Ep. #259: Do Infrared Saunas Work? What 23 Studies Say

Infrared sauna reduces joint pain and stiffness in rheumatoid arthritis

Mike reviews studies showing infrared sauna can reduce joint pain and stiffness in people with rheumatoid arthritis. One study ran just four weeks with subjects spending only an hour per week in the sauna, yet improvements persisted even after sauna use stopped, suggesting anti-inflammatory effects.

"You've probably heard of the term gamma ray, and that is the smallest type of energy wave that we know about. It is, again, it can get smaller than an atom. The second smallest, most highest frequency type of energy wave is the X-ray. And then working up from there toward larger waves, you have ultraviolet rays, you have the visible energy waves that we can see. And then getting larger now, you have the infrared band getting even larger than that. You have the microwave band, and then you have the radio band. So that's kind of the overall spectrum. And just so you understand the term, frequency refers to the number of wavelengths that pass a certain point in a given length of time. So it's usually measured as the number of wavelength cycles that pass per second. That's the Hertz measurement. You've probably heard of that. So all that means then is that lower frequency wavelengths repeat fewer times per second than higher frequency wavelengths. Now coming back to that spectrum again, X-rays, gamma rays, and some ultraviolet rays are the types of radiation that can cause cancer. And as a general rule, the further you are away from that end of the spectrum, the small wavelength, high frequency end, the less harmful the radiation is to the body. What that means then, and what research has shown, is that infrared light is well within the safe spectrum with wavelengths that are larger than the visible light that we're exposed to at all times. And this is why infrared sauna has no known negative side effects. And despite what you might read from the more paranoid people on the internet, there is no plausible explanation of how it could possibly harm the body. Now, what about benefits? What does the literature have to say about the actual benefits of infrared sauna? Well, as is usually the case with most new and exotic health remedies, marketers are very quick to claim that infrared sauna can help with just about any problem that you might have. What's that? You are too fat and lazy to exercise and too poor for cocaine? Well, just buy my sauna instead. You want whiter teeth, juicier glutes, and harder hard-ons? Oh, hey, here's the model for you. Trust me, this is the new NASA bitches. Naturally, then, many people just assume the worst, and they dismiss infrared sauna as another one of those things and just move on with their lives. Now, what does science have to say about this? What does science have to say about these fancy light boxes? Well, while the research is currently pretty sparse and there are at least as many open questions as there are answers, there are a number of studies that show that infrared sauna can indeed benefit your health in several ways. So how about we just go through some of the more common claims and see how they square with the literature. Let's start with weight loss because that's one that sells a lot of infrared saunas. And the bottom line here is that saunas of any kind can definitely help you lose weight because they make you sweat which of course reduces the amount of water that you are holding and at least a bit of that's going to be subcutaneous so you might even look a little bit leaner as well. What you need to keep in mind though is that losing weight is not losing fat and to do that the sauna would have to significantly increase your metabolic rate which means it would have to significantly increase the amount of energy that you're burning, which it definitely does not. Instead, saunas just make you hot and sweaty, and research has shown this does not burn calories or even indicate that you are burning more calories than usual. It just means that your internal temperature is getting too high and your body needs to cool down. Okay, next on the chopping block is detoxification. Can infrared saunas help your body detoxify? So the bottom line here is that yes, there are many harmful toxins that we are exposed to every day. There are man-made chemicals, there are heavy metals, and studies do show that these things can become lodged in our fat cells and can be released through fat burning and then excreted through sweating. So many people then believe that infrared saunas can help facilitate that. They can help detox your body by hopefully stimulating fat burning, which we know it doesn't, but that's part of the pitch and then making you sweat more. Now, the problem here is of course, the fat burning is missing. While infrared saunas do make you sweat, they don't trigger fat burning, which means they are not going to help your body eliminate toxins. Hey, quickly, before we carry on, if you are liking my podcast, would you please help spread the word about it? Because no amount of marketing or advertising gimmicks can match the power of word of mouth. So if you are enjoying this episode and you think of someone else who might enjoy it as well, please do tell them about it. It really helps me. And if you are going to post about it on social media, definitely tag me so I can say thank you. You can find