My First Time Relaxing---and Getting Sweaty---in an Infrared Sauna | Fit Bottomed Girls

My First Time Relaxing—and Getting Sweaty—in an Infrared Sauna

5 CommentsMarch 25, 2013 By: Jenn

I’m pretty much a sucker for anything that has “spa” in the title. Massages, facial treatments, acupuncture…if it’s supposed to be relaxing and good for you, sign me up. So when I had the chance to try an infrared sauna therapy session at Sunlight Day Spa—which is a part of the company Sunlighten that just happens to be headquartered within a 15-minute drive of my home—well, I had to. Right? Right.

Part showroom, part spa, I was ready to go inside and get sweaty and relaxed.

The lobby? Way chill and nice. In addition to the infrared spa treatments, this place also offers massages and other more traditional spa offerings.

Sunlighten makes a variety of infrared saunas that are said to do everything from help you detox to burn calories to beat stress, lower blood pressure and even promote wound healing and cell health. Now, I’m a very fair-skinned person, so hot sunny places? Well, we don’t always get along unless there are copious amounts of sunscreen or shade around. But I was assured that infrared saunas—while plenty hot (100 to 130 degrees)—don’t hit your skin with ultraviolet rays, so you’re safe from sunburn and other damage.

After a quick change into a robe in the spa’s locker room, I got myself some water and settled into my own personal infrared sauna that was set apart from the rest of the sauna with a full curtain. (This picture is from the showroom—I didn’t want to be a creeper and start snapping photos in a spa where other people are walking around in robes, but you can kind of get the idea. In the spa, all the lights were low, and it was a much more zen-like experience.)

Unfortunately, the touchscreen panel in my sauna wasn’t working, so I couldn’t track the temperature or track my heart rate during my session. (One of the cool features—you can normally track how many calories you’re burning via a heart-rate chest strap. The company says you can expect up to a 600-calorie burn in a session because your body is working harder in the heat.)

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