You will experience many benefits of using the infrared sauna regularly. These benefits can be amplified by adding massage to your routine.
You should use the infrared sauna before a massage because the sauna will help you prepare for the message therapy by warming up and stretching your muscles. It will soften tense areas in your body, reducing pain and promoting relaxation. In this way, the sauna will help prolong your healing and restorative state.
Keep on reading to learn more about how infrared heat affects your body. And whether you should couple traditional saunas and steam rooms with massage therapy.
Table of Contents
- Can You Have a Massage & Use the Sauna on the Same Day?
- Should You Use the Infrared Sauna Before or After Massage?
- What About Traditional & Steam Saunas? Massage Before or After?
- Conclusion
Can You Have a Massage & Use the Sauna on the Same Day?
Before considering which order to have your spa treatments, you should consider whether combining a massage and using an infrared sauna is beneficial or detrimental.
Your body will relax as a result of both treatments, but they do this differently. The heat from the sauna will assist your entire body to unwind, and the touch of a massage will help you unwind by reducing stress hormones and releasing tight muscles. However, you can take full advantage of the infrared sauna’s benefits if you incorporate a massage on the same day.
You may easily book a massage and a sauna session on the same day if you’d like. There is no such thing as right or wrong, and there is no proof that scheduling a massage and a sauna session on the same day can hurt your health in any way. The reverse is true; you can obtain even more health advantages by mixing the two.
However, it would be best to educate yourself on the different types of saunas and how they pair with massages before deciding where to use a sauna and how you want to schedule your spa visit.
Should You Use the Infrared Sauna Before or After Massage?
It is generally agreed upon among massage therapists that utilizing a sauna before the massage is preferable to doing so after. This is because a sauna stretches and warms up the muscles, making them more receptive to massage.
Using a sauna before a massage can warm up your muscles which is particularly helpful if you’re treating an injury and when to get rid of tension in your muscles. The heat facilities will warm you up entirely so that you and your muscles are more relaxed on the treatment table with just 10-15 minutes of peaceful time in the sauna.
It will also help the body start to release toxins. As the sauna’s heat lowers blood pressure and increases circulation, your body will inevitably sweat away any pollutants. You will have made it simpler for your massage therapist to focus on tight or uncomfortable places when you are unwinding and renewing on the massage table, providing you with a relaxing and reviving experience with results that last much longer.
You will experience the purifying effects as your sweat and circulation flush collected waste and toxins out of your body if you opt to use heat treatment in your sauna after your massage. However, it’s better to have your massage afterward using an infrared sauna to get the most benefits.
What About Traditional & Steam Saunas? Massage Before or After?
Infrared saunas work by going into the deeper body tissue using infrared radiation to heat the skin. This makes it very different from other saunas, which use steam from rocks and water and thus will pair with a massage differently.
Here are some of the most common saunas and what you can expect when you use them along with a massage, and how you should schedule your visit.
Traditional Saunas & Massage
Infrared and traditional saunas have different benefits and disadvantages, so if you learn how an infrared sauna works and decide to use a traditional one instead, you can still use the same logic for incorporating a massage before or afterward, as talked about above.
Skin that is healthier and has improved elasticity, texture, tone, complexion, and overall look has fewer toxins. Traditional saunas can aid the body’s natural healing process, remove bodily toxins, and reduce muscular spasms.
Before the massage, cleansing your body in a traditional sauna may help eliminate bodily toxins, which promotes health, relieves symptoms, and boosts general vigor. The heat from conventional saunas also permeates the tissues, muscles, and joints, accelerating oxygen flow.
Spending too long in a traditional sauna is not advisable because of its high temperature, usually between 180 and 190 degrees Fahrenheit.
A typical sauna session that lasts too long might cause dehydration, which can lower blood pressure and possibly cause fainting.
Make sure you don’t go over 15 minutes at once, have warm shower breaks, and consume enough water before, throughout, and after the sessions.
Steam Saunas & Massage
One of the main contributors to a wide range of physical and mental health issues is stress. A steam room offers therapeutic heat that can help you relax, soothe your muscles, and alleviate tension.
The pulse rate is lowered, endorphins are released, and muscles are relaxed during a massage, which can help people relax and deal with stress.
Before a massage, steaming guarantees enhanced blood flow, promotes circulation, and may also lessen pain. Similar to exercise, heating muscles in a steam room increases blood flow. As it improves the flow of oxygen and other nutrients throughout the body, this offers several health advantages.
Your immune system will benefit greatly from massage, which will also encourage the elimination of toxins and metabolic waste. A steam chamber helps with immune system boosting and detoxifying as well.
Sweating causes toxins to leave the body before or after a massage. Additionally, it stimulates the circulatory system, causing blood vessels to enlarge and the heartbeat to beat more quickly. This aids in fully oxygenating body cells and purging the circulatory system.
More toxins will move from the cellular level to the skin’s surface due to improved blood and oxygen circulation, boosting the immune system, speeding up muscle recovery, and enhancing cell health.
A typical infrared sauna has a temperature range of 100°F to 120°F. Dehydration might occur if you spend more than 15 minutes in a steam room. In other circumstances, dehydration might cause more severe health problems.
Conclusion
Getting a massage when you visit an infrared sauna is an excellent way to take full advantage of your spa day. You can book a massage with your sauna visit, but many experts recommend getting a massage after using the sauna to get the most benefits.
(Featured image by Anna Tarazevich from Pexels)
