The Truth About infra-red Saunas Revealed
Chicago Tribune A+ Rated Article
Carbon based infra-red saunas healthier, more efficient.
So, you're looking for a sauna. But which one? One guy tells you one thing, then you hear something completely different. Who do you listen to? Well after reading this, you should have a pretty good idea of the facts about infra-red saunas.
Is there any difference between saunas?
Let's get started by talking about the those that are just looking for a traditional sauna. So what's wrong with getting one of them? Absolutely nothing. They're fine, and for short sessions they feel great. Unfortunately, the traditional sauna does come up short in many of the benefits you could be experiencing from using an infra-red sauna.
First, the temperature that the traditional sauna needs to reach for your body to sweat is way too high to safely handle for any extended period of time. Doctors typically say that anything longer than 20 minutes at those high temperatures is not good for your body. In fact, it could actually be putting a strain on your heart.
This is the exact opposite of what you could expect from using an infra-red sauna. Because the infra-red saunas heat penetrates the body much deeper (up to 1 3/4 inches compared to the traditional sauna which only penetrates approximately 1/8 of an inch), your body can get a good detoxifying sweat going at about 120 degrees as compared to 180 degrees required from a traditional sauna.
Many doctors are starting to recommend infra-red saunas to their patients for many ailments, some of which are inflammation, weight loss, lowering cholesterol, and lowering blood pressure! Another amazing advantage of this deep penetrating heat is its ability to detoxify the body. The heat pulls out toxins deep under the skin and exfoliates them through the skin. Toxins like mercury, lead, car emissions, tobacco, mold and hundreds of other pollutants our bodies are bombarded with on a daily basis.
By detoxifying the body of these pollutants we are able to stop them from accumulating in our system and in doing so prevent possible disease and premature aging of our skin, body and mind. At the same time we are strengthening our immune system which keeps us running at our peak.
Ceramic vs. Carbon Based
Ok, so now we know IR saunas are much better than regular saunas. So what type of infra-red sauna do I want to buy? There are two types being sold in market place today, ceramic and carbon based. So which one should you get? Carbon based, hands down.
Many questions are ask about the difference between Ceramic and Carbon Panel saunas. Comparing a ceramic sauna to carbon based is like taking a horse on a across country ride when someone is offering to take you there by car. Let me show you what I mean.
Ceramic rods produce infra-red through small glass tubes placed strategically throughout the sauna. Unfortunately they can only produce so much heat and they do so by running at very high temperatures. This causes two problems. First, the sauna will get what we refer to as "hot spots". Certain areas in your sauna will have sufficient infra-red heat, while others have none. In order to fully obtain the benefits of your infra-red sauna, you want your entire body to be surrounded by the infra-red heat so as to absorb as many rays as possible.
Second, because the heat is coming from such a small area to heat up the entire sauna, those rods get hot. Really hot. People who use the ceramic saunas have reported getting red marks on their back from leaning against the rods. Despite burning at these high temperatures the ceramic sauna is unable to fully surround the person with infra-red heat.
Here's an example so you can see what I mean: If we were looking at a 2 person sauna a standard size panel using ceramic rods produces approximately 56 square inches of infra-red heat. The same size panel using carbon based technology will produce approximately 572 square inches of infra-red heat. This makes the carbon based sauna approximately 10 times more effective. Not only that, but the heat coming from the carbon based panels is evenly dispersed so you can lay right up against any panel within the sauna with no chance of getting burned whatsoever.
So why are they still selling this inferior technology? Maybe it has something to do with the fact that they're dirt cheap to buy, and the general public has no idea what the difference is. Carbon based technology has been around for several years now and most of the studies you'll come across today on infra-red saunas are being based on this cutting edge technology.
Are these saunas safe?
Quick answer: yes, absolutely.
Now for the longer answer. This is not new technology, and has been used for thousands of years. The only difference is that now we are able to bring this technlolgy into your home at a fraction of what it would have cost you ten years ago.
The sun has many amazing health benefits for your body. Unfortunately because of the depleted ozone layer, many of the sun's rays can be very harmful to the human body. This unfortunately makes the sun something for us to avoid, instead of something for us to submerge ourselves in for all of its healing properties. Imagine if you could have access to all the sun's healing rays on a daily basis without any of the dangers. Well that's exactly what the infra-red sauna does.
Many doctors all over the world are starting to recognize the many benefits infra-red saunas can offer their patients, from detoxifying the body to increased energy, burning calories, lowering blood pressure, pain relief, decreasing inflammation, alleviating fibromyalgia symptoms and just overall good health. With the way the world is today and all that we are exposed to, having your own infra-red sauna will make a world of difference in the quality of life you can experience.
Beside all the health benefits, it's also important to make sure your sauna was constructed safely. One of the most important seals you'll need to see on your sauna is called ETL. ETL stands for Electrical Testing Laboratories. It is one of the hardest seals to get approval for. Basically it assures you that your sauna is 100% electrically sound from control panels to wiring. Without this seal, it is very possible your sauna did not comply with certain electrical codes and could be an electrical hazard. If your sauna has been awarded this seal, you can rest easy at night knowing you and your family are safe.
