Infrared Sauna Can Improve Athletic Performance and Recovery

Infrared Sauna Can Improve Athletic Performance and Recovery

  02 Mar 2022

Infra red sauna Northern Beaches promote athletic performance and recovery by increasing your circulation and improving muscle recovery.

Infrared waves penetrate deep into the body, helping with muscle recovery, pain relief and even weight loss. The benefits of infrared sauna therapy for athletes include:

  • Reduced inflammation
  • Increased circulation
  • Improved muscle recovery and healing times
  • Reduced pain and fatigue before or after workouts or events

Because infrared heat penetrates much deeper than traditional saunas, it is able to remove harmful toxins from the body. When the body is free of toxins, muscles are able to recover more quickly and perform better overall.

You’re probably familiar with the classic sauna: a room or a bench you can sit on, heated to an extremely high temperature by a wood fire, hot stones or electric coils. With infrared saunas, on the other hand, the heat source is electromagnetic waves that are invisible to the human eye. In infrared saunas, the air temperature might only rise to about 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37 degrees Celsius), but your body will respond as if it were in a much hotter environment.[1]

Infrared saunas have been used in Japan and Europe for more than 30 years and are becoming more popular in the United States. Although they’ve been shown to have some health benefits — including weight loss, cardiovascular conditioning, detoxification, pain relief and improved circulation — they’re not exactly mainstream.

When I first heard about them, I was skeptical. But after doing some research and trying one myself, I saw an opportunity to help my clients improve their athletic performance and recover faster from workouts.

So what exactly is an infrared sauna? Why should athletes use it? And how do you know if it’s right for you?

When you think of a sauna, you probably imagine the hot, steamy rooms you may have seen at a spa or gym. But there’s now another type of sauna that’s gaining popularity: infrared saunas.

Infrared saunas work by warming the body and increasing blood circulation. Infrared wavelengths are invisible to the naked eye, and they heat your body directly without warming the air around you.

Some athletes are using infrared saunas to help with their training, although research is limited on whether they really improve performance and recovery.

The benefits of infrared saunas are similar to those of traditional saunas. Research suggests that using infrared saunas regularly may offer some health benefits. These include:

  • temporarily easing joint pain and muscle soreness
  • reducing stress and improving mood
  • increasing relaxation

When you think of high-performing athletes, what comes to mind?

You might picture Olympic gold medalists or maybe the Patriots winning another Super Bowl. But I would venture to guess that you also picture these athletes in a sauna.

Saunas are a staple of athletic training and have been around for centuries. In fact, the word sauna is Finnish, and it refers to the traditional Finnish bath and steam bath. These baths have been around since the 11th century!

Today, the sauna is perhaps most closely associated with Finland, where there are over 3 million saunas (for only 5 million people!) and where public saunas are available in most hotels and gyms. Sauna use is so prevalent in Finland that it’s estimated that up to 90% of Finns use one at least once a week!

Intriguingly, Finland has one of the lowest rates of mortality from cardiovascular diseases. While this correlation doesn’t prove causation, research suggests that regular sauna use may improve heart health in several ways:

High blood pressure is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease. A recent study found that regular sauna use was associated with lower systolic blood pressure — the first number in your blood pressure reading — regardless of. Polestarpilates.com.au has a new service that you want to check in their website.