Are Sauna Heaters Above Your Head Dangerous for Your Brain or Eyes?

Should you have a sauna with heaters below the shoulders, instead of heating the head in your infrared sauna? You might’ve seen articles claiming that sauna heaters positioned above your head could harm your brain or eyes—and the marketing around it can be downright misleading. In this video, I walk through those claims, open the actual studies cited (many of which aren’t even about saunas), and explain why this isn’t something to worry about. I’ve used both head-in and head-out designs for years—neither has ever caused me issues.

What truly matters is comfort, coverage, and using the sauna regularly—not falling for fear-based marketing. Let’s separate fact from fiction.

Read the transcript >

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Transcript

Hey Jordan, how you doing, bud? Hope you are well. So a lot of times my reluctance to type lengthy replies is I just don’t have it in me to sit there on the keyboard and type books. But I think, I actually think you bring up good discussion on this.

I also think, you know, I looked at a couple of these things and you might think this is from Clearlight directly, but this is not from somebody like Raleigh Duncan. I’ve personally spoken to the man, he’s super grounded. He’s the one that started, you know, all this for the Clearlight people.

To my knowledge, this is a franchise in Europe that’s run by somebody else, but that’s neither here nor there. What I’m, what I’m trying to say is I don’t think that Clearlight or anyone else or whoever created these things is out to get anyone, but when you guys post things like this, sometimes I chuckle because the article is basically misappropriating research in a way that is used to sell a product or sell the idea that these guys have a product, which, you know, obviously I like, there’s one right there, you know what I’m saying?

It’s not like I’m against it or anything, but some of the premises that are used to sell these products in this fashion, I think are just made up, you know, clever things that sound cool from the salespeople. They don’t necessarily come from the product creators. This is why you see me using other brands and having great success.

But what I wanted to show you in here and why I don’t raise such great concern from these things. And I noticed that maybe the screen share is a little blurry. I’m using, I’m not a Mac person. I’m using a Mac for the very first time this year, only because the very streaming software that allows me to do these Q and A’s, they changed some of the API structure of those.

And some of the new software is Mac only. So I’m having to learn an entire new system.

So please, I might make some mistakes through this, but what I want to show you is this article is basically designed to show you that saunas, you know, help brain health in one breath and then in the other, uh, suggest that you shouldn’t heat the brain necessarily. But the key point for me is when I click through, and this is why, like I could easily come on here and make a three minute video that just says, Hey guys, this is bullshit.

I don’t buy into it. I don’t think you should too, but that’s not very constructive. So sometimes in order to have a conversation and for us to all learn, right, got to approach it from a different angle. So when I open these studies, which let me open these in different tabs so that we can reference them, right?

It’s kind of on one sense or on one hand, it’s, it’s a little ridiculous that I have to do this, but this is very common. It’s just like the other, just like the other studies or the other hit piece articles that are created by competitors of clear light that hate clear light, you know, like the high tech health one, the near infrared sauna dangers where it says you shouldn’t have near infrared, you know, heaters in your sauna because it’s going to cause cataracts or glaucoma or it’s going to do something to your eyes.

And then all the sources throughout the article that they’ve written lead to PubMed studies that talk about, um, the flashpoint of a welder or being a glass blower or like doing all this crazy stuff that the sauna never, ever reacts to. And so I think being a consumer, like I’m jaded, right?

Cause I have seen this stuff for years and I think they’re all full of shit. And I think what happens is the core creators go and build a great product and they start a great company and then it grows and then you have to have salespeople to keep the wheels going.

And then over the years, you know, you have upper management and all this stuff and you know, they’re trying to hit numbers and salespeople just come up with creative ways to.

uh, state things that makes you think, um, one thing or another. So to my knowledge, I’ve opened every single citation that leads to actual research from this article. So rather than looking at this article, let’s look at this. So this is on the impact of whole body hyperthermia shows brain benefit for mood and depression.

I believe if this is an Ashley Mason study, I know the details of how this was executed or a modeling, I should say. I know the details of how it was executed very, very well, right? They’re head out, but it’s head out so that the people can be consulted with it.

So they can actually have a therapist with them while they’re going through whole body hyperthermia. Their method of treatment is to keep you in there for like an hour and a half. What happens is when you hit the ceiling of what your, um, heat stress capability at that time, right?

It’s adaptation. You have to become heat adopted. Just like if you’ve never run before, you can’t run a 5k, your body has to get used to it. But to put somebody through a stringent regimen that if you read this study, the conclusion is whole body hyperthermia is a promising alternative treatment for depression with low risk for adverse reactions and side effects, but still lacking sufficient evidence for general.