Where should I get my sauna?
If you've been doing your research, you already know you have quite a few choices when picking your infra-red sauna company. I have spend a lot of time researching Far Infrared Saunas before putting this technology in my clinic. I hope you will consider us as your choice when you decide to put one in your home.
We are fully ETL Certified, and the only company that offers Carbon Based Carbon Wave 360 Technology. If you would like learn more please visit our website http://www.midwestsaunas.com/ or give us a call at 1-877-469-7286. We'd love to hear from you and answer any questions you may have. Thanks for reading, and be well.
Dr. Stuart Hoover, Owner
MidWest Saunas
Monday, September 22, 2008
Naturopaths guide body to good health
Naturopaths guide body to good health
Patients are not just a series of body parts, Stuart R. Hoover says. Nina Rao For the News-Leader
Stuart R. Hoover is a natural health doctor with a degree in Natural Health Sciences and Naturopathy. He owns Essential2Health Advanced Natural Health Center in Springfield.
Q: How did you get interested in naturopathy?
A: Like most, I really didn't pay much attention to my health when I was younger.
I played a ton of sports, and due to sports injuries, I had several back and knee surgeries. By my mid-20s, I found myself in chronic pain, fatigued and generally felt bad.
After my fourth knee surgery, I asked my doctor for the long-term prognosis on my knees. He told me I'd probably have knee replacement by the time I was 40 and pain management until then.
That did not sit well with me and I began to look at what alternatives were out there, if any. To my surprise, there was a whole field of medicine I had never heard of, natural health or naturopathy.
I began exploring this field, making changes to my diet, drinking water and getting more rest and within a very short period of time I noticed substantial changes in my health. Then I started reading more, attending lectures and doing anything I could to help educate myself about how I could help myself improve my own health.
I was in the physical therapy field at the time and started talking to patients about little things that I had learned, and their health began to change too. At that point I decided to go back to school to earn my degree in Natural Health Sciences.
Nearly two decades later I have worked with thousands of people from all over the country and even internationally and have had tremendous success in helping people improve their health.
Q: What are the philosophical underpinnings of naturopathy?
A: Naturopaths understand that healing occurs naturally in the human body, if it is given what it truly needs -- proper diet, pure water, fresh air, sunlight, exercise and rest.
In naturopathy, the emphasis is not on finding a disease and killing it, but rather on helping the body establish its own state of good health.
Allopathic philosophy (which underpins much of traditional Western medicine) holds that disease is caused by external agents and that a cure will result when offending agents are eliminated. In addition, the allopathic approach tends to look at the symptom and the disease as one and the same, so that when the symptom has been eliminated, it is presumed that the disease is cured.
The naturopath, however, sees a symptom as nothing more than a signal that something is wrong. According to naturopathic belief, when a symptom alone is eliminated, it is most likely being suppressed. Unless the original cause has also been eliminated, the symptom may return later in a chronic form.
Q: Are there certain conditions that you cannot treat?
A: Well, first we do not treat. Naturopathic medicine, or functional medicine, seeks to uncover the root causes of symptoms, allowing the practitioner to recommend intervention strategies that will solve the chronic problem.
Among the basic tenets of this type of practice is a belief that each client is unique, that minor symptoms should not be ignored and that the whole body must be treated.
Thus, treatments are custom-tailored to meet each client's unique needs by analyzing subtle differences in an individual's molecular biochemistry, hormonal secretion patterns, cellular environment, immune responses and so forth.
Even slight imbalances in the body can set the stage for more serious diseases. This often happens by virtue of a "ripple effect," whereby a "minor" imbalance sets in motion a cascade of biological triggers that eventually leads to sub-optimal health, chronic illness and degenerative disease. For this reason, a "let's-wait-and-see-if-this-develops-into anything-serious" attitude is not an acceptable approach in functional medicine.
The body is best examined and treated as an integrated whole, not simply an isolated set of parts. Moreover, by assisting and augmenting the body's natural mechanisms of healing, the practitioner works with the dynamic process of homeostasis (balance), rather than against it.
This powerful strategy offers a much more effective way of achieving long-range results than that afforded by temporary damage-control.
Emergency or crises situations, like broken bones, require medical care by an allopathic doctor.
Q: What does naturopathic treatment entail?
A: We always do a free initial consultation with our clients allowing us to get a detailed health history, address goals and what assessments may be used to help understand the client's functional state of health.
Remember that we are not looking for disease. Our medical system today is best at identifying disease and then managing it. When someone has routine blood work done and their numbers are all within range, that doesn't mean that this person is healthy, it just means that he or she is not diseased yet.
Our medical system has become very fragmented in that most doctors today are specialists. Each body part is being treated for its specific set of symptoms. But the body is not a bunch of individual parts that work independent of one another.
We work with clients with every type of health challenge from cancer and diabetes to arthritis and auto immune conditions.
