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Celebrities and athletes swear by the health-boosting effects of home infrared saunas. But are they worth the investment?

As much as I love a sauna, I can usually only stand a few minutes of sitting in a hot box before I get uncomfortable, both physically (sweaty) and mentally (bored). Don’t get me wrong, I love the effects of a sauna—that feeling of detoxification and relaxation that can only come about from a good sweat session—but sitting in a sweltering room is just too much for me to bear. At least that’s how I used to feel. During a recent visit to Cliff House in Cape Neddick, Maine, I visited the spa's infrared sauna four times in two days, with pretty incredible effects. Could it be that I had finally found my sauna soulmate?

Traditional saunas heat up your body from the outside. Infrared saunas, however, use infrared rays that penetrate your skin to heat your body from the inside. Proponents say that this allows for similar if not better effects on our body while allowing the actual sauna itself to stay at a lower temperature. Infrared rays are part of the natural light spectrum (55% of the sun’s rays are infrared) but are invisible to the naked eye. And there are three kinds of infrared rays—near, mid and far—all of which penetrate your body to different depths. General sauna use has science-backed heart health benefits, but infrared saunas, some say, may be a better way to get those benefits since you don’t have to stand such high heat to get it. The benefits of infrared saunas don’t stop there. Some studies have found that infrared sauna use can aid in muscle recovery, increase flexibility, build immunity, and possibly help battle depression.

Sunlighten saunas, the manufacturer of the one I used at Cliff House, use all three kinds of infrared rays to deliver these benefits. The mPulse sauna that I used even allows you to choose between six personalized settings based on what effects you’re hoping to get like pain relief, cardio and anti-aging. These settings use specific time, temperature and infrared wave combinations to control and optimize the effects on your body. It’s this unique sort of personalization and control that’s made Sunlighten saunas the favorite among celebrities like Tim McGraw, Bobbi Brown, Brooke Burke and Patrick Mahomes. Installing an infrared sauna in your home, like Lady Gaga and Paris Hilton have done, is now the ultimate wellness luxury and thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, more people than ever are snapping them up.

Installing an infrared sauna in your home, like Lady Gaga has done, is the ultimate wellness luxury

Unfortunately, my minuscule New York City apartment can’t handle a sauna unless I wanted to get rid of my bedroom—it can’t even handle the portable version from Sunlighten—which is why I went to Cliff House to try it out. I was able to pack in four sessions in 48 hours, almost enough time to try every program. I tried the pain relief program after an extra long workout and noticed I had less soreness a few hours later when I normally would have felt my muscles getting tight. I woke up the next day to try the cardio program first thing and noticed I felt awake and energetic even though I hadn’t had my typical second cup of coffee. I ended that second day with the relaxation program and could barely keep my eyes open once I got back to my room. My final session was detoxification, which is frankly harder to quantify, but I did feel pretty great as I rolled up to the airport.

I’ll admit, I was skeptical that the individual programming would make much of a difference - a sauna is a sauna, am I right? Wrong. I might not have felt much of the individual programs while actually using the sauna, save for the slight variations in temperature, but I did feel them once I got out. But more than anything, I realized that for the first time, I had actually sat through all my sessions without taking breaks from the heat. If an infrared sauna can help me do that, I’m on board. Now I just might need to get rid of my bedroom after all.