From the Archives: The Life Changing Benefits of Sauna Use with Dr. Raleigh Duncan

The Less Stressed Life celebrates 10 years next year🤯, and as I looked back through some of the early episodes, I realized there were a few conversations I wanted to bring back because they're just as relevant today as when they were first recorded. We're kicking off this replay series with Episode 30 from 2018, featuring Dr. Raleigh Duncan, one of the early pioneers in the infrared sauna industry.

In this episode, we talk about what makes infrared saunas different from traditional saunas, what's happening in the body during a sauna session, and the research behind many of sauna's health benefits. We also discuss detoxification, nervous system regulation, recovery, cardiovascular health, and simple ways to get more out of your sauna routine.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• Infrared vs. traditional saunas
• The science behind sauna
• Detoxification and sweating
• Nervous system support
• Sauna and exercise recovery
• Simple sauna best practices
• Building a sustainable wellness habit

Please note: This replay includes a new video introduction from me. The original interview is audio only.

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ABOUT GUEST:
Dr. Raleigh Duncan is a Doctor of Chiropractic and the founder and CEO of Clearlight®, one of the world's leading infrared sauna companies. A pioneer in infrared sauna technology for nearly three decades, he has dedicated his career to researching how infrared therapy can support healing, recovery, and overall wellness. Dr. Duncan has developed numerous patented infrared technologies and continues to advance innovations in sauna and wellness products used by individuals, health practitioners, and fitness professionals around the world.

WHERE TO FIND GUEST:
Website: https://infraredsauna.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/clearlightsaunas

SPONSOR:
Thank you to Jigsaw Health for being such a great sponsor. 😎  Try their Electrolyte Supreme in the crowd-favorite Fruit Punch flavor this summer.🍓🍹Use code LESSSTRESSED10 on every order for 10% off! 

NUTRITION PHILOSOPHY OF LESS STRESSED LIFE:
🍽️ Over restriction is dead
🥑 Whole food is soul food and fed is best
🔄 Sustainable, synergistic nutrition is in (the opposite of whack-a-mole supplementation & supplement graveyards)
🤝 You don’t have to figure it out alone
❤️ Do your best and leave the rest

WHERE TO FIND CHRISTA:
Website: https://www.christabiegler.com/
Instagram: @anti.inflammatory.nutritionist
Podcast Instagram: @lessstressedlife
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@lessstressedlife
More Links + Quizzes: https://www.christabiegler.com/links
Protocols: https://www.christabiegler.com/protocolshop

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TRANSCRIPT:

[00:00:00] Christa Biegler, RD: Welcome to the Less Stressed Life. As we come into the ninth year of the podcast, this July, we are revisiting some oldies but goodies, topics that I still think are very relevant and I wanted to bring back and refresh and revisit with you. And so this month we are republishing a few episodes back from the first 50 episodes, 50-ish episodes of the Less Stress Life that I specifically remember nine years ago really loving.

[00:00:25] Christa Biegler, RD: We're gonna kick it off with episode 30, originally published back in July of 2018, where I interview the original creator of Clear Light Saunas, Dr. Raleigh Duncan. Clear Light Saunas was bought by Jacuzzi, Not so much the brand, but I talk a little bit about my experience using this sauna and how it has these different types of infrared types overall.

[00:00:47] Christa Biegler, RD: So I'll wait for you to hear that. You'll hear all about how my skin did not get 100% better until I used sauna, because sauna has this incredible ability to help us detoxify many things, [00:01:00] including heavy metals and mycotoxins, et cetera. And so I have found it to be a very useful tool in my wellness journey.

[00:01:07] Christa Biegler, RD: I will say that since 2020 and beyond, they have doubled in price, much like everything else, unfortunately. We used to have discount codes if you are interested in this type of sauna. Feel free to email our team, [email protected], and we can try to connect you with someone at the company. But otherwise, I hope you just enjoy the show.

[00:01:24] Christa Biegler, RD: The only negative to these older episodes is we don't have any video, but I remember Dr. Duncan was laying in bed for this episode, so I don't think you're missing anything from a visual perspective, and I hope you enjoy it

[00:01:37] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: Cause when you're in the sauna, you're not only relaxing the body, but you're opening up your neurology so that even these little movements will have greater impact in the sauna.

