The best temperature for infrared saunas depends on your comfort level and health. Most infrared saunas operate at a much slower temperature than traditional saunas. This is simply because they generate heat differently than traditional saunas and thus run at a much lower temperature.
With that being said what exact temperature is best for infrared saunas? In this article, we discuss what infrared saunas are, how they work, and the best temperatures for infrared saunas.
What Are Infrared Saunas?
Infrared saunas are a newer type of sauna that offers a different type of sauna bathing experience. These saunas use infrared carbon heating panels to produce radiant heat. This heat is absorbed by the surface of the skin and allows the internal temperature of your body to rise.
Most of the energy from the infrared carbon panels are directed towards your body. This efficiently allows you to sweat without making the room as hot. Most infrared saunas operate at around 120 to 160 degrees F. This is much lower than traditional saunas but offers the same health benefits.
How Do Infrared Saunas Work?
When looking at how infrared saunas work one must understand the electromagnetic spectrum. This spectrum is the varying degrees that are made up by wavelengths of light. Infrared light is part of this spectrum and is classified into three categories. These categories include Near, Middle, and Far.
Out of those three, far infrared is more common throughout the sauna industry. To produce these far infrared sauna companies use carbon heating panels. These panels produce this invisible band of light as it warms up objects without warming up the surrounding air.
Since these panels don’t heat up the surrounding air they run at a much lower temperature. In most cases, infrared saunas operate at 120 to 160 degrees F. This is a much lower temperature than traditional saunas which typically operate at 194 degrees F.
While infrared saunas aren’t good at heating the surrounding air, the infrared light they produce penetrates deep into your skin while increasing your internal temperature. Making you sweat vigorously even though you’re in a lower temperature room. In addition, you can typically stay inside an infrared sauna longer since the temperature is much lower.
Most infrared sauna use anywhere from 6-10 carbon heating panels. These panels are located on the back, side, and feet of the sauna. This placement allows your whole body to be exposed to the panels to get a more effective sauna experience. In addition, these saunas use dual insulated walls that keep the warm air in and the cold air out.
Best Temperature For Infrared Saunas
Now that we know how these devices work, what is the best temperature for infrared saunas? The answer to this question can vary depending on the type of infrared sauna, your comfort levels, and what results you want to get.
In most cases, the best temperature for an infrared sauna is 140-150 degrees F. or the highest temperature the sauna can reach. This is simply because the higher the internal temperature, the more health benefits that it promotes. This will also make you sweat more, which is the point of the sauna in the first place.
If you’re new to infrared saunas or sauna bathing in general, then we recommend setting your infrared sauna at 115-135 degrees F. This is considerably lower than the maximum temperature and will allow you to stay in the sauna for as long as possible.
This lower temperature is ideal for newbie sauna bathers as they don’t have the tolerance to bathe in a very hot sauna. Once you do begin to build a tolerance we recommend increasing the internal temperature to get the best results possible.
One thing to keep in mind is that not all infrared saunas have the same maximum temperature. Some units can only reach 140 degrees F. In addition to this it’s not wise to run your sauna at maximum temperature all the time. This will reduce the saunas lifespan as it’s always running at maximum capacity.
Conclusion
In the end, infrared saunas are one of the best tools you can use to boost your mental and physical health. If you want to get the best results possible then we recommend running it at its max temperature. If this is too much for you then we recommend using a lower temperature that is comfortable, but hot enough to still make you sweat.
