Sauna Big Wins: Body Detox & Depression Relief

… you’ll learn about the ways using a sauna can charge your energy, help you heal physical and mental health conditions—and science that backs that up.

Connie Zack joins the show to talk about the far-reaching benefits of sauna use and what’s new in the field of infrared light. For more than 22 years, Connie and her husband, Aaron, have introduced infrared light therapy to 13 countries through Sunlighten. They’re leading innovations in infrared light therapy and infrared sauna manufacturing.

This conversation covers a range of good things you’ll experience from using a sauna:

• how infrared light affects the body and triggers a biochemical cascade of benefits;
• how near infrared penetrates the body to interact with mitochondria;
• why the real magic of infrared combines both light and heat;
• what evidence connects infrared and detoxification—and why sweating wins;
• why you sleep better—without feeling exhausted—when you do a sauna session before bed;
• how infrared shows promising relief for those who experience depression; and
• practical ways to incorporate sauna into your own stack for better sleep and higher performance.

“it’s either social time, or it’s biohacking time, or it’s meditation time,” Dave says. “You can also do breath work when you’re in it. I just feel like it’s the most effective use of time to get all these benefits. You want to be able to selectively and carefully mix the three types of infrared so that you get the effect you’re looking for.”

Big takeaways for you:

• Sauna for Detox: Results from a blood-urine-sweat study support infrared for detoxification, and it’s more than just thermoregulation as traditional medicine often argues.
• Sauna for Depression: Chronic inflammation is associated with depression and may be a protective, inflammatory response involving thermoregulatory pathways, the immune system, serotonin system, heat shock proteins and more. Studies show that raising core body temperature can improve major symptoms of depression.