This Friday, the ladies on The View, ABC’s hit daytime talk show, will talk about infrared saunas! Dr. Gadget and show guest Mario Cantone will discuss the benefits of infrared sauna therapy. We absolutely LOVE hearing national television shows extolling infrared heat!

The unit featured on this episode of The View is a portable, seated far infrared (FIR) sauna. Though not the unit seen on The View, Sunlighten’s Solo System™ portable infrared sauna was the ORIGINAL single-unit infrared sauna – and, we believe, the highest quality personal sauna on the market. We have many commercial clients who use Solo infrared saunas in their health-related businesses – massage therapy, physician’s offices, wellness clinics, chiropractors office, fitness centers and more.

The infrared heat technology offered in Sunlighten’s Solo System™ provides significant WEIGHT LOSS for users. Other health benefits of the Sunlighten Solo System™ portable infrared sauna includes increased circulation, lower blood pressure, cellular detoxification, pain relief, muscle recovery, skin rejuvenation, wound healing and immunity boosting.

Television shows often mention the calories burned in an infrared sauna session. As calculated by the amount of increase in heart rate, a 30-minute infrared sauna session can burn upwards of 600 calories.

Clinical proof of these weight-loss benefits can be found in a study published in the Canadian Journal of Diabetes, which found that infrared sauna therapy can induce weight loss and reduce waist circumference, especially for patients forced to be sedentary due to medical conditions.

Fans of The View will be happy to know that they can order a Sunlighten Solo System™ (the original and highest quality personal FIR sauna) and enjoy all the health benefits of infrared heat at home!

UPDATE: We just saw the sauna segment. And they apparently didn’t have time to even discuss the sauna and its benefits – so we’re glad to have the chance to do so here. AND we think our Solo System is a much more comfortable, more attractive and better quality portable infrared sauna – the best choice in the marketplace.

Read more about the features of the space-saving Solo System:

• Sunlighten Solo System: Industry-Leading Portable Infrared Sauna

We were so excited to see a mention of Sunlighten infrared saunas in Dr. Ann Louise Gittleman’s Edge of Health blog last week. So cool!

Dr. Ann Louise is the author of 30 books on alternative health, including her New York Times bestseller The Fat Flush Plan. She was recognized as one of the top ten nutritionists in the country by Self magazine and was the recipient of the American Medical Writers Association award for excellence.

Dr. Ann Louise was the first to proclaim that obesity was caused by the lack of dietary fats and the wrong kind of carbohydrates in her book Beyond Pritikin, published in 1988. In Beyond Pritikin, she predicted that the fat-free, carb-rich diet was creating weight gain, sugar cravings, fatigue and diabetes. She has received high praise from both Dr. Robert Atkins (creator of the Atkins Diet) and Dr. Mark Hyman (of UltraWellness fame).

You may have seen Dr. Ann Louise over the years on 20/20, Dr. Phil, The View, Good Morning America, Extra!, and The Early Show.  Or in Time, Newsweek, Glamour, Ebony, The Oprah Magazine, First for Women and Woman’s World magazines.

Dr. Ann Louise’s blog post – the one we got so excited about – focuses on the detoxification benefits associated with infrared sauna use.  She mentions the benefits of near infrared for skin health and Sunlighten’s Solocarbon Custom Spectrum (available in our mPulse sauna models) for delivering near infrared heat.

Specifically, she says:

A study published in The Journal of Cosmetic and Laser Therapy in 2005 showed significant improvements in skin appearance after just 12 weeks of near-infrared sauna skin therapy. Subjects exhibited a reduction in wrinkles and crow’s feet, as well as improved overall skin tone, including softness, smoothness, elasticity, clarity and firmness.[1] Sunlighten’s Solocarbon Custom Spectrum is the only infrared sauna heater on the market with this technology.

Dr. Ann Louise recommends a ramp-up sauna regiment to her clients:

Don’t overdo it, however. Start with a five or ten minute sauna at 135 degrees Fahrenheit three times per week. Gradually work your way up to a 45-minute sauna, and then after a month or so increase the temperature to 145 degrees Fahrenheit.

If you’d like to learn more about custom spectrum technology and/or Sunlighten’s mPulse series of infrared saunas, simply click here or call 877-292-0020.

Some of our favorite people – the good folks at The Doctors’ Prescription for Healthy Living magazine and Dr. Rachel West – recently came across our radar with an article on using infrared saunas to help kids (including those with special needs) stay healthy.

Dr. West, a long-time partner of Sunlighten and supporter of our mission to empower wellness, is nationally regarded for her work with children who have attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorders including Asperger’s syndrome. She combines many therapies and modalities together with diet and nutrition—and she frequently uses infrared sauna as part of her healthy child programs.

She is quoted in the Healthy Living article as saying, “We do the same kind of detox for kids as we do for adults.” Dr. West believes strongly that there is an environmental component to our most difficult childhood neurological and behavioral health challenges.

