Traditional Saunas vs. Infrared Saunas
It is no question that there is a benefit to sweating, and it’s super relaxing sitting inside a sauna and just sweating it all out. It not only comes with a myriad of health benefits such as enhancing immune system and improving blood pressure, but also helping to burn calorie and maintaining healthy skin. However, the debate between whether a traditional sauna is better than an infrared sauna or vice versa has been going on for a long time.
What are the key differences?
Heating method: An infrared sauna heats the body with light from different angles, whereas a traditional sauna uses radiant heat from an electric heater or a wood-burning stove.
Temperature: The maximum temperate with an infrared sauna is usually 150º F, however with an traditional sauna heater it can go as high as 190º F or more.
Heat-up time: A Traditional sauna will usually require at least 30 minutes for the room to achieve a desirable temperature, and once the room achieves a set temperature, the heater will turn on and off, typically operating about 50% of the time. For an Infrared sauna, a bather can start the session as soon as the room is turned on since the infrared energy is being emitted by the heaters immediately. If you’d like to wait until the room is over 100º F, it will typically reach that level within 15 minutes.
Environment: With a traditional sauna, you can create either a dry heat or a wet heat environment depending on your preference. To create a wet heat, just pour water onto the rocks and it immediately adds humidity in the room. Do NOT pour water onto the sauna heater itself. And in the case of an infrared sauna, you get a mild dry heat through a few light emitting panels from different directions.
Experience: A traditional sauna heats the air around you to a degree that your body start bringing blood closer to the surface of the skin and opening the pores to release sweat (aka natural cooling process). An infrared sauna emits a wavelength of light that your body absorbs without having to heat up the room around you. It starts the same cooling process without adding steam in the process.
Which one is better?
To simply put, there’s not a single answer. It all depends on what type of sauna experience you’d like to have. The hot air from a traditional steam sauna creates surface sweat, and the gentle heat from an infrared sauna raises the core body temperature - delivering a much deeper sweat. The infrared rays tend to penetrate any medium rather easily because of their large wavelengths. This means that infrared rays are not refracted much at all when passing from one medium to another. The Infrared heats your body without having to heat the air in between throughout a process called conversion.
How to choose what’s right for you?
The traditional steam (Finnish) saunas have been around for over a thousand years, whereas the infrared saunas are a relatively newer invention. If you’d like to focus on the heat part of the sauna experience rather than the humidity part, then an infrared sauna is a good choice. There are two types of infrared saunas: far infrared (FIR) and near infrared (NIR). FIR use rays that can’t penetrate the bather’s skin and deeper tissues. NIR emit rays that can travel through the skin up to several inches deep which helps to increase their effectiveness.
On the other hand, if you are into the Finnish sauna tradition with high levels of heat and the option of adding steam into your sauna session, then definitely get yourself a traditional sauna. Just keep in mind that while it is very effective for producing the kind of intense sweating a traditional sauna can achieve, it may very well overwhelm those who are more temperature-sensitive. With the option of creating humidity, the steam can help open your pores and allow your skin to rehydrate, as well as promote better sleep afterwards.