[00:01:50]  Christa Biegler, RD: I'm your host, Christa Biegler, and I'm going to guess we have at least one thing in common, that we're both in pursuit of a less stressed life. On this show, I'll be interviewing experts and sharing clinical pearls from my years of practice to support high-performing, health-savvy women in pursuit of abundance and a less stressed life. One of my beliefs is that we always have options for getting the results we want, so let's see what's out there together

[00:02:37] Christa Biegler, RD: So today on The Less Stress Life, I'm excited that we're gonna get to talk to Dr. Raleigh Duncan. And Dr. Raleigh Duncan is an early pioneer in the infrared sauna industry. But first, before we talk about Dr. Duncan, I wanna tell you why we're gonna talk about saunas today a little bit, because they're well-known in some circles and not as well in others, and everyone deserves to know about the benefits of [00:03:00] sauna and all the things you can do for your health that you can do multitasking, sitting still.

[00:03:04] Christa Biegler, RD: There's a lot of benefit and People don't necessarily know all about saunas. So the first time I sat in a sauna, I really didn't enjoy it because I didn't know how to enjoy it, right? I'm one of those people who has a hard time sitting still, which is a problem in general, right?

[00:03:19] Christa Biegler, RD: But there wasn't the good prep. But the most important thing is, this is maybe the piece that you would care about, I didn't heal the last 5 to 10% of my eczema, my skin didn't improve completely 100%, until I was using a sauna regularly. And so I can't wait for Dr. Duncan to shed light on exactly why that is.

[00:03:39] Christa Biegler, RD: But basically, once I learned about my own genetics and my poor abilities to detox appropriately, I started using sauna regularly. But when I first started using it regularly, I had a friend help me into it, right? It was at her home. She gave me plenty of water, told me, "Here, read this book, towel off," do all these things that I didn't learn at a place where I went in to [00:04:00] try a sauna.

[00:04:00] Christa Biegler, RD: So today I'm hoping that we uncover and make sure that your first or next sauna experience is even better than the last one, and you understand and realize and are really happy about all the benefits you can get from them. So Dr. Duncan is here to tell us all things sauna today, so much about sauna.

[00:04:18] Christa Biegler, RD: He was an early pioneer in the infrared sauna industry. He founded Clearlight Infrared over 20 years ago and has been awarded numerous patents pertaining to heater and sauna systems that have been revolutionized infrared therapy. He's worked for a couple decades to understand and codify how infrared can best heal the body safely and effectively.

[00:04:39] Christa Biegler, RD: Dr. Duncan lives in Berkeley, California, with his wife, artist Heidi Tarver. Welcome to the show, Dr. Duncan. 

[00:04:48] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: Thanks, Christa. I'm so happy to be here with you. 

[00:04:50] Christa Biegler, RD: Yeah. So we know now that you've been in the sauna industry for a couple decades, but that's not where you started. So tell us where this all began for you.

[00:04:59] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: Okay. So real briefly, though I was in manufacturing for 20 years and looking to do something more with my life, something to give back, so I trundled out to California and enrolled in chiropractic college, and while I was in chiropractic college, I needed to make some income, so I became a massage therapist.

[00:05:20] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: And I was massaging my way through chiropractic school, and I found one of these infrared saunas. It was hardly known. In fact, it wasn't known at all, and I put one in my home, in my massage room to make my home into a spa, to attract more clients. And then that's when it all began. I started seeing the benefits of this new type of infrared sauna in that when I put the people on the table after being in the sauna, their muscles would be relaxed, and people started reporting that skin conditions were

[00:05:55] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: clearing up, they were sleeping better and so I saw there is something going on.

[00:05:59] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: So I switched from being a massage therapist to starting a business with infrared saunas and selling them. Then I got into designing them, and then building them. So it's been a progression. And I did finish chiropractic school, and I practiced for a while, so I've been... The business is over 22 years old now, and now we ship saunas all over the world.

[00:06:20] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: So that's it in the nutshell version of that. 

[00:06:24] Christa Biegler, RD: Yeah, that is a pretty short little nutshell. It's a great way to summarize 20 years pretty quickly. ... I don't know if you wanna speak to this relationship, but it's Clearlight Sauna, but it's also owned by a parent company, right?

[00:06:35] Christa Biegler, RD: And when did that happen? 

[00:06:36] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: Yes. Clearlight Infrared, actually we started off as SaunaWorks, and then Clearlight Infrared. About a year and a half ago we signed an arrangement with Jacuzzi Brands. Oh. And everyone knows Jacuzzi across internationally. They're a big, well-respected company. So we still own Clearlight Infrared, myself and my business partner, Andy, but we work very [00:07:00] closely with Jacuzzi, and they've been great partners and opened up a lot of doors for us internationally, and they have 2,500 dealers.

