Infrared Sauna & Detoxification

Detoxification is a major issue in our time.  We are constantly bombarded by toxins we were not even exposed to just 100 years ago.  This burden affects many us negatively.  This is why it is important for the individual to take part in their health and well-being by proactively avoiding known toxins as much as possible along with routinely taking part in a detoxification program.  Like regular exercise, detoxification is a personal health responsibility.

The benefits of detoxification of manifold.  Initially people lose weight.  On a clean and healthy diet, people naturally lose weight, part of this may be retained water, part is definitely due to the body releasing fat and the toxins held therein.  After a temporary withdrawal period from our normal daily toxins, often 3 to 7 days long, the body starts to regain its natural energy:  people start to feel more vibrant, alive, happy, symptoms reduce or start going away and this process continues to gain momentum until the detox period is over.  By the end of the detox, people experience less pain, more energy and alertness, need less sleep, are more flexible, less cranky or irritable and often chronic health problems permanently improve.

Anybody can detoxify but not all programs are suited for all people.  An assessment will help determine which protocol is best for you.

Our detoxification protocol includes an initial consultation with our Naturopathic Physician, Dr. Tanya Rampersad, two laser detoxification sessions, use of our infrared sauna and T-Zone Vibration machine along with appropriate supplementation.

Infrared saunas emit light at a wavelength that penetrates the body deeply and safely and have many therapeutic benefits. While ultraviolet rays tend to cause the most damage, light in the red and infrared range is actually therapeutic. One of the reasons we incorporated an infrared sauna treatment into our protocol is that it assists in detoxification through excretion by the skin and by increasing blood flow to the internal organs. In fact after an appropriate amount of time in the sauna, the skin will secrete an oily substance that contains heavy metals that are often difficult to get rid of by other means. Getting rid of toxins helps the body get rid of excess water that causes swelling and a bloated look and feel and helps reduce cellulite. European spas often incorporate infrared saunas into their beauty protocols because the treatments do improve skin texture and appearance.
Saunas also help raise the basal metabolic rate. This increased metabolic rate will help burn more calories hours after the session is over. The fact that the body temperature is raised and sweating is induced means that calories are burned during the treatment also – up to 800 calories/session.
Many chronic health problems resolve or improve after a series of infrared sauna treatments. This is one side-effect you can look forward to!

Assist in Weight Loss and Control

Our body expends energy to produce sweat (1g sweat requires 0.586 kcal) meaning your body can safely burn up to 300 calories in just one 30-minute session; with sweat loss equivalent to running 10-15km. While this weight can be regained through re-hydration, the calories burned will not. A Far North Sauna treatment can also help to raise your basal metabolic rate meaning you will burn calories at an elevated rate for hours after your session has finished. This can translate to a benefit of up to 800 calories from a single session. At 42 degrees Celsius, body fat becomes water soluble and the body can sweat out fats, toxins, and heavy metals such as lead, zinc, nickel and mercury can be eliminated through sweating.

Effortlessly detoxify and remove stored toxins from your body

Scientific analysis shows infrared heat induced sweat contains 5-6 times more toxins, fat and impurities than normal sweat. Relax in a Far North Sauna and enjoy its unsurpassed ability to eliminate stored waste (metabolic wastes, environmental toxins, city pollution, fat, cholesterol, heavy metals, alcohol, nicotine – source: Zane R. Gard, MD & Erma J. Brown, BSN, PhN TLfDP, October 1992). One U.S. study has indicated that people using a conventional sauna were eliminating 95-97% water in their sweat. Those using an infra-red sauna, however, were found to be eliminating only 80-85% water, while the remaining 15-20% was mostly composed of undesirable elements such as sodium, fat soluble toxins, sulfuric acid, uric acid, toxic heavy metals, ammonia, and cholesterol.

SWEAT ANALYSIS
Lead 84	Nickel 1.2	Copper .11mg	Zinc 1.3mg	Magnesium 2.0mg
Iron .26mg	Calcium 22mg	Potassium .24mg	Sodium .84mg	Mang. .019mg	Cadmium 6.2mg

Article

Heat Treatments Get Rid of Toxins

By Raymond Francis, M.Sc., reprinted from “Never Be Sick Again”

Not only do saunas feel good, they are good! Saunas get your heart beating and your blood circulating, helping the body to detoxify in unique and important ways. Toxins do the damage, and saunas help with damage control. Saunas or other treatments help to accomplish detoxification in the following manner: A layer of fat and oil exists just below the surface of the skin. Heat from the sauna increases skin temperature, causing those fats and oils to “melt” and ooze out of the skin’s oil glands. As sweat and oil are secreted, the toxins dissolved in them are secreted as well. By excreting these toxins and then washing them off your body, your toxic load is lowered and cellular health improves.

