The Best Infrared Saunas and Their Many Benefits

Saunas have been popular in many cultures across the globe for centuries. While they way they operated may vary, they all had one thing in common: heat that induces sweat, followed by a cooling off period, resulting in a feeling of wellbeing. These days, saunas come in many different shapes and sizes and with added features. In this vein, you have probably come across some infrared sauna reviews and thought it was ‘something new’. In a sense, it is an old principle with an added feature – infrared wavelengths.

Because things could get a little confusing, we have done some research on infrared saunas and come up with some infrared sauna reviews, taking a look at some of the best infrared saunas around.

What is an Infrared Sauna?

A traditional sauna heats your body by means of the heat that is radiated off surfaces in a sauna room. An infrared sauna, on the other hand, has infrared heaters that give off infrared waves. This radiant heat is absorbed by your body and is said to have quite a large number of health benefits.

The interesting thing about an infrared sauna is that the infrared waves penetrates and heats up your skin directly but does not heat up the air itself. They also have lower temperatures than a regular sauna. This makes it easier to use for those people that are not able to tolerate the high heat in a regular sauna.

Best Infrared Sauna Reviews – Top Pick Brands on the Market

Knowing the benefits of infrared sauna therapy is one thing. Choosing the best infrared sauna for you is another.  To this end, our team has provided the reviews of infrared sauna so that you know exactly what the pros and cons are before deciding on the one that suits your needs.

1.  JNH Lifestyles Joyous 1 Person Far Infrared Sauna

Looking for an affordable yet efficient sauna for personal use? The Joyous far infrared sauna by JNH Lifestyles is for you.

This is designed for 1 person use but equipped with amazing features that will make your sauna experience satisfying. From carbon fiber heaters to premium wood material, everything about this sauna is worth the investment.

2.  Dynamic Saunas Venice 2 Person Far Infrared Sauna

Dynamic Saunas are one of the favorite saunas for families. This is because they offer a wide range of sauna styles and each has different functions.

The Venice sauna model, for instance, is great for new couples as it can only seat 2 people inside. The sauna’s color is also more of a neutral tone to match your house’s interior.

3.  JNH Lifestyles 2 Person Far Infrared Sauna

An infrared sauna specifically built to maximize your heating area

4.  BetterLife BL6109 1-2 Person Carbon Infrared Sauna

The BetterLife 102 person sauna is easy to use and assembles very easily. It also makes use of a 15 amp110-volt outlet, making installation a breeze.

5.  DYNAMIC SAUNAS Barcelona 1-2 Person Far Infrared Sauna

Using reforested Canadian hemlock for production, these saunas are environmentally friendly.

There is a newer model of this item:

6.  2-Person Hemlock Deluxe Infrared Sauna

A great place for relaxation and rejuvenation after a long hard day at the office.

7.  JNH Lifestyles NE2HB1 ENSI 2 Person NO EMF Infrared Sauna

The only sauna that sports a zero EMF, Intertek tested and certified heater!

Product for 2020: JNH Lifestyles Joyous 2-Person Far Infrared Sauna

8.  JNH Lifestyles NE3HB1 ENSI 3 Person NO EMF Infrared Sauna

The carbon fiber far infrared heaters are situated such that they provide the maximum amount of heat for your relaxation pleasure.

Product for 2020: JNH Lifestyles Joyous 3-Person Far Infrared Sauna

9.  Sequoia Luxury FAR Infrared Sauna By SunRay Saunas

SunRay is best known for their aesthetically pleasing sauna designs without compromising comfort and quality. This Sequoia Luxury line can fit four people inside. This beautiful sauna is made of cedar wood in red color. Among its best features include ergonomic backrests, chromotherapy with 7 colors, oxygen ionization system, and an FM radio complete with CD and MP3. It even has a space for cups in case you want to enjoy a  sip of tea while relaxing in the sauna.

10.  4-Person Cedar Corner Infrared Sauna

A solid Canadian Red Cedar Wood sauna that tucks neatly into a corner.

11. HeatWave Tuscon Monticello 4 Person Infrared Sauna

A presentable corner unit with a lot going for it.

12.  Dynamic Saunas Monaco 6-person Far Infrared Sauna

Monaco is yet another popular sauna model from Dynamic Saunas. It’s people’s fave for a reason, of course!

If you want a bigger and warmer sauna for your entire family, then you’ll have no better option than the Monaco sauna. This is a spacious far infrared home sauna with compact and solid construction.