[00:07:08] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: It's been a great relationship so far. But we're still running the company ourselves. 

[00:07:12] Christa Biegler, RD: Okay. 

[00:07:13] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: And building- Okay ... the saunas and all that. 

[00:07:15] Christa Biegler, RD: All right. So you started with building saunas. But let's say someone is listening, and they've come in by the title of this episode, and they honestly, they really don't know what a sauna- That's good

[00:07:24] Christa Biegler, RD: they think that a sauna is something that you throw water on in the pool room- 

[00:07:28] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: Yeah ... 

[00:07:28] Christa Biegler, RD: to add steam. So tell us about the difference between what maybe that picture of the sauna is versus an infrared sauna. 

[00:07:34] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: Sure. Great question. So most people still today, when they think sauna, they think of what we would call the traditional sauna or the Finnish sauna or the box of hot rocks sauna.

[00:07:46] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: So you go in a room, and it'll have some benches, and then this metal box of hot rocks. The hot rocks are heated, and then you throw some water on it. So how that works and every culture has some type of sauna and that's what's very interesting about that, but the Finnish sauna, the one that we've adopted in this country, works by heating the air up The heated air is heated up to about 200, 220 degrees Fahrenheit.

[00:08:16] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: So as you're sitting in there, it's the heated air that's doing the work of heating the body. So enter the scene infrared sauna out of Japan over 35 years ago, and the infrared sauna works much differently. So it looks somewhat the same. You have a bench. They're usually made out of cedar or some other wood, and you go in and sit down, but the first thing you notice is that the air temperature inside is not so beastly hot, and there are these infrared heaters around.

[00:08:50] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: So the infrared comes off the heaters as a wavelength, and it travels through the air without giving up much of its energy and penetrates into the soft tissue. So that's where it's so much different than a regular Finnish-type or traditional sauna because, number one, you can breathe. It's very comfortable to stay in there, and instead of just the heat on the skin making you sweat, you have the heat going into your body very safely, very therapeutically, relaxing your muscles, helping to detox, doing all these things.

[00:09:26] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: So that's the basic difference. There's less time needed to warm the sauna up 'cause we're not trying to warm all the air up. We're just trying to get the heaters going. It's more energy efficient. And because of all that, most people can put them in their houses very easily. They assemble in about an hour, and the two-person, one-person models just plug into any three-pronged outlet you have.

[00:09:52] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: So then it becomes something that anyone can have the sauna, you can have it in your apartment, and if you move, you just [00:10:00] take the wall sections apart, unplug it, and take it with you. So that's the main difference, and that's what the infrared sauna, that's where it starts. 

[00:10:09] Christa Biegler, RD: Yeah. I forgot to mention this earlier.

[00:10:11] Christa Biegler, RD: I was getting interested in sauna and considering maybe I should get a sauna, and I ended up on the right blog post that took me down the right rabbit hole, so I learned about the types of infrared, and actually it led me down a rabbit hole to s- finding a YouTube video of you speaking about the different types of infrared specifically.

[00:10:30] Christa Biegler, RD: And actually the thing that stuck out to me in that post, so people might think, oh, that's a luxury thing, right? But the girl that wrote the post said, "This is about as luxurious as I feel giving myself this kind of self-care," right? This is a great form of self-care. I live out in the middle of nowhere where I can't access this and this, so this is something I give back- Yeah

[00:10:49] Christa Biegler, RD: to myself for self-care every day." So if you wanna speak to that, and then just in general go into the types of infrared. 

[00:10:57] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: Yeah. So the self-care is [00:11:00] really spot on. We think of a sauna as a luxury in this country, mostly because you'd have to be pretty rich to have a sauna in your house, 'cause they would be built in and, it's you'd have to have a big house and all that.

[00:11:14] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: But really, like I said before, all cultures, whether it's the Moroccan hammam, the Russian banya, the Finnish sauna, the Native American sweat lodge, every culture has known that heating the body up is good for you. So some of the things that, that happen, and I'll just briefly touch on this and then we'll get back to it.

[00:11:37] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: Cleveland Clinic is a very well-respected hospital in Cleveland. They have 36,000 employees. They're the number two hospital just under Mayo Clinic, and Dr. Michael Roizen, who's the chief wellness officer of Cleveland Clinic, at the Global Wellness Summit said, and recommended that everyone take an infrared [00:12:00] sauna four times a week And if you would do that, some of the benefits that he cited were 50% less chance of sudden cardiac death, 60% less chance of dementia and stroke.

