My opinion on full spectrum saunas for detox, and near infrared vs far infrared based on my own experiences. I might use the wrong terminology, or not get some of the scientific facts straight (I’m still learning), but after testing 9 saunas and building two, this has been my personal experience using far infrared, full spectrum, and “near” infrared saunas.
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Video Transcript (AI Generated)
Today’s infrared sauna question is, “Do I really need a full spectrum sauna?
Near versus far infrared, what’s better for me?
I’ve been told I need to get a sauna with mid, near, and far in it.
What’s your opinion and which one should I buy?”
Yeah, this is very common.
This is coming up a lot lately.
I think a lot of the companies are doing a marketing push that their sauna is full spectrum and that it has all these extra wavelengths and things like that as a way to differentiate themselves and try to separate themselves in the marketplace and charge a premium price.
Let’s see.
I don’t know if you referenced…
I mean, I can tell you what my opinion is right off the bat.
I just want to make sure that it’s going to be in line with what you’re trying to do.
“Do I really need a full spectrum sauna?”
My opinion, no.
The real workhorse in any sauna is the far infrared sauna.
The real workhorse as far as infrared emitters in a sauna is the far infrared.
If you were to take any full spectrum sauna…
This is the way I explain it to everybody.
If you were to take any full spectrum sauna, do an hour long session in it, get a feel for it, get a good sweat, understand how it works and get to know it well, and then redo that session.
But before you start, unplug the full spectrum heaters that are in the front or in the walls, depending on which brand you’re talking about, and then redo the hour session.
If you were to do that, your experience, the amount you sweat and everything else, the feel that you have for the heater or the heaters in the sauna, and your opinion of that sauna is going to be very much the same.
And so I’ve tested this over and over.
I’ve even unplugged the front heaters.
So let’s test it with less far infrared, or let’s test some other things with the heat lamp saunas to crank up the temperature or to test some of the full spectrum emitter…
What do you call it?
Like marketing speak.
They say that it does this and they say that it does that.
But if you actually start testing it, the number one thing that induces a deep penetrating detoxifying sweat in any of the saunas is the far infrared.
And so why don’t I recommend full spectrum?
Because I don’t think it’s worth paying an extra $2,000 when you can get one of these that I’m sitting in for $27.95 or something.
This same one person sauna in another brand that’s full spectrum would be $4,600 or something.
There’s just really no…
I just don’t get it.
There’s no reason for spending crazy amounts of money when the detox is going to be very, very similar, or the detox experience.
In my experience, the detox is very, very similar.
You did ask about a couple other things.
The only trouble with this, you asked if near infrared versus far infrared, what’s better?
Let’s address the first part though, just to close that out.
There’s such crossover between near and mid.
If you were to look at it on the graph, on the wavelength chart, I don’t even know where that’s coming from.
You’d have to tell me exactly where you’re getting that from and I could explain why it’s being presented that way.
Usually it’s just salespeople trying to sell something.
So need to get a sauna with mid.
No, I mean, and the saunas that claim to be near infrared, really there’s a huge discrepancy with that.
Most of the near infrared research was done with LED lamps by the military and some other organizations and you can’t just swap that out for incandescent bulbs like you find in the sauna space or you can’t swap that out for putting heat lamps like I’ve done as a test in this sauna just to see what it would do.
And you can’t just swap out that research for other brands that put a little block, you know, there’s like a little rectangular block of near infrared LEDs behind the grill in the sauna wall.
And here’s why.
Most of the research and the reason that juve, if you looked at a juve light, which is a true near infrared light, if you look at the instructions on those, they require your body to be within like two or three inches of it or something like that.
The reason why is because the skin doesn’t necessarily absorb near infrared very well at distance.
So if you were to get a full spectrum sauna that has near infrared LEDs along with the panels stuffed in there, you’re going to be at least, you know, six to maybe even 20 inches away depending if it’s a two or a three person sauna.
And so the benefit of that is negligible at best.
The other problem with that is it’s been shown that there could potentially be issues with being in a far infrared sauna and sweating and trying to get in front of near infrared LEDs because the layer of sweat on the skin as well as the other things that are happening when your body is overheated, uh, would could potentially stop you from absorbing a lot of the near infrared in the beginning.
And so it goes back to the first part, like I always explain it to people, if you get in a full spectrum sauna and you really want to know, try it in full spectrum mode first and then disconnect the near infrared or the full spectrum emitters or whatever, and just leave these big black carbon panels, uh, powered on and disconnect everything else.
Your, your experience is going to be very, very, very similar, if not exactly the same, unless you’re very experienced or heat sensitive, you might not even be able to tell the difference.
I mean, this is over after testing, um, nine saunas now, I mean, this has been my experience is that the far infrared is the true workhorse for any type of detox.
