IMPROVED SKIN CONDITION
| Table of Contents |
|---|
| 1. Introduction |
| 2. How heat therapy helps to improve your skin condition 2.1 Increased levels of collagen 2.2 Sweat out impurities 2.3 Natural anti-inflammatory treatment for the skin |
| 3. Conclusion |
Introduction
You may have heard people say that their skin feels amazing or that they feel 'glowing' after getting a good sweat on in a sauna. Intuitively, people think this is because they have sweated out all the impurities and other 'bad stuff' from their skin. This is partly true, but the science of why your skin feels amazing after a sauna is actually way more interesting and compelling then just simply sweating out the bad stuff.
The Heat Healer in particular has been designed to help benefit your skin, as it produces far infrared heat which warms your body directly (as opposed to just warming the air around your body), allowing for a far more comfortable experience where the heat is able to penetrate deep into your body for up to 60-minutes at a time.
On this page we will reference various scientific studies that have been done into heat therapy and how it can help to improve your skin condition, boost collagen levels and provide relief from common skin ailments including eczema and psoriasis.
How heat therapy helps to improve your skin condition
Increased levels of collagen
Collagen is a structural protein in your body that is vital for skin health. Unfortunately though, it is estimated that after the age of twenty we start to produce approximately 1% less collagen each year. In other words, as we get older and our body starts to become depleted of collagen, our skins vitality starts to deplete along with it. This is partly the reason why we get wrinkles and our skin 'looks older' as we age.
Infrared heat however has been shown to have a direct positive impact on the body's ability to naturally produce more collagen. One study from The Yonsei University College of Medicine in Seoul, South Korea, assessed specifically this and found skin cells exposed to regular infrared heat treatment produced twice the amount of collagen as skin cells that did not receive the treatment. Likewise, the study found that participants who underwent the infrared heat therapy benefited from a 26%-50% improvement in skin tone, laxity and the appearance of fine wrinkles.
The photo below is taken directly from the study, as published in the National Library of Medicine.
Further reading:
Sweating out impurities
Just like you would in any ordinary sauna, when you use the Heat Healer you are going to sweat. It is typical for a person loose up to 0.5 kg (1.1 lbs) of sweat after a one hour session and in doing so, you are facilitating the excretion of toxins that accumulate in your muscles and skin.
These toxins include:
- Heavy metals which accumulate through exposure to common substances, such as automobile exhaust, certain types of fish, arsenic in agricultural products, cigarette smoke, etc.
- Bisphenol A (BPA), which is common in many plastics and epoxy resins and accumulates in your body through use of everyday items like water bottles and food packaging.
- Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which although have been banned for over 15 years are still commonly found in the environment with many fish showing levels of contamination.
- Phthalate compounds which are ubiquitous in fragrances, paints and many types of plastics.
To learn more about how your body can sweat out these impurities, watch this short video interview between Dr Rhonda Pratrick and Dr. Dale Bredesen where they discuss the way your body sweats out impurities through sauna use:
Natural anti-inflammatory treatment for the skin (including eczema and psoriasis)
Inflammatory skin conditions are the most common problem presented in dermatology and include mild conditions such as itchiness or redness of the skin, but also more problematic conditions such as dermatitis (eczema), rosacea, and psoriasis.
The inflammatory response is caused by your body's immune system, which can be triggered by factors such as allergens or certain pathogens, as well as other bodily ailments and conditions that are pro-inflammatory.
As part of your body's inflammatory response, you experience elevated levels of a protein called CRP (C-reactive protein) which is not only implicated in inflammation of your skin, but has also been linked to other negative health outcomes such as cardiovascular disease and also some types of cancer.
The good news though is that studies have shown regular sauna use and heat therapy can help to reduce your body's level of CRP, which in turn helps to reduce inflammation. This includes inflammatory skin conditions such as eczema, rosacea and psoriasis.
One study of over 2,000 people in Finland who regularly used a sauna between 2-7 times per week found that:
"We aimed to investigate whether frequency of sauna bathing is associated with the levels of serum C-reactive protein. C-reactive protein is a leading blood marker of systemic inflammation... In a multi-variable analysis there was a significant inverse association between the frequency of sauna bathing and the level of C-reactive protein."
In other words, the more frequently people used the sauna, the lower their levels of CRP were.
Further reading:
Conclusion
Anecdotally we've all heard people talk about their skin feeling great after having a sauna and now we are starting to see the emerging science that explains why.
The Heat Healer is a heat therapy device that has been designed to deliver the same benefits of a typical infrared sauna, only experienced in the convenience and privacy of your own home.
If you have any questions, jump over to our contact us page and we will be happy to respond to you directly.