[00:12:15] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: So this is from Cleveland Clinic. So we'll get into some of the benefits, but that's just starting out. So it's a tool that will help you live your life so much better and healthier and relaxed and everything. So the way that this infrared sauna works, now there are in the infrared sauna world, it used to just be far-infrared, but now there's mid-infrared and near-infrared.

[00:12:41] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: So these are just different bandwidths of the infrared spectrum. Far is closest to what we emit we emit far-infrared from our bodies, so it's in the wavelengths that are closest to what we put out from our body. Then mid is a little shorter of a [00:13:00] wavelength, and mid-infrared is used for healing wounds, and it's a, pretty good at heating the body and the core.

[00:13:07] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: And then near-infrared has actually is much different 'cause it goes deeper into the body to heat the core and is been used for many different things. If you just type in near-infrared and healing, let's say in a Google search, you'll just come up with a plethora of different conditions that it's been researched and shown to help.

[00:13:28] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: So those are the three different infrareds, and we use all of them in our saunas to heal the body. So that's been my quest over the last 20 years, is really to figure out how can we heal the body? Somebody gets in the sauna, what can we do to make their lives better and healthier and more productive?

[00:13:48] Christa Biegler, RD: Let's talk a little bit about that physiology. When you get in the sauna, what happens to the body? We're heating the body up. Yep. Maybe we can talk about how that core temperature changes. What else is happening inside? 

[00:13:59] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: So [00:14:00] let's start with core temperature change. So we're gonna heat the body up a degree or two, and that's all that's necessary.

[00:14:08] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: We're gonna create a false fever in the body, and what happens is that the body will then your metabolism will be boosted. Your immune system will engage So we're boosting the immune system, boosting the metabolism, but everything else works very well for one very simple reason.

[00:14:29] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: If you think of what happens in infrared, and again, this is much different than any other type of traditional sauna or steam sauna in that the infrared comes into the body, into the soft tissue. It can penetrate an inch, up to an inch and a half. And when that happens, you get a vasodilation. So vasodilation is just a fancy word for your blood vessels open up, your veins, arteries, little venues, arterioles.

[00:14:58] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: And when that [00:15:00] happens, when your blood vessels open up globally... So if you're in a really good infrared sauna, you have heaters all around you, and that's part of the reason. So all your blood vessels open up, and then the body senses that the blood pressure's gone down 'cause it has. So it's also really good to lower blood pressure.

[00:15:21] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: But when that happens, the body says, "Hey, blood pressure's going down. We've got to pump more blood around the body." So the heart will start to work harder, but it's not working harder like you're stressing it. It's in a more passive... So I call it a passive aerobic. So the blood is coursing through the body and bringing oxygenated blood to the areas that need healing, taking the toxins out through the organs of elimination, through sweating.

[00:15:49] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: So many of the things that happen are all because of this vasodilation. So it's not a big mystery. It's just in this increasing the blood, and you're burning [00:16:00] calories, and all these things are getting set off as you're just sitting in there feeling good, your pain's getting reduced, your muscles are relaxed.

[00:16:09] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: You're going into parasympathetic mode, so that's a big thing also. Parasympathetic is the opposite of fight or flight. Fight or flight is when the body is in the sympathetic mode and has that feeling and reacting, a lot of cortisol. It thinks it's being chased by a tiger. So in this vasodilation, we're gonna put you in parasympathetic.

[00:16:34] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: So the body is really smart And all healing happens in the parasympathetic mode because the body's so smart, it says, "Oh, my God, we're being chased by a tiger. Let's put all our energy into that, and worry about healing, the long-term thing later on, because we don't know if we're gonna be eaten by the tiger."

[00:16:57] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: But the problem, Krista, is everybody in [00:17:00] our culture now, it's so stressed out our body thinks we're being chased by a tiger all the time. 

[00:17:07] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: So anyway, I kinda went off on a little tangent, but that's that's basically what happens when you get in the sauna. 

[00:17:14] Christa Biegler, RD: I love it. I'm gonna summarize it a little bit because you did a beautiful job lighting up a lot of light bulbs, I hope, to the people that are listening, right?

[00:17:22] Christa Biegler, RD: So the vasodilation's really not the mystery. It's the action here, right? Yes ... the blood pressure goes down, the blood pressure goes down, but at the same time, we're pumping more blood. But it's almost like exercising while sitting still, right? Passive aerobics. And when you get out, for me at least, I do feel like I just exercised, and that's...

[00:17:41] Christa Biegler, RD: If you haven't ever exercised, that's a great feeling, right? And so it's a lovely thing to be able to sit down and read a book and come out and feel like you just worked out. You feel excellent, right?

