Do Infrared Sauna Blankets Really Work? Here’s What We Know.

Infrared Heat Therapy May Be Available in a Portable Blanket

• What Are Infrared Sauna Blankets?|
• Health Benefits of Saunas|
• How to Use A Sauna Blanket and When to Avoid It|
• Infrared Sauna Blankets: What’s Out There?|
• Are Infrared Sauna Blankets Worth Trying?|

Heat therapy is a time-honored cultural tradition used in many cultures from Native American sweat lodges to Finnish and Swedish dry saunas. The use of heat to enhance mental, physical, and even spiritual health, detoxification, and renewal has been documented and passed down through generations. Typically, this heat is ambient in a small enclosed space.

A more modern take on heat exposure used in the West and Japan is infrared sauna therapy. In Japan, it’s called Waon Therapy.

This type of heat therapy uses infrared light (a light wave we can’t see with the human eye) to heat our bodies and generate a host of purported health benefits. This type is also usually ambient heat in a small enclosed space, but there’s also a new technology that brings this infrared light closer to your body in the form of a blanket. It’s shaped almost like a sleeping bag. You may see ads for these infrared sauna blankets pop up in your social media feeds or web browser. If you’re curious about them, keep reading.

Two big obstacles with all kinds of therapeutic heat exposure are access and cost. If you’re not a member of a gym that has a traditional sauna, steam room, or infrared sauna, it’s hard to benefit from this type of therapy consistently. The infrared sauna blanket may solve the access portion of the problem, allowing you to have a blanket at home—we’ll get into cost and other features at the end of this article.

But what does heat really do for you? Is it worth it to invest in something like this or a gym membership to get access to heat therapy? Specifically, what does infrared heat do? And are infrared sauna blankets worth the investment? Are those any better or worse than the saunas you find at the gym?

Let’s first define what an infrared sauna blanket is and what the claims are about its benefits. Then, I’ll share the potential risks and benefits. After that, I’ll touch on some of the available products on the market.

What Are Infrared Sauna Blankets?

Infrared sauna blankets are innovative, portable devices designed to mimic the effects of an infrared sauna session. Infrared sauna blankets work by using electromagnetic fields to stimulate living tissues [1]. Their biggest selling point is allowing users to enjoy the benefits of infrared heat therapy in the comfort of their own homes. Unfortunately, because these products are so new, there’s virtually no research looking specifically at the benefits of sauna blankets as compared to other forms of heat therapy.

That being said, these blankets use the same infrared light as infrared saunas, so it stands to reason that the same benefits will apply. We just don’t know for sure.

Defining Infrared Light

Infrared light lies on the electromagnetic spectrum just after red light, which has the longest wavelength type still visible to the human eye. That means that you can feel infrared light, but you can’t see it. 

It is used therapeutically to directly heat the body without significantly warming the surrounding air [2].

As infrared light ranges from 760-100,000 nanometers of electromagnetic radiation (a pretty wide range), scientists further divide this range into near infrared and far infrared. I’ll talk a bit about near-infrared and red light at the end of this article. Infrared saunas and sauna blankets use various far-infrared wavelengths (50,000–100,000 nm) to increase ambient temperature to 113–140 degrees Fahrenheit [3]. 

If you’re in an infrared sauna, you do actually feel the room getting warmer, but it doesn’t feel as intensely warm as a traditional Finnish sauna, which ranges in temperature between 175 and 212 degrees Fahrenheit  [4]. Both types of therapy are designed to make you sweat, as are the infrared rays coming from the far infrared sauna blankets.

Health Benefits of Saunas

Similar to the heat generated by regular sweat sessions through exercise, the heat from a sauna increases your core body temperature and heart rate. This dilates your blood vessels to increase blood flow and lowers your blood pressure [5]. Again, like exercise, this type of heat exposure represents “positive stress,” also known as hormetic stress or eustress, which research seems to show may improve function in a number of systems of the body.

The hormetic stress that sauna therapy induces may:

• Improve cardiovascular health and lower blood pressure [5, 6]
• Reduce stress and chronic pain [7, 8]
• Improve metabolic markers like fasting glucose and insulin levels [9]
• Increase fat burning, weight loss, muscle recovery, and exercise performance [10]
• Increase antioxidant production [11, 12, 13]
• Support healthy detoxification of chemicals such as heavy metals [14, 15, 16, 17]

Research on the Benefits of Infrared Saunas

Specific research looking at the health benefits of infrared saunas has grown over time. There’s notable overlap with the benefits of traditional heat saunas above, but there may be additional benefits, according to the latest research. Studies seem to show that this type of intervention could lead to improvements in the following areas:

• Cardiovascular health [5, 18, 19]
• Pain and stiffness [20]
• Depression and negative mood [21, 22]
• Flexibility [23]
• Detoxification [14, 24]
• Heat acclimation [25, 26]

• Chronic fatigue syndrome [22, 27]
• Airway/ lung improvement [28]
• Weight loss* [29]

*Whether infrared sauna use leads to meaningful weight loss is a little more controversial. The weight people lose from using an infrared sauna appears to be mainly in the form of water lost from sweating. There’s no compelling evidence that you’ll burn calories in any meaningful way. The lower your BMI, the less water you’ll lose, and people with a higher BMI are more likely to become dehydrated [29].

