Detoxification 101

While infrared saunas have had a huge number of visible benefits on things like the quality of our skin, some of the greatest health benefits are actually invisible and lurk beneath the skin.

Today, we’re going to be focusing on some of these invisible health benefits that have been noted in peer-reviewed medical papers examining the link between saunas assisting our bodies as they detoxify things like drugs, viruses and toxins in our bodies.

In the process of finding out how, we’re going to answer the questions of whether a sauna helps for detoxifying our bodies, whether they help to detox things like drugs, and whether or not you can actually sweat out a cold or a virus.

Do Infrared Saunas Really Detoxify Your Body?

Infrared saunas are one of the most effective ways to detoxify your body and do far more than their traditional steam room equivalent when it comes to removing toxins from your body.

Typically in a steam room, your body reacts to the higher ambient temperature by triggering its sweat response.

One of the popular misconceptions about this process, though, is that the body’s sweat response isn’t necessarily a means of detoxification.

In an infrared sauna, however, the health benefits are far larger, and there is a growing body of evidence to suggest that infrared saunas really do help detoxify your body.

This is due to the way in which infrared saunas can help fortify our lymphatic system, which is part of our immune and circulatory systems and its sole function is to fight waste and toxins in our body.

Specific to the body’s ability to detox drugs with a sauna, a 2012 study found improved “post-treatment scores in symptomatic policemen exposed to employment-related drugs and toxicants compared to pretreatment scores across all subscales after 4-6 weeks of infrared sauna sessions.”

How Do Saunas Help Remove Toxins From the Body?

Does a sauna help detox drugs?

Well, traditional saunas are actually limited when it comes to their ability to remove toxins from the body.

This is because of the fact that the process of detoxification comes down to far more than simply sweating out toxins.

With an infrared sauna, though, your body’s lymphatic system can get to work maintaining a healthy balance - homeostasis - with extra vigour.

While using an infrared sauna, your lymphatic system receives an extra dose of nutrients and energy from the infrared sauna, which can help in the process of fighting toxins and detoxifying your body.

This means that your body can more effectively get to work sweating out drugs and toxins that might be stored in fat cells, which have been suddenly broken down by the infrared light energy and are in turn processed by the lymphatic system.

The question of whether or not you can simply sweat out drugs is largely dependent on whether or not the chemicals have been broken down by infrared light energy, or something like a toxin binder.

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Can You Sweat Out A Virus Or A Cold?

Now that we’ve talked about the correlation between saunas and the body’s ability to fight toxins and detox drugs, it’s essential we talk about whether or not you can sweat out something like a cold, or a virus.

While using an infrared sauna, our bodies react to the rising temperature, exposing us to heat stress.

This heat stress simulates an artificial fever, which our body reacts to by accelerating our cardiovascular and immune response, which prompts blood flow, as well as the creation of white blood cells.

In terms of actually ‘sweating out’ a virus or a cold, a 2010 study from the Medical Journal of Australia found that specifically to dry saunas “inhaling hot air while in a sauna has no significant impact on overall symptom severity of the common cold,” and could actually be make the symptoms worse.

It’s not recommended that you attempt to sweat out the symptoms of a cold or a virus without first consulting a medical practitioner, as it’s likely to dehydrate your body and deplete energy levels that could otherwise be used to fight pathogens.

How Long Should You Stay In A Sauna To Detox?

The amount of recommended time you should spend in a sauna depends on a number of factors. If you’re a new user, it’s advised you should limit your time inside the sauna to around 15-20 minutes, while monitoring your body for any adverse effects.

If you’re a seasoned user of infrared saunas, you can extend this timeframe to around 30-45 minutes.

When it comes to the detoxification process, the amount of time you spend inside the sauna doesn’t necessarily dictate how well your body will break down toxins.

This is dependent on the quality of your health, how often you exercise, how well hydrated you are, and the quality of your diet, for example.

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What Type Of Sauna Is Best For Detoxification?

As we discovered earlier, traditional saunas and steam rooms are actually quite limited when it comes to the process of detoxification and detoxifying things like drugs in our bodies.

That’s why it’s recommended that for maximum health benefits and targeted detoxification of toxins and drugs, infrared saunas are much more suitable and effective for the purpose.

The process of detoxing your body is far more than simply sweating out the toxins.

While using an infrared sauna, the user benefits from a targeted detoxification process that allows infrared energy to break down toxins stored in the body’s fat cells that would have otherwise gone unnoticed.

The added energy from the infrared sauna gives your body’s lymphatic system the boost of nutrients and blood circulation filled with beneficial white-blood cells that get to work processing the toxins.

With all this in mind, Clearlight Infrared Saunas remain one of the best options for users looking to help support the "sweat-out" of toxins and more effectively detoxify their bodies.

Listen to what Ashoka has to say about the benefits of incorporating multiple wellness technologies at once.

If you're interested in an infrared sauna cabin for home, click here to view our range of full-spectrum saunas, far-infrared saunas, and outdoor saunas.

Also, you might want to consider our dedicated page about infrared saunas and detoxification. That page contains many other health benefits of infrared saunas as well, such as improved weight loss and metabolism, enhancing the health of your blood vessels and heart, and offering diabetes support.

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Clearlight would like to remind users that this should not be taken as direct medical advice, and you should always consult a licensed health practitioner before making any significant changes to your lifestyle or existing pain treatment regimen.

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