[00:17:52] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: Exactly ... 

[00:17:53] Christa Biegler, RD: but I love what you just said. You just spoke to me. The name of this podcast is called Less Stress Life.

[00:17:59] Christa Biegler, RD: It's really not [00:18:00] because we're all experts on stress, and this is all about reduction of stress, but because this whole thing is a journey of healing, right? And inflammation is really that medical term for stress, and it's just so prevalent, like you said, right? And I have to say this to people sometimes, because it's a very common thing that I see with clients, is that they are in a lot of stress.

[00:18:19] Christa Biegler, RD: They're successfully running families and businesses and whatever, and they are in a lot of stress. And so sometimes I just let them know that you will not heal if you do not learn how to de-stress or activate that parasympathetic side. So thank you for allowing me to massage that point just a little bit more.

[00:18:37] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: Yeah. It's so important, and people are so stressed out, and I know you see it in the people you talk to. They've been like that for so long they don't even know that they're stressed, and then you get adrenal burnout. And what I've seen is that people actually reset. There's a set point between sympathetic and parasympathetic, and so if you can- [00:19:00] Make the body go into parasympathetic.

[00:19:02] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: So you go in the infrared sauna, it's gonna go into parasympathetic. You're gonna relax. You don't have to do anything. This is the greatest part about the infrared sauna. If you say, "Hey, if you'll work out three times a week for 40 minutes and eat this grass, or, do this you'll be healthier."

[00:19:23] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: And a lot of people can do that for a week or two, but they can't do it for the long haul. But everybody can just, three times a week go into a sauna, put on some lovely music, relax, reduce the stress, and just do that, and it will make such a huge difference. 

[00:19:42] Christa Biegler, RD: Huge difference. 

[00:19:44] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: Yeah.

[00:19:45] Christa Biegler, RD: Actually, I think this is a good segue into what is your favorite... This kind of goes under the umbrella of how do you get the most out of your sauna experience? What is your favorite sauna rituals, right? Because you probably don't go in there and just twiddle your thumbs. So what do you enjoy doing while you're in the [00:20:00] sauna?

[00:20:00] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: So let's start before you go in the sauna I like to do dry brushing. I don't know if you advocate that much, but dry brushing's very simple. It's probably the cheapest thing you can do. You go and get one of those long-handled dry brushes at the pharmacy, make sure it's a natural bristle, and then before you go in the sauna, or you can actually do it in the first few minutes in the sauna, you just brush towards the heart.

[00:20:27] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: So brush your arms, your legs. What this is gonna do, it's going to stimulate the lymph, it's gonna remove dead skin cells. It's gonna prepare your skin for detoxification, prepare your body. So then you go in the sauna, preheat the sauna, the infrared sauna, for about 20 minutes. When you first go in, it doesn't feel like there's anything happening 'cause it's not real hot.

[00:20:51] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: It's just a little warm. And then in three minutes' time, the infrared's coming in the body. So that's what I do, [00:21:00] go in, put a towel down on the bench. Take in a liter of water, something like that. You're gonna wanna drink water during your session 'cause you're gonna lose water in the perspiration. Now, I like to meditate.

[00:21:12] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: Sometimes I'll meditate in the sauna, or I'll put some very relaxing music. We have Bluetooth and where you can directly connect your smartphone in there. I've tried reading, but once you start perspiring it doesn't really work. Sometimes I'll take my iPad in and put something on Kindle or, an audiobook.

[00:21:33] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: So mix it up. And the problem for me, Krista, I've been taking infrared saunas so long, 20 minutes, 20 minutes' time is all I can really handle. I'm just dripping wet. I'm ready to get out in that time. The more you use a sauna, the more that will happen 'cause your body, just like your body gets hungry at a certain time every day, it will learn to sauna at a certain [00:22:00] time every day.

[00:22:01] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: So that's my ritual then, to either towel off or take a shower preferably, 'cause there'll be toxins on the skin. And then try to be peaceful. That's what I try to do, just not to go from that into some task-oriented thing, but to take that relaxation and just let it sink in Now, you mentioned it, I mentioned it before, this passive aerobic is a very interesting thing 'cause I'll get my heart rate up to what would be a normal working heart rate in exercise, but I'm not stressing.

[00:22:39] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: I'm not panting. So it's a very different feeling. It's a feeling of, energy, of health, of vibrancy. There's something going on in this passive cardio. So I like to let that calm down a little and relax, and then I'm done 

[00:22:59] Christa Biegler, RD: [00:23:00] Yeah, and I'll share a little bit about my sauna thing because I got my sauna about the time I started reading this book about morning rituals, and so I do go in and just allow some silence because that's when the magic happens, right?

