"From the Jewish schvitz to Mesoamerican houses of heat people all over the world have long associated a good sweat with a wide assortment of health benefits. And some of the latest research seems to support those ideas. One longterm study http of middleaged Finnish men found those who spent time in a sauna  days a week enjoyed a  drop in their risk for a fatal heart disease or episode. The heart health benefits were even greater for men who sweated it out in a sauna more frequently. Sauna bathing leads to a significant increase in heart rate and reduction in total vascular resistance thereby decreasing blood pressure says Dr. Ernst van der Wall chief of cardiology at the Netherlands Leiden University Medical Centre. In a recent editorial http appearing in the Netherlands Heart Journal van der Wall lays out the research in support of sauna bathing as a safe and salubrious habit for healthy people of all ages. He also says expert concerns about the safety of sauna bathing for those with heart conditions may be overblown. Death in the sauna is a rare event even in Finland where the frequency of sauna bathing is high he writes. Still the big questions surrounding sauna bathings safety have always centered on its occupants and her hearts ability to withstand the heat. Traditional saunas use either wood or electricity to warm the air in a chamber to a temperature of  degrees which many people find unendurable for more than a few minutes. Infrared saunas by contrast do not heat the air around you. Using electromagnetic radiation infrared lamps warm your body directly. That may sound freaky or even unsafe but neonatal beds for newborns have long utilized infrared heating elements to ensure babies are kept warm without being stifled. As infrared heat penetrates more deeply than warmed air users develop a more vigorous sweat at a lower temperature than they would in traditional saunas says Dr. Richard Beever a clinical assistant professor of family medicine at the University of British Columbia. While theres not a ton of published research looking specifically at infrared saunas Beever has published a review httptime.cominfraredsaunabenefitshealthyareview of all the existing studies he could turn up on the subject. He says theres evidence to support the use of infrared saunas for high blood pressure congestive heart failure and chronic pain. People who spent  minutes a day for two weeks in an infrared sauna enjoyed a significant drop in blood pressure compared to a control group who spend the same amount of time in a roomtemperature space one Japanese study http reported. More research http found time spent in an infrared sauna could help even out irregular heartbeats improve scores on physical fitness tests and boost endothelial function in the hearts vessels. Beevers review also looked at some of the other purported health benefits of infrared saunasincluding pain management. Among  chronic pain sufferers those who spent time each day in a sauna for four weeks enjoyed a  improvement in sleep quality and were  more likely to return to work compared to a nosauna group. Beever makes it clear all of these reports were based on small groups and require further study. Also he found no strong evidence of lost weight improved cholesterol scores or some of the other benefits frequently linked to sauna bathinginfrared or otherwise. But he also points out that no accidents or adverse reactions occurred in any of the studies he reviewed. For men hoping to father children spending time in hot saunas or baths has long been a nono. Healthy sperm and heat dont play well together. Beever says infrared heat may damage sperm as do other forms of heat but at this point theres no data on those risks. So what to think of infrared saunas The existing evidence though scanty suggests spending up to  minutes a day in one could benefit your heart and ease symptoms associated with chronic pain. And for now there dont seem to be any significant health risks. Ask your doctor first. But if youre wondering whether an infrared sauna is worth a try the evidence suggests you have little to lose and possibly something to gain by checking one out."