How Can Infrared Sauna Sessions Help Improve Your Mental Health?

September 12, 2023

Explore the Many Benefits of Infrared Sauna Therapy With Formula Wellness Center

Stress is a part of everyone’s life, but there are times when we feel it more keenly. At these moments, many people begin to feel overwhelmed, anxious, depressed, and generally unwell. A continued state of heightened stress will dampen the feel-good hormones that the brain releases and produce more stress-related ones instead, so without interrupting this cycle, your mental health can take a serious hit.

Fortunately, one of the solutions lies in attending regular infrared sauna sessions, which show a positive, long-lasting effect on mental health and mood in general. Unlike traditional saunas that aim to draw sweat from the body using conventional heat, an infrared sauna creates a deep penetrating heat using light.

Learn more about how combining infrared therapy with psychotherapy or medication can provide substantial health and mental health benefits for a healthier mind and body.

Infrared Sauna Therapy Can Improve Mood and Reduce Depression

Have you ever sat in an infrared sauna for several minutes? With your body experiencing extremely mild heat stress or whole-body hyperthermia, the light stress triggers your brain to release natural feel-good hormones. That’s why it feels so amazing.

Studies on whole-body hyperthermia show that it can help people with major depressive disorder to reduce their symptoms significantly. Infrared heat therapy acts as a natural antidepressant mechanism, with some reporting the positive effects of one session lasting as long as six weeks.

Infrared Saunas Reduce Anxiety and Stress

Despite being a natural occurrence, excessive stress can seriously impact your health. It affects everything from your brain to your immune system because it produces excess cortisol, the body’s fight-or-flight steroid hormone. What’s the result?

• Increased heart rate
• Raised blood pressure
• Extra calories released to your midsection for energy and more

Understandably, too much cortisol isn’t helpful for the body. Since excessive stress and anxiety causes the brain to release high levels of cortisol, having a way to bring it down to normal levels can prove invaluable. Thankfully, with the help of near-infrared sauna sessions, people with anxiety can experience significant stress reduction as cortisol production eases.

Relaxing in a sauna also increases oxygen-dense blood flow into the brain, allowing it to exit its high-stress state. Exercise similarly affects anxiety, but an infrared sauna can replicate the body’s natural response to exercise without physical activity.

What does the infrared heat do for you? It raises the body’s core temperature, promoting a deep sweat. Infrared waves penetrate deeper into your tissues than conventional heat, which is why so many people experience improved blood circulation and blood pressure after sessions.

Infrared Sauna Sessions Increase Beta-Endorphins, Relieve Pain, and Help Treat Fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia is a chronic pain disorder that also causes fatigue and fragmented sleep. Without a known cause, people with this medical condition are sensitive to pain.

The body produces natural painkillers called beta-endorphins, which your brain releases to ease physical pain or emotional distress. Beta-endorphin production also kicks in after rigorous activities, like jogging or circuit training, and in response to an infrared sauna’s induced heat stress.

These beta-endorphins regulate how your body feels. The longer the sauna session, the more hormones your brain can produce. That’s great news if you have a painful medical condition like fibromyalgia.

A 2008 study on infrared therapy for fibromyalgia appeared in the Internal Medicine journal. It showed that fibromyalgia syndrome patients can benefit from this treatment, with around half of the study’s participants experiencing a significant pain reduction after the first session.

Infrared Saunas Increase Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF)

The brain-derived neurotrophic factor is a natural long-chain protein and growth factor that the brain produces as a neurotransmitter and modulator. It links closely to depression and other mood disorders. BDNF improves your mood by assisting with forming new brain cells and repairing existing ones simultaneously.

Many researchers and specialists consider the BDNF protein a natural antidepressant because it helps mood-related symptoms, including depression and anxiety. It’s likely that people who suffer from mental health disorders lack sufficient BDNF and could benefit from the boost.

Since increasing this protein’s production with infrared sauna sessions is possible, that is a viable solution. Researchers think the uptick in BDNF production through infrared sauna therapy stems from the hormone release after the body’s stress response.

Infrared Saunas Increase Norepinephrine Levels and May Help Treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

Norepinephrine is a natural hormone and neurotransmitter that helps people concentrate or pay attention. Also called noradrenaline, it comes from the adrenal glands. Norepinephrine is a neurotransmitter of dopamine and nerve cells from the brainstem and spinal cord.

For people with ADHD, focus is often difficult to achieve. However, several studies confirm that participating in multiple infrared sauna sessions may increase norepinephrine levels to improve things.

Spending 20 minutes in an infrared sauna twice weekly could increase your norepinephrine levels to help you reap these benefits. The heat stress that infrared sauna therapy induces may also make it easier for a person’s body to retain this excess norepinephrine for sustained release. That’s good news for people with ADHD who want to regulate some of their symptoms or replace ADHD medications with a natural alternative treatment.

Prioritize Your Well-being With Infrared Sauna for Mental Health and More From Formula Wellness Center

Are you feeling overwhelmed, anxious, unfocused, or sore? Multiple sessions in an infrared sauna for mental health and physical benefits could be the solution you’ve been waiting for. The wellness and relaxation available through infrared therapy positively impact stress, anxiety, depression, and other physical and cognitive conditions.

At Formula Wellness Center, you can explore these physical and mental health benefits firsthand with full access to advanced infrared saunas. Our medical-based program includes consultations, personalized treatments, and wellness treatments, such as:

• Infrared sauna therapy
• Joint injections
• Hormone replacement therapy

If you want stress or anxiety relief or a way to rejuvenate your mind, call Formula Wellness Center at (214) 931-9443 in Dallas, TX!