[00:23:13] Christa Biegler, RD: When we allow silence into our life. Yeah. Do you ever just drive somewhere and never listen to anything and just think, right? I bet you do it without thinking about it sometimes, right? 'Cause our brains get full from work. It's a great time to do it after work, I think, Yeah ... when our brains are full.

[00:23:26] Christa Biegler, RD: So I try to do that right away in the morning, and then do a little bit of scriptural reading and maybe- ... a little meditation. And I do read, because as a busy mom, that's the only time I find- Yeah ... that I can sit and read. But, the big game-changers for me just talking about prep for sauna is making sure I've got plenty of water, 'cause no one wants to be uncomfortable, making sure I've got that towel to get the waste off of the skin, right?

[00:23:52] Christa Biegler, RD: Yeah ... and then just having something that I enjoy doing. I don't wanna get out of the sauna when I've, when I'm reading a great book, right? And then there are some other things as [00:24:00] well, like visualization. I've got a whole pile of stuff- That's cool ... in my sauna that I'm working through.

[00:24:05] Christa Biegler, RD: It's like my, this is my secret box. No one come in here and bother me type thing. I've got quotes taped to the outside of the glass to look at and things. Oh, that's so cool. It's great. So let's talk a little bit about the mechanics a little bit. When you get in the sauna, what temperature...

[00:24:22] Christa Biegler, RD: you said something that reminded me of this. I was wondering, can you infer how people are handling sauna based on how they're reacting, right? So I would have thought if you were sweating more, you had more to get rid of potentially, but that's not necessarily the case from what you just said.

[00:24:37] Christa Biegler, RD: It's almost like a muscle that you flex, and you get better at sweating as you do it more. Is that what I understand?

 

[00:24:42] Christa Biegler, RD: It is hot weather season, and there is probably no better time than now to make electrolytes part of your daily routine. Electrolytes help you make energy and help get hydration into the cells, so you aren't just peeing out what you put in. I've been drinking electrolytes for at least five years, and I'm always [00:25:00] looking for a great-tasting, high-quality powder just to change up the flavors.

[00:25:04] Christa Biegler, RD: This summer, I'm doing a lot of Electrolyte Supreme from Jigsaw. It's got a great complementary vitamin and mineral profile beyond the classic electrolyte minerals of potassium, sodium, and magnesium without any sugar or artificial colors. It tastes great, and it's probably my go-to for my kids, especially the lemon lime flavor as a hydrating lemonade for summer.

[00:25:25] Christa Biegler, RD: You can get 10% off every single order at jigsawhealth.com with the code LESSSTRESSED10. That's LESSSTRESSED10 to take 10% off of all of Jigsaw's incredible products from Electrolyte Supreme to potassium and adrenal cocktails, to cod liver oil and beyond. So go get yourself now and start hydrating. 

[00:25:49] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: It is, and as a culture, we don't really sweat enough. We don't sweat like we used to, like our grandparents did or our great-grandparents. We used to work a lot, [00:26:00] and that's how we survived.

[00:26:01] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: We would be it hard labor tilling fields and things like that. So we're really designed to sweat, but a lot of us, our thermal regulation is shut down for a lot of different reasons. Because of toxicity is one of the things we've seen. So you may have to, most people actually, have to train their body to sweat again, and it can be frustrating.

[00:26:25] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: Now, know that even if you're not sweating, you are facilitating detoxification. And we found that out, it's been over 15, 16 years. People with multiple chemical sensitivities, we were putting them in the sauna, and they just would not sweat. But over time, we saw that they were getting better, and then many of them would sweat again.

[00:26:45] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: We did urine and feces sampling, and we saw, ah, they get in the sauna and the toxins are going out through these organs of elimination, so we're increasing that. But to get yourself to sweat, some of the things we recommend [00:27:00] is take a hot shower before you go in. That way you're pre-warming the body.

[00:27:04] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: Try to do this regularly, at least three times a week. Try to do it at the same time every day. So there are little tricks. The skin brushing helps, too, 'cause it opens up the pores. And most people will find that they will sweat over a period of time. But even if you don't, some people never sweat.

[00:27:24] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: I'll go in, if I go in the sauna with my wife, by the end of the sauna session, I'll just be dripping, and she'll just be glistening, so it is different with everybody, but that's just some indications and some different ways. 

