrared generated heat can penetrate the body to around 1.5 inches or 40mm. It is claimed that this helps to encourage toxins to be released from fat cells and those toxins are then released from the body through sweating.

Whilst I can’t confirm that an infrared sauna will actually detoxify the body I can confirm that the lower air temperature means that you can spend longer in the sauna booth than you would in a conventional sauna. Spending longer in the sauna meant that I was sweating for longer than I would have done. More sweat equates to more bodily waste which must be a good thing. Just don’t forget to rehydrate!