me on Instagram at Muscle for Life Fitness, Twitter at Muscle for Life, and Facebook at Muscle for Life Fitness. Okay, next up, joint pain. Can infrared sauna help with joint pain? And this is actually the first win for infrared sauna because studies do indeed show that infrared sauna can reduce joint pain and stiffness in people with rheumatoid arthritis. The effects that we've seen so far are minor, but definitely promising because in one case, a study ran for just four weeks and the subjects spent only an hour in the sauna each week. So that means that greater effects may be seen with prolonged use. And while scientists aren't sure as to how it works just yet, how infrared sauna helps with joint pain, they suspect it's due to anti-inflammatory effects in the body. Furthermore, it's also worth mentioning that the improvements that were seen persisted after the sauna use stopped, which suggests that there is more to this story than it just feels good to sit in a hot box. All right, next on the list is cardiovascular health, heart health. And this is another win for infrared sauna because research shows that it may indeed improve your blood vessels ability to expand and to adapt to changes in your blood pressure. And this is important because rigid blood vessels are a hallmark of cardiovascular disease. So anything that makes them more flexible is generally going to be good for your long-term heart health. Now, again, scientists aren't quite sure about the mechanisms in play here, and the effects haven't been replicated yet in any studies that I've seen, but they theorize that it may be due to an increase in nitric oxide production, which then increases blood flow. Studies also show that infrared sauna can lower your blood pressure, which of course also good for your ticker. Again, we don't quite know why, but it simply could be due to the relaxing effects instead of direct physiological improvements in actual blood vessel function. But either way, it seems to work. In yet another study, researchers found that infrared sauna can reduce oxidative stress in the body, which may be associated with heart disease and a number of other ailments, in which case it may be reasonable to say that infrared sauna can reduce your risk of those diseases. Before we move on though, one thing to keep in mind is that these studies that I have been referencing were conducted with people who already had heart disease, but given the physiological effects that we're seeing, there is a good chance that infrared sauna can help healthy people as well. Okay, next up is infrared sauna and performance going to help your physical performance? Well, in one study, one group of runners sat in an infrared sauna for 30 minutes after workouts, and another group did not. And after three weeks, the people who used the sauna were able to run 20% longer than those who did not use it. Now, that sounds nice, and it is definitely used to try to sell saunas, but when you actually review the paper, you find that the evidence is less than convincing. First off, this study was not blinded, which means that the researchers and the subjects knew who was receiving which treatment and this can most definitely skew results. Second, the study included just six people, which is a very, very small sample size. And that's a significant point because the smaller the sample size is in a study, the greater the odds are that the effects that are seen are due to just random chance. And the more the outcomes are skewed one way or another by outliers in the data. And lastly, my last critique of this study is thanks to the placebo effect, providing just about any type of treatment for just about anything is simply better than doing nothing. And when research doesn't have tight controls in place to try to mitigate this, it's hard to place your faith in it. Now, all that said, despite those flaws, the infrared sauna did produce a small increase in blood volume, which might actually improve performance, especially in hot conditions. But that's about as far as I'm willing to go on the subject of infrared sauna and performance without seeing more evidence. So I guess we'll see what comes of this in the future or what does not come of it, depending on what research gets done, right? So let's move on here to recovery, infrared sauna and recovery. In this case, we have a few small studies that have shown that infrared saunas can enhance recovery after both strength and endurance training by positively influencing the nervous system in particular. However, like the performance research that we just spoke about, these studies have major flaws. They have small sample sizes, they have no blinding, and the results have not been consistently replicated. So we really don't know yet if infrared sauna can actually improve your post-workout recovery or not. Next is mood. Infrared sauna and mood can improve your mood. Well, studies have found that infrared sauna can improve mood and also can reduce levels of anxiety and depression in people who have chronic fatigue syndrome. And the researchers think that the effects were due to a decrease in oxidative stress, which we spoke about earlier, but we can't really know for sure because they didn't actually measure that in the study, unfortunately. Interestingly, though, the improvements that were seen didn't occur during the sauna sessions, but after, and they actually increased over