Are Sauna Blankets Actually As Good As A Real Sauna, Or Are They BS?
Is there anything better than being wrapped up in a cozy blanket on a cold winter day? Or, to do you one better, how about wrapping yourself in a heated blanket that is said to improve your health?
More and more people doing exactly that, as companies are now selling infraredsaunablankets that supposedly offer many of the same perks as regular saunas, with purported effects on blood flow, stress, chronic pain and more.
Generally, these blankets can reach about 175 degrees Fahrenheit and are designed to cover your body up to the neck — kind of like a heated version of a sleeping bag. They aren’t cheap, but are certainly less expensive than a real at-home sauna, which can cost thousands and thousands of dollars. The price of a sauna blanket can depend on its features and specs, but generally you should expect to spend about $600, although some can be found for around $200.
The blankets have skyrocketed in popularity on social media recently, with beauty and wellness influencers touting their benefits. But are they really as good as folks say?
Dr. Mike Richardson, a family medicine physician based in Massachusetts, said patients frequently ask him about health trends like sauna blankets. It’s hard to definitively say whether the blankets do what they claim because they’re “a newer technology,” Richardson noted.
The same goes for many other wellness products that have gained traction on the internet. It takes time to learn about new health trends, “so all we can do is draw best conclusions from the research that we have on saunas themselves ... and even that data is limited,” Richardson stated.
That said, they’re not total garbage, either. Here’s what experts want you to know:
Sauna blankets may help you feel less stressed.
Research suggests that spending time in a sauna can reduce stress. “There’s some interesting studies on using this for people who have high-stress jobs, like firefighters, and it does reduce the stress markers in those patients,” said Dr. Zakia Rahman, a clinical professor of dermatology at the Stanford School of Medicine.
Not only can this help you feel better in the moment, but it may boost your health in the long term if you commit to regular sauna use. Chronic stress can cause inflammation in the body and shortness of breath, among other things, according to Yale Medicine.
Like regular saunas, Rahman said sauna blankets can be calming because people are meant to lie down in them while enjoying heat therapy.
If you want to use a sauna blanket for stress reduction, Rahman advised against multitasking while in it — meaning you shouldn’t also scroll social media or check your email. Instead, you can focus on being in the moment.
“That can really help relieve stress. There’s a lot of evidence that when we’re on our phones, we don’t have the downtime that’s necessary,” she said. “So, if people were to incorporate this, I would suggest that they do it as the only thing — make sure that they disconnect or just listen to relaxing music.”
Saunas are linked to better cardiovascular health, and that might extend to sauna blankets as well.
“As I look at some of the studies [on saunas specifically], there seems to be a very modest impact on blood pressure and circulation,” Richardson said.
Research shows that a person’s blood pressure drops by roughly 1 or 2 points while in a sauna, he added. Lower blood pressure can help reduce the risk of heart disease. But this decrease is minimal overall. And studies indicate that blood pressure and circulation benefits come from the frequent use of saunas, not a one-time visit.
Dr. Casey Kelley, the founder and medical director of Case Integrative Health in Illinois, said one small study found that thermal blankets can benefit people with congestive heart failure.
Sauna blankets may help with chronic pain.
It’s common for folks to use hot-water bottles as a treatment for period pain, and there’s a reason for that. Heat can increase blood flow in specific areas of the body and help reduce muscle pain — and this is true for sauna blankets, too.
“They can be very beneficial to those with chronic pain,” Kelley said. A Canadian study found that saunas may be able to help “help reduce pain levels, improve sleep and even help patients return to work,” she said. You may be able to see those same benefits with sauna blankets, but that hasn’t been researched specifically.
But they are not going to help you ‘detox.’
It’s often claimed that saunas and sauna blankets have so-called detoxifying effects, but that isn’t true.
“I think the idea is that you’re sweating out the toxins, but that’s not really how our body works,” Richardson said. “Our body clears out toxins through our liver and through our kidneys — that’s the main sources. Very little is coming out through sweat; it’s mostly just salt water.”
So before you wrap yourself in a sauna blanket, remember that a sweat session isn’t going to help you detox.
And sauna blankets may be unable to reach the temperatures needed for real benefits.
“Most people would would recommend about 150 degrees Fahrenheit for 20-ish minutes. ... That’s where you get most of your health benefits,” said Dr. Sean Robinson, a sports medicine specialist at Oregon Health & Science University who has used a sauna blanket himself.
“My worry ― and my personal experience with the blanket ― is it’s hard to get up to those temperatures,” Robinson said. Sauna blankets have an opening at the neck, so there’s a lot of heat loss there, he added.
“Even trying to tuck the blanket around your neck, I still have failed to feel like it really gets up to a sauna temperature,” he said. “And I haven’t personally looked if it’s 150 degrees Fahrenheit inside but, boy, it doesn’t feel like it.”
Sauna blankets can also take longer to heat up because of the neck opening. You can be in and out of a real sauna in 20 or 30 minutes, but you’d have to stay in a blanket much longer — an hour or so — for it to get hot enough for any benefit, Robinson said.
Still, these blankets can make a sauna-like experience more accessible.
“The benefits of a sauna have been elucidated for a while, and I think the sauna suits just make it more accessible to people who may not have access to a sauna, whether at a gym or at home or in a community environment,” Rahman said.
These products are democratizing sauna access, which is fairly limited in the U.S. when compared with certain countries in Europe and Asia where bathhouses are commonplace, Rahman added.
If there is a sauna at your gym or in some other local space, Rahman recommended going there instead of getting into a sauna blanket — health research has focused more on actual saunas.
Robinson agreed, saying he would be more like to recommend a regular sauna or even a portable steam sauna, which you can find online for around the same price as a blanket product.
“Because of the temperature limitations [with sauna blankets], you’re probably not getting the full benefits of sauna that is well established in the literature,” Robinson said.
Consider your desired outcomes from a sauna blanket, and make a wellness plan based on those.
Before they use a sauna blanket, Richardson encourages his patients to think about what they hope it will help them achieve.
“Is your goal to have a dramatic improvement on your health? If that’s the case, sauna blankets aren’t going to be the most efficient use to improve your health,” Richardson said. “Going for a walk in a calming environment is probably going to have a more profound impact on your health, or just exercise or dieting.”
Instead of a quick health fix, sauna blankets can complement your wellness routine. If your goal is to reduce your stress and feel good, and a sauna blanket helps you get there, then you can certainly get one.
But some folks, such as pregnant individuals and people with underlying health conditions, may be unable to safely use a sauna or a sauna blanket. And any kind of sauna or related product can come with risks, such as burns and dehydration.
“Everyone’s health is unique,” Richardson said, advising anyone interested in using sauna blankets to first speak with their primary care doctor.
