Infrared Sauna
Health
Research on Far Infrared
Rays
Dr. Aaron M. Flickstein
Source: "Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients",
May 2000
The Use of Infrared Heat to Produce
Cardiovascular Conditioning
The
August 7, 1981 issue of the Journal of the American Medical
Association (JAMA) reported what is common knowledge today:
Many people who run do so to place a demand on their cardiovascular
system as well as to build muscle. What isn't well known is
that it also reported the "regular use of a sauna
may impart a similar stress on the cardiovascular system,
and its regular use may be as effective as a means of cardiovascular
conditioning and burning of calories as regular exercise."
It has been found that the infrared sauna
makes it possible for people in wheelchairs, those who are
otherwise unable to exert themselves, and those who won't
follow an exercising/conditioning program to achieve a cardiovascular
training effect. It also allows for more variety in any ongoing
training program.
Blood flow during whole-body hyperthermia
is reported to rise from a normal five to seven quarts a minute
to as many as 13 quarts a minute.
Due to the deep penetration of infrared
rays (over one and a half inches into body tissue), there
is a deep heating effect in the muscle tissue and internal
organs. The body responds to this heat with a hypothalamic-induced
increase in both heart volume and rate. Beneficial heart stress
leads to a sought-after cardiovascular training and conditioning
effect. Medical research confirms the use of a sauna provides
cardiovascular conditioning as the body works to cool itself
and involves substantial increases in heart rate, cardiac
output, and metabolic rate. As a confirmation of the validity
of this form of cardiovascular conditioning, extensive research
by NASA in the early 1980's led to the conclusion that infrared
stimulation of cardiovascular function would be the ideal
way to maintain cardiovascular conditioning in American astronauts
during long space flights.
Infrared Heat, Caloric Consumption, and
Weight Control In its Wellness Letter, October 1990, the University
of California Berkeley reported that "the 1980's were
the decade of high-impact aerobics classes and high-mileage
training. Yet there was something elitist about the way exercise
was prescribed: only strenuous workouts would do, you had
to raise your heart rate to between X and Y, and the only
way to go was to "go for the burn." Such strictures
insured that most 'real' exercisers were relatively young
and in good shape to begin with. Many Americans got caught
up in the fitness boom, but probably just as many fell by
the wayside. As we've reported, recent research shows that
you don't have to run marathons to become fit - that burning
just 1,000 calories a week...is enough. Anything goes, as
long as it burns these calories."
Guyton's Textbook of Medical Physiology
reports that producing one gram of sweat requires 0.586 kcal.
The JAMA citation above goes on to state that "A moderately
conditioned person can easily sweat off 500 grams in a sauna,
consuming nearly 300 kcal - the equivalent of running two
to three miles. A heat-conditioned person can easily sweat
off 600 to 800 kcal with no adverse effect. While the weight
of water loss can be regained by rehydration, the calories
consumed will not be." Since a sauna helps generate two
to three times the sweat produced in a conventional hot-air
sauna, the implications for increased caloric consumption
are quite impressive.
Assuming one takes a sauna for 30 minutes,
some interesting comparisons can be drawn. Two of the highest
calorie output exercises are rowing and running marathons.
Peak output on a rowing machine or during a marathon burns
about 600 calories in 30 minutes. An infrared sauna may better
this from "just slightly" up to 250 percent by burning
900 to 2400 calories in the same period of time. It might
in a single session simulate the consumption of energy equal
to that expended in a six- to nine-mile run.
The infrared sauna can therefore, play a
pivotal role in both weight control and cardiovascular conditioning.
It is valuable for those who don't exercise and those who
can't exercise and want an effective weight control and fitness
maintenance program, and the benefits regular exercise contribute
to such a program.
History of the Sauna and Development
of Infrared Technology
The Finns popularised sauna use. Their ancient
religious ceremonies used it for mental, spiritual, and physical
cleansing. Use of the sauna in their religion stayed with
them when they migrated between 5,000 and 3,000 BC from an
area northwest of Tibet to their present location in Finland.
Native American Indians used sweat lodges for cleansing and
purifying, recognizing the health benefits of a sweat as well.