Now the second part of your question, um, near infrared versus far infrared, you know, I kind of just addressed that.
Um, however, there is a caveat.
There has been some research, um, especially overseas in Europe and things like that, that has shown that there is a benefit to, uh, near, I just got to cool down just for a second.
I get to open the door.
It’s a, it gets awfully hot in here when you’re talking and breathing heavier than, than you would be just sitting in here.
So you need a little ventilation.
Um, there is evidence that there is a benefit for using near infrared led lights separately.
It’s called PBMT lights or photo biomodulation.
Now the, the, the true kicker is that you really shouldn’t use it along with the sauna.
You should use it as a separate at a separate time.
And so the benefits of, um, in my opinion, this is my opinion, the near infrared led photo by modulation lights, the benefits of those are in a different class than a sauna.
A sauna is meant to heat you up, make you sweat and detoxify you.
There may be some lymphatic detoxification from a near infrared led photo by modulation unit.
Um, however, the intention is not to heat you up and the intention is not to, um, you know, make you sweat or anything like that.
You can stand in front of those lights and not necessarily sweat the intention of those and the potential benefit, the value that I see in them used separately from a sauna, not combining the two, it should really be a separate therapy.
Excuse me.
Um, I need another sip of water.
I am, throat’s getting dry in here.
Um, it really should be used as a separate therapy and the things, especially for men, it can increase testosterone.
Uh, and for both sexes, it can definitely improve, um, hormones.
Um, it can do a lot for women.
I’m not a woman, so I’ll leave, um, maybe Dr.
Wendy Myers or one of the other female doctors to specifically talk about female parts.
Uh, but for, for the general population, um, it can also stimulate a lot of different things in the body if we’re not getting enough sunlight.
So it’s not necessarily going to replace sunlight as far as don’t think of it as you’re going to get vitamin D from red light therapy or from near infrared therapy.
It’s not necessarily that it’s that the, um, all the other benefits that we get from being in sunlight or from not being exposed to blue light, uh, the red light or the near infrared light definitely helps to counteract that stuff.
Especially if you spend a lot of time on computers and things like that.
In fact, some people are even researching and recommending now that you run one of these near infrared panels at your desk next to the, um, it’s getting hot in here next to the computer monitor so that you’re mixing blue light and red light to try and even things out because if back in our caveman days, you know, we wouldn’t have any blue light.
And so when we were outside, even if we weren’t in direct sunlight, you know, any light that we were getting, um, wasn’t specifically from screens, you know, it was everything, but so there’s a huge benefit there into trying and trying to restore the natural spectrum of things that we’re exposed to and the type of light and how that affects us.
And if you’re wanting to know exactly how it affects you, I’m probably not the best source to ask just because when you get into the photo by modulation stuff, it’s extremely technical and it’s very, very scientific and there’s all types of things that it does like resets the circadian rhythm and it can control like, um, I don’t remember the word for it, but the way that you wake up in the morning, you know, if you, there’s supposed to be a huge difference if you were to spend your life or if you were to change your lifestyle.
And let’s say for three weeks you wake up in a dark room and the first thing you do is check your phone for an hour and respond to emails on the laptop while you make coffee and you don’t open the blinds and you don’t go outside as opposed to for the next three weeks.
As soon as you wake up in the morning, you draw the drapes, you know, you open the blinds, you get sunlight, you put the coffee on, but you don’t touch a screen.
You don’t touch email.
You don’t touch any blue light device, no screens at all.
And you go outside barefoot grounded and you look at the sun.
It’s, it’s, it’s almost like the Jack Kruse stuff.
You know, it’s very similar to that.
Um, the difference in how you wake up your sleep rhythms, your energy, um, all the, all the natural energetic rhythms in the body are going to change based on what you do.
And so it’s my take that the near infrared light panels not found in a sauna, but the separate units used as a separate therapy when your body is not superheated, um, can be very beneficial for improving things like that.
As far as detoxification, doing a niacin detox, detoxing heavy metals, um, all of these things.
No near infrared is not the way to go.
I’ve tried all different types of saunas.
I’ve used the heat lamp saunas like the sauna space.
I’ve used the ceramic saunas like the Thera sauna.
And I do like those emitters.
I like those emitters, but the sauna build quality on the Thera sauna just sucks.
It’s absolutely terrible.
I wouldn’t recommend anybody buy it.
Um, and I’ve tried the carbon flat panels like I’m in now and that I’ve stuck with.
And to be honest with you, you know, at the end of the day, they all work.
Um, the whole intention is to get us sweating without moving and you know, do some type of lymphatic exercise, whether it be rebounding and all this other stuff, allow that, that stuff to open up or allow the pores to open up, allow the lymphatic system to start draining better, allow the body to become heat adapted, uh, allow, you know, all those things to get moving and start cycling better and stop being so stagnant.