The Health Benefits of an Infrared Sauna

Most infrared sauna reviews tend to tell you about the great product. However, they do not answer certain fundamental questions. The main and most important question should be: What are the health benefits associated with an infrared sauna?

Let’s take a quick look at the health benefits associated with an infrared sauna before having a look at some of the best infrared saunas around.

1. Detoxification

One of the most natural ways in which to detoxify the body is through sweating. An infrared sauna heats up your body and makes your core temperature rise. This results in detoxification at a cellular level, where the toxins are usually stored. Infrared saunas have the ability to help you eliminate up to seven times more toxins than traditional saunas.

But what are toxins exactly?

In a nutshell, toxins are any ‘poisonous’ or ‘harmful’ elements that enter the body. This could be by way of what we eat or drink, or even the air we breathe.

2. It improves your circulation

Not only does an infrared sauna increase your core temperature, it also improves your body’s circulation. When your blood circulation improves, your muscles recover quicker, and there is a decrease in both pain, inflammation, and other health issues normally associated with poor blood circulation.

3. It provides pain relief

Besides stimulating blood flow and the associated decrease in pain and inflammation normally associated with bad circulation, infrared saunas also help with pain relief due to muscle and joint strain. This is usually the result of exercise or when overtaxing your body.

4. It helps with weight loss

An infrared sauna session of thirty minutes burns about 600 calories. This is because, when your core temperature increases, so does your heart rate. As a result, your body has to actively work harder at keeping your core level and heart rate down. The result is more calories being burnt, and thus, weight loss.

5. It is great for your skin

Because your circulation increases while toxins are removed during an infrared sauna session, impurities are eliminated from your skin’s pores, leaving it softer and clearer.

6. A great way to relax

Contrary to what is experienced in a regular sauna, an infrared sauna therapy session penetrates your muscles deeply while giving a better relaxation experience at a much lower temperature.

7. It is an immune booster

Infrared sauna therapy boosts your immune system, especially during the process of healing by working at the cellular level. By boosting your immune system, you are less at risk of contracting diseases.

8. It fights cancer

Studies suggest that infrared sauna therapy helps with the fight against cancer.

9. Provides stress relief

Research indicates that infrared sauna therapy works on the body’s parasympathetic nervous system and helps you deal with stress.

Which types of Saunas you can select for home

Many people are under the impression that a dry sauna and a steam sauna are both saunas. This is not really the case. A sauna makes use of dry heat, while a steam sauna is more accurately a steam room. While both use heat, a steam bath operates at a much lower temperature and has a very humid environment. Sitting in a sauna could generally speaking be described as ‘sweat bathing’ due to the high temperatures encountered causing you to sweat.

There are a number of sauna options available.

Indoor sauna, outdoor sauna, portable sauna, and mobile sauna

Depending on your personal needs, you could opt for any one of these three options. Typically, an indoor sauna would be smaller in size while an outdoor sauna would be larger. These types of saunas are also built to certain specifications.

A portable sauna roughly describes any sauna that is easy to take apart and reassemble, although most people think of them as fabric-lined frames that are heated up. They can be constructed and deconstructed virtually anywhere.

Mobile saunas, on the other hand, are smaller saunas that are typically built ‘on wheels’. In other words, on the back of a truck, or trailer. They can be towed around to new locations as needed.

Wood-Heated Saunas

Wood-heated saunas are the most common types of sauna. It features a wood stove and a chimney that will provide ventilation for the smoke emitted by the burning wood. The wood will be placed inside the wood stove and it will be burned similar to a fireplace. Sauna purists consider this traditional method the best way to heat up a sauna.

“Savu saunas” or Smoke Saunas

The Savu Sauna or smoke sauna is a kind of Finnish sauna that does not require a chimney. It works by burning wood in a large stove and the smoke from the burning wood will be made to fill up the room. The smoke heats up the entire room and when it is hot enough, the fire is extinguished and the smoke is ventilated out of the room.

Electric Saunas

As its name suggests, electric saunas are powered by stones that are heated with the use of electricity. This is the preferred kind of sauna for apartment owners as it is a lot less messy than a wood-heated sauna.

Electric saunas are very easy to use. A push of a button is all that’s needed in order to start heating the room. It doesn’t require wood and can work well as long as there is electricity.

What’s not so great about electric saunas is that it adds up to the electric bill of course. Some people also expressed dislike for this kind of sauna because it doesn’t have that authentic sauna feel that wood-heated and Savu saunas have.

Infrared Saunas

An infrared sauna heats your body much the same way as the sun does. This makes it vastly different to more traditional saunas where the air is heated to a high temperature and the air, in turn, heats your body.