Dr. Tadashi Ishikawa, a member of the Research
and Development Department of Fuji Medical, received a patent
in 1965 for a zirconia ceramic infrared heater used in the
first healing infrared thermal systems. Medical practitioners
in Japan were the only ones using infrared thermal systems
for 14 years. In 1979, they were finally released for public
use. The technique has been further refined into infrared
thermal systems that have been sold in the United States since
1981. One use of infrared heat in the United States has been
in the form of panels used in hospital nurseries to warm newborns.
World-Wide Reports
on Infrared Sauna Use
Over the last 25 years,
Japanese and Chinese researchers and clinicians have completed
extensive research on infrared treatments and report many
provocative findings. In Japan, there is an "infrared
society" composed of medical doctors and physical therapists
dedicated to further infrared research. Their findings support
the health benefits of infrared therapy as a method of healing.
There have been over 700,000 infrared thermal
systems sold in the Orient for whole-body treatments. An additional
30 million people have received localized infrared treatment
in the Orient, Europe, and Australia with lamps, which emit
the same 2 to 25 micron wave bands as employed in a whole-body
system. In Germany, physicians in an independently developed
form have used whole-body infrared therapy for over 80 years.
Musculoskeletal Improvements with Infrared
Heat
Success has been reported from infrared
treatments by Japanese researchers for the following musculoskeletal
conditions:
Effects of Infrared Heat on Rheumatoid Arthritis
A case study reported in Sweden worked with
a 70-year-old man who had rheumatoid arthritis secondary to
acute rheumatic fever. He had reached his toxic limit of gold
injections and his Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate (ESR) was
still 125. After using an infrared heat system for less than
five months, his ESR was down to 11.
The rheumatologist worked with a 14-year-old
Swedish girl who had difficulty walking downstairs due to
knee pain from the age of eight. This therapist told her mother
the girl would be in a wheelchair within two years if she
didn't begin gold corticosteroid therapy. After three infrared
sauna treatments, she began to become more agile and subsequently
took up folk dancing without the aid of conventional approaches
in her recovery.
A clinical trial in Japan reported a successful
solution for seven out of seven cases of rheumatoid arthritis
treated with whole-body infrared therapy.
These case studies and clinical trials indicate
that further study is warranted for the use of whole-body
infrared therapy in the care of patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
Other Therapeutic Effects of Infrared
Heat
The following information has been summarized
from Chapter 9 of Therapeutic Heat and Cold, Fourth Edition,
Editors Justus F. Lehmann, M.D., Williams, and Wilkin, or
concluded from data gathered there.
Generally it is accepted that heat produces
the following desirable therapeutic effects:
1. Infrared heat increases the extensibility
of collagen tissues.
Tissues heated to 45 degrees Celsius and then stretched exhibit
a nonelastic residual elongation of about 0.5 to 0.9 percent
that persists after the stretch is removed. This does not
occur in these same tissues when stretched at normal tissue
temperatures. Therefore 20stretching sessions can produce
a 10 to 18 percentage increase in length of tissues heated
and stretched.
Stretching of tissue in the presence of
heat would be especially valuable in working with ligaments,
joint capsules, tendons, fasciae, and synoviurn that have
become scarred, thickened, or contracted. Such stretching
at 45 degrees Celsius caused much less weakening in stretched
tissues for a given elongation than a similar elongation produced
at normal tissue temperatures.
Experiments cited clearly showed low-force
stretching could produce significant residual elongation when
heat is applied together with stretching or range-of-motion
exercises. This is safer than stretching tissues at normal
tissue temperatures.
2. Infrared heat decreases joint
stiffness.
There was a 20 percent decrease in rheumatoid finger joint
stiffness at 45 degrees Celsius (112 degrees Fahrenheit) as
compared with 33 degrees Celsius (92 degrees Fahrenheit),
which correlated perfectly to both subjective and objective
observation of stiffness. Speculation has it that any stiffened
joint and thickened connective tissues may respond in a similar
fashion.
3. Infrared heat relieves muscle
spasms.
Muscle spasms have long been observed to be reduced through
the use of heat, be they secondary to underlying skeletal,
joint, or neuropathological conditions. This result is possibly
produced by the combined effect of heat on both primary and
secondary afferent nerves from spindle cells and from its
effects on Golgi tendon organs. The results produced demonstrated
their peak effect within the therapeutic temperature range
obtainable with radiant heat.
4. Infrared heat treatment leads
to pain relief.