More than 90 percent of all chronic disease in our country is preventable and directly linked to poor nutrition and lifestyle. The body must be addressed as a whole in order to achieve complete health.
Naturopathy is not a replacement for conventional medicine; it is a complement. As our health continues to decline in America, I think people are beginning to understand the role that a natural health practitioner can play. Statistics show that more and more people are incorporating functional medicine in their health.
We are the health coaches.
Patients are not just a series of body parts, Stuart R. Hoover says. Nina Rao For the News-Leader
Stuart R. Hoover is a natural health doctor with a degree in Natural Health Sciences and Naturopathy. He owns Essential2Health Advanced Natural Health Center in Springfield.
Q: How did you get interested in naturopathy?
A: Like most, I really didn't pay much attention to my health when I was younger.
I played a ton of sports, and due to sports injuries, I had several back and knee surgeries. By my mid-20s, I found myself in chronic pain, fatigued and generally felt bad.
After my fourth knee surgery, I asked my doctor for the long-term prognosis on my knees. He told me I'd probably have knee replacement by the time I was 40 and pain management until then.
That did not sit well with me and I began to look at what alternatives were out there, if any. To my surprise, there was a whole field of medicine I had never heard of, natural health or naturopathy.
I began exploring this field, making changes to my diet, drinking water and getting more rest and within a very short period of time I noticed substantial changes in my health. Then I started reading more, attending lectures and doing anything I could to help educate myself about how I could help myself improve my own health.
I was in the physical therapy field at the time and started talking to patients about little things that I had learned, and their health began to change too. At that point I decided to go back to school to earn my degree in Natural Health Sciences.
Nearly two decades later I have worked with thousands of people from all over the country and even internationally and have had tremendous success in helping people improve their health.
Q: What are the philosophical underpinnings of naturopathy?
A: Naturopaths understand that healing occurs naturally in the human body, if it is given what it truly needs -- proper diet, pure water, fresh air, sunlight, exercise and rest.
In naturopathy, the emphasis is not on finding a disease and killing it, but rather on helping the body establish its own state of good health.
Allopathic philosophy (which underpins much of traditional Western medicine) holds that disease is caused by external agents and that a cure will result when offending agents are eliminated. In addition, the allopathic approach tends to look at the symptom and the disease as one and the same, so that when the symptom has been eliminated, it is presumed that the disease is cured.
The naturopath, however, sees a symptom as nothing more than a signal that something is wrong. According to naturopathic belief, when a symptom alone is eliminated, it is most likely being suppressed. Unless the original cause has also been eliminated, the symptom may return later in a chronic form.
Q: Are there certain conditions that you cannot treat?
A: Well, first we do not treat. Naturopathic medicine, or functional medicine, seeks to uncover the root causes of symptoms, allowing the practitioner to recommend intervention strategies that will solve the chronic problem.
Among the basic tenets of this type of practice is a belief that each client is unique, that minor symptoms should not be ignored and that the whole body must be treated.
Thus, treatments are custom-tailored to meet each client's unique needs by analyzing subtle differences in an individual's molecular biochemistry, hormonal secretion patterns, cellular environment, immune responses and so forth.
Even slight imbalances in the body can set the stage for more serious diseases. This often happens by virtue of a "ripple effect," whereby a "minor" imbalance sets in motion a cascade of biological triggers that eventually leads to sub-optimal health, chronic illness and degenerative disease. For this reason, a "let's-wait-and-see-if-this-develops-into anything-serious" attitude is not an acceptable approach in functional medicine.
The body is best examined and treated as an integrated whole, not simply an isolated set of parts. Moreover, by assisting and augmenting the body's natural mechanisms of healing, the practitioner works with the dynamic process of homeostasis (balance), rather than against it.
This powerful strategy offers a much more effective way of achieving long-range results than that afforded by temporary damage-control.
Emergency or crises situations, like broken bones, require medical care by an allopathic doctor.
Q: What does naturopathic treatment entail?
A: We always do a free initial consultation with our clients allowing us to get a detailed health history, address goals and what assessments may be used to help understand the client's functional state of health.
Remember that we are not looking for disease. Our medical system today is best at identifying disease and then managing it. When someone has routine blood work done and their numbers are all within range, that doesn't mean that this person is healthy, it just means that he or she is not diseased yet.
Our medical system has become very fragmented in that most doctors today are specialists. Each body part is being treated for its specific set of symptoms. But the body is not a bunch of individual parts that work independent of one another.
We work with clients with every type of health challenge from cancer and diabetes to arthritis and auto immune conditions.
More than 90 percent of all chronic disease in our country is preventable and directly linked to poor nutrition and lifestyle. The body must be addressed as a whole in order to achieve complete health.
Naturopathy is not a replacement for conventional medicine; it is a complement. As our health continues to decline in America, I think people are beginning to understand the role that a natural health practitioner can play. Statistics show that more and more people are incorporating functional medicine in their health.
We are the health coaches.
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