How Long Should You Stay In A Sauna For Maximum Health Benefits?

With the health benefits of infrared saunas extremely well-documented, it’s worth asking the question of whether or not you can ever have too much of a good thing.

How long should you stay in an infrared sauna?

Well, the amount of time you can spend - healthily - in an infrared sauna is determined by a range of factors, but most importantly, your health and hydration before climbing in.

If you’re not properly hydrated, you shouldn’t stay inside a sauna for longer than 20 minutes, as you’re risking dehydration.

However, if you’re fit, healthy and hydrated, you can stretch this out into a significantly longer period of time, in the area of 30 - 45 minutes, even an hour.

Keep in mind that the timer starts when your body starts to sweat...

This is when the magic begins.

The average session time for an infrared sauna user is anywhere between 25-45 minutes.

While exact time-frames might remain subjective, infrared saunas have a royal flush up their sleeve when it comes to how long you can stay inside soaking up their benefits.

This is due to the fact that infrared saunas operate at lower temperatures than a traditional hot-air sauna.

Your body is, therefore, able to soak up the same health and psychological benefits, without receiving too much stress on its essential systems and putting the user into considerable discomfort.

On average, an infrared sauna operates at temperatures between 38-54-degrees C (100-129 F) but is capable of even higher temperatures. The human body needs only a small increase above its operating temperature of 37-degrees C (98F) to trigger the sweat and cardiovascular response.

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What happens if you stay too long in a sauna?

Contrary to popular belief, higher temperatures do not correlate with better results from a sauna… so long as your body begins to perspire, you’ve initiated the healing process.

If you stay in a sauna too long, particularly a hot-air sauna, you risk severe dehydration and symptoms of heat-stroke like dizziness and headaches.

Is a Daily Sauna Good For You?

Scientific research has drawn firm connections between daily saunas and a number of positive health benefits.

If we look even closer at the comparison between hot-air and infrared saunas, there’s also evidence that due to the lower operating temperature of an infrared sauna, helps you enter a meditative state, adding psychological benefits to the existing list of physiological ones.

With infrared saunas, you’ve essentially stumbled upon a two-for-one deal: the health benefits, combined with a means of meditation that can work wonders for your productivity- and mental state.

With a lower operating temperature, you’re able to spend more time inside your infrared sauna, increasing your blood flow, relieving muscle tension, losing weight, boosting your immune system and detoxifying your body without the pain and stress on your body of a hot air sauna.

How long until you should benefit from a sauna?

The short answer is, that it’s dependent on factors like your health and hydration before entering, but the research suggests just 20 minutes can dramatically improve your body’s health.

It’s also important to note, that although it hasn’t been proven, research indicates regular sauna bathing over lengthy periods of time has a positive impact on your mortality rate.

Depending on your style and personal preference, you can increase the temperature for a quick sweat, or decrease the temperature if you’re looking to listen to a lengthier podcast or enter a deep state of relaxation.

After all, most go for more than 20 minutes, so why not extend your session a little bit - your body will thank you.

Contact us for more information.

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