Choose a temperature that can be tolerated for an extended period of time-thirty minutes to an hour or more. The point is not to sweat out a lot of water, but to rid your body of oil-soluble toxins. Our skin contains sweat glands and oil glands, both of which help us detoxify. Sweat gets rid of water-soluble toxins, and even helps to eliminate toxic heavy metals such as mercury and cadmium. Oil glands help remove oil-soluble toxins that the body would otherwise have a difficult time eliminating. We have created a world filled with oil-soluble toxins such as gasoline, solvents, pesticides and ingredients in toothpaste and personal care products, and the body is not able to dispose of them efficiently. The longer the skin is heated, the more oil-soluble toxins are eliminated.

Be careful not to overheat! The challenge is finding an environment where you can keep your skin temperature up for an extended period of time without overheating or dehydrating. Overheating and perhaps feeling dizzy can happen easily if you stay in a steam room, a hot tub or the top bench of a hot sauna too long. Choose a “low temperature” sauna (35 – 45 degrees), and use it for an extended period of time-an hour or more is best-though you may have to work up to this duration gradually. Remember: Drinking adequate amounts of water before, during and after your sauna is essential in order to prevent dehydration.

A good supplement program, containing fat-mobilizing vitamins and essential fatty acids makes the sauna even more effective. Be sure to shower afterwards; prevent those toxins from reabsorbing back into your body by washing with a nontoxic Castile soap.

Taking saunas or other “heat treatments” is not a luxury, but like exercise, is a physical responsibility and an important element of the physical responsibility and an important element of the physical pathway. Incorporating saunas after exercise is even better. Exercise begins to mobilize toxins and saunas continue the process. You may need to make a few sauna visits before you can tolerate extended periods of time, but the benefits of these heat treatments are incredible. These treatments feel good for very good reasons; they provide beneficial physical stimulation-including increased lymphatic and cardiovascular circulation, as well as the removal of toxins-all of which are good for the health and function of your cells.

Article

Benefits of Detox

Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt, M.D., of Seattle

In one study performed by American researchers, the sweat of people using a conventional sauna was found to be 95 to 97% water while the sweat of those using an infrared thermal system was 80 to 85% water with the non-water portion principally cholesterol, fat-soluble toxins, toxic heavy metals (such as mercury and aluminum), sulfuric acid, sodium, ammonia and uric acid. This unusually high concentration of heavy metals and other fat-soluble toxins is not found in the sweat from normal exercise. Mercury is the most toxic element on earth, second only to plutonium.

Hyperthermic detoxification using these saunas is not only uniquely helpful in removing fat-stored toxins from the body, but also as an adjunct to mercury removal. Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt, M.D., of Seattle, who has been called ‘the holistic doctors’ doctor and teacher, is one of the pioneers in combining the use of far-infrared saunas with the chelating agent DMPS in a heavy metal detox protocol.

Dr. Klinghardt explains, “Since hyperthermic sauna therapy removes metal contaminants from the body, we have found that it may be used to further the benefits derived from chelation therapy. And we have also found that it may be an alternative for those who are unable to undergo chelation. Research conducted by U.S. scientists has demonstrated that close to 80% of individuals with chronic fatigue syndrome will improve markedly by a guided detoxification program. We combine this approach with hyperthermic therapy using the far-infrared sauna, as well as exercise and chelation. The results we are seeing are very promising.”

Dr. Klinghardt adds, “If far-infrared saunas work, why wait to use them? People need information about what nutrients and minerals to take, how to stay hydrated, and a reminder to shower after the sauna. It’s not going to do much good to spend time detoxifying if you don’t wash off those toxins afterwards. And don’t overlook the importance of educating yourself and your children about sources of environmental toxins and allergens. Your future health depends on it!”

Quote

” … with the infrared sauna we are talking about reversing disease, getting rid of underlying causes and therefore getting rid of the symptoms once and for all. We are talking about restoring the body to a level of chemicals it had maybe 20-50 years ago.”

Detoxify or die, Sherry A Rogers M.D., Prestige publishing, 2002. ISBN 1 – 887202-04-8, p.227

Heart Health

As you bask in the warmth of a Far North Sauna the entire cardiovascular system is dilated to increase blood flow to the surface of the skin and the extremities in order to dissipate heat. This means your heart works harder pumping blood at a greater rate to boost circulation, supplying the conditioning benefits of continuous exercise. Heart rate, cardiac output and metabolic rate increase, while diastolic blood pressure drops, for improved overall cardiovascular fitness. Studies have also been done on the benefits of the infrared saunas on arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries).

