Are Home Infrared Saunas Safe?

The short answer: Yeah, pretty much. The rest of this page is the long answer.

Let's set some ground rules:

• I'm not giving medical advice. Discuss medical concerns with your doctor.
• I will be talking about worst-case scenarios here.
• Safety is relative. Nothing is perfectly safe, every activity has some dangers.
• This discussion is about home infrared sauna. Finnish, 'hot-rock' sauna, while also safe, is not quite as safe, in my opinion. This is because with home infrared sauna the maximum temperature is lower and better controlled, and the duration of the session is limited by the electronic controls. This means that even if you pass out or become incapcitated (remember, we're talking worst-case scenarios here), the sauna will turn itself off after a bit. 60 minutes maximum is typical.
• We're talking about 'normal' sauna use. 30 minutes to an hour, not more than once a day.

Things You Might be Worried About

Overheating - raising your internal body temperature too much.

For people in normal health, this is not a problem. Your internal temperature does not rise significantly while in the sauna. Your body is easily capable of maintaining a stable temperature by sweating. You can check this yourself with an oral thermometer. I've done this, my body temperature doesn't go up at all.

If you have some medical condition that prevents normal sweating or temperature regulation, check with your doctor.

Sauna puts less heat stress on your body than exercise. If you can perform vigorous exercise, you can almost certainly take a sauna.

Safety during pregnancy - Could high temperatures hurt your fetus?

High internal body temperatures are a concern during preganancy, as they increase the chance of birth defects. However, as we discussed in the previous item, sauna usually does not raise your internal temperature. Check your own temperature and see.

Here is a Medical Journal Article about Sauna Safety During Pregnancy , and a contrasting viewpoint.

Dehydration - losing too much water.

In a normal sauna session you will not sweat enough to stress your body. I lose no more than a 2 pounds of sweat in an hour-long sauna session. (A pound of sweat is about a pint of water.) That sounds like a lot, but a normally healthy person can handle that easily.

Also, you can drink as much as you want during the session.

Salt loss - getting your electrolytes out of balance by sweating too much.

Here's the thing - not all sweat is created equal. Your body controls how much sodium (salt) and other electorlytes (magnesium, etc.) is lost in sweat and urine. The more you sweat, the less salt is contained in the sweat.

Infrared radiation - is this dangerous?

No. The heat from an infrared sauna heater is just like any other heat. This is exactly the same as, for example, standing near a cast iron stove, or any other heat source. Every heat source transmits heat through the air via infrared radiation.

Note that infrared heaters are used in hospitals to heat newborn infants.

Also note that infrared radiation is NOT like the ultraviolet radiation used in tanning beds. Sunscreen is used to protect you from ultraviolet, not infrared.

See Basics of Far Infrared for in-depth discussion of infrared heat.

Electrical Shock and Fire

It's a wooden box containing electric heaters and controls. You should be safety conscious.

You should make sure your sauna has a product safety certification from an organization like Underwriters Laboratory (UL). Saunas made in China might have certification from ETL which is an international organization similar to UL.

See Sauna Safety Certifications for in-depth discussion.

Your sauna will probably come with intructions and stickers describing safe practices. Follow these instructions. Don't tamper with the controls or any guards or covers on the heaters. Don't add extra insulation to your sauna.

Chemical Exposure

If you are highly allergic or sensitive, you may be concerned about chemicals used in the construction of your sauna. See Chemical Sources in Saunas for in-depth discussion.