Much like a spa experience, personalisation is a crucial factor of home infrared sauna use, so that users are able to reap the full benefits of treatment without compromising on lifestyle, comfort and health needs at a given point in time. This includes aspects like adjustment of your seating to accommodate a body position as much as possible, whether or not you’re engaging in more gentle exercise to compound its physiological effects, or – and most fundamentally of all – tailoring the temperature settings to your needs and preferences.
Setting the right temperature for your home infrared sauna can make or break the experience. And the key here is to balance comfort and effectiveness. In this guide, our team at Sun Stream Saunas AUS will guide you through the factors that will affect how you set your home infrared sauna temperature.
Home Infrared Sauna Temperatures vs Regular Sauna Temperatures
There is no one answer to the question “How hot is a sauna?” since different types operate at varying temperatures. Let’s explore further below:
- Dry saunas: Dry saunas can use a convection like a wood-burning stove to warm you up. This environment has a very low air humidity where temperatures can reach 80 – 90 degrees Celsius.
- Finnish saunas: These saunas may provide an electric heater you pour water on to heat the surrounding air. This results in an increased humidity level and temperatures of 100 – 110 degrees Celsius.
- Steam room: These rooms are similar to steam saunas as they use hot air to increase the body’s temperature, however, they operate at lower temperatures. Their maximum temperatures can reach 45 – 48 degrees Celsius with maximum humidity.
- Infrared saunas: Unlike regular saunas, infrared saunas warm the body directly through infrared light’s targeted physiological responses. The heating effect on the air is limited – but cabin temperature can also slightly increase after a time. These saunas generally operate between temperatures of 45 – 65 degrees Celsius.
Are Infrared Sauna Temperatures Effective?
Given that other sauna types operate at higher temperatures, it’s easy to assume they heat the body much more adequately – however, that is not the case.
The biggest benefit of infrared saunas is that you can increase your core body temperature to the maximum, without the downsides that make the body’s processes of thermoregulation so important in health and safety. In steam rooms and Finnish saunas, the high temperatures and high humidity not only cause you to sweat profusely, but also have the potential to make it harder to breathe, causing discomfort. The air temperature also highly affects the temperature of your head, which is weaker than the body in withstanding warm temperatures. Once your head gives out, you may feel weak or fatigued. You may even experience a headache or other symptoms, which might urge you to stop the session (and rightfully so).
In infrared saunas, you can maximise the heat of your core body temperature and induce adequate sweating, while still enjoying the heat of the sauna. Many infrared sauna models also focus their heater panels on your trunk and extremities, not your head, to ensure you finish the entire session with ease.
What is the Ideal Home Infrared Sauna Temperature to Achieve Benefits?
The most important thing when doing an infrared sauna session is achieving a body temperature close to 38.5 degrees Celsius. This creates what’s essentially an artificial fever, producing sweat as the body’s means of dispensing accumulated heat in the body via liquid evaporation, and activating accelerating cardiovascular responses like heart rate to further facilitate movement of heat away from the body’s core.
If you don’t achieve that profuse sweating stage, you may not be able to enjoy the health benefits that infrared saunas provide such as quicker recovery, better circulation, skin rejuvenation, and more.
The ideal temperature range of home infrared saunas is somewhere between 45 – 60 degrees Celsius. The good news is that you can achieve the same benefits regardless of whether you set the sauna at 45 degrees Celsius or 60 degrees Celsius. Take note, however, that you have to adjust the time you spend in the sauna to how high you set the temperature. For instance, higher temperatures mean shorter sessions, and so on.
It’s also important to avoid both too hot and too cold temperatures. Similar to nutrition and exercise, extremes are not recommended. It’s better to have frequent and consistent sessions than sporadic ones at high temperatures.
The Bottomline
There is no one answer to what temperature is best for home infrared saunas as this varies greatly per an individual’s needs and goals. It’s also important to consider at what stage of their infrared sauna journey they are at. For instance, it’s best for beginners to start with lower temperatures and gradually increase as they get more used to the heat.
The best course of action would be to consult with a healthcare professional for tailored recommendations befitting your long-term goals for treatment.
For more information about the benefits of home infrared saunas, explore our SunStream blog. For more questions or inquiries about our home infrared products, feel free to contact us.