Ever dreamed of stepping into your own private sauna whenever you want? Well, this is possible with an infrared sauna mat. A sauna mat is a convenient way to provide powerful heat therapy to your body.
While it can be difficult to get out of bed and head to the gym, waking up and crawling onto your infrared mat is a lot more manageable. And when you spend a session on a sauna mat, you still reap many of the same benefits that a workout or spa day provides.
When it comes to self-care, infrared sauna beds are one of the best solutions. Using one of these mats can totally relax and uplift the body while providing various health benefits. Best of all, they’re easy to use from the comfort of your own home.
If you were wondering what an infrared sauna mat is and how it works, you’ve come to the right place. In this guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about using and choosing an infrared sauna mat and we will compare them to traditional saunas and infrared sauna blankets.
Let’s take a look.
What Is An Infrared Sauna Mat?
An infrared sauna mat is a special type of device that is used to gently heat the body.
Infrared sauna mats look similar to yoga mats and are used in the same way in that you simply lie them out on the floor and lie on them.
The mats are made from a soft material for comfort and have a bumpy surface.
The main feature of infrared sauna mats is that they use infrared heat therapy to penetrate the skin and deeply heat your core. The mat warms up and sends infrared heat waves up to the person lying on the mat.
These mats use adjustable heat technology to control exactly how the body is heated. The heating effect raises the body’s thermal energy, which is used to detoxify and provide a healing effect over the body.
This process is also known as infrared heat therapy. Using an infrared sauna mat is an easy and convenient way to do infrared heat therapy at home. These mats are small and can be used practically anywhere.
When it comes to sauna blankets, the sauna element comes in the form of a heated pouch that you can crawl into. This is also called an infrared sauna blanket. Just like stepping into a hot sauna, these mats achieve a similar effect of heating your body to the core. This provides a kind of fully enclosed heat capsule.
What Are The Benefits Of Infrared Sauna Mats
There are many unique benefits to using an infrared sauna mat as part of your self-care routine. To use this product, you simply lay it down on the floor, plug it in, and crawl onto it. The mat will take some time to warm up, and then you simply relax and enjoy the benefits of a heat therapy session.
Here are some of the main advantages of using these mats.
Detoxifies The Body
Infrared sauna mats wrap you in heat to increase the body’s thermal energy. One of the main reasons for doing this is that the increased heat increases blood flow in the body. This provides a detoxification effect throughout the body. Of course, this is temporary and can be controlled through the different heat settings.
The increased thermal heat and detoxification also provides the body with a rise in serotonin. This raises your mood – similar to how you might feel after going to the gym. The serotonin increase can also help the body with
- Sleep
- Digestion
- Blood clotting
- Nausea
- Healing wounds
The high temperate the body experiences in these mats can also help the blood vessels to expand. Beyond improving circulation, this can help to lower blood pressure.
Increases Heart Rate
Spending a session wrapped up in an infrared sauna mat helps to raise your heart rate. This will move more oxygen and blood to your muscles, which is important for the healthy functioning of your body.
Increased heart rate and the related oxygen and blood flow can also help the body to burn calories faster and reduce the risk of cholesterol.
This means using an infrared sauna mat can help to promote weight loss.
Heats The Muscles
Infrared heat therapy deeply penetrates the body with heat. When you use an infrared sauna mat to do this, the mat directly heats your body from all sides.
This is an effective way to warm up tired and tense muscles. Many people like to use these mats after a workout to soothe the body. The muscle-warming effect also helps to relieve muscular pains. The heating process is a useful way to speed up the recovery process after the gym.
Promotes Sweating
Infrared sauna mats get their name from having a similar effect to spending time in a sauna. After a session on one of these mats, your body will be covered in sweat. This has been shown to have detoxification benefits.
Deep sweating can help to clear your skin, remove toxins from the body, and improve circulation. Beyond the health benefits, this can also improve relaxation and overall feelings of well-being.
Pain Management
Infrared heat therapy is an excellent way to provide the body with minor pain relief. Instead of taking pain medication, you can use your sauna blanket to deeply heat areas of your body that are experiencing aches and injuries. This is generally a stronger and more effective solution than using a small heating pad.