time, which does suggest that they were less likely due to the placebo effect. Now, what does that mean, though, for those of us who are not depressed or chronically fatigued? And the answer, unfortunately, is we don't know because the research hasn't been done. That said, if the improvements were indeed due to a reduction in oxidative stress, then it is very possible that infrared sauna can help keep any of us on a more even keel. Moving along, moving along, skin health. Can infrared sauna help improve the health of your skin? Now, according to some people, it absolutely can. It can improve your complexion. It can improve your general skin health. And some people even say that infrared sauna can reduce lines, wrinkles, and pigmentation. And these great things are allegedly caused by the opening of your pores, which allows dirt toxins and other nasties to be carried away in your sweat. And this is categorically false. Your pores do not change much in size regardless of temperature. And even if they did, it wouldn't change your complexion or improve your skin health. If only things were that easy, right? Alrighty, next infrared sauna and cancer, which really means that we are in the woods now because the more militant promoters of infrared sauna say that it can help the immune system better fight cancer. It can remove carcinogenic chemicals from the body and even directly attack and kill cancer cells, but there's just no evidence for any of it. So yeah, take all that with a grain of salt. And speaking of immunity, what about illness? Can infrared sauna help you not get sick? Well, a couple of studies have actually found that people who use saunas more often are less likely to get the common cold. And scientists aren't quite sure why, but they think it might have something to do with increased mucus production, which your body uses to eliminate germs before they can get you sick. The problem here though is these were observational studies, which can help with generating hypotheses and help kind of point the way for further investigation, but cannot establish causation. Only randomized controlled trials can do that. Therefore, based on the current evidence, we can't say that infrared sauna reduces your risk of the common cold, but we can say that there does appear to be an association between sauna use and less sickness. All right, so those are the benefits. Now, if you are liking what you are hearing and you're interested in getting an infrared sauna, you probably want to know what's the best way to use it. And for the infrared sauna to work, the light waves need to penetrate your skin. So anything that gets in the way of that could interfere with its effects. So first things first, that means you want to be mostly naked or completely naked. I actually have one and I just go completely naked because the more skin that is directly exposed to the radiation elements, the better. Second, you should generally avoid wearing makeup creams, lotions, deodorants, antiperspirants, sunscreen, or any other substance that covers the skin. Because again, those things can reduce the amount of penetration that occurs. And finally, it is usually a good idea to avoid showers and baths before going into an infrared sauna because even moisture on the skin can block the infrared light to some degree. Now, as far as session duration and frequency, there aren't really any cut and dried guidelines here on what's best, but most studies have placed subjects in the sauna for at least 15 minutes to one hour per day. And frequency has ranged between every day to just once or twice per week. Personally, I do 25 minutes in the morning. I get up early, I get up at 5.30 and I go straight into the infrared sauna and I read for 25 minutes in the sauna. And that duration and frequency is a pretty good guideline. If you are going for 30 minutes per day, at least every other day, or about three to three and a half hours per week, you are in line with most of the research that we have discussed so far. Now let's talk types of saunas. What's the best type of infrared sauna? This is important because there are multiple kinds of infrared light and some are more beneficial than others. And specifically, there are three main categories of infrared light based on how large the light waves are, the wavelength. So you have near infrared rays with a wavelength of 0.75 to 1.5 micrometers, and a micrometer is one millionth of meter. You have medium infrared rays with a wavelength of 1.5 to 5.6 micrometers. And you have far infrared rays with a wavelength of 5.6 to 1000 micrometers. And as a general rule, the larger the wavelength, the longer the energy wave is, the more light will penetrate into your body and affect it. And this is why most high quality infrared saunas emit far infrared rays. They are simply the most beneficial. And that's why I recommend if you're going to go shopping for an infrared sauna, you look specifically for one that emits far infrared rays between 6 and 20 micrometers in length. And if you're curious as to which sauna I chose, I got something called the Sanctuary 2 from a company called Clearlight. And I believe I got it from infraredsauna.com. They had a sale going. I'm not getting paid for any of that. Probably should be getting paid for that, but that's okay. That's what I got. That's where I got it from. So go for the far infrared rays and ignore the sauna marketers that