Cardiovascular Health

Individuals with heart conditions could significantly benefit from far infrared heat. A 2016 meta-analysis of 16 clinical trials found that both acute and short-term sauna treatment was beneficial for cardiovascular function and physical activity capabilities, especially in people with low cardiovascular function. Benefits were measurable within 30 minutes of treatment and in the two to four weeks after treatment [18]. 

A Japanese study looking at Waon Therapy showed that this intervention reduced blood pressure and multiple peptides associated with heart failure with no side effects reported [19]. Another study using 149 patients with congestive heart failure found that after just two weeks of consistent Waon Therapy, heart size decreased, walking distances increased, and disease status improved [5].

Pain and Stiffness

Infrared therapy may also reduce pain and stiffness associated with [20]:

• Knee osteoarthritis

• Fibromyalgia
• Chronic myofascial pain
• Potentially lower back pain and muscle damage, but the results were inconclusive

Finding also seem promising for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and ankylosing spondylitis (AS, inflammatory arthritis of the spine that causes stiffness or bone fusion) as well, although so far we only have a pilot study to look at. 

In the pilot study, 17 RA patients and 17 AS patients used infrared sauna for four weeks and the results showed that, when compared with pretreatment scores, RA patients had 40% less pain and 50% less stiffness, and the AS patients had 60% less pain and 60% less stiffness during the treatment; all of these reductions were clinically relevant [30].

Depression and Negative Mood

Interesting research on the effects of infrared light on mood seems to show promising results. The studies were small, but in both groups, subjects reported lower depression scores and ability to conduct life tasks after infrared therapy [21, 22]. One of the two trials also had the subjects rest after the sauna experience, likely resulting in deep relaxation, which may have affected the results [22].

Heat Acclimation

Heat acclimation is essentially increasing heat tolerance over time. By acclimatizing to heat, one can improve exercise performance and reduce the likelihood of getting heat stroke or other heat-related health issues.

A small study conducted on women found that strategic sauna exposure increased heat acclimation in women without causing thermoregulatory, cardiovascular, or perceptual distress, potentially reducing their susceptibility to heat illness [25].

A literature review from 2021 stated that “repeated sauna use acclimates the body to heat and optimizes the body’s response to future exposures, likely due to the biological phenomenon known as hormesis” [26]. Hormesis is another name for the hormetic stress I mentioned above.

Detoxification

Even the most conscientious of us are exposed to a number of toxins in the environment and our food supply on a nearly daily basis. Some are more exposed than others, based on diet and where you live. The question of how to detoxify is an interesting one, but sweat is one tried and true way to encourage your body’s natural secretion systems to flush out the stuff that isn’t serving you.

A 2012 systematic review of 24 studies looked at toxicants in sweat and found several undesirable substances: arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury. Each of these was shown to be successfully secreted out through the skin with sweat as efficiently as they are filtered out in urine. Repeated use of an unspecified type of sauna showed that mercury levels normalized over time [14].

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Myalgic encephalomyelitis/Chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a painful and frustrating condition that can be debilitating and demoralizing over time. Two studies looked at Waon Therapy’s effects on this syndrome and found that, in conjunction with bed rest, this therapy resulted in major self-reported improvements, including less fatigue, anxiety, and depression [22, 27].

Lungs/Airways

Patients with COPD seemed to improve in a small clinical trial after receiving Waon Therapy by up to 50% when measuring forceful exhale capacity. This is a marker of how well the lungs are functioning, and those with COPD usually have impaired forceful exhale capacity. 

Research on the Benefits of an Infrared Sauna Blanket

As I said before, the research is minimal when it comes to the infrared sauna blankets that are being sold today. There’s thin research that suggests that sauna blankets may be more effective than regular saunas and may provide health benefits, including [1]:

• Improving blood circulation
• Improving metabolism
• Accelerating detoxification
• Boosting calorie consumption and fat-burning

Although these results need a lot more attention before we can call this a science-based therapy for anything other than warming up, the fact remains that there’s credible research on the mechanisms in the blanket.