However, as all other interventions have failed, the studies to date can provide a framework for clinical application, right? So whatever they set out to do doesn’t mean that it negates the entire benefits of whole body hyperthermia, but referencing a study like this, that shows mental health benefit or brain benefit without taking into account, like these people don’t give a about picking out a sauna.

That’s not what this is for. So why would you stick this in an article like that is my thing. And then people think that this is good information, but it’s really not applicable to whether or not the head, you know, has targeted treatment or not. This is about, this is a study that shows.

Is there depression benefits for somebody who does whole body hyperthermia? Because they use a dome sauna and your head is out of it, that doesn’t help you decipher whether or not that’s a good decision for you or a right choice or scientific evidence that proves one way or another, right?

It’s what I said in the beginning, misappropriated studies to substantiate a fact that you need a certain thing in order to sell a product. Now, my personal opinion, I mean, you can have your own, but my personal opinion is there’s a sauna right there on the other side that has heaters that go way above the head.

I prefer that because it loosens the muscles in my traps and neck, but I’m telling you, both of them work and I’ve used both types for years and years. Never had an issue with either one. Let’s take a look at this next one. Whole body hyperthermia treatment for major depressive disorder, randomized clinical trial.

Maybe this is the actual, uh, let’s see, what’s the results? Median, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do. Depression scale reading for six weeks. Adverse events, mostly mild.

Okay. So, I mean, that’s great. They can get some results for, you know, whole body hyperthermia. Again, this is a head-out treatment, randomized clinical.

There also have, you know, therapists on staff. I don’t know how this research helps you decide whether or not, you know, you could, the reason I’m saying that is because you could pull up as many studies as you want with finished research. Just because they were done with the dome sauna and had head out doesn’t really mean much.

You could pull up the finished saunas that show similar and those are head in, right? This is the same thing. This is Dr. Ashley Mason.

I don’t know if you’re aware, but, uh, several years ago, I spoke to her kind of behind the scenes before they were allowed to publish this research. And she was doing really cool stuff in the lab. At the time, she was saying that they basically rose patients to incur internal tumors.

Temperature 101.2, this says 101.3, I mean, not a huge discrepancy, but she was saying, despite being able to clinically prove that folks that were coming in and doing their treatment rounds with her in the lab, you know, we’re getting profound benefit. We’re feeling better. And I think some of the things that are left out of these studies are that when you can surround and wrap the body in a heat stress and you get that rush of endorphins, you also get the vasodilation.

And then when you cool down, there’s like this relaxation effect. I really truly believe that’s why people like myself get better sleep at night because it’s a way to take the stress out of you. Also get you focused on your breathing because if we can heat stress you enough to where you have to control your heart rate a little bit, then you’re starting to focus and break the unconscious patterns.

Like did you know when you sit at a computer like I do, sometimes after a while your core muscles get tense or you start to lean forward or, or what I do is sometimes do this because my mouse hand gets sore. Did you know that there’s a contraction that happens in the abdomen and it starts to slow your breathing?

There’s actually a rhythmic breathing pattern called I think keyboard breath syndrome or something like that. You can Google it. Maybe I’m butchering the words, but I’m not butchering the concept. The concept is that entrainment of the body is basically out of whack.

And so if we can break those rhythms and break that stimuli from what the body is used to doing, right, we have an opportunity to allow it to do something else or go allow an opportunity to change the breathing pattern into a less stressed state. Allow the body to relax deeper, slower breaths, fuller breaths, get rid of the tension, right?

And so the whole idea of using sauna as this sacred healing space for yourself or this, you know, if I want to make jokes, I just say it’s a healing hotbox or I got to go in the hotbox, right? I’m trying to make it fun. Sometimes I don’t want to do it, but I’ll tell you what, I always feel better after.

And the one thing that never changes in me feeling better after is whether or not I use a sauna that has heaters that go above or below the head. So yeah, I think it’s a little ridiculous. At the same time, I empathize because I was taught by people who have taught me wrong many times, right?

So years ago, I thought that I shouldn’t have a sauna that has heaters that go above the head. So I avoided that for a while. And then I finally tried something else that did have them and I was like, wow, there’s not much difference except my muscles kind of ease and soothes them, right?

There’s no issue otherwise. And I actually prefer it because the way that you like the heat accumulates in the sauna, right? There is some convection present in them. So just like in a traditional sauna, the heat accumulates to the ceiling and then as it fills the cabinet pushes down, the same thing happens in an infrared sauna just to a lesser degree, right?

