If you want to purge your skin of harmful toxins to keep your body healthy–or relax and reduce the stress of everyday life–then you have probably considered the difference between infrared vs steam saunas.
If you’re not sure which one is right for your needs, take a look below:
Clearlight® Premier Far Infrared saunas feature cutting edge technology and engineering to provide a truly luxurious feel for any home.
How Steam Saunas Work
Steam saunas work by using heaters that warm up reserved water to boiling temperatures into steam. They then funnel the steam, into the sauna chamber, where it warms the surrounding air and you—the sauna soaker.
Different traditional saunas may heat their water using various methods, including electric boiling, stone heating, and more. But no matter what, traditional saunas aren’t energy efficient.
The Infrared Improvement
Infrared saunas may also warm up your body, but they do it completely differently.
They leverage the power and efficiency of infrared light, which is emitted by special lamps or heaters. Infrared light is invisible, yet it can penetrate deep beneath your skin and warm up the deeper tissues of your body.
In this way, infrared saunas can provide a deep, cleansing heating experience, as well as a detoxifying sweat—the same as a traditional sauna!
Benefits of Infrared vs. Steam Saunas
All told, infrared saunas have a number of major advantages over steam saunas. Let’s take a look at these benefits one by one.
Better Deep Heating
For starters, infrared saunas can warm up the deeper tissues of your body like your muscle cells faster than steam saunas. Steam saunas take a lot of time for the heat in the air to reach your skin, which then has to warm up enough for your deeper tissues to become heated as well.
In contrast, infrared warmth penetrates the skin almost instantly. In an infrared sauna, your deeper tissues will heat as quickly as your skin.
Improved Skin Benefits
Infrared saunas may also provide notable skin benefits compared to steam saunas. While both types of saunas can open your pores and induce a detoxifying sweat, infrared saunas may bolster the skin barrier and help to facilitate the construction of new skin cells. Infrared light can stimulate the production of collagen: a key protein your skin cells need to remain elastic and youthful.
Less Risk of Heat Fatigue
Infrared red saunas have another major advantage over steam saunas because they only need to heat their chambers to between 120° and 150°F. That’s much more manageable than the required heat for a steam sauna, which is usually around 185°F.
Because of this, those not used to intense sauna soaks may find infrared saunas more tolerable and safer.
Power Efficiency
Lastly, infrared saunas are energy efficient compared to steam saunas. Most infrared saunas only use around 1.6 kW of power per session. That’s around one-third of the power needed to heat a traditional sauna. Using an infrared sauna could, therefore, be great for your energy bill and the environment.
Infrared is Superior to Steam
In the end, infrared saunas are simply better than steam saunas in all the ways that count. They provide the same health benefits as steam saunas and more. Luckily, there’s no better time to try out an infrared sauna for yourself—check out our selection of infrared saunas today!