Easy To Control
One of the many positives of infrared sauna mats is that they let you easily control which areas of the body you want to target. If you don’t want to warm up your entire body, then you can position only these parts of your body on the mat.
You can also adjust the heat and intensity of these mats to help you provide the right level of heat for your body. This gives you a lot more control than a traditional sauna session.
Convenience
Few people are able to have their own personal sauna at home, but purchasing an Infrared sauna mat is definitely the next best option.
When it comes to convenience, these mats are super portable. They take up about the same amount of space as a yoga mat, so you can store and use them practically anywhere.
You can also travel with them, roll them up and pack them away when they’re not in use. The easily portable nature of these mats also means that you can access heat therapy whenever you need it. You can bring the sauna mat to work with you, take it on holiday, or move it around wherever you go.
Covers The Entire Body
While you are able to target specific areas of your body with an infrared sauna mat, you can also provide heat therapy to your entire body all at once.
This is a lot more efficient than using a heating pad or small device to heat certain areas of the body.
Cheaper Alternative To Heat Therapy
An infrared sauna mat is also an affordable way to access heat therapy. The price of installing a sauna cabin in your home is far greater than the cost of one of these mats.
Investing in a sauna mat also gives you unlimited access to effective heat therapy.
Infrared Sauna Mats Vs Traditional Sauna
Traditional saunas use either steam or dry heat to warm up the sauna space. Infrared sauna mats use infrared heat. This means that you feel the heat instantly as you step into a sauna because saunas heat the air. Infrared mats, however, send a deep penetrating thermal energy directly into the body. There is no air space between the mat and the body.
Infrared sauna mats usually run at a lower temperature than traditional saunas, this is because there is no need to heat up the air around the body. Infrared sauna mats penetrate the skin directly, which also means the heat penetrates far deeper into the body.
A deeper heat penetration means more toxins are removed in the resulting sweat, as opposed to a regular sauna where a greater portion of the sweat is just water leaving the body.
Infrared saunas take slightly longer to warm the body than stepping into a traditional sauna. The more gradual heating process gives your body more time to transition to the heat, which can have a more relaxing, meditative effect on the body. When you step into a sauna, you’re hit by a sudden wave of heat. This can be a shock for the body.
Finally, infrared sauna mats are a lot more convenient than a traditional sauna. They’re way smaller, cheaper, and easier to use.
When using a traditional public sauna, you often have to share the space with other people. Having your own sauna mat on the other hand is very accessible. This provides your own personal “mini sauna” experience wherever and whenever you need it.
Infrared Sauna Mats Vs Sauna Blankets
Infrared sauna mats take the form of a flat mat, much like a yoga mat. You simply lie on top of them to access direct heat therapy. Infrared sauna blankets wrap around the body, providing a kind of cocoon effect that heats the body from all angles.
While both products use the same concept of infrared heat therapy, they also provide unique experiences. Here are some of the pros, cons, and differences between infrared sauna mats and sauna blankets.
| Infrared Sauna Mat | Infrared Sauna Blanket | |
|---|---|---|
| Heating | Provide heat from a single source below the body | Provide a more complete wrap of heat around the body |
| Size | Mats are often smaller and easier to roll up into a convenient size | Infrared sauna blankets can be bigger, bulkier, and more difficult to manage |
| Sweat | Sauna mats can be open on top, which means there is more airflow around your body. This can reduce sweat. | Infrared sauna blankets are more closed in, which provides a warmer, sweatier experience. |
| Body position and comfort | You can lie your entire body down on a sauna mat, sit up on the mat, or target specific areas of the body with the mat. | Sauna blankets are best used lying down flat. Trying different body positions and targeting specific areas of the body with these mats is more tricky. |
Summary
There are many ways that you can relax and detoxify the body, but few are as convenient as an infrared sauna mat. These mats provide a deep healing effect on the body. The infrared heating technology is incredibly efficient, allowing you to provide a deeper warming impact on your muscles.
This results in a powerful detoxification and relaxation state.
Whether you use these mats to recover the body after a workout or to simply keep your muscles warm during cold weather, your body will enjoy the many advantages. The best part is that they are so convenient to lug around and store.