There are two types of infrared saunas: far infrared saunas and near infrared saunas. The question is, what is the difference? It mainly has to do with the light spectrum.

Near infrared

About half of the sun’s energy is released in the near infrared spectrum. Our bodies use this energy to make vitamin D in order to be healthy. Near-infrared saunas are great for the skin, gives relief from pain, raises the core temperature of your body, and helps to improve your body’s circulation.

Far infrared

Far infrared works just like near infrared except that it works on a different wavelength. Besides the benefits of near infrared, far infrared also helps relieve stress, boosts your immune system, helps with weight loss, increases your metabolism, and detoxifies your body.

Steam Baths

Steam baths use heated water in order to draw out the toxins from the body. A person would normally submerge his body in a shallow pool of heated water in order to get rid of the toxins in the body. In some cases, steam baths do not require the person to submerge himself in the water. Instead, they are only encouraged to stay inside the room where steam would permeate the room.

Barrel sauna

As the name suggests, a barrel sauna is shaped like a barrel. Heat is derived from either an electric source or an outside wood source.

Manufactured Sauna Rooms

Manufactured sauna rooms are rooms that come built in with the things needed in a sauna. Some are made with wood-heating capabilities while others are made using electric saunas. Rooms like this are usually small and detached from the house.

Difference between the infrared and traditional saunas

According to some infrared sauna reviews, the traditional saunas differ greatly from For one, infrared saunas do not use fire to make the body feel heated. It also does not need to be constantly watched as it regulates itself automatically.

Another difference between traditional and infrared saunas is that the surroundings don’t feel hot in infrared saunas. The light waves from an infrared source would heat up the body directly to its core so it does not need to make the entire room feel hot to be effective.

Traditional saunas are also more cumbersome to build, use and maintain. Infrared saunas are easy to use and won’t require a lot of wood in order to function properly.

Carbon fiber infrared sauna vs ceramic infrared sauna

These are the two heating systems commonly used in an infrared sauna. The difference is what they are made of.

Carbon fiber heating systems generally have a few advantages over a ceramic heating system:

Common sauna room equipment

In order to make your sauna room experience a pleasant one, you may need some basic equipment, depending on the type of sauna you choose.

Firstly, if going with a traditional steam sauna, you need a sauna heater.  Different options are available, depending on the type you choose. If you choose a more traditional variety of sauna room, you will need a sauna heater stove to provide heat. Add to this a sauna bucket to hold your water, and a sauna ladle with which you can pour water over hot sauna rocks in order to create a wealth of soothing, hot steam. While you are at it, do not forget your special sauna backrest for your seating comfort. Picking the right one is important when it comes to your comfort.

The best sauna rocks are igneous rocks such as granite, diorite, and andesite. They all contain iron and magnesium, which means they are great at conducting heat. Another type that also works well is black basalt.

Another important piece of equipment is your sauna thermometer. This allows you to determine the temperature you want, without you ending up boiled from the heat. Remember, things can get too hot for comfort!

If you have a dry sauna, a basic thermometer is fine, but a steam sauna may need a thermometer (to measure temperature) as well as a hygrometer so that you can gauge the humidity in the sauna. If the humidity is above 35%, it means that your rocks are not warm enough.

Then, lastly, your lighting. Sauna lights are important in creating the perfect ambience and atmosphere to any sauna experience. Here, you can allow your imagination to go wild, and select either overhead lighting, floor lighting, or even indirect lighting. There are many options to choose from, giving you the experience you both want and deserve.

But expand the luxury…

Ply your hot sauna stones with special herbs, oils, and salts to further enhance your mood or even for healing purposes.

There are a number of sauna oils you can use to make your sauna experience even more special, but do take care, as undiluted sauna oil is very strong and may do more harm than good. Typically, you would four drops of essential oil to a liter of water and use this to splash onto your sauna stones.  The benefits of sauna oils include:

Sauna herbs are also of great benefit, especially for healing purposes, and can be used for many ailments, such as insomnia, stress, depression, and even the common cold! The herbs can either be infused into the water you use on your hot stones, or placed onto the hot sauna rocks directly. Either way, you get the benefit.

The great thing about using herbs in your sauna is that the steam opens your pores, allowing the oils released from the herbs to penetrate your skin and do their work. Using lavender, for instance, helps to get rid of anxiety, helps you relax, and also has a positive effect on depression. But it does not stop with lavender. There are many herbs to choose from. Each has their own benefits.