brag that their devices also emit near and medium infrared rays because there's no evidence that this is going to offer any additional benefit. So the bottom line on all of this is infrared saunas are getting a lot of attention these days and it's honestly deserved to some degree there is good evidence that infrared sauna can reduce joint pain and stiffness can decrease oxidative stress in the body and can improve mood and there's weak evidence that it can also improve symptoms that are associated with chronic fatigue that it can support cardiovascular health and also improve performance and recovery. But you should know that there's no evidence that infrared saunas can detoxify your body, promote weight loss, prevent the common cold, improve skin health, or fight cancer. And we may find in time that the prevent the common cold will upgrade to weak evidence or maybe even good evidence. But as of right now, we can't really say that there is evidence that it's going to do this. So if you like saunas and you're looking for something that is at least a mildly beneficial form of health and wellness therapy, and you don't mind spending the money, then there's a good chance that you will check the show out, it also increases its search visibility and thus helps more people find their way to me and learn how to build their best bodies ever too. And of course, if you want to be notified when the next episode goes live, then just subscribe to the podcast and you won't miss out on any of the new goodies. Lastly, if you didn't like something about the show, then definitely shoot me an email at mike at muscle for life dot com and share your thoughts on how you think it could be better. I read everything myself and I'm always looking for constructive feedback. So please do reach out. All right. That's it. Thanks again for listening to this episode and I hope to hear from you soon. And lastly, this episode is brought to you by me. Seriously though, I'm not big on promoting stuff that I don't personally use and believe in, so instead I'm going to just quickly tell you about something of mine. Specifically, my 100% natural vegan protein powder, Thrive. 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Evidence for cardiovascular benefits including improved blood vessel flexibility

Research shows infrared saunas may improve blood vessel flexibility and lower blood pressure, potentially through increased nitric oxide production. Rigid blood vessels are a hallmark of cardiovascular disease, so anything that increases flexibility is beneficial for long-term heart health.

"research shows that it may indeed improve your blood vessels ability to expand and to adapt to changes in your blood pressure. And this is important because rigid blood vessels are a hallmark of cardiovascular disease."

Weight loss and detox claims debunked by the evidence

Mike explains that saunas cause water loss, not fat loss, and do not increase metabolic rate. Without triggering fat burning, infrared saunas cannot meaningfully release toxins stored in fat cells, despite marketing claims about detoxification.

"You've probably heard of the term gamma ray, and that is the smallest type of energy wave that we know about. It is, again, it can get smaller than an atom. The second smallest, most highest frequency type of energy wave is the X-ray. And then working up from there toward larger waves, you have ultraviolet rays, you have the visible energy waves that we can see. And then getting larger now, you have the infrared band getting even larger than that. You have the microwave band, and then you have the radio band. So that's kind of the overall spectrum. And just so you understand the term, frequency refers to the number of wavelengths that pass a certain point in a given length of time. So it's usually measured as the number of wavelength cycles that pass per second. That's the Hertz measurement. You've probably heard of that. So all that means then is that lower frequency wavelengths repeat fewer times per second than higher frequency wavelengths. Now coming back to that spectrum again, X-rays, gamma rays, and some ultraviolet rays are the types of radiation that can cause cancer. And as a general rule, the further you are away from that end of the spectrum, the small wavelength, high frequency end, the less harmful the radiation is to the body. What that means then, and what research has shown, is that infrared light is well within the safe spectrum with wavelengths that are larger than the visible light that we're exposed to at all times. And this is why infrared sauna has no known negative side effects. And despite what you might read from the more paranoid people on the internet, there is no plausible explanation of how it could possibly harm the body. Now, what about benefits? What does the literature have to say about the actual benefits of infrared sauna? Well, as is usually the case with most new and exotic health remedies, marketers are very quick to claim that infrared sauna can help with just about any problem that you might have. What's that? You are too fat and lazy to exercise and too poor for cocaine? Well, just buy my sauna instead. You want whiter teeth, juicier glutes, and harder hard-ons? Oh, hey, here's the model for you. Trust me, this is the new NASA bitches. Naturally, then, many people just assume the worst, and they dismiss infrared sauna as another one of those