Infrared saunas are well known to have relaxing and mood-boosting effects. But they can also provide some relief for the symptoms of anxiety and depression, whether you experience those symptoms regularly or as a result of seasonal darkness and other temporary conditions. Let’s break down how infrared saunas could be helpful for anxiety and depression in more detail.
How Do Infrared Saunas Help?
Infrared saunas utilize infrared radiation, which is invisible to the human eye but still tangible in the heat it produces. This warms your body much more efficiently than traditional saunas. Infrared light can penetrate through your skin and immediately warm your body’s deeper tissues. This heating method can provide several significant benefits for anyone suffering from anxiety and depression.
The Anxiety Benefits of Saunas
Infrared saunas warm up your body and induce a number of regenerative and relaxing effects. Let’s take a closer look at how these processes can provide benefits if you feel anxious or depressed frequently:
Endorphin Boosts
There’s some evidence to suggest that heat therapy, like the kind you experience in an infrared sauna session, can effectively increase your body’s endorphin production. Specifically, it increases the release of beta-endorphins in your brain.
Endorphins are important molecules that are responsible for feelings of well-being and relief. We usually get them from exercise and other good-feeling activities. An infrared sauna session might help you benefit from extra endorphins even if you maintain otherwise healthy activities.
Less Stress and Less Anxiety
Studies have shown that infrared sauna sessions can induce significant reductions in stress and anxiety after just a single experience. This is likely due to the way infrared saunas warm and relax your muscles, dilating your blood vessels and boosting blood flow to the skin and muscle tissue.
All of this can help to physically relax your body, helping your mind into a more relaxed state at the same time. This benefit is also enjoyed by those who attend traditional sauna sessions. But infrared sauna therapy is much more targeted, efficient, and may provide these benefits more quickly since it takes longer for the heat to affect your body.
Mood Enhancements
If you feel like your mood is constantly out of balance, infrared sauna therapy could provide serious benefits. One study found that whole-body heating, exactly like the kind experienced during an infrared sauna session, can help to balance your mood and prevent mood swing cycles.
This may be because infrared sauna therapy increases blood flow throughout the body. This, in turn, boosts oxygen and nutrient flow to the brain, helping you to feel more clear-headed and relaxed.
It may also improve your mood in the short term, which may be due to the aforementioned physical benefits. A more comfortable body is likely to make you feel better all around, after all.
Meditative Regeneration
You can’t forget the raw mental benefits you might experience from an infrared sauna session, either. Many people experience a relaxing, meditative sensation once they are immersed in the whole-body heat provided by infrared saunas.
By inducing a state of light meditation, your mind can rejuvenate itself, facing the rest of the day’s challenges with more vigor and optimism. This effect can be combined with other meditative practices for extra benefits.
Who Should Use Infrared Saunas for Anxiety and Depression?
Ultimately, infrared sauna therapy can be a beneficial practice for a wide variety of people. Folks who suffer from limited anxiety and depression might see significant benefits if they enjoy an infrared sauna session a few times a week.
It’s also important to note, however, that infrared sauna therapy isn’t a true replacement for medication and professional therapy, both of which are used to deal with more serious cases of anxiety and depression.
Order an Infrared Sauna Today!
When used correctly, and in cases where anxious or depressive symptoms are relatively mild, infrared sauna therapy can be one of the best treatments, alongside regular exercise and a healthy diet. If you would like to enjoy the benefits of infrared saunas in your own home, be sure to check out the infrared sauna models available at The Sauna Life, and request a quote today!