Why Infrared Sauna Therapy Is Becoming The Go‑To Recovery Tool In 2025

Infrared sauna therapy is enjoying a rapid rise in popularity, and for good reason: not only does it provide users with numerous health benefits while facilitating deep relaxation, but it is also an excellent post-exercise recovery tool. Professional athletes have long incorporated sauna therapy into their training schedules to aid faster recovery, but anyone who leads an active lifestyle can benefit from the muscle and joint relief it provides. What’s more, it can be easily accommodated into a busy schedule: just a 20-30 minute session is sufficient to reap the many incredible benefits of infrared sauna therapy.

Why Is It Important To Prioritize Recovery After Exercise?

Whether you’re exercising every day or simply trying to meet the medically-recommended minimum of five hours per week, supporting your body’s recovery process after exercise is essential. Prioritizing recovery time allows you to maximize the gains to your fitness, reduces the risk of developing injuries, supports your immune system, and boosts your energy levels and general well-being.

Taking steps to promote muscle recovery is also important because muscle growth is facilitated by the body’s healing processes. When we engage in vigorous exercise, our muscle fibers sustain microscopic tears. When the body heals these tears, the fibers grow back stronger, leading to larger and stronger muscles. Ensuring you recover properly after exercise aids this process. It also gives your body a chance to clear away the lactic acid that has built up in the muscles after they have burned through carbohydrate stores, and to replace these stores with more carbohydrates (in the form of glycogen) before your next workout. This lowers the risk of injury in your next workout and reduces muscle fatigue.

What Is Infrared Sauna Therapy?

While taking a rest day or two from exercise will certainly support your recovery, infrared sauna therapy will super-charge it. But what is infrared sauna therapy, and what makes it different from other types of sauna therapy?

Traditional saunas are heated by splashing water over very hot rocks to create steam and raise the air temperature of the sauna room, and with it your body temperature. In contrast, infrared saunas are heated by infrared lamps that emit specific wavelengths of light that are absorbed by the body’s tissues, heating them directly. As a result, infrared saunas deliver similar benefits to traditional saunas but raise body temperatures at a lower room temperature and do not rely on steam to do so. For those who find traditional saunas too stuffy and humid to be enjoyable, infrared saunas are an excellent alternative.

The Benefits Of Infrared Sauna Therapy For Post-exercise Recovery

Many people who don’t follow rigorous exercise routines schedule multiple 30-minute sauna sessions a week to enjoy the many health benefits it brings. However, numerous studies have shown that sauna therapy can be particularly advantageous for those who exercise frequently.

Aiding muscle recovery

As your body temperature is raised in a sauna, your capillaries start to dilate (vasodilation) and your heart beats faster. This results in greater blood flow to your muscle tissues, which in turn allows more oxygen, nutrients, and glycogen to reach your muscles. It also allows the lactic acid that has built up in your muscles – and which is what causes muscle ache and stiffness after workouts – to be flushed out of the muscle tissues (and out of the body, through sweat) more quickly. This not only aids your muscle fibers’ healing process and results in less pain and stiffness after exercise, but also improves your circulation and cardiovascular health more generally.

The heat from the sauna can also trigger the release of endorphins, which are often thought of as the body’s natural painkillers. The high heat combined with the release of endorphins will provide relief from muscle aches and discomfort.

Soothing Sore Joints

Another benefit of the vasodilation that results from infrared sauna therapy is that the blood supply to your joints is also increased. In the same way that increased blood supply helps your muscles to repair more quickly, it also reduces joint inflammation and discomfort. If you are recovering from an injury or have arthritis, spending time in the sauna is an excellent way to boost your body’s natural healing processes and reduce discomfort. The increase in endorphins that infrared sauna therapy also helps to relieve joint pain.

Detoxification

Many people use sauna therapy for its detoxifying benefits. As your body temperature increases and you begin to sweat, impurities (such as dead skin cells, bacteria, and dirt) are flushed out through your pores. Since spending time in the gym or the outdoors can often expose you to bacteria and dirt, spending some time in a sauna after your workout is a great way to expel any impurities and clear the skin’s pores.

Increasing Sleep Quality

Regular infrared sauna therapy has also been shown to improve sleep quality. The deep relaxation that sauna use provides, together with the endorphin release it triggers, helps to promote deeper, more restful sleep. Since many of the body’s healing processes are most active during sleep, having a good night’s rest is vital for quick recovery from exercise.

A Remedy For Both Mind And Body

Regular sauna use is an excellent exercise recovery tool, but that’s not where its benefits end. Infrared sauna therapy is also a great way to practice self-care, thanks to the deep relaxation it promotes and the quiet, meditative environment that the sauna therapy room offers. Using saunas frequently can help to lower your overall stress levels, not just because of the relaxation it promotes but because the endorphin release triggered by sauna use also helps to lower cortisol levels (the body’s ‘stress hormone’).

Sauna use also enhances your mental well-being in less direct ways. Taking a few minutes a day in a quiet room, away from the distractions of work, family, and mobile phones, gives you valuable alone time where you can relax deeply and allow the stress of the day to leave you. When you’re finished, you’ll feel energized and ready to tackle the remainder of your day.

Rest & Recover With Infrared Sauna Therapy From Oak Park’s Leading Medspa

If you exercise regularly and are looking for ways to increase the quality of your recovery while decreasing its duration, infrared sauna therapy is the ideal solution for you. Not only will regular sauna use allow you to maximize the health gains you achieve from your exercise routine, but it will also leave you feeling deeply relaxed and mentally rejuvenated.

At Restorative Medspa, a sanctuary awaits you in our quiet, calming sauna therapy room. Our experienced aesthetic physician, Dr. Asma Ghafoor, will help you to develop an infrared sauna therapy plan to suit your lifestyle, exercise regimen, and health goals. Under her guidance, you can look forward to restorative sauna sessions that enhance your post-exercise recovery, soothe your muscles, and promote overall health and well-being. Give us a call at 630-441-4160 to find out more about our membership program or book your first session!