Pain may be relieved via the reduction of attendant or secondary
spasms. Pain is also at times related to ischemia (lack of
blood supply) due to tension or spasm that can be improved
by the hyperemia that heat-induced vasodilatation produces,
thus breaking the feedback loop in which the ischemia leads
to further spasm and then more pain.
Heat has been shown to reduce pain sensation
by direct action on both free-nerve endings in tissues and
on peripheral nerves. In one dental study, repeated heat applications
led finally to abolishment of the whole nerve response responsible
for pain arising from dental pulp.
Heat may lead to both increased endorphin
production and a shutting down of the so called "spinal
gate" of Melzack and Wall, each of which can reduce pain.
Localized infrared therapy using lamps tuned
to the 2 to 25 micron waveband is used for the treatment and
relief of pain by over 40 reputable Chinese medical institutes.
5. Infrared heat increases blood
flow.
Heating one area of the body produces reflex-modulated vasodilators
in distant-body areas, even in the absence of a change in
core body temperature. Heat one extremity and the contra lateral
extremity also dilates; heat a forearm and both lower extremities
dilate; heat the front of the trunk and the hand dilates.
Heating muscles produces an increased blood
flow level similar to that seen during exercise. Temperature
elevation also produces an increased blood flow and dilation
directly in capillaries, arterioles, and venules, probably
through direct action on their smooth muscles. The release
of bradykinin, released as a consequence of sweat-gland activity,
also produces increased blood flow and vasodilatation.
Whole-body hyperthermia, with a consequent
core temperature elevation, further induces vasodilatation
via a hypothalamic-induced decrease in sympathetic tone on
the arteriovenous anastomoses. Vasodilatation is also produced
by axonal reflexes that change vasomotor balance.
6. Infrared heat assists in resolution
of inflammatory infiltrates, oedema, and exudates.
Increased peripheral circulation provides the transport needed
to help evacuate oedema, which can help inflammation, decrease
pain, and help speed healing.
7. Infrared heat introduced in cancer
therapy.
More recently, infrared heat has been used in cancer therapy.
This is a new experimental procedure that shows great promise
in some cases when used properly. American researchers favour
careful monitoring of the tumour temperature; whereas, the
successes reported in Japan make no mention of such precaution.
8. Infrared heat affects soft tissue
injury.
Infrared healing is now becoming a leading edge care for soft
tissue injuries to promote both relief in chronic or intractable
"permanent" cases, and accelerated healing in newer
injuries.
Chinese Studies Report Positive Effects
of Infrared Heat
Researchers report over 90 percent success
in a summary of Chinese studies that assessed the effects
of infrared heat therapy on:
- Soft tissue injury
- Lumbar strain
- Periarthritis of the shoulder
- Sciatica
- Pain during menstruation
- Neurodermatitis
- Eczema with infection
- Post-surgical infections
- Facial paralysis (Bell's Palsy)
- Diarrhoea
- Cholecystitis
- Neurasthenia
- Pelvic infection
- Paediatric pneumonia
- Tinea
- Frostbite with inflammation
Japanese Studies on the Positive Effects
of Infrared Heat
As reported in Infrared Therapy by Dr. Yamajaki,
Japanese researchers have produced the following provocative
results with whole-body infrared heat:
- Burns (relieves pain and decreases healing
time with less scarring) High blood pressure (safe in 40
to 50 degrees Celsius, 104 to 122 degrees Fahrenheit, regular
use helps lower pressure)
- Low blood pressure (sauna trains the
body to raise the pressure)
- Brain damage (accelerated repair in brain
contusions) Short-term memory loss (improved)
- Cancer of the tongue (improved)
- Toxic electromagnetic fields (effects
neutralized)
- Cerebral haemorrhage (speeds and significantly
enhances recovery)
- Arthritis, acute and chronic (greatly
relieved)
- Gouty arthritis (relieved)
- Rheumatoid Arthritis (relieved)
- Menopausal symptoms (relieved chills,
nervousness, depression, dizziness, head- and stomach-ches)
- Weight loss (produced through sweating,
the energy expended to produce sweating, and through direct
excretion of fat)
- Auto accident-related soft tissue
injury (daily sessions used until best healing attained,
then used to deal with permanent residuals; pain control
for chronic residuals lasted three days before another treatment
was necessary)
Speculation about Infrared Heat Effects
on Blood Circulation
All of the following ailments may be associated
to some degree with poor circulation and, thus, may respond
well to increased peripheral dilation associated with infrared
treatment:
- Arthritis
- Sciatica
- Backache
- Haemorrhoids
- Nervous tension
- Diabetes
- Children's overtired muscles
- Varicose veins
- Neuritis
- Bursitis
- Rheumatism
- Strained muscles
- Fatigue
- Stretch marks
- Menstrual cramps
- Upset stomach
- Leg and decubitus ulcers (that fail to
heal using conventional approaches)
- Post-operative oedema (treatment has
proven so effective hospital stays were reduced by 25 percent)
- Peripheral occlusive disease ("The
goal is to maintain an optimal blood flow rate to the affected
part...In general the temperature should be maintained at
the highest level, which does not increase the circulatory
discrepancy as shown by cyanosis and pain." Therapeutic
Heat and Cold, pp.456-457.)
