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Issels Medical Clinic
Cancer Therapy Center
Santa Barbara, CA

The Infrared LuxSauna 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 LuxSauna, there is a heating effect deep in the muscular tissues and the internal organs. The body responds to this 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 the use of a sauna provides cardiovascular conditioning as the body works to cool itself and involves substantial increases 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.