Um, even simple stuff like walking before your sauna session can make a huge difference.
That’s what I do.
Everyone thinks that I, you know, go for intense runs and stuff.
I don’t do that at all.
I walk, I walk very slow pace for quite a while, about an hour, and then I get in the sauna.
You know, I’m not super heated before I get in.
I just have the blood flowing.
And you know, there’s all these little things.
We’ll save that the tips for another video because there’s tons of tips that I’ve found that work really well.
Like stupid stuff.
Like everyone’s, everyone’s worried about the wood and stuff like that being toxic and you know, don’t buy this sauna and don’t buy that.
And I will tell you, there have been saunas that I bought where you open the door and the damn thing smells like formaldehyde or some type of adhesive and I wouldn’t recommend it period at all.
Um, but for like a basswood sauna like this, all you have to do is buy a mosso bag.
You know, if there’s something that you want to, uh, if you think you’re going to sweat out toxins and you can smell it and your sweat smells bad, or there’s something that your sauna and you got a cheap sauna and you didn’t know, and it’s going through a burn off phase or something like that, I wouldn’t recommend buying one of those if you’re shopping for one.
But if you already have one, there’s ways to deal with it.
You know, all this fear marketing about, you know, people that already own sunlight and saunas and all this other stuff.
And I’ve seen it in the sauna group and on forums and everything else, people, you know, making people scared to use what they already have and go out and sell it and buy something else or buy a clear light or buy the, it’s such ridiculous nonsense.
And I just don’t think people, you know, need to spend $7,000 to get the healing benefits of an infrared sauna in their house.
Um, that’s why I didn’t buy one of those.
Um, and it’s my opinion that actually it’s not just my opinion.
I have personally built two.
Let me see if I can show you without screwing this up.
There are heat lamps in this sauna that I have custom fitted.
This is not something you can buy, um, from any manufacturer.
This is just something that I did because, you know, some people are dead set on this stuff after they buy into a particular idea and someone has sold them on, you know, things have to be a certain way and they’re just, and so I want to test everything.
And so when somebody comes to me and say, Matt, I have to have these near infrared bulbs.
Well, for one, the heat lamp bulbs really aren’t near infrared bulbs.
If anything, the majority of the heat that you’re getting from them is more toward the far infrared spectrum than it would be, uh, near infrared.
Um, there’s a lot of people trying to argue that, but I have built two of these things, um, with the lamps on as in accordance to Dr.
Wilson’s design.
I also built an insulated shower enclosure with like house insulation from Home Depot, foil lined, uh, fiberglass back board, uh, with a door and four bulbs.
Let me tell you, does not get hot enough.
You’re not going to detoxify.
You’re not going to do a niacin detox with four bulbs and a tent.
It’s just not going to happen.
Um, I had to put an external heater in there and even still, there was a pain in the ass and it really didn’t get hot.
You know, it’s not like this.
I pre-heat this thing for 45 minutes or however long it takes me to do my walk.
I don’t even time it anymore.
It’s I come in here, I power it on, I walk out the door, I go for a walk and this isn’t a timed walk.
It’s not a linked walk.
I just walked to the park and I come back.
If it takes 35 minutes, great.
If it takes an hour and 10 minutes, great.
Usually it takes about 50 to 55 minutes.
I come back, sometimes I come back and the sauna is off because it automatically shuts off after an hour and it’s, it’s been preheated at its max temp for that long anyway, or not for that long, but for a little while, probably for about 15 minutes.
It takes a good 45 to 50 minutes to get to its max temp.
Um, but you don’t have to wait until it gets to the max temp to get in.
I’m just telling you what I do.
And so by the time I get back here and I do all that stuff, um, you know, I’m sweating in less than six, seven minutes with the heat lamp stuff, even with another heater in the shower.
I mean, you know, I might sweat within 10 minutes, but the intensity of the sweat is the, is different.
There’s not sweat dripping off my feet and off my legs and all this stuff.
There’s not, um, you don’t have sweat dripping off my fingers and from my elbows.
You know what I mean?
Like it’s, it’s just a different experience.
So in my opinion, if you want to detoxify, you want to do a nice and detox, you want to get rid of heavy metals.
You want to do something for Lyme, you want to do anything other than heal the skin because the healing benefits, the skin healing benefits of near infrared are very, very good.
I will say that I believe in that, but as far as heating the core temperature and detoxifying, I really think you need far infrared.
So I hope that helps.
And if I missed something, I mean, this is getting pretty long, but if I did miss something, just let me know in the comments and I’ll get to it in tomorrow’s question.
Make sure you’re subscribed and I’ll see you in tomorrow’s video. (fingers snapping)