Infrared Heat and Coronary Artery Disease,
Arteriosclerosis, and Hypertension
Finnish researchers, reporting the regular
use of conventional saunas state "there is abundant evidence
to suggest that blood vessels of regular sauna-goers remain
elastic and pliable longer due to the regular dilation and
contraction" of blood vessels induced by sauna use, such
as the Physiotherm Far Infrared Sauna.
In 1989, German medical researchers reported
in "Dermatol Monatsschrift" a single whole-body
session of infrared-induced hyperthermia lasting over one
hour had only beneficial effects on subjects with State I
and II essential hypertension. Each subject experienced a
rise in core body temperature to a maximum level of 35.5 degrees
Celsius (100.5 Fahrenheit). All of the subjects in one experiment
had significant decreases in arterial, venous, and mean blood
pressure that lasted for at least 24 hours and linked, according
to researchers, to a persistent peripheral dilation effect.
An improvement in plasma viscosity was also noted.
Another group of similar hypertensive patients
was also studied under the same conditions of hyperthermia,
with an eye toward more carefully evaluating the circulatory
system effects induced by this type of whole-body heating.
During each infrared session, there was a significant decrease
of blood pressure, cardiac ejection resistance, and total
peripheral resistance in every subject. There was also a significant
increase of the subjects' heart rates, stroke volumes, cardiac
outputs, and ejection fractions. The researchers site these
last three effects as evidence that the stimulation of the
heart during infrared-induced hyperthermia is well compensated,
while the prior list of effects show clear detail of the microcirculatory
changes leading to the desired result of a lowering blood
pressure.
Aging and Infrared Heat Therapy
Problems often accompanying aging have been
reported in Japan to be alleviated or reduced by the use of
infrared therapy:
- Menopause
- Cold hands and feet (a physical therapist
found 20 to 50 percent improvement was maintained).
- High blood pressure (in the case of a
diabetic a systolic decrease from 180 to 125 and a concurrent
10 pound weigh loss)
- Rheumatoid arthritis (seven out of seven
cases resolved in one clinical trial)
- Radiation sickness (relieved signs and
symptoms)
- Cancer pain (greatly relived pain in
later stages)
- Sequelae of strokes (Herniparesis relieved
over time)
- Benign prostatic hypertrophy (reduced)
- Duodenal ulcers (eliminated)
- Pain preventing sleep or limiting sleeping
position (relieved)
- Compression fracture pain (pain gone
for three days after each treatment in osteoporotic compression
fractures)
- Haemorrhoids (reduced)
- Cystitis (gone)
- Cirrhosis of the liver (reversed)
- Gastritis (relieved)
- Hepatitis (gone)
- Asthma, bronchitis (cleared up)
- Chron's Disease (gone)
- Post-surgical adhesions (reduced)
- Leg ulcers (healed when previously static
and resistant to other care)
- Keloids (significantly softened
and, in some cases, completely gone)
Ear, Nose, and Throat
Conditions Relieved with Infrared Heat
In Japan, ear, nose,
and throat conditions were relieved with infrared heat treatments:
- Chronic middle-ear inflammation or infection
(in one study of chronic serous otitis media no pathogenic
bacteria were isolated in 70 percent of the subjects studied
after the use of heat)
- Sore throats
- Tinnitus (chronic severe case cleared
with 10 infrared treatments)
- Nose bleeding (reduced)
- Infrared Heat Improved Skin Conditions
- Infrared therapy is used routinely in
burn units throughout Asia.
