In a previous post, I wrote about near-infrared light therapy. If you missed it, you can read it by clicking here. Gunnar and I recently interviewed Brian Richards, the founder of Sauna Space, and you can watch that episode by clicking here. During that episode, we discussed the history of saunas and the benefits of red-light and heat therapy.
Sauna Space offers the most complete and highest quality portable style NIR sauna, but they’re not cheap. If you can afford one, or even just want to purchase SaunaSpace’s superior bulbs, please do support his store. I wasn’t ready to spend $3,900 yet, so I built my own. It has been a massive success, and I only had to spend about $290, including the government extortion (tax). Below are some low-grade cell phone picks of my setup.
Gunnar’s Setup:
Contrast the above with the Sauna Space sauna in the picture below. Yes, it is a little more elegant.
Function vs Looks
When I think sauna, I think sweat! I like to get hot, and I like to sweat. To me, it’s not a sauna if you don’t sweat. I can report that I begin sweating in my sauna within five minutes, and I’m in a fully drenched detoxifying sweat within 15 minutes. I tested my body temperature and reached the targeted three-degree increase. I’m getting excellent heat therapy and light therapy! In my mind, this is a significant success. My wife was a little apprehensive about what it might look like, even though it’s not sitting in our living room. She is delighted as well and has been using the sauna on a nearly daily basis. We are now getting the tremendous health benefits of NIR and heat therapy!
Here’s What We Used
Safety first! Get a set of IR safety glasses, they’re inexpensive, robust, and necessary for prolonged seesions! Link here: Stylish IR Safety Glasses
ALSO - Be sure to have a grounded power strip that can handle at least 1500 watts; this power strip has a grounded indicator and can handle 1800 watts. Having a grounded power strip is important to ensure low EMF, more on that below.
We both purchased an insulated pop-up portable ice fishing tent for $99.99 from Amazon. They are sturdy and create a nice, quiet place. Click here to link to the product on Amazon.
I purchased four Rubylux incandescent bulbs from Amazon for $94.99. Click here for the Rubylux bulbs.
We both purchased two 250W Therabulb bulbs ($29/bulb) to check out the difference. I am using five bulbs in my sauna, but four will do the trick. You can check out the Therabulbs by clicking here.
I bought six 250W clamping light fixtures for a total of $65, and you can link to those by clicking here.
I had some scrap wood to build a rack to clamp the light to. It works great for me. It isn’t ‘beautiful,’ but I care much more about function than appearance. I already had an old garage sale stool to sit on. It took about five minutes, with the help of my 12-year-old son, to erect the ice fishing tent. I spent about an hour putting it all together, including the wooden rack. There you have it. A DIY sauna that works fantastic!
Gunnar purchased 4 tripods, 2 of these, 2 of these, and 2 Therabulb bulbs. He also plans to add 2 more tripods and 2 SaunaSpace bulbs. He similarly reports that 4 bulbs produces sauna sweat within 10 minutes, especially with using a space heater to pre-heat.
Light Spectrum Comparison
As you can see above, all the lights emit nearly the same amount of NIR at the same frequency. I also ensured the bulbs didn’t have a toxic coating, like Teflon, that would off-gas into the sauna. Rubylux and Therabulb do not have a coating. I noticed that the Rubylux bulbs emit more ‘red light,’ but that doesn’t mean there is less NIR because you can’t actually see the NIR spectrum. I think they emit about the same amount of heat. I have no preference except that the Rubylux bulbs are a little less expensive.
EMF
Be sure to get a grounded power strip and grounded lamps to ensure low EMF, however, even without a grounded lamp the EMF is almost nothing. Here is a reading from my fully grounded setup using this power strip:
Other Tidbits…
Please make sure to double check stability in any setup you use, make sure clamps are sturdy, that you’re not sitting too close to the bulbs, and that you don’t trip over any cords/wires - ALSO - Never leave the bulbs on unattended!
Pre-heating is very helpful and doesn’t take long, bringing the temp from 70ish to 95 in 15 minutes, this really accelerates sweating!
Remember, the goal is to raise core temperature 3 degrees F, and to sweat 16 ounces of water, a full pound! Fun Fact: 1 volumetric ounce of water is equal to its weight, 1 ounce!
There is conflicting information as to whether or not you need to use eye protection while using near-infrared lights. Some articles and research say that NIR light can help with cataracts. Other articles warn that eye protection is warranted. I choose to wear ‘NIR protective glasses’ for part of the session, especially where concentrating on head/face. Use common sense and don’t get super close.
Does your body create vitamin D with NIR exposure? No, it does not. During exposure to sunlight, 7-dehydrocholesterol in the skin absorbs UV B radiation and is converted to vitamin D3, which in turn isomerizes into vitamin D3.
Please let me know what you think, and you can leave any questions in the comments below. Happy sauna, folks!