So I don’t think that the heat above the head is necessarily wasted because you’re speeding that up, right? You have this dead space with poor heater coverage and you can feel this. Like if you go in a cheap sauna that has shoulder down heaters and then it either doesn’t have front heaters, doesn’t have great side heaters, doesn’t have floor heaters, you’ll feel the hot and the cold spots in there.

So for me, just as a preference, not as scientific data that’s going to prove to you that they have the right wavelength that’s even going to penetrate the bone. If it doesn’t penetrate the bone, how is it necessarily harmful or heating up the brain in less than a half an hour?

I just don’t see it because in these whole body hyperthermia studies, they’re taking core temperature readings with a rectal thermometer. I mean, they’ve got a thermometer shoved up their ass. There’s no way around, there’s no mistakes here. It’s not like their brain is accidentally overheated, right?

And with full disclosure, those are head out style saunas. So you could argue a bunch of things there, but I mean, come on.

Mood states following, again, these are all whole body hyperthermia things. So it’s just being suggested in the article that they’re mimicking a sauna dome with a box sauna with a wooden sauna by not having the heaters, you know, cover the head. But there’s a lot of other tissues.

Like, it’s not like they just cut out this part. You know what I mean? There’s a lot of other tissues in different areas that you probably would want coverage. I mean, I personally do.

Clinical effects of regular dry sauna bathing, a systematic review. I don’t know what the hell this is. Dry sauna bathing is going to be head in, man. So I don’t know why.

Conclusion, regular dry sauna bathing has potential benefits. More data of higher quality is needed on the frequency and extent of adverse side effects studies also need to determine the optimal frequency and duration to do. OK, so is there anything I don’t see how any of these studies so far are useful to prove whether or not.

Heating the head, if it heats the head, remember, not all wavelengths penetrate the skull and penetrate the bone. Even soft tissue. I mean, there’s a there’s a there’s a maximum penetration depth on a lot of things. Some of it has to do with concentration of heater coverage and then also how close your skin is to the surface of the actual emitter.

But we’re getting so technical, like for most people, this is a complete waste of time. Oh, wow. They link to the World Sauna Championships. Well, that’s cool.

Not sure how that helps you decipher that you should or shouldn’t have heaters above the head. But so I’m basically doing this because, you know, there’s a lot of scare tactics out there. And I just want to show you that if somebody, even me, takes the time to go through these articles and then look at the cited research that’s actually documented, it’s not really a match for what’s contained or the and I don’t even want to say that they’re being disingenuous.

I’m just saying.

By the salespeople, the idea that’s being passed off to you really isn’t substantiated by these references. Have you noticed that trend? So this is extremely, extremely common. So I’m so used to this, it’s exactly like in the beginning of the video when I said Clearlight’s competitors that hate Clearlight and think that they should fall off the face of the earth because they have a full-spectrum sauna comes from a fire-infrared company that just chooses not to make a full-spectrum sauna.

So they put out articles like this, you know, you shouldn’t have certain types of heaters because it could damage your eyes. And then they link to a welder study, a glassblower study, something that has like a super high flashpoint that a full-spectrum emitter would never have. And please understand, I’m talking to you, this is coming from a guy who doesn’t really believe in full-spectrum saunas either.

But you don’t see me making articles and saying, oh, you know, you’re going to damage your eyesight if you buy that. Because it’s bullshit. It really is bullshit. It’s one of the best examples of misappropriate, well, maybe this is a pretty good example too, but…

Conclusion. Regular dry sauna bathing has potential health benefits. More data of higher quality is needed on the frequency and da-da-da-da-da-da-da. Okay, that’s great.

How the hell does that help us? Sauna bathing is a form of whole-body hyperthermia. No kidding. Turkish style, traditional sauna, 5 to 20 minutes.

Well, I mean, I don’t really have all day to go through this, but that’s pretty generalized. I don’t see anything specifically talking about a heater coverage or height or anything like that. I could be wrong. Hey, the whole reason to make this video is to create this, you know, conversational experience so that we can toss this back and forth.

If I’m wrong somewhere, please, by all means, point it out. I’m always looking to improve. I don’t mind being corrected if I make a mistake. Lord knows I’ve made plenty of mistakes in the past, and I’m sure if I make a mistake here, this won’t be my last one, but, you know.

that’s part of the evolution of improving, you know, what we do here. And don’t think for a second that every year that I do a better job for you guys, I’m also getting benefit, right? If I can do a better job for you, what do you think happens in my own life?