How to Use a Sauna Blanket and When to Avoid It

Sauna blankets are heat pods shaped kind of like a sleeping bag. To use one, you’ll get into the blanket or pocket, which will cover your whole body except for your head and neck [1]. Depending on the model, you will likely need to budget five to 10 minutes extra to pre-heat the blanket before beginning your session. Most people find that post-workout is the best time to use a sauna if your goal is to reduce soreness.

A single session usually lasts for 30–60 minutes (40 mins on average) at temperatures of 77–185 degrees F (122–140 degrees F on average) [1]. If 30 minutes feels too long, you can try 20, but less than that may not have much benefit [1].

When using a regular infrared sauna, it’s recommended to do sessions of your desired length three to seven times a week. You may use this same guideline for the blanket.

Who Shouldn’t Use a Sauna Blanket

Avoid using an infrared sauna blanket during or after drinking alcohol, and make sure to adequately hydrate before and after your session [1, 29]. According to a 2019 literature review, people with the following conditions should not use IR blankets or infrared saunas in general [1]:

• Respiratory disease
• Serious high or low blood pressure
• Coagulation disorders that prevent proper blood clotting, such as hemophilia, Von Willebrand disease, clotting factor deficiencies, hypercoagulable states, and deep venous thrombosis
• Skin diseases
• Heart diseases
• Pregnancy
• Acute inflammation
• Cachexia, or severe weight loss and muscle loss related to a disease

Potential Side Effects of Using Sauna Blankets

There doesn’t seem to be a huge list of dangerous side effects with infrared light therapy or blankets, specifically. A study examining the effects of regular sauna bathing (including infrared) showed that it’s well tolerated.

However, in some instances, people have been burned, had cardiac events, fainted, fallen, had lung issues, heatstroke, rapid deterioration of damaged muscles, eye irritation, and death [4]. Although we should take these risks seriously, it’s important to put the potential danger into perspective. The risk of death from saunas in 2018 was about 0.06–2 people per 100,000 per year, and many of those deaths involved alcohol [4]. 

In clinical settings, the following side effects have occurred from sauna bathing:

• Mild to moderate heat discomfort and intolerance [17, 27, 30, 31]
• Low blood pressure/lightheadedness [4]
• Temporary leg pain [32]
• Irritated breathing [4, 33]
• Claustrophobia [34]
• The greatest intensity of adverse effects occurred in people with chronic fatigue syndrome, chronic pain, rheumatoid arthritis, and ankylosing spondylitis, all of which are associated with abnormal inflammatory/immune system responses [4] 

Infrared Sauna Blankets: What’s Out There?

The practical benefits of having a high-quality infrared product at home mainly have to do with convenience and frequency of use. Whether you go with a blanket or a larger home sauna really comes down to price, space, and your personal lifestyle.

The benefits of having a blanket are that they’re portable if you travel a lot—many come with a carrying bag and fold up small enough to travel with—and that they’re more affordable than a full-sized sauna if you want something at home. 

The best infrared sauna blankets also come with remote-controlled temperature settings and timer settings with a temperature range across the full spectrum of far infrared light. You’ll want to search for one that’s easily machine washable or one that has a towel insert to absorb sweat for easy clean-up.

The goal is to raise your core body temperature, so some blankets come with arm holes so that your arms can rest outside of the heated area. If you’ve ever sat in a hot tub and found that your arms needed less heat than the rest of your body, then you’ll appreciate this feature.

The following models seem to be the most popular on the market (Prices listed current at time of writing):

• LifePro Sauna Blanket ($169)
• LifePro RejuvarWrap ($375)
• HigherDose Infrared Sauna Blanket ($699)
• Heat Healer Infrared Sauna Blanket ($479)
• Sun Home Saunas Infrared Sauna Blanket by Gravity ($499)
• Hydragun Sauna Blanket ($499)
• Relax Lie Down Sauna ($1500)
• Reviiv Infrared Sauna Blanket ($249)
• Mihigh Infrared Sauna Blanket ($499)
• Sunlighten Solo System Portable Sauna ($2,699)

Some of these are available on Amazon, and some have direct-to-consumer websites. 

Are Infrared Sauna Blankets Worth Trying?

Considering the evidence that supports the use of infrared heat, it might be worth giving a sauna blanket a try. Blanket options offer portability, full-body coverage or the option to leave your arms out, and are a more cost-effective option than installing an in-home sauna.

On the other hand, if you’re waiting for the science to specifically address blankets vs traditional or infrared saunas, you might want to join a gym that has a sauna instead. Traditional and infrared saunas both offer detox, rejuvenation, cardiovascular benefits, pain management, and mood management. 

If you’d like more guidance on your health and wellness journey, we’d love to help. Reach out to our clinic to set up a time to chat.

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