[00:27:40] Christa Biegler, RD: I find that, and I'm curious your thoughts as well, I find that if I prefer to get in when it's about 120.

[00:27:46] Christa Biegler, RD: The magic happens between 120 and 130. That's when the good sweat gets going. Yeah. And so I prefer to time it just right or try to time it just so that ah- Yeah ... it's only 100 degrees? Oh, man. Yeah. Yeah. I really like it at that temp. Is that what you suggest as well?

[00:27:59] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: [00:28:00] Everybody's different, and it's, The one thing I'll say universally is that you don't want the heaters going on and off. So some people say, let's say you find that n- between 120 and 130 is good for your sauna experience. Then they'll set the temperature at, 125 or something. But if you do that, then the heaters will turn off once the sauna hits that temperature.

[00:28:25] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: So it's a little different with the infrared sauna. You wanna hit it to the highest temperature, which on our saunas is 158. It will hardly ever get to that. We just do that for commercial saunas that are running all day. And then if you get too hot, open the door. Don't use the temperature to try and control the heaters because if you're sitting in 120 degrees and the infrared heaters are turned off, let's say it's reached that temperature that you set, then you're just sitting in a lukewarm room and there's really nothing happening.

[00:28:58] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: So I want those heaters to be on [00:29:00] 100% every second that I'm in the sauna. That's really critical 

[00:29:05] Christa Biegler, RD: Yeah, and you had mentioned earlier that infrared just penetrates one or two inches. So that's a good conversation about what should you be wearing in the sauna. I know what I'm wearing, and it's don't come over to my house between 6:00 AM-

[00:29:18] Christa Biegler, RD: 8:00 AM and come downstairs- Yeah ... if you don't wanna see this. But- ... what about for people that are maybe in a public sauna. Yeah ... what's ideal? 

[00:29:25] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: So in a public sauna, obviously dress accordingly. If you're in Germany, the people go in even public saunas without any clothes.

[00:29:35] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: But in the US that's usually not the case. At home, you wanna wear as little as you're comfortable with. The infrared will go through clothing, so it's not a huge deal, but it's just the preferred way. The more therapeutic way is to go in just as you came into the world, nothing on. 

[00:29:54] Christa Biegler, RD: I like how you're just-

[00:29:56] Christa Biegler, RD: Very zen. I like it a lot. [00:30:00] So loose clothing at most is what I recommend to people, 'cause otherwise you could get- Yeah ... a little uncomfortable anyway sweating through- Exactly ... tight clothing. Exactly. And comfort is important through this whole process. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So we don't want the heaters going on and off.

[00:30:13] Christa Biegler, RD: ... And I'm just really curious, actually. Have you traveled to other countries and experienced their sauna experiences? 

[00:30:18] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: Oh, my gosh. My favorite sauna experience is when I go to Korea. So the Koreans embrace saunas like nobody else, and the Korean sauna's actually usually a huge building called a jimjilbang, and they will have 14 different types of saunas, and it's a very family-oriented place.

[00:30:41] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: And the different types of sauna they'll have different temperatures. Some will have precious gemstones in the walls. Others will have salt floors. Another one will have steam. Another one will have charcoal on the wall. All these different things. And they are serious. These [00:31:00] jimjilbangs they might have two restaurants.

[00:31:02] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: They'll have a separated men's and women's area where you have different temperatures of baths, and you can even sleep there. It's a whole thing. So that's in Korea in, in Seoul usually, which is the center of Korea that's my favorite sauna experience. And they have infrared as well.

[00:31:22] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: But you just get the whole gamut of it. 

[00:31:24] Christa Biegler, RD: Yeah, that is really interesting, and there's a lot of conversations- Yeah ... we could have about just those types of saunas. Yeah. Okay, so let's see. We've talked about how the sauna works physiologically, right? Increasing vasodilation, improving blood pressure burning calories, even the passive aerobics, and then a little bit of this natural high that happens, right?

[00:31:45] Christa Biegler, RD: Talked a little bit about parasympathetic. We talked about... I think we wanna make sure we don't forget to mention, what's going on with the sauna is that there is detoxification happening through the skin because detoxification happens through, organs of elimination, right? Liver and [00:32:00] kidneys, skin- lymphatic system. Yeah. You touched on the, brushed on the lymphatic system when you talked about dry brushing as well. That's a big point is the detoxification, but also the e- other physiology that happens. So we're raising the core temperature. Is there anyone that sauna is contraindicated for, would you say?