What do you think happens to my own sessions and my own schedule and my own ability to help and heal myself, right? It continues to go up. So I’m getting great personal health benefit from doing this as well. Effects of Far-Infrared sauna bathing on recovery from strength and endurance sessions in men.

10 healthy men, 60 minutes, Far-Infrared sauna. Okay, that’s cool. So their head is in. In conclusion, deep penetration of infrared heat, approximately three to four centimeters into fat tissue and neuromuscular system with mild temperatures, 35 to 50 degrees Celsius, light humidity, 25 to 35% during FIRS bathing appears to be favorable for the neuromuscular system to recover from maximal endurance performance.

FIRS breathing, bathing is a very light loading for the body and provides a comfortable, relaxing experience. Huh? Imagine that. What do you think happens when you do exactly what I was talking about?

When your heart rate is impacted by heat stress, you change your breathing rhythm and you can switch back and forth between sympathetic and parasympathetic states. Huh? You think there’s a little relaxation that comes from that. I wonder why.

Imagine that. Revolutionary. Far-Infrared radiation, its biological effects, medical applications. Okay.

Thanks for letting us know that it works. All living organisms. Again, I don’t, biological effects, that would be great. Is there biological effects deciphered between brain and the rest of the body?

I doubt it. Obviously I’ve seen most of these before, but I don’t look at them regularly. It’s probably been a couple of years or multiple years.

Some of the other whole body ones are pretty new, though. They didn’t even exist three or four years ago. Heat lamps, those are different. We’re talking about different sources.

FIR saunas, OK. In these cabins, the heating elements that typically are heated to 300 to 400 degrees Celsius and the emission of the heat exchange between the body, cabin air temperature being at 40 degrees Celsius or less. Heating of the skin with FIR warming cabins is faster in comparison to conventional saunas, but higher radiance of the skin must be applied in order to produce noticeable sweating.

These cabins are frequently used in Japan where the practice is called Weyon therapy. That actually does have clinical merit. Weyon therapy, and I wonder if there’s a picture of that. I should look at that, actually.

That might be an answer for us that I didn’t think about before. So if we go to Google Images, let me pull up the Japanese versions of Weyon therapy that prove and have shown to prove improvement in cardiovascular function or the ways that they use it. I’m curious if they have their head in front of them.

This one looks like they do. The heaters are about level with the eyebrow or the forehead somewhere. Probably depends on how tall you are. But they definitely don’t do anything to keep them below the shoulders, that’s for sure.

Here’s a much better photo. So yeah, that’s going to be head in, basically. Not married to any idea. Happy to, if something comes out that proves this to be beneficial one way or the other, happy to change a viewpoint.

But like I’ve been saying the whole time, I’ve used both, I own both, I have for years. I don’t notice much difference between them. Looks like the Japanese don’t have any issue with it either. So.

interesting to have studies, you know, reference research in other countries that doesn’t mention anything like this. Measurement of penetration of red and near infrared light in vivo tissues. Well, that’s not really applicable. The only sauna heaters in a clear light that would even emit something like that are the full spectrum heaters on the back of the glass, and they’re low, and they don’t really produce anything less than a thousand nanometers and up anyway.

Near infrared, blah, blah, blah, blah. Okay. Well, that’s interesting. I don’t really know why you would put that in here.

Near infrared does have great benefit for TBI, especially if you use it on the head, but you’re never going to get that from a sauna, especially not a clear light sanctuary. The heaters are mounted way too low, and they’re 30 inches away from the body, and you would never be able to generate 810 nanometers of light and get a penetration depth of three centimeters into the tissue from using a sauna.

It’s just not going to happen. You either need a handheld device or a body panel in order to have close to skin contact. Actually, did they put intensity in there? Do you see anything that says milliwatts per centimeter squared?

It’s probably there, just my eyes are searching, and I’m not seeing it. Anyway, let’s go through the last few here. Infrareds, friend or foe, the sun’s IRA wavelengths. Yeah.

Okay. Thanks for that. I mean, I don’t know. You guys can go through this.

I don’t want to sit here. This is absolutely atrocious. This has nothing to do with having far infrared. 850 nanometers will never be accomplished or will never be an included output in the range that a far infrared

emits. So unless you’re taking heat lamp bulbs or putting near-infrared heaters in the back of the sauna, this is completely irrelevant and has nothing to do with choosing where your body should receive that based on the way that the sauna is designed. So anyway, I don’t know what else to do other than tell you, you know, what I think here, but I’ll post this as a comment reply and then let’s talk about it.

Let’s see what you guys think.