things and just move on with their lives. Now, what does science have to say about this? What does science have to say about these fancy light boxes? Well, while the research is currently pretty sparse and there are at least as many open questions as there are answers, there are a number of studies that show that infrared sauna can indeed benefit your health in several ways. So how about we just go through some of the more common claims and see how they square with the literature. Let's start with weight loss because that's one that sells a lot of infrared saunas. And the bottom line here is that saunas of any kind can definitely help you lose weight because they make you sweat which of course reduces the amount of water that you are holding and at least a bit of that's going to be subcutaneous so you might even look a little bit leaner as well. What you need to keep in mind though is that losing weight is not losing fat and to do that the sauna would have to significantly increase your metabolic rate which means it would have to significantly increase the amount of energy that you're burning, which it definitely does not. Instead, saunas just make you hot and sweaty, and research has shown this does not burn calories or even indicate that you are burning more calories than usual. It just means that your internal temperature is getting too high and your body needs to cool down. Okay, next on the chopping block is detoxification. Can infrared saunas help your body detoxify? So the bottom line here is that yes, there are many harmful toxins that we are exposed to every day. There are man-made chemicals, there are heavy metals, and studies do show that these things can become lodged in our fat cells and can be released through fat burning and then excreted through sweating. So many people then believe that infrared saunas can help facilitate that. They can help detox your body by hopefully stimulating fat burning, which we know it doesn't, but that's part of the pitch and then making you sweat more. Now, the problem here is of course, the fat burning is missing. While infrared saunas do make you sweat, they don't trigger fat burning, which means they are not going to help your body eliminate toxins. Hey, quickly, before we carry on, if you are liking my podcast, would you please help spread the word about it? Because no amount of marketing or advertising gimmicks can match the power of word of mouth. So if you are enjoying this episode and you think of someone else who might enjoy it as well, please do tell them about it. It really helps me. And if you are going to post about it on social media, definitely tag me so I can say thank you. You can find me on Instagram at Muscle for Life Fitness, Twitter at Muscle for Life, and Facebook at Muscle for Life Fitness. Okay, next up, joint pain. Can infrared sauna help with joint pain? And this is actually the first win for infrared sauna because studies do indeed show that infrared sauna can reduce joint pain and stiffness in people with rheumatoid arthritis. The effects that we've seen so far are minor, but definitely promising because in one case, a study ran for just four weeks and the subjects spent only an hour in the sauna each week. So that means that greater effects may be seen with prolonged use. And while scientists aren't sure as to how it works just yet, how infrared sauna helps with joint pain, they suspect it's due to anti-inflammatory effects in the body. Furthermore, it's also worth mentioning that the improvements that were seen persisted after the sauna use stopped, which suggests that there is more to this story than it just feels good to sit in a hot box. All right, next on the list is cardiovascular health, heart health. And this is another win for infrared sauna because research shows that it may indeed improve your blood vessels ability to expand and to adapt to changes in your blood pressure. And this is important because rigid blood vessels are a hallmark of cardiovascular disease. So anything that makes them more flexible is generally going to be good for your long-term heart health. Now, again, scientists aren't quite sure about the mechanisms in play here, and the effects haven't been replicated yet in any studies that I've seen, but they theorize that it may be due to an increase in nitric oxide production, which then increases blood flow. Studies also show that infrared sauna can lower your blood pressure, which of course also good for your ticker. Again, we don't quite know why, but it simply could be due to the relaxing effects instead of direct physiological improvements in actual blood vessel function. But either way, it seems to work. In yet another study, researchers found that infrared sauna can reduce oxidative stress in the body, which may be associated with heart disease and a number of other ailments, in which case it may be reasonable to say that infrared sauna can reduce your risk of those diseases. Before we move on though, one thing to keep in mind is that these studies that I have been referencing were conducted with people who already had heart disease, but given the physiological effects that we're seeing, there is a good chance that infrared sauna can help healthy people as well. Okay, next up is infrared sauna and performance going to help your physical performance? Well, in one study, one group of runners sat in an infrared sauna for 30 minutes after