Using Himalayan Salt of part of your spa experience leaves your skin feeling soft and smooth, while the healing benefits are varied, e.g. it is relaxing, clears the head, and may also help combat anxiety. This is a relaxation aid to die for.

Of course, nothing tops up a sauna experience like a nice shower and drying off with a sauna towel. If you are going to be sharing the sauna experience, you might consider wrapping yourself in one while enjoying yourself. Either method, i.e. sitting in the sauna without a towel, or with one, is fine. That is your choice alone. Just make sure your towels are large and fluffy, giving you that extra luxury experience.

Things Consider Before Choosing Far Infrared Sauna

1. Capacity & Dimension

Infrared saunas are usually designed to fit up to three people inside. Anything bigger will also require installation of additional heating. Consider the number of people that will use the sauna before buying one. The dimensions of a sauna should also be considered. If it is intended to fit 3 persons at a time the dimensions have to be bigger.

2. Type of Heaters

Heaters comes in carbon, ceramic and mica. Chose the right type of heater that suit your needs and budgets. Ceramic heaters are fairly inexpensive but can provide uneven distribution of heat. Carbon is more expensive but provides a more even distribution of heat.

3. Heating Surface Area

Wider heating surface areas are better than smaller ones. They heat up faster the smaller surface areas. Just remember to factor in the cost of a wider heating area before buying one.

4. Build materials

Consider only using the best building materials in order to get the most out of your sauna. Cedar wood is a good choice in building materials according to some infrared sauna reviews.

5. Potential Toxins

Heat from the sauna could melt the glue that holds the wood together. These could contain toxic fumes when inhaled. Purchase infrared saunas from reputable manufacturers to avoid inhaling or absorbing potentially dangerous toxins used with constructing the sauna.

6. Heater Covers

Heater covers should adequately cover the heat source so that it does not come in contact with the skin of the occupant. Ensure that heaters are covered properly prior to use. Find good types of cover and not cheap ones that break easily.

7. Safety

Again, make sure to get infrared saunas from reputable sources. These manufacturers have standards that they follow in order to build their saunas. Look for companies that are ISO certified or CE certified. Other certifications are also available so be sure to check those out too.

8. Warranty

Like every other appliance infrared saunas can also experience wear and tear with continued use. Many experts recommend checking the warranties carefully before purchasing to ensure that your unit is covered in case in breaks or parts of it need to be replaced.

Frequently Asked Questions About Infrared Saunas

1.  Is it safe to use the sauna everyday?

Yes, it is safe to use the sauna every day, but you need to limit the time spent inside the sauna. To avoid any health problems, make sure to use the sauna only 15 minutes daily. It is also recommended to consult your doctor beforehand and ask for a go signal.

2.  Do saunas help with acne?

There is no direct connection between sauna and acne. However, one of the benefits of using a sauna is improving skin conditions.

On the other hand, some people believe that the sauna makes acne worse because you sweat a lot in saunas. But experts have debunked this belief saying, sweating actually helps lessen breakouts because it flushes out the clogged pores on your face.

The key here is to know your temperature. Don’t set the sauna to the highest temperature if you have acne to avoid irritating the skin even more.

3.  Is it safe to use the iPhone while sitting in the sauna for 20 minutes?

Some smartphones like the iPhone have a certain temperature ambient that allows you to use the phone up to 35-degree Celsius.

In the sauna environment, the temperature can go as high as 40-degree Celsius. Thus, it is much better to just leave your iPhone outside.

Also, isn’t it the reason why you want to use the sauna is for you to relax and unwind? You cannot do that with an iPhone in hand.

4.  What are the best temperatures for a sauna?

It actually depends on your preference. But most saunas have heat temperature range between 120-degree to 175-degree Fahrenheit.

Experts suggest you avoid using saunas at a very high temperature on a regular basis. It is more effective to alternate the temperatures; like go for a high temperature 4 times a week and the other days, you just have the medium temperature.

5.  How can a sauna affect a sunburn?

At first, you’d think that the sauna can worsen your sunburn. But truth be told, sauna actually produces soft heat that stimulates your skin to produce new cells. Hence, in the long run, sauna actually helps reduce the pain from sunburn and improve its appearance.

Conclusion

There is an overwhelming body of evidence even more infrared sauna reviews that attest to the myriad benefits associated with infrared saunas. In our opinion, the best sauna of those reviewed is most definitely the JNH Lifestyles NE3HB1 ENSI Collection 3 Person NO EMF Infrared Sauna. This sauna ticks all the right boxes and has an added element of luxury that just makes the whole relaxation experience worth every minute – and it is good for you too!