The benefits of sweating out toxins has a long historical tradition by many cultures around the world whether its the ancient Egyptians, and Romans with their bath houses, sweat lodges by American Indians, and the Nordic cultures, they have all used hot/steamy spaces to purify the body, mind and spirit.
Modern research is now is now proving the benefits of sweating with studies showing that high temperatures can help eliminate toxins, lower blood pressure and boost white blood cell production. A sauna can therefore boost the immune system as it detoxifies the body. Reducing your toxic load should therefore be one of your first steps in recovering from any illness.
The skin is the body’s largest organ which absorbs and stores the countless number of toxins and synthetic chemicals it is exposed to every day. It is hard to avoid this with our polluted environment. The best way to detox the skin is by sweating. The best solution for this is a sauna or better yet a far-infrared sauna.
Saunas work by melting the fat layer of the skin allowing the oil from glands to be excreted along with its accumulated fat soluble toxins.
Traditional saunas produce high heat which only penetrate the outer surface of the skin. However, far-infrared sauna produce energy at a lower temperature in which the infrared heats you rather than the air and in turn penetrates deeper into the body’s tissues. This helps to help release the oil soluble toxins that regular saunas fail to reach and excrete but also the water soluble toxins are lost in the sweat carrying out heavy metals like lead and mercury. You can spend longer in a far-infrared sauna which is beneficial as the oils take more time than sweat to ooze out the skin.
According to information published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, infrared sauna sessions were shown to burn up to 600 calories. During a sauna session, the body’s core temperatures will increase. The body then has to work hard to cool itself, causing a healthy sweat. Using an infrared sauna increases heart rate, cardiac output and metabolic rate, burning more calories, leading to more weight loss.
The blood circulation is also enhanced which helps bring essential nutrients and oxygen to cells. Studies have shown that cancer thrives in an anaerobic (low oxygen) environment. It has been found that a deficiency of oxygen metabolism is common to all cancer cells therefore improving circulation can therefore be a vital part of the healing process.
It is recommended that cancer patients aim for four or five sessions a week and stay in for up to half an hour. You will have sweated out lots therefore it is important to keep hydrated drinking good quality water before during and after to make up for the fluid being lost through the skin. Also, after a sauna, it is essential to shower to prevent the toxins that have been excreted through the skin being reabsorbed.
You can use a portable FIR sauna which are relatively inexpensive or wooden saunas similar in look to traditional saunas. These can come in a range of sizes from single seater to multiple seats. Mine is a single seater which fits in the corner of our spare room. I tend to retreat with some music or guided meditation or audiobook for half an hour in the evening. I follow this with a cold shower to help get my lymph system going. Afterwards I feel cleansed with a good sense of well-being before bed.
Hyperthermia
Hyperthermia or thermal therapy can be described as a fever therapy where the body temperature is raised to a temperature where cancer cells can no longer survive and start to self destruct. It acts in a similar way to having a fever when we are unwell. This is the body’s healing mechanism to change the environment to remove viruses and other unwanted nasties.
There are currently numerous studies which verify the effectiveness of hyperthermia on the National Cancer Institute website. Research has shown that high temperatures can damage and kill cancer cells, usually with minimal injury to normal tissues. By killing cancer cells and damaging proteins and structures within cells, hyperthermia may shrink tumours.
Hyperthermia is currently under study in clinical trials and is not yet widely available.