Study

Title of Study:

Repeated Thermal Therapy Improves Impaired Vascular Endothelial Function in Patients With Coronary Risk Factors

Authors:

Dr. Imamura, et.al, Kagoshima Japan

Publication and Date:

Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 2001

Purpose of Study:

To determine whether Infrared Sauna therapy improves blood vessel function (endothelial) in patients risk factors such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes and smoking. This dysfunction represents an early stage of arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries).

How did they do it?

Studied 25 men with at least 1 risk factor. Patients were treated in an Infrared Sauna for 15 minutes once a day for 2 weeks.

Results:

• Infrared Sauna Treatment
• Significantly lowered blood pressure
• Significant weight loss
• Significantly lowered blood sugar
• Significantly increased blood flow
• Lowered cholesterol
• Lowered triglycerides

Conclusion:

Repeated Infrared Sauna treatment improves impaired blood vessel functions in patients with high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking and high cholesterol. This suggests a preventive role for sauna use for arteriosclerosis. (Hardening of the arteries)

Article

Study by Dr. Chuwa Tei of Kagoshima University of Japan

Oct 02 (Reuters Health) – Regular saunas may improve blood flow to the heart and prevent heart disease, according to Japanese researchers.

The benefits of repeated sauna therapy are similar to those of exercise, lead author Dr. Chuwa Tei of Kagoshima University in Japan, told Reuters Health. But saunas have an advantage, he added, because they can be used to treat people who have trouble walking and they do not overload the heart.

Atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, occurs when fatty deposits build up inside the blood vessels–most typically those in the heart–and restrict blood flow.

Tei and his colleagues compared 25 men with at least one risk factor for heart disease–such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes or smoking–with a group of 10 healthy men. Each study participant spent 15 minutes in a dry sauna at 60 degrees C (140 degrees F), followed by 30 minutes in a bed covered with blankets, once a day for 2 weeks.

The researchers then measured how well the participants’ blood vessels expanded and contracted, a sign of the health of the vessels. The group with at least one risk factor demonstrated improvement in these functions.

The investigators also found that the sauna therapy lowered participants’ blood pressure slightly.

The study, published in the October issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, suggests that “arteries of patients with risk factors are still in reversible condition,” Tei told Reuters Health.

However, while calling the results of the study promising, Dr. Robert A. Vogel of the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore cautioned in a press release that “the extreme heat exposure in saunas is generally not recommended for patients with advanced heart disease.”

SOURCE: Journal of the American College of Cardiology 2001;38:1083-1088.

Natural Pain Relief

In a Far North sauna, the deep heat helps blood vessels dilate, bringing relief and healing to muscle and soft tissue injuries. Increased blood circulation carries off metabolic waste products and delivers oxygen rich blood to oxygen depleted muscles, so they recover faster. In Europe, radiant heat therapy is widely used to treat patients suffering from many forms of arthritis. Far infrared therapy in Japan has been effective in providing pain relief to those suffering from back pain, sprains, strains, bursitis, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, headache, and many other muscular-skeletal ailments. Much of the stiffness and soreness that comes with aging is reduced or eliminated in the infrared saunas.

Article

Heat Therapy More Effective Than Analgesics for Low Back Pain Relief

SOURCE: New Jersey Medical School

At UMDNJ New Jersey Medical School -Researcher Finds Heat Therapy More Effective Than Analgesics for Low Back Pain Relief -Study Published in May 15 Issue of the Journal Spine

NEWARK, N.J.–(BW HealthWire)–May 15, 2002–Low level heat therapy is more effective than over-the-counter oral medications for relieving low back pain, according to the results of a nationwide study led by a sports medicine researcher at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ).

In the six-month study involving 371 patients, participants were given the maximum recommended non-prescription dosages of ibuprofen and acetaminophen or low level heat therapy for two days to treat acute low back pain.

The results showed that the low level heat therapy provided significantly more pain relief beginning on the first day of treatment than the oral analgesics and that the effects lasted more than 48 hours after the treatment was completed.

“Although clinical guidelines in the U.S. have recommended the use of self-administered heat, this is the first study to compare the effectiveness of topical heat treatment versus oral analgesics for treating muscle pain and stiffness,” according to Dr. Scott F. Nadler, director of sports medicine at UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School in Newark and co-investigator of the study.

“Confirming that this treatment is effective is important to patients because it gives them a treatment option that does not have the potential risk to the liver, kidneys, and gastrointestinal tract than can accompany inappropriate analgesic usage,” said Dr. Nadler, who is also an associate professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at the medical school.

Source: HealthNewsDigest.com

Date Published: 2002-10-01