General Health Benefits of Infrared Sauna Use Are you looking for an alternative health source in a world where toxins and pollutions are adding up daily in your system? Do you experience aches and pains from your daily life or as the result of an illness or injury? Is your skin rough, dry, broken out, splotchy, or does it take a long time to heal from cuts or bruises? Are you recovering from cancer? Do you struggle with your weight and energy levels? If so, then a sauna may provide the answer you need to your health concerns. Health Benefits of Infrared Sauna Your body is an amazing system that has the capacity to heal itself. You have experienced the bodily crash of a flu or infection when your body counteracts the illness through producing a fever. Your body literally burns the infection out of your body. Unfortunately, as painful and annoying as having the flu is, it’s telling you that youve allowed your body to get away from its healthy balanced state. Too often, you place demands on your body too fast and too furiously for your body to compensate and rejuvenate. This is where owning or consistently using a sauna can help you maintain that balance. The heat penetrates your body tissues to a depth of about an inch and a half or 3.81cm inducing a natural fever situation without an illness. This induced fever causes your body to sweat and remove toxins that have built up in your body due to environmental, medicinal, or stress related situations. During this process, your heart rate speeds to rates similar to those of gentle exercise, thus helping your body to increase circulation and function more efficiently. Some of the benefits that result with this removal of toxins from our bodies include: softer and clearer skin tone; reduced muscle and joint tenderness and soreness; faster healing of cuts, bruises, and acne; increased weight loss with a proper nutritional program; the ability to have a deeper, more relaxing sleep; and, reduced stress. Studies show that consistent use of an can help lower blood pressure, is safe for heart patients, arthritics, diabetics, and even healthy pregnant women when used at lower temperatures (always check with your doctor if you have any specific concerns, conditions, or ailments). Physiotherapists, osteopaths, general practitioners, naturopaths, and chiropractors all recognize the extreme benefits gained through regular usage of an infrared sauna (Black, 2007). Heat causes body cells to release harmful substances through perspiration Toxic substances build up in the soft tissues of the body over time. Without a proper flushing of these toxins through appropriate eating styles and exercise, your body may begin to feel sluggish or you may experience more pain than you may expect on a daily basis. Usually, this feeling of unwellness does not happen overnight, but creeps up on you like fog drifting in from the ocean on a cold night. You may see suggestions to remove toxins from your diet with harsh internal chemicals or even harsh natural supplements. All come with stern warnings and are usually quite intrusive, often leaving your body sometimes sicker than you were before you began. There is a safe natural way to detoxify your body – and that is through heat. What happens in the body when heat reacts with your tissues. Water molecules in your body trap and hold toxins, when these water molecules are heated they become “excited” and pop or release the extra toxin. Think of a balloon reaching it’s maximum potential of elasticity and suddenly popping. The excess waste releases from the human body in two ways – either through urination or through perspiration. The more you perspire – or sweat – the more toxins release from your body. Reduce Stress Taking a short time away from the cares of the world can help reduce your daily stress. This time allows your body to begin to function properly and your mind to relax from the stress and strains of your daily life. It provides a quiet, reflective time for you, or a relaxing social environment for you and one or two others (depending upon the size of your sauna). Improve Your Skin Tone, Texture and Appearance Increased circulation and regular removal of toxins gives your skin a richer, creamier, softer, and smoother tone and texture. Increased heating and perspiration through better circulation pulls the toxins from the body through the skin. Heat enlarges the skin pores allowing for easily removal of dirt and sweat. Body cells heal faster and function better. Washing away the resultant perspiration leaves the skin clean and rejuvenated (Black, 2007). Reduce & Improve Acne After the benefits of toxin removal, increased circulation, and better skin tone, acne will improve or even be eliminated for good. The gentle heating of your skin with an infrared sauna opens your pores and helps your skin release dirt and grime. Speed Healing of Cuts and Bruises Cuts and bruises heal quicker after dead skin cells are sloughed off and toxins removed from your body. Increased circulation helps remove the trapped blood left behind in bruised areas. Helps healing of injection sites for diabetics Insulin dependent diabetics puncture themselves many times throughout the course of a day. The sites often become bulged or hardened from the accumulation of white blood cells going to the site to heal. It is almost as if each small injection site becomes a scarred area of the skin. When the skin is heated and circulation improves to these areas, they heal quicker and the skin retains its smooth appearance and feel. Improved circulation also helps the body assimilate and process insulin more effectively helping diabetics have more regular blood sugar levels. Augment Weight Loss Removing harmful substances through perspiration, increasing your heart rate, which results in greater circulation, all help your body strive to reach its highest potential. You can enhance your weight loss efforts through healthy living, exercise, and removal of toxins. Research demonstrates that the resultant perspiration from a sauna session contains 90% toxins, and not just water loss. Some studies liken 30 minutes of sauna usage to 30 minutes of average aerobic exercise. Sauna usage does not replace exercise efforts; however, it does greatly augment your existing routines. Ease Aching Muscles The warmth of the sauna eases tense aching muscles and the pain of arthritis, bursitis, Fibromyalgia, or injury. This enhanced relaxation and well being lasts well past the sauna use and helps you have a deeper, more restful sleep. Enhance Heart Function Saunas are becoming one of the most efficient ways to help heart patients improve their heart function after a serious heart attack. The gentle heating and consequent heart rate increase allows these patients to begin healing quicker. The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reported in their August 1981 issue: “Regular use of a sauna may impart a similar stress on the cardiovascular system, and its regular use may be as effective as a means of cardiovascular conditioning and burning of calories as regular exercise” (quoted in Flickstein,2000). While Flickstein (2000) goes on to describe the benefits of farinfrared sauna use on cardiovascular conditioning during the 1980s (NASA) and early 1990s, it is important to remember that while cardiovascular strengthening does occur, it does not replace physical muscular exercise. It is helpful in maintaining conditioning in short periods following an injury or illness, or as reported by Flickstein (2000), for astronauts in space that cannot exercise. Farinfrared sauna therapy is an excellent compliment to a established physical exercise program. Increase and Improve Your Circulation When you heat your body, your heart rate increases. This slightly increased heart rate induced by the heating of your tissues increases blood flow throughout the body improving your overall circulation. Improved circulation leads to a myriad of benefits for your body that may include fewer aches and pains, fewer muscle cramps, better assimilation of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients from the foods you eat, and an overall feeling of well being.
Posted on: Fri, 09 Jan 2015 01:05:19 +0000
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