workouts, and another group did not. And after three weeks, the people who used the sauna were able to run 20% longer than those who did not use it. Now, that sounds nice, and it is definitely used to try to sell saunas, but when you actually review the paper, you find that the evidence is less than convincing. First off, this study was not blinded, which means that the researchers and the subjects knew who was receiving which treatment and this can most definitely skew results. Second, the study included just six people, which is a very, very small sample size. And that's a significant point because the smaller the sample size is in a study, the greater the odds are that the effects that are seen are due to just random chance. And the more the outcomes are skewed one way or another by outliers in the data. And lastly, my last critique of this study is thanks to the placebo effect, providing just about any type of treatment for just about anything is simply better than doing nothing. And when research doesn't have tight controls in place to try to mitigate this, it's hard to place your faith in it. Now, all that said, despite those flaws, the infrared sauna did produce a small increase in blood volume, which might actually improve performance, especially in hot conditions. But that's about as far as I'm willing to go on the subject of infrared sauna and performance without seeing more evidence. So I guess we'll see what comes of this in the future or what does not come of it, depending on what research gets done, right? So let's move on here to recovery, infrared sauna and recovery. In this case, we have a few small studies that have shown that infrared saunas can enhance recovery after both strength and endurance training by positively influencing the nervous system in particular. However, like the performance research that we just spoke about, these studies have major flaws. They have small sample sizes, they have no blinding, and the results have not been consistently replicated. So we really don't know yet if infrared sauna can actually improve your post-workout recovery or not. Next is mood. Infrared sauna and mood can improve your mood. Well, studies have found that infrared sauna can improve mood and also can reduce levels of anxiety and depression in people who have chronic fatigue syndrome. And the researchers think that the effects were due to a decrease in oxidative stress, which we spoke about earlier, but we can't really know for sure because they didn't actually measure that in the study, unfortunately. Interestingly, though, the improvements that were seen didn't occur during the sauna sessions, but after, and they actually increased over time, which does suggest that they were less likely due to the placebo effect. Now, what does that mean, though, for those of us who are not depressed or chronically fatigued? And the answer, unfortunately, is we don't know because the research hasn't been done. That said, if the improvements were indeed due to a reduction in oxidative stress, then it is very possible that infrared sauna can help keep any of us on a more even keel. Moving along, moving along, skin health. Can infrared sauna help improve the health of your skin? Now, according to some people, it absolutely can. It can improve your complexion. It can improve your general skin health. And some people even say that infrared sauna can reduce lines, wrinkles, and pigmentation. And these great things are allegedly caused by the opening of your pores, which allows dirt toxins and other nasties to be carried away in your sweat. And this is categorically false. Your pores do not change much in size regardless of temperature. And even if they did, it wouldn't change your complexion or improve your skin health. If only things were that easy, right? Alrighty, next infrared sauna and cancer, which really means that we are in the woods now because the more militant promoters of infrared sauna say that it can help the immune system better fight cancer. It can remove carcinogenic chemicals from the body and even directly attack and kill cancer cells, but there's just no evidence for any of it. So yeah, take all that with a grain of salt. And speaking of immunity, what about illness? Can infrared sauna help you not get sick? Well, a couple of studies have actually found that people who use saunas more often are less likely to get the common cold. And scientists aren't quite sure why, but they think it might have something to do with increased mucus production, which your body uses to eliminate germs before they can get you sick. The problem here though is these were observational studies, which can help with generating hypotheses and help kind of point the way for further investigation, but cannot establish causation. Only randomized controlled trials can do that. Therefore, based on the current evidence, we can't say that infrared sauna reduces your risk of the common cold, but we can say that there does appear to be an association between sauna use and less sickness. All right, so those are the benefits. Now, if you are liking what you are hearing and you're interested in getting an infrared sauna, you probably want to know what's the best way to use it. And for the infrared sauna to work, the light waves need to penetrate your skin. So anything that gets in the way of that could interfere with its effects. So first things first, that means you want to