Dr Oz - Infrared Sauna as featured on Oprah
Life Extension
Far infrared home saunas are finally getting the mainstream media attention they deserve. Last month, medical expert Dr. Mehmet Oz introduced Americans to infrared saunas on The Oprah Winfrey Show. In a special segment titled “Extreme Life Extension,” Dr. Oz unveiled several technological marvels designed to enhance and extend life—one of which was an infrared home sauna. Dr. Oz stated "Here’s the key: This infrared home sauna works a little differently than a normal sauna because it makes the same rays that come from the sun and filters out the UV radiation leaving only infrared radiation, which is lightly absorbed into your skin. So without heating you up in the external environment too much, it heats the body up,” he explained. “The reason that’s important is that we’ve actually shown that people who take saunas a couple times a week actually drop their blood pressure.” The environment is much more comfortable too. “The reason that infrared saunas work reasonably well is because they don’t hurt your lungs if you take a deep breath. People can be comfortable here,” Dr. Oz said. This is important news for anyone with blood pressure issues or who has trouble with traditional saunas. “So folks who can’t exercise, for example, can at least do saunas to raise their metabolism a little bit. And, of course, when they sweat, they sweat out toxins through the skin. So one thing you always want to do after you’ve been in an infrared sauna is to wash yourself to get whatever toxins are on your skin off, “ Dr. Oz said. Dr. Oz told the audience about the potential weight loss benefits with regular use of an infrared home sauna. Dr. Oz said, “It increases blood circulation. The reason that’s important is that it gets your heart to beat faster and it burns calories.” Ms. Winfrey smiled and said, “Oh, so THIS is what you mean? You can burn 700 calories just by sitting here?” Yes, sitting and enjoying an infrared sauna can actually support your weight loss efforts!
Improvement in Patients with Congestive Heart Failure
- In the Journal of Cardiac Failure, researchers reported statistical improvements in blood pressure, strength of heart (ejection fraction on echocardiogram), and exercise tolerance while reducing number of hospital admissions for this condition in patients treated with sauna. Sauna may be an effective adjunctive treatment in these patients with this condition.
Miyamoto, H. et al. Safety and efficacy in repeated sauna bathing in patients with chronic systolic heart failure: a preliminary report. Journal of Cardiac Failure. 2005; 11(6): 432-6.
These claims also supported by Michalsen A, et al. Thermal hydrotherapy improves quality of life and hemodynamic function in patients with chronic heart failure. American Heart Journal. 2003; 146(4): 728-33
- A study in Circulation Journal studied 30 patients with congestive heart failure and preventricular contractions (PVCs), delegating half to 60 degree C sauna treatment for 15 minutes followed by bed rest and the other half to 45 minutes of bed rest once a day for two weeks. The researchers found statistical difference in the number of PVCs as well as a statistical improvement in the subjective functional status of the patients. More research is needed for long-term benefits.
Kihara, Takashi, et al. Effects of repeated sauna treatment on ventricular arrhythmias in patients with chronic heart failure. Circulation Journal. 2004, 68: 1146-1151.
Possible Improvement in Risk for Heart Disease
- A study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology suggested that repeated use of a sauna improves the function of the impaired vascular endothelial cells in patients who are at risk for coronary artery disease. The mechanism of this is not fully understood and more research needs to be done in order to assess the role of sauna in prevention of heart disease.
Imamura, M, et al. Repeated thermal therapy improves impaired vascular endothelial function in patients with coronary risk factors. Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 2001, 38 (4): 1983-88.
Improvement in Patients with Mild Depression
- A study out of Psychosomatic Medicine looked at a group of 28 mildly depressed patients with appetite loss and subjective symptoms and treated half of the patients with sauna once a day for 4 weeks and half with just bed rest for 4 weeks. They showed a significant improvement in somatic complaints, hunger and relaxation scores in the group treated with sauna compared to the control group. In addition, the plasma ghrelin and daily caloric intake improved in the sauna group significantly more than controls. More research is needed on long-term effects.
Masuda A, et al. Repeated thermal therapy diminishes appetite loss and subjective complaints in mildly depressed patients. Psychosomatic Medicine. 2005 67 (4): 643-47.
Improvements in Patients with Chronic Pain
- A study in Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics tested 46 patients with chronic pain using a variety of treatment modalities with and without far-infrared sauna. They found a decrease in pain score, pain behavior, self-rating depression and anger score in both groups of patients, but a more significant drop was noted in the sauna group. Two years after treatment, more of the patients in the sauna group had returned to work than those without sauna treatment. This may be a very promising method for the treatment of chronic pain.
Masuda, A, et al. The effects of repeated thermal therapy for patients with chronic pain. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics. 2005; 74 (5): 288-94.
Far Infrared Saunas can Mobilize Mercury in Deeper Tissues
Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt
Peer reviewed literature shows that sweating during sauna therapy eliminates high levels of toxic metals, organic compounds, dioxin, and other toxins. Sauna therapy is ideal to mobilize toxins from their hiding places.
Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt |
Dr. Klinghardt is combining the use of far-infrared saunas with the chelating agent DMPS in a heavy metal detox protocol. These special saunas are believed to be more effective in moving toxins through the skin than steam saunas because in the far-infrared thermal system only 80 to 85% of the sweat is water with the non-water portion being principally cholesterol, fat-soluble toxins, toxic heavy metals, sulfuric acid, sodium, ammonia and uric acid. Using the skin as an essential aspect of chelation therapy is important and makes complete medical sense.
We have to help the body detoxify and the skin should be used as a major instrument and avenue of exit for accumulated heavy metals. It should be obvious that an organ as large as the skin, which is highly permeable when heated (or when heat is generated deep in the body as it is through far infrared therapy) would be useful in heavy metal detoxification. It was reported by National Geographic many years ago that the workers in the Cinnabar mines in Spain used to detoxify themselves through sweat baths after work. It makes perfect sense to bypass as much as possible the kidneys and large intestines, which are already overloaded with toxicity and greatly reduced in their capacity to eliminate toxic substances. If a person is heavy metal toxic it is because their normal channels of elimination have not been able to keep up with the load. When this is the case there are no secure avenues of escape when we chelate and mobilize heavy metals that have been locked in the cells.
International Medical Veritas Association, Published March 6, 2005
Warm Sauna May Help Treat Heart Failure
In a study of 129 people with heart failure, the treatment, called Waon therapy, cut the risk of hospitalization or dying of heart disease by more than half. The treatment is a lot cooler than a traditional steam sauna that reaches about 176 degrees Fahrenheit. Under medical supervision, the patient lies on a bench in a 140 degree Fahrenheit, infrared dry sauna for 15 minutes. Infrared saunas use a special heater that generates infrared radiation similar to that produced by the sun.
Read the full article at WebMD.com http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/heart-failure/news/20080402/warm-sauna-may-help-treat-heart-failure
