Therapeutic Sauna

Sauna is an invigorating bath originating in Finland. Traditionally, the bather is subjected to stay
in a hot room, followed by a cold plunge or by being lightly beaten with birch twigs. This ancient
form of heat therapy is very popular in Nordic Europe with various customs. Like Spa in Roman
tradition, Sauna not only provides physical heat exposure, but also offers a relaxation
environment and a social venue.

Today, sauna is used worldwide as a health promoting tool. Usually combine with other spa
services, most of them keeps the key elements, the heated room for full body exposure. There
are two major form of heat: steam and dry heat. And the dry heat can be delivered by air
conduction or infra-red.

Health benefits of sauna:

Improving circulation: By raising body temperature, our heart rate and blood flow will be
increased to help the body redistribute and dissipate to heat. This effect not only strengthens
our cardiovascular system, but also oxygenates our body and stimulates metabolism. Sauna can
lower blood pressure by vasodilatation.

Relaxation and stress reduction: With improved circulation, muscles and tissue can get more
resource and eliminate metabolic waste. They can easily get relaxed and ease the tension from
the human body. Traditionally sauna is used to remove daily stress, rejuvenation and renewal
for body, mind and spirit.

Stimulating and increasing immune system: Hyperthermic stimulation can mobilize white blood
cells and increase their activity. Sauna is a perfect form of artificial fever to bring up our
immunity against viruses, bacteria and cancer cells.

Pain reduction: The thermal effect of sauna improves vascular circulation and lymphatic
drainage. It takes the pain from swelling away. Also dilute the pain substance in the tissue, and
relax the tissue tension. The synergistic effects can quickly relief the pain naturally.

Promoting sweat and eliminating toxins: A well hydrated body under prolonged heat exposure
will produce significant amount of sweat to dissipate the heat. It is the best way to open skin
excretion system to dispose both water-soluble and fat-soluble toxins. Several recent studies
show that sauna’s effectiveness to eliminate heavy metal toxicity, organic solvents and synthetic
chemical compounds.

Facilitating wound healing and improving skin conditions: Besides circulation improvement and
warding off pathogens, hyperthermia also increases fibroblast activities, thus speeds up healing
process. Many skin ailments can be cure by adding sauna into the treatment plan.
Type of sauna I recommend for clinical use.

Not all types of sauna can deliver same benefits. There are many different types of sauna
available on the market. Each manufacturer claims their uniqueness and superiority to other
products which confuses me a lot. After years of study and tryout, for clinical and home use, I
recommend far infra-red (FIR) sauna.

All the saunas can emit far infra-red; it’s just a physical property. Anything with temperature
above absolute zero can emit black body radiation. At room temperature or above, most of
objects can emit infra-red, including you and me. Thus, it is important to differentiate the
heating source/elements in comparing FIR products.

A good FIR sauna delivers heat by radiation instead of air conduction. This feature can
dramatically cut down pre-heat time. (FIR does not heat up the air inside the sauna much
compare to traditional sauna) It decreases risk of burning because heating of air or inside
component of sauna is not necessary and the heat can penetrate deeper into tissue and
disperse more evenly when the conduction type only heat up the surface.

Different molecule resonant with its own frequency(wave length) profile. In human body, most
of our tissues emit and resonant with FIR wave length between 6 to 20 micron (peak at 9.3
micron). This range is called “vital range” and the radiation is called “vital ray”. The optimal
wave length used to heat up the body is 7 to 14 micron. Technically, it is hard to regulate the
heater to generate most of its energy output in this range. To have a peak output wave length
between 7 to 14 micron, the perfect black body (the heater) temperature should not exceed
141˚C (285˚ F). The number is calculated by using equation following Wien’s displacement law to
describe Planck spectrum. Any device using heater above this temperature emits more infra-red
or near infra-red, thus it should not be called FIR device. Recent years, there are new patterned
heating components which can generate significant intensity of FIR within this optimal vital
range available for sauna application, which is worth paying a little more for.

The other factors to look out for when are material safety and electromagnetic field (EMF)
emission. We want to make sure all the components, like the heater, tent, or enclosure boards,
etc, do not release toxin under working temperature. Again, a true FIR sauna has less risk of
toxic off-gassing due to its lower working temperature. EMF is almost inevitable because most
of the sauna runs on electricity; general way of lowering the exposure is to keep a good distance
between the heater to our EMF-sensitive organs, e.g. brain and bone marrow.

The treatment recommendation for most of my patients is to start slowly then gradually build
up the intensity. Ensure patient is well-hydrated before and after (2 to 4 cups of water) taking
sauna. Start from 10 to 15 min or till sweating, and increase a minute or two each day. Any time
patient feels light-headed should stop sauna immediately, and leave the room safely or open
the tent if it is the sitting model. Contraindication of using sauna including: Using alcohol or any
medications that may impair sweating, patients with poorly controlled blood pressure, abnormal
heart rhythms, unstable angina, and advanced heart failure or heart valve disease. Heart rate
increase is commonly seen when using sauna, much more significant in traditional/air
conduction type of sauna (sometimes double the regular heart rate). In my clinical experience, a
true FIR sauna does not raise heart rate that much, so I recommend this type especially to
patient who has cardiovascular concern. For patient using sauna to detoxification, wipe out the
sweat and using the sauna with good ventilation are essential. I have experience smelling the
toxic fume from patient doing sauna days after exposure to organic solvents, flight fuel, and
chemotherapy. Cancer/malignant tumor is another controversial area of using sauna, it has to
be judged from case to case. Points to be considered are patient’s strength, type of tumor,
current cancer status, ongoing treatment regiment and patient’s preference. Carefully selection
of patient and the device is always the key to carry out the benefit of this healing tradition.