Traditional saunas raise the temperature of the air in order to warm the body - therefore what you get is a cabin of hot air. Far infrared saunas work differently, they produce the same infrared energy we get from the sun. Instead of heating the air within the cabin, far infrared saunas use over 80% of its heat energy to be directly converted to heat onto and within the body. This process is called conversion.
Far infrared radiation has nothing to do with ultraviolet light, ultraviolet radiation (which causes sunburn and damage to your skin) or atomic radiation (the kind from a nuclear bomb).
FIR warms only the object and does not raise the temperature of the surrounding air. To understand how infrared heat works, picture yourself outdoors on a summer day with the sun beaming overhead. Your body feels warm from the sun and you become hot. Then a cloud passes overhead, blocking out the sun. The temperature outside has not changed, but you feel cooler in the shade. Your body was being heated by the sun's infrared rays. Infrared heaters warm the body in the same manner as natural sunlight.
All life requires FIR heat from the sun. FIR heat is not ultraviolet radiation but a narrow band of energy within the 5 to 15 micron level. This type of energy travels 40 - 50ml" deep into the body to increase circulation and nourish damaged tissue. The sun is the primary source of radiant energy, but not all of this energy is beneficial. Sunlight also contains harmful ultraviolet rays which are not present in the infrared sauna. Although life needs energy from the sun, too much sunlight damages the skin. FIR heat provides all the healthy benefits of natural sunlight without any of the dangerous effects of ultraviolet.
For years, the healthcare industry recommended infrared heat lamps as a source of FIR heat but the lamps were cumbersome, extremely hot and difficult to maintain at a constant temperature. The recent development of ceramic infrared heaters created a new and convenient source of FIR heat therapy.
While the far infrared causes you to sweat, the composition of chemicals found in the sweat is quite different from that produced by a steam bath, traditional sauna, or exercise. The sweat of people using an Far Infrared sauna will not only contain water, but will also contain cholesterol, fat-soluble toxins, heavy metals (such as mercury, aluminum, and arsenic), nicotine, sulfuric acid, ammonia, and other dangerous environmental poisons. Normal sweat produced by other methods, including exercise, is mostly water and sodium chloride. Sweat produced in this way is 97% water and 3% toxins but sweat produced in a far infrared sauna is 80% water and 20% toxins.
Far Infrared is totally safe. It is used in hospitals to warm premature babies and is used in the health industry for various other applications. Most of us don't spend enough time outdoors so we don't get enough infrared in our bodies and we don't work hard enough to sweat, therefore an infrared sauna offers us the opportunity to do both while relaxing in the sauna. A 30 minute sauna produces as much sweat as a 6kl run.
The regular use of an infrared sauna has a cumulative effect on the body, meaning that using it on a regular basis magnifies its benefits. After a few months of using the sauna regularly detoxification, weight loss, immune building and other benefits will increase dramatically. As one user told me "When I used my sauna regularly, I never caught a cold for years.