- Skin conditions improved in Japan and
China with the use of infrared heat application
- Nettle rash
- Clogged pores (unplugged of cosmetics,
unexcelled skin texture and tone)
- Poor skin tone (restored to a more youthful
level)
- Scars and pain from burns or wounds (decreased
in severity and extent)
- Lacerations (healed quicker with less
pain and scarring)
- Acne (three to four treatments may open
pores that have been non-functioning for years, forcing
out clogging cosmetics, and loosening dry outer skin)
- Teenage skin problems (clearing acne
and blackheads)
- Body odour (improved functioning of the
skin especially body odour induced by occupational exposure
to odorous chemicals)
- Eczema and Psoriasis (respond well)
- Sunburn (According to the Clayton's Electrotherapy,
9th Edition, "infrared radiations are the only antidote
to excessive ultraviolet radiations.")
- Ketoids (form at a reduced rate in those
prone to their formation and may be softened by infrared
heat if they have formed) Dandruff (increased blood flow
through the scalp)
Mikkel Aaland's book Sweat (Capra
Press, 1978) quotes a Finnish doctor:
"The best dressed foreigner can come
into a doctor's office, and when his skin is examined, it
is found to be rough as bark. On the other hand, as a result
of the sauna, the skin of any Finnish worker is supple and
healthy."
Contraindications
As you can see, the segment of the infrared
spectrum emitted by an infrared sauna, such as Physiotherm
Far Infrared Sauna is reputed to offer an astounding range
of possible therapeutic benefits and effects in research conducted
around the world.
However, the data presented in this article
is offered for reference purposes only and to stimulate further
observation. No implication of Physiotherm Far Infrared Sauna
creating a cure for or treating any disease is implied nor
should it be inferred. If you have a disease, be sure to consult
with a primary-care physician concerning it.
Prescription Drugs: If
you are using prescription drugs, check with your physician
or pharmacist for possible changes in the drug's effect due
to an interaction with infrared energy.
Certain Ailments: According
to some authorities, it is considered inadvisable to raise
the core temperature of someone with adrenal suppression,
systemic lupus erythematosus, or multiple sclerosis.
Joint Problems: If a person
has a recent (acute) joint injury, it should not be heated
for the first 48 hours or until the hot and swollen symptoms
subside. Joints that are chronically hot and swollen may respond
poorly to vigorous heating of any kind. Vigorous heating is
strictly contraindicated in cases of enclosed infections be
they dental, in joints, or in any other tissues.
Pregnancy: In pregnancy
or the suspicion of pregnancy, discontinuation of sauna use
is recommended. Finnish women use traditional saunas that
don't heat the body as deeply as an infrared sauna for only
six to twelve minutes and reportedly leave at that time due
to perceived discomfort. Their usage of traditional saunas
at this low level of intensity is not linked to birth defects.
Infrared sauna use may be two to three times more intense
due to deep tissue penetration, and comparatively shorter
two to six minute sessions hardly seem worth any minimal risk
they may present.
Surgical Implants: Metal
pins, rods, artificial joints, or any other surgical implants
generally reflect infrared rays and are not heated by an infrared
heat system. Nevertheless, a person should consult his or
her surgeon before receiving such therapy. Certainly infrared
therapy must be discontinued if a person experiences pain
near any implants.
Silicone: Silicone does
absorb infrared energy. Implanted silicone or silicone prostheses
for nose or ear replacement may be warmed by infrared rays.
Since silicone melts at over 200 degrees Celsius, it should
not be adversely affected by an infrared heat system, however.
It is still advised that a person checks with his or her surgeon,
and possibly are presentative of the product manufacturer,
to be certain.
Menstruation: Heating of
the low-back area of women during the menstrual period may
temporarily increase menstrual flow. Once a woman is aware
that this is occurring, she can choose to allow herself to
experience this short-term effect without worry. Or she may
simply avoid using an infrared heat source at that time in
her cycle.
Haemorrhage: Haemophiliacs
and anyone predisposed to haemorrhage should avoid infrared
usage or any type of heating that would induce vasodilatation
that can lead to the tendency to bleed.
Worsened Condition: Should
any condition worsen with the use of an infrared heat system,
the use of the system should be discontinued.
Pain: Pain should not be
experienced when using an infrared heat system. If one does,
the use of radiant heat is clearly inappropriate for the person
at that time.Do not attempt to self-treat any disease with
[an Infrared Sauna] without direct supervision of a physician.
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