For example, in a 2010 paper in the journal Neuro-Toxicology, Dr. Amir Miodovnik, a pediatrician at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and his colleagues showed that children who had been exposed to high levels of phthalates prenatally were more likely to show social impairments at seven to nine years of age.

Dr. West also considers viruses, heavy metals, preservatives and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from plastics as other top environmental influences. In the Healthy Living article, she notes:

And special-needs kids invariably benefit when their body’s elimination pathways are working optimally. Indeed, some of the most recent research suggests that the environment plays a powerful role in causing or exacerbating these health challenges that involve behavioral, neurological and physical symptoms.

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The nice thing is that far infrared actually penetrates at cellular levels so it will help clean out organ tissues and disconnect cells from toxins that may be blocking pathways and at very low heat, which is safe for children.

Dr. West also finds the infrared sauna helpful for kids to just relax! They can sit in the sauna and get their blood moving, break a good sweat and feel restored and recharged. It gives them some much needed “down time”. Teenagers with skin conditions and children with psoriasis find the sauna helps with their skin blemishes.

More from Healthy Living and Dr. West:

“The lactic acid [that builds up in kids' muscles] makes kids feel like they want a massage, and the saunas feel great on their joints and muscles,” she says. “And keep in mind it isn’t the heat that counts, but the penetration and the benefits of infrared sauna that can occur at low heat. We see oxygenation of cells and better sleep,” she says. “Since sauna restores and calms the nervous system and heat is nurturing, many parents have their kids take a sauna in preparation for bedtime or before their evening bath or shower.”

Remember, the infrared sauna is used with an entire health program. Dr. West says taking a sauna three times a week, for 20 minutes to start, is a good regimen for kids.

Our thanks to Healthy Living and to Dr. West for sharing this terrific information about infrared sauna and kids! Do you use the sauna as a family?

A few months ago, we told you about Bob Greene’s amazing new wellness program “20 Years Younger“. We also shared the exciting news that Sunlighten has partnered with Bob for the 20YY program because regular infrared heat therapy supports several of the “pillars” in the program.

We were VERY excited to see that Bob wrote an article on the power of infrared saunas for 20 Years Younger program members this month and featured the article in his newsletter.

In the piece, titled “It’s Gettin’ Hot in Here”, Bob says:

Near infrared light therapy is one of the tools dermatologists use to help minimize wrinkles and rejuvenate skin. In one study, people who used near infrared LED technology (the same type of light used in some of the Sunlighten saunas) experienced significant improvements in skin appearance, including a reduction in wrinkles and crow’s feet, as well as improved overall skin tone, softness, smoothness, elasticity, clarity and firmness after just nine treatments over five weeks.

The other health benefits of infrared sauna use that Bob describes include heart health, reduced blood pressure, weight loss, pain relief, circulation, cell health and more.

Bob closes his article by saying:

If you think a sauna is out of your price range or is too much work, think again. A sauna is an easy addition because they now come in pre-fabricated kits that are ready to assemble and plug in. There are also portable units that can be stored when not in use. Plus, they have low-energy consumption and are virtually maintenance-free. I’ve partnered with Sunlighten saunas because they make high-quality, full spectrum infrared saunas.

Not sure who Bob Greene is? He’s an exercise physiologist and certified personal trainer specializing in fitness, metabolism and weight loss. He’s a best-selling author, a contributing writer and editor for O the Oprah Magazine and Oprah.com as well as for his own weight loss website, TheBestLife.com. You may remember him as Oprah’s trainer.

Bob, along with several medical and nutrition experts, built the 20 Years Younger program – a practical, science-based plan for looking and feeling your best as you age. The plan details easy and effective steps we can all take to rebuild the foundation of youth and enjoy better health, improved energy, and a positive outlook on life. The four cornerstones of the program include: A Longevity Promoting Diet, A Wrinkle-Fighting Skin Care Regimen, An Anti-Aging Exercise Plan and  A Rejuvenating Sleep Program. You can learn more about it at 20YearsYounger.com.

Sunlighten is proud to have partnered with Bob for the 20 Years Younger program and excited to see so many people using the program to better their health and wellness.

See Also:

• Need a Little Help in Your Quest to Look & Feel Younger?

• Bob Greene Recommends Sunlighten Infrared Saunas

Sunlighten owner Connie Zack had the pleasure of being a guest on Len and Joe’s radio show about health and wellness a few weeks ago. If you haven’t heard about Len and Joe yet, you’re missing out on some great information! They are registered pharmacists, board-certified clinical nutritionists, and homeopaths.

And they are big fans of the power of infrared heat therapy and Sunlighten saunas!

Listen to what Connie has to say about the power of Sunlighten sauna in anyone’s health and wellness program and about the power of our mPulse full spectrum sauna series.