Over the last 25 years, Japanese and Chinese researchers and clinicians have done extensive research on infrared treatments and reported many provocative findings. In Japan there is an “Infrared Society,” composed of medical doctors and physical therapists, to further research and support the health benefits of infrared as a healing method. There have been over 700,000 infrared thermal systems sold in the Orient for whole-body treatments, and an additional 30 million people have received localized infrared treatment in the Orient, Europe, and Australia with lamps tuned to the same 2 ~ 25 micron waveband as employed in these whole-body thermal systems.

    Whole-body infrared therapy has been used for over 80 years by German physicians in an independently developed form. Passive Cardiovascular Conditioning Effect

    The Infrared Thermal System makes it possible for people in wheelchairs, or those who are otherwise unable to exert themselves, or who won’t follow through on an exercising and conditioning program to achieve a cardiovascular training effect. This also allows for more variety in any ongoing training program. “Many of us who run do so to place a demand on our cardiovascular system, not to build big leg muscles. Regular use of a sauna may impact a similar stress on the cardiovascular system, and its regular use may be as effective, as a means of cardiovascular conditioning and burning of calories, as regular exercise.” – Journal of the American Medical Association 8/7/81.

    Due to the deep penetration, over 1.5” into the skin, of the infrared rays generated by the Infrared Thermal System, there is a heating effect deep in the muscular tissues and the internal organs. The body responds to his deep-heating effect via an hypothalamic-induced increase in both heart volume and rate. This beneficial heart stress leads to a sought-after cardiovascular training and conditioning effect. Medical researches confirm that the use of a sauna provides cardiovascular conditioning as the body works to cool itself and involves substantial inceases in heart rate, cardiac output and metabolic rate. As a confirmation of the validity of this form of cardiovascular conditioning, extensive research by NASA in the early 1980’s led to the conclusion that infrared stimulation of cardiovascular function would be the ideal way to maintain cardiovascular conditioning in American astronauts during long space flights. Blood flow during whole-body hypothermia is reported to rise from a normal 5 ~ 7 quarts per minute to as much as 13 quarts per minute. “The 1980’s was the decade of high-impact aerobics classes and high-mileage training. Yet there was something elitist about the way exercise was prescribed. Only strenuous workouts would do, you had to raise your heart rate to between X and Y, and the only way to go was to go for the burn. Such strictures insured that most ‘real’ exercisers were relatively young and in good shape to begin with. Many Americans got caught up in the fitness boom, but probably just as many fell by the wayside. As we’ve reported recent research shows that you don’t have to run marathons to become fit – that burning just 1,000 calories a week is enough. Anything goes, as long as it burns these calories.” - Wellness Letter, 10/90, University of California, Berkeley. Outstanding Caloric Consumption and Weight Control

    In Guyton’s Textbook of Medical Physiology, we find that producing one gram of sweat requires 0.568 kcal. The journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) states; “A moderately conditioned person can easily sweat off 500 grams in a sauna consuming nearly 300 kcal, which is equivalent to running 2 ~ 3 miles. A heatconditioned person can easily sweat off 600 ~ 800 kcal with no adverse effects.

    While the weigh of the water loss can be regained by drinking water, the calories consumed will not be.” Since an Infrared Thermal System helps generate two or three times the sweat produced in a hot-air sauna, the implications for increased caloric consumption are quite impressive. Assuming “a sauna”, as mentioned in JAMA, to last for 30 minutes, some interesting comparisons might be drawn. Two of the highest calorie-consuming forms of exercises are rowing and marathon running. Peak output on a rowing machine or during a marathon run burns about 600 calories in 30 minutes. An Infrared Thermal System may enhance this effect from “just slightly” up to as much as 250% by burning about 900 ~ 2,400 calories in a 30 minute session. The Infrared Thermal System might then simulate the consumption of energy equal to that expanded in a 6 ~ 9 mile run during only a single session. An Infrared Thermal System can, thus, play a pivotal role in both weight control and cardiovascular conditioning. This would be very valuable for those who don’t exercise and those who can’t exercise yet want an effective weight control and fitness maintenance program and the benefits of a regular exercise.