Some Home Saunas Are Heated by Ceramic/carbon Infrared Panels. Is Infrared Heating Harmful at All?
The infrared waves of ceramic and carbon sauna panels go much deeper into the skin than the traditional rock heated saunas which heat only the surface of the skin. Since it goes deeper under the skin, I was wondering how safe they are. Also are the longer and shorter infrared waves that they emit totally safe?
The following was just found on Wikipedia. How accurate is this?
HEALTH EFFECTS
Individuals exposed to large amounts of infrared radiation over an extended period of time may develop depigmentation of the iris and opacity of the aqueous humor, so exposure should be moderated.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrared_heater
This is all marketing hogwash by the infrared sauna industry. Nearly all heat transfer takes place via infrared energy. Have you ever held your hand near something to see if it is hot? If you feel heat, there is infrared energy being transferred to your hand. Same thing if you use a space heater.
The same thing goes with infrared saunas. They have glorified infrared heat lamps (like were popular in some bathrooms) that transfer heat to you only via infrared. The thing is that those rock saunas are also emitting infrared radiation too. The difference is that the rock saunas are also capable of transferring heat via many other mechanisms, which an infrared sauna cannot.
As for the longer and shorter infrared rays, they are just a function of the temperature of the object emitting the rays. A hotter object emits shorter waves and a cooler one emits longer waves. The color or material of the panel has little effect on the wavelength emitted.
As for the health effects Wikipedia lists for infrared radiation, you’ll get burned long before any of these happen. You would probably need days of exposure with an infrared laser before any of these happen.
So to answer your question: No. If you use it as recommended, infrared heating is safe.
Like Wiki says, LARGE amounts.
If you lie in the sun in summer, don’t you burn? It will ruin your eyes, too, if you were stupid enough to lie in the sun with your eyes open and looking at the sun. Even NOT looking directly at it can cause severe burns and deterioration in eyes.
The heating you talk of is infrared, as is ALL heating. That is what heat is! They are just trying to make it appear something special to compel you to buy, when it’s just a ceramic (possibly a PTC) heater.
No, infrared heating is not harmful at all.
Basically put, infrared waves are heat waves. Your body is emitting them right now. In fact, that is how infrared vision technology works – an infrared camera senses the infrared radiation that your body emits.
All that the infrared waves are doing is heating your body. The fact that some lengths of infrared waves penetrate deeper into your skin simply means that they are warming it at a deeper level. This is NOT the same as ultraviolet waves penetrating your skin – these do damage by ionizing your delicate living skin cells. Infrared radiation does nothing of the sort.
Any length infrared wave is safe for your body as long as you are not being burned by the heat they can create.