For many people, the concept of “infrared light” is really hard to grasp. You might know a friend who is telling you that they’ve “just bought a red light therapy device” or a “infrared heat lamp”.
In this blog post, I explain the differences between many of these devices. I also explain why either a far infrared sauna upgraded with a red light therapy device, or a full-spectrum sauna with a red light therapy device, is your best bet by far.
At Clearlight Infrared Saunas, we’re offering just that. And we’ve developed these products specifically because they offer the greatest benefit to you. But first, I’ll explore the different types of infrared light. With that understanding, you can better grasp what the benefits and shortcomings are of different options.
Let’s begin:
What Is Infrared Light & Different Types Of Infrared
Infrared light is part of the “light spectrum”. That light spectrum contains the visible light you can see with your naked eye, ultraviolet light which can give you sunburns and creates vitamin D in your skin, and infrared light lastly (1; 2; 3).
Infrared is mostly responsible for the feeling of heat. From a physics perspective, moreover, infrared light and heat are closely intertwined. But to return to our normal everyday imagination, the best way to understand infrared light is that it’s responsible for the hot effect of the sun.
And whether you’re standing in the sun on a sunny day in the beach or in that same sun on a wintery day, it doesn’t really matter. In both instances, it will feel hotter when the sun is hitting your skin or clothes compared to when you’re standing in the shade.
Now, infrared light can be divided into different types: near infrared, middle infrared, and far infrared. That distinction is really important for the rest of this blog post.
Why?
Well, to get the maximum health benefits, you’ll want to be exposed to a combination of near, middle, and far infrared. Each of these infrared types has their own unique benefits. I’ve covered these benefits in lots of detail in my blogs on my guide on the far infrared sauna and light therapy at home.
I won’t go into full detail here because it’s not as important for my argument.
Suffice it to say that infrared light is very much part of your everyday human experience. Much of sunlight is made up of infrared light, in fact. Depending on the time of the day, more than 50% of sunlight hitting your skin is infrared light, especially in the morning and evening (4; 5; 6). Heat generated from your body and expelled from it is also infrared (7; 8; 9).
Historically, humans were exposed to far more infrared light as well during the day. Since humans spend most of their time indoors nowadays, that exposure has dramatically been lowered. For that reason, many infrared light therapy devices have hit the market.
You basically supplement the light that your ancestors were exposed to on a daily basis while hunting or while working in agriculture. And, while it’s become very clear in the last few decades that we need ultraviolet exposure to create vitamin D or to supplement with it, the same realisation has not yet emerged for many people in the area of infrared light.
Simply put, without sufficient infrared light exposure you’re missing out on many of the health benefits your ancestors naturally received. In the next section, I’ll consider some of these benefits you get from different types of infrared light and will also tell you which devices supply those types of infrared light to your body: