Saunas provide a variety of health advantages, including relaxation and better sleep, but did you know that they are also a form of cancer therapy?
Throughout history, numerous civilizations have utilized saunas to wash out toxins and preserve ideal mental and physical health. Saunas, especially infrared saunas, have been shown to help prevent or reverse cancer.
The use of heat to treat illnesses is not a new concept. According to modern medicine, cancer patients who acquired a fever occasionally went into remission.
Infrared saunas give a type of whole body hyperthermia with various health benefits. Infrared sauna therapy for cancer combines several therapeutic mechanisms to fight cancer.
A cancer patient requires increased immunological and digestive activity, which a Far infrared sauna can provide. The immunological response and digestive activity are reduced when the body’s sympathetic system is activated, allowing the brain, muscles, and glands to adapt to the stress. Infrared saunas can help to relax the body by lowering sympathetic system activity.
Read on to learn more about how infrared sauna helps in alternative treatments for cancer other than chemo.
What Is an Infrared Sauna?
Saunas employ steam/heat to create an environment that raises the temperature of your inner body. To pump more blood to your skin, you’ll sweat, and your heart rate will increase. This is your body’s attempt to chill you off. This method is supposed to imitate the effects of exercise and deliver similar health advantages.
Infrared saunas utilize infrared light to heat your body while the air around you remains constant, unlike a traditional sauna, which use heating devices to elevate the temperature of the air within. As a result, your core temperature rises without needing to sit in a room with a temperature of around 200℉. This is more pleasant for some people than typical saunas.
How Does Infrared Sauna Therapy Help Treat Cancer?
Numerous research studies back up the idea that infrared therapy has a double-whammy effect on human health. Not only does infrared’s hypothermic action confront poisonous and cancerous cells, but it also restores and regenerates our bodies at the cellular level.
Hyperthermia is a cancer treatment in which bodily tissue is subjected to high temperatures. Because high temperatures attack weaker cells while leaving healthy tissue unharmed, infrared is the ideal cancer combatant.
Using an infrared sauna regularly also increases blood circulation- the thermal radiation penetrates deep into the body, altering it at the cellular level. Freshly-oxygenated hemoglobin then rushes throughout our bodies as ATP generation rises.
Since cancer cells can’t live in highly oxygenated conditions, this benefit is also linked to the reversal of malignant cell growth. People are drawn to infrared saunas for the tremendous detox benefits they provide, in addition to the oxygenation they provide.
Infrared saunas have various detoxification effects, including cutaneous flushes and removing toxins from one’s interior organs.
Furthermore, because infrared heat permeates the human body directly, this sort of sauna produces substantially more sweat than conventional heating options.
Infrared heating allows people to stay in the sauna for extended periods and even permits at-risk groups to participate in this therapy.
Health Benefits of Infrared Sauna
There are several health benefits of infrared sauna, including:
- Improves cardiovascular functioning: Cardiovascular Diseases Saunas may be beneficial to your heart. According to studies, persons who visit saunas regularly can reduce their blood pressure. Other studies demonstrate that symptoms of congestive heart failure are improving.
- Helps with Weight Loss: While saunas aren’t a quick fix for weight reduction, they tend to help with some ailments. Evidence shows that people can use infrared saunas with other therapies for various health problems.
- Improves lung health: Sauna users were shown to have a decreased incidence of pneumonia in several studies. Other people said that their asthma symptoms had improved.
- Helps with pain management: Saunas have the potential to relieve pain when used regularly.
- Immunity activation: While most cancer therapies decrease immune function, hyperthermia can boost it by triggering a series of immune cell responses. Hyperthermia causes ‘heat shock’ proteins to form on the surface of cancer cells, rendering them more vulnerable to immune system attacks.
Heat causes cancer cells to seem different from healthy ones, triggering an immediate response. The immune system is alerted by the damaged proteins on the outer membranes of tumor cells, which appear strikingly distinct from healthy cells, and macrophages are instantly deployed to the tumor. Dendritic cells (DC) are then activated, and the heat-damaged proteins are presented to T cells. Hyperthermia encourages DC maturation and translocation to lymph nodes, where T lymphocytes are stimulated to fight cancer cell proteins. The activated T cells then go for the tumor cells and kill them.
Some research has found that the above are actual advantages. A small sample of persons with chronic fatigue syndrome discovered that using an infrared sauna daily improved their mood and symptoms.
In another study, Saunas were found to help alleviate muscular aches and pains after strenuous exercises. In addition, one study highlighted that infrared saunas might benefit those with high blood pressure. Persons with rheumatoid arthritis who visit the sauna have less pain and better joint mobility.
Infrared saunas have also been found to reduce aging and improve immunological function. Regular sauna therapy, for instance, has been demonstrated to reduce the chance of catching a cold in the winter. Infrared saunas employ red light therapy to stimulate collagen and elastin formation, which improves skin texture.
In summary, infrared saunas can assist the body in entering a state of relaxation. They can be an essential component of a stress-reduction strategy. Stress may put you at risk of other diseases if left uncontrolled, so finding practical strategies to decrease or manage day-to-day stress is critical for a good life. Infrared saunas can help you in this capacity.
What Are the Risks of Infrared Sauna Therapy?
Most researchers looking into the health advantages of infrared saunas report that they have few adverse effects. However, there are a few things to bear in mind to stay safe:
- Dehydration: You can get dehydrated if you do not drink enough water. To keep hydrated, drink lots of water before and after your workout.
- Lightheadedness: Even if you drink plenty of water, lightheadedness might happen. To avoid falling or collapsing, walking gently inside and outside the sauna is best.
- Overheating: If you’ve never used a sauna before, there’s a chance you’ll overheat. That’s why, when you first start, it’s crucial to keep sessions brief. If at all feasible, choose the lowest heat setting.
If you start to feel any of these adverse effects, get out of the sauna right away. Drink lots of water and take a cold plunge shower to chill down. To lower your core temperature, drape a cool towel over your head. Seek immediate medical help if your heart is thumping and you still feel lightheaded.
Infrared Sauna Cancer Treatment Research and Studies
Several studies and research have been carried out to show the impact of infrared sauna therapy on cancer cells.
In a clinical trial published in 2009 in the Journal of Cancer Science and Therapy, researchers explored the effects of infrared heat treatment on mice cancer cells. The study found that, in just 30 days, the mice tumor volumes decreased by 86 percent.
In another study, Japanese researchers found that whole-body infrared hyperthermia significantly slowed the development of breast cancer tumors in mice while having no adverse side effects. This technique, according to researchers, is a viable noninvasive brain cancer therapy.
Is Infrared Sauna Therapy Worth it?
Although there are other methods for producing hyperthermia, the infrared sauna is unquestionably one of the simplest and safest.
According to an article published in the International Journal of Biometeorology, materials emitting electromagnetic energy in the far-infrared range appear capable of stimulating leukocyte functions without boosting oxidative injury.
Because of the selective toxicity that infrared sauna treatment exerts on cells, they are particularly promising for cancer therapy. Infrared radiation’s hyperthermia impacts are detrimental to malignant cells since normal healthy cells are resistant to it, but cancer cells are challenged.
You’re selectively destroying or removing those cancer cells by subjecting your body to that infrared sauna’s heat without harming your healthy cells. So, infrared saunas can help you sweat, discharge toxins, and, theoretically, kill cancer cells that can’t withstand the heat.
Infrared saunas provide a one-two punch for effective detoxification, cellular repair, and regeneration, thanks to their internal heating mechanism and the sweat it generates.
Conclusion
Poor blood circulation is frequently connected to cancer. An infrared sauna can help with this since the heat causes the blood to flow closer to the skin in a quest to cool down. This promotes circulation throughout the body and enhances pulmonary oxygenation.
Infrared saunas offer significant advantages to cancer patients who cannot exercise and have inoperable tumors.
Visit Immunity Therapy Center in Mexico for the best-infrared sauna therapy for your cancer treatment. We are delighted to help you fight invasive cancer and improve your quality of life.
Reach out to us today to find out more about the cancer treatment therapies we offer!
Written By: Dr. Pablo Orozco
Dr. Pablo Orozco is a Board Certified Medical Doctor from Universidad Autónoma de Baja California.
Dr. Orozco has been a treating physician at the Immunity Therapy Center for more than 3 years providing daily on site patient care. He works with patients on a daily basis and guides them through the treatment process. Dr. Orozco’s passion for Alternative Cancer Treatments along with his commitment to patient care is key to insure that our patients have the best experience and results possible.
Sources:
- Definition of hyperthermia – NCI Dictionary of Cancer Terms https://www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/cancer-terms/def/hyperthermia#:~:text=Abnormally%20high%20body%20temperature.,or%20by%20exposure%20to%20heat.
- Infrared Sauna Improving Circulation https://saunas.org/infrared-sauna-improving-circulation/
- The Cardiometabolic Health Benefits of Sauna Exposure in Individuals with High-Stress Occupations. A Mechanistic Review https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7908414/
- Clinical Effects of Regular Dry Sauna Bathing: A Systematic Review https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5941775/
- Permanently cure chronic fatigue with infrared saunas and lifestyle modifications https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/permanently-cure-chronic-fatigue-infrared-saunas-lifestyle-mearns
- Whole-body hyperthermia helps kill cancer cells https://www.canceractive.com/article/whole-body-hyperthermia-helps-kill-cancer-cells
- Non-Thermal Effects of Far-Infrared Ray (FIR) on Human Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cells HepG2 and their Tumors https://www.hilarispublisher.com/open-access/nonthermal-effects-of-farinfrared-rayfir-on-human-hepatocellular-carcinoma-cells-hepg-and-their-tumors-1948-5956.1000012.pdf
- Electromagnetic wave emitting products and “Kikoh” potentiate human leukocyte functions https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1993IJBm…37..133N/abstract
- Prophylactic Effects of Sauna on Delayed-Onset Muscle Soreness of the Wrist Extensors https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4592767/
- Infrared sauna in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10067-008-0977-y
At Immunity Therapy Center, our goal is to provide objective, updated, and research-based information on all health-related topics. This article is based on scientific research and/or other scientific articles. All information has been fact-checked and reviewed by Dr. Carlos Bautista, a Board Certified Medical Doctor at Immunity Therapy Center. All information published on the site must undergo an extensive review process to ensure accuracy. This article contains trusted sources with all references hyperlinked for the reader's visibility.