With personal saunas now emerging into the mainstream, it’s worth taking a step back to analyse the debate between saunas vs steam rooms, and whether or not one offers more health benefits for the user.
While the end result for the user is similar, the means of achieving this result differs dramatically, so let’s jump inside and find out.
How Do Infrared Saunas And Steam Rooms Work?
Steam rooms use a steam generator in an enclosed environment to circulate hot, humid air (around 43C, or 110F) to trigger a sweat response in the user.
Temperatures inside, however, can seem higher to the user due to the humidity.
Infrared saunas take the opposite approach, using infrared rays that penetrate the skin with a dry heat that causes the body to sweat. Infrared saunas don’t require high temperatures to trigger a response from the body, instead, these infrared rays penetrate 3cm (1.5-inches) and heat the body extremely efficiently.
Rather than warming your body from the outside in, like a steam room, an infrared sauna warms you from the inside out, making it by far the most efficient means of working up a sweat.
Benefits of Infrared Saunas Vs Steam Rooms
As we’ve just discovered, steam rooms and infrared saunas work in completely different ways. Steam rooms offer the user a wet heat, while infrared saunas produce dry heat.
Infrared technology is extremely efficient in heating the body without the need for high ambient temperatures and offers proven health benefits when it comes to easing muscle and joint pain, increasing the immune system, encouraging detoxification, as well as the metabolic response which can help with weight loss and the targeting of toxins within skin tissue.
Click here for a comprehensive look at the health benefits of infrared saunas.
Steam rooms are also widely recognised for their improvement of cardiovascular health, and the lowering of blood pressure.
The hot, humid air is beneficial to the respiratory system, as well as the sinus cavities, as the mucous membrane is warmed up.
In a comparison of the two, steam rooms have been shown to contribute to cardiovascular & respiratory benefits, skin health, and muscle & joint pain.
On the other hand, infrared saunas have been shown to promote an increased metabolism & weight loss, cardiovascular benefits, muscle & joint pain relief, immune system boost, detoxification, reduces the appearance of cellulite, reduces stress & fatigue and improved skin.