be mostly naked or completely naked. I actually have one and I just go completely naked because the more skin that is directly exposed to the radiation elements, the better. Second, you should generally avoid wearing makeup creams, lotions, deodorants, antiperspirants, sunscreen, or any other substance that covers the skin. Because again, those things can reduce the amount of penetration that occurs. And finally, it is usually a good idea to avoid showers and baths before going into an infrared sauna because even moisture on the skin can block the infrared light to some degree. Now, as far as session duration and frequency, there aren't really any cut and dried guidelines here on what's best, but most studies have placed subjects in the sauna for at least 15 minutes to one hour per day. And frequency has ranged between every day to just once or twice per week. Personally, I do 25 minutes in the morning. I get up early, I get up at 5.30 and I go straight into the infrared sauna and I read for 25 minutes in the sauna. And that duration and frequency is a pretty good guideline. If you are going for 30 minutes per day, at least every other day, or about three to three and a half hours per week, you are in line with most of the research that we have discussed so far. Now let's talk types of saunas. What's the best type of infrared sauna? This is important because there are multiple kinds of infrared light and some are more beneficial than others. And specifically, there are three main categories of infrared light based on how large the light waves are, the wavelength. So you have near infrared rays with a wavelength of 0.75 to 1.5 micrometers, and a micrometer is one millionth of meter. You have medium infrared rays with a wavelength of 1.5 to 5.6 micrometers. And you have far infrared rays with a wavelength of 5.6 to 1000 micrometers. And as a general rule, the larger the wavelength, the longer the energy wave is, the more light will penetrate into your body and affect it. And this is why most high quality infrared saunas emit far infrared rays. They are simply the most beneficial. And that's why I recommend if you're going to go shopping for an infrared sauna, you look specifically for one that emits far infrared rays between 6 and 20 micrometers in length. And if you're curious as to which sauna I chose, I got something called the Sanctuary 2 from a company called Clearlight. And I believe I got it from infraredsauna.com. They had a sale going. I'm not getting paid for any of that. Probably should be getting paid for that, but that's okay. That's what I got. That's where I got it from. So go for the far infrared rays and ignore the sauna marketers that brag that their devices also emit near and medium infrared rays because there's no evidence that this is going to offer any additional benefit. So the bottom line on all of this is infrared saunas are getting a lot of attention these days and it's honestly deserved to some degree there is good evidence that infrared sauna can reduce joint pain and stiffness can decrease oxidative stress in the body and can improve mood and there's weak evidence that it can also improve symptoms that are associated with chronic fatigue that it can support cardiovascular health and also improve performance and recovery. But you should know that there's no evidence that infrared saunas can detoxify your body, promote weight loss, prevent the common cold, improve skin health, or fight cancer. And we may find in time that the prevent the common cold will upgrade to weak evidence or maybe even good evidence. But as of right now, we can't really say that there is evidence that it's going to do this. So if you like saunas and you're looking for something that is at least a mildly beneficial form of health and wellness therapy, and you don't mind spending the money, then there's a good chance that you will check the show out, it also increases its search visibility and thus helps more people find their way to me and learn how to build their best bodies ever too. And of course, if you want to be notified when the next episode goes live, then just subscribe to the podcast and you won't miss out on any of the new goodies. Lastly, if you didn't like something about the show, then definitely shoot me an email at mike at muscle for life dot com and share your thoughts on how you think it could be better. I read everything myself and I'm always looking for constructive feedback. So please do reach out. All right. That's it. Thanks again for listening to this episode and I hope to hear from you soon. And lastly, this episode is brought to you by me. Seriously though, I'm not big on promoting stuff that I don't personally use and believe in, so instead I'm going to just quickly tell you about something of mine. Specifically, my 100% natural vegan protein powder, Thrive. 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Infrared sauna improves mood and may reduce depression and anxiety

Studies found infrared saunas improved mood and reduced anxiety and depression in chronic fatigue syndrome patients, possibly through reduced oxidative stress. Improvements occurred after sessions and increased over time, suggesting effects go beyond placebo.

"the improvements that were seen didn't occur during the sauna sessions, but after, and they actually increased over time, which does suggest that they were less likely due to the placebo effect."