I Tried an Infrared Sauna Today. Here Are My Thoughts.

I don’t know about you, but I’m all about treating myself. Whether that’s with delicious food, nice wine, massages, travel, clothes, you name it. I think it’s important to give back to yourself every now and then. You don’t want to overdo it of course, and there are so many people out there telling you how to avoid doing so that I don’t even want to get into it. However, for hard working people who have schedules cram packed full of to-do list items it can be easy to forget to appreciate your conscience and your body for all that they do in our lives.

This morning I was invited to my friend’s house to take her new infrared sauna for a spin. She has been really excited to have one in her home and she has been practically begging me to come see what it’s all about. Not that I needed all that much persuasion, I’m a huge fan of saunas after all.

I didn’t really know what to expect going into it. I’d never even heard of an infrared sauna prior to her bringing them up in conversation. My first impression was that the infrared sauna looked very much like what I’d expect – that is, not much different than a regular old sauna. Which was cool, my friend was able to have her very own sauna in her house.

When it was all “warmed up” we hopped inside. It was surprisingly not that warm for what I expected from a sauna session. My friend told me that that’s normal, and it’s actually one of the main selling points of infrared saunas. They aren’t actually all that hot themselves, so it’s a little less aggressive on your body. I was skeptical as to whether or not I was actually going to feel warmed, but sure enough after about 5 minutes in there I was starting to sweat.

Inside the sauna was nice. There was plenty of room for the two of us, though another person probably would have made the room feel a bit cramped. One thing that surprised me was that right about the time I started sweating my friend hopped up from her chair and went outside, saying she’d forgotten something. Moments later, the tunes of Bob Marley started lightly filling the air. It turns out this thing was equipped with a full out speaker system, which was really cool and definitely not something I am used to seeing in an old-school sauna. Pretty cool if you ask me.

I wasn’t about to throw in the towel and say that these infrared saunas are the best thing since sliced bread, but there were some pretty interesting features to it and it certainly made for an entertaining sauna experience. I had to ask, how much does one of these cost? It turns out that they’re actually generally cheaper than regular saunas, and it’s not all that uncommon to find them with all sorts of addons like the stereo system in this one.

I’m not about to go out and scream “hey, why on earth you still using that old sauna technology? Haven’t you heard of infrared?” I am however pleasantly surprised at this new tool we have in the mix. Maybe I’ll get one for my home, we’ll see. they’re still a significant investment so I haven’t pulled the trigger yet, but it’s something I’ll put some thought into. For now I’ll just bother my friend whenever I’m feel up for my next spa visit.