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Infrared Saunas and Inflammation: What You Should Know

If you are someone who suffers from inflammation, you may have come across the option of an infrared sauna in Adelaide. An infrared sauna takes all the benefits of a traditional sauna and makes them more accessible to a broader range of people. Since infrared saunas can be used at a lower temperature, more people are able to experience the wealth of health benefits that these saunas offer. 

Some of the benefits you can get from infrared light include weight loss, detoxing, and relief from inflammation. If you are someone who has experienced inflammation in your life, you know how inconvenient and even debilitating it can be. So, when you hear about the possibility of a safe and natural way to reduce your inflammation, you are likely to want to know more.

What Is Inflammation?

Inflammation is our body’s way of healing itself in response to an injury or illness. Almost everyone has experienced what is known as acute inflammation at some point in their lives. Acute inflammation occurs quickly but only lasts for a couple of days. This is often our body’s response to a type of virus or even from strenuous exercise. 

However, when acute inflammation hangs around for longer than a couple of days, it can turn into what is known as chronic inflammation. Chronic inflammation is ongoing and can stick around for months or even years. Some of the leading causes of chronic inflammation include heart disease, asthma, and arthritis.

How Do We Measure Inflammation?

If you or your doctor wants to determine your level of inflammation, they will test your blood for something known as inflammation markers. The most common marker used in clinical tests is the C-reactive protein, or CRT. 

The higher your levels of CRT, the higher your levels of inflammation likely are, as the two levels are correlated. So, if your doctor has told you that your CRT levels are higher than normal, you’re probably looking for a safe way to bring them down. One of the ways that is becoming more popular is an infrared sauna.

If you’re looking to book in an infrared sauna session in Adelaide, Fast Twitch offers, 30 minute, 45 minute and 60 minute time slots.

How Does an Infrared Sauna Help?

Exposure to infrared light rays has proven to be beneficial in lowering the amount of CRT in people’s bodies. In fact, long-term exposure to infrared rays is inversely related to the levels of CRT. This correlation means the more time you spend in an infrared sauna, the lower your CRT levels will likely be. In addition, CRT markers decrease quite a bit after just the first treatment with infrared lighting. 

With all this data backing up the benefits of using an infrared sauna for your inflammation, it’s natural to wonder how it helps precisely. There are three main components to the benefits of infrared saunas and decreasing inflammation: oxygen, sweat, and stress.

Oxygen

Inflammation happens because an area in your body isn’t receiving the oxygen that it needs to work properly. Infrared light rays are invisible to the naked eye yet are able to penetrate your skin and reach the cells of your body. This ability allows the infrared light to engage your body’s entire network of systems and, within minutes, is able to get oxygen to the impacted areas. 

The ability to get oxygen into your cells is a process called hyperoxygenation. This process can help you reach optimal circulation levels throughout your body, which will lower your inflammation levels tremendously. 

Sweating

Another significant benefit to using an infrared sauna for inflammation is the fact that it makes you sweat. Sweating is known to release toxins from inside your body. Some of these toxins can impact the oxygen levels in areas of your body, which can cause inflammation. The ability to help your body rid itself of toxins faster than it’s able to through your kidneys and liver alone can help reduce your levels of inflammation.

Stress

You may not think that your stress levels would directly impact your inflammation levels, but that’s not the case. In fact, inflammation can actually be a side effect of stress. When you are stressed, your body tends to go into survival mode, which leaves many areas of your body not operating how they should. Your body’s inability to operate correctly can lead to losing crucial oxygen in areas, as mentioned before. It can also lead to you getting sick with a virus or other illness that causes acute inflammation. Lowering your stress levels, then, can also help lower inflammation levels or even prevent them from rising in the first place. 

Help the Symptom and the Cause

One of the best aspects of infrared saunas and inflammation is that infrared light actually works to help alleviate the symptoms of inflammation as well as what’s causing your chronic issues. While medications can help lower your pain temporarily, the infrared treatment will help eliminate the problems that plague many chronic inflammation sufferers. 

Infrared saunas have been proven to help in ailments such as heart disease, asthma, and type two diabetes, among many others. If you are suffering from one of these chronic conditions and it causes inflammation, it is well worth your time to look into trying an infrared sauna in adelaide.

Summary

Inflammation can be frustrating, painful, and even debilitating. When you’re dealing with either chronic or acute inflammation, you are likely looking for ways to relieve your suffering. Infrared sauna therapy has been proven to help lower inflammation levels in as little as minutes. The infrared light is also able to get to the root cause of your inflammation and help repair that as well. 

We don’t recommend stopping medications without talking to your doctor first. Still, we do feel confident that infrared therapy can help alleviate the symptoms and complications from many serious health ailments, making the regular usage of medicine not as necessary. Plus, sitting in an infrared sauna is a relaxing, natural, and safe treatment. There isn’t anything much better than getting to relax and lower your stress levels in the name of health! 

Reference List & Sources

Does Infrared Sauna Therapy Help With Inflammation? from Saunas.org

Far Infrared Sauna Therapy Decreases Pain and Inflammation from High Tech Health International

Near-infrared light increases ATP, extends lifespan and improves mobility in aged Drosophila melanogaster from The National Library of Medicine