[00:32:18] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: So there's contraindications, so if you have a rheumatic disease lupus or there's different conditions that heat will exacerbate, heat will make the condition worse. So with those type of conditions, I always tell people consult with your physician, just tell them, "Hey, I'm gonna be using an infrared sauna.

[00:32:37] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: What do you think? What should I look for?" And I say that also because rheumatoid arthritis is one of those conditions, and we used to say, "Oh, if you have that, be very careful," and then a big study came out Right. Absolutely. It's interesting how much

[00:33:39] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: [00:33:00] research there

[00:34:05] Christa Biegler, RD: [00:34:00] really is to support infrared sauna, and also the different research for the different types of infrared. Wouldn't you agree? 

[00:34:24] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: there is, and so the thing to realize that, and it's interesting in our profession, in the infrared sauna world, how these different types of, You'll have some people saying, "Oh, only near-infrared, that's the only way," or, "Only far-infrared."

[00:34:40] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: But what they don't realize, the people that are talking about near-infrared, is that usually what gives off near-infrared will be some type of bulb that also emits light. So the near-infrared also gives off far-infrared and mid-infrared. The only way to get a [00:35:00] pure near-infrared, unless you're using the little LEDs that only give one wavelength, is to put the near infrared through water.

[00:35:08] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: It's called water filtered infrared. Then you filter out the far and the mid. Anyway, we use all of them, and they're all beneficial, so we try to stay out of the controversy, but somehow everybody's got a soapbox, 

[00:35:22] Christa Biegler, RD: yeah. But 

[00:35:23] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: he- For 

[00:35:23] Christa Biegler, RD: sure. Yeah. So one of our listeners, yes, was wondering about sauna during pregnancy because in Finland- they sauna all the time, right? And so it just But you're exactly right? We do wanna detoxify before conception if possible. And- 

[00:35:37] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: Yeah ... and it could be that in Finland everyone's using the sauna so much that their toxic burden is not like we are here in the States. CDC does testing on toxicity, and the average person is walking around with about 240 toxins in their body, and people are not really made aware of their toxic burden.

[00:35:59] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: So [00:36:00] it's something to investigate and figure out how to work, because toxicity in the body, and I know you know this and talk about it, it will mimic different diseases, autoimmune things and obesogens. So there's a lot there to study and understand and then heal yourself.

[00:36:17] Christa Biegler, RD: Absolutely. Lots to study, and it all goes back to these core things that are really good for us. I have a few more questions, and one of them was about you mentioned earlier that just because you're not sweating doesn't mean you're not getting good benefits from the sauna experience because you had- Yes

[00:36:33] Christa Biegler, RD: tested bowels and different things. So what can you say about changes in bowel movements after sauna? And, personal question here. 

[00:36:41] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: For changes in, in bowel movements, that's a interesting question. That's nothing I've ever seen a study on, so I would just be shooting from the hip to say, "Oh, I've or experienced that.

[00:36:52] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: So that's a very interesting area, and I don't have a good answer for that. 

[00:36:56] Christa Biegler, RD: That's okay. Interesting. Yeah. I just think that anything is possible when you're [00:37:00] getting rid of things, right? 

[00:37:02] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: Yeah you're inducing a detox in all ways, and you're also coming in and loosening the muscles and everything around the body.

[00:37:11] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: But I wonder if there is a study. I'll, as soon as we get off, I'm gonna look that up- 

... '

[00:37:15] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: Cause I've never seen one, but there might be. 

[00:37:18] Christa Biegler, RD: We didn't mention how, on that note, how sauna can be really useful for post-exercise, ... recovery and whatnot, right? 

[00:37:24] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: Yes.

[00:37:25] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: So for exercise physiologists there's a lot of buzz now about heat shock proteins, the production of it, but the very simple fact is that infrared saunas are used we've shipped a bunch of these into different health clubs over the years in CrossFit and all this. So people will use the saunas pre-workout to help to stretch the muscles out and relax the muscles so you don't hurt yourself, and then post-workout and you're gonna, what I call a warm down.

[00:37:55] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: You're letting your body warm down and not shocking it. So there's a lot going [00:38:00] on with fitness and infrared right now. 

[00:38:02] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: Very interesting. 

[00:38:03] Christa Biegler, RD: Yeah, you talked a little bit about ways to augment and get the most mileage from your sauna experience. Yeah. You mentioned specifically, maybe encouraging the heating up process by taking a hot shower before.

[00:38:15] Christa Biegler, RD: Yep. Is there other things that you see people doing that you feel is okay that helps them improve their whole sauna experience? I have a friend that does that does a, uses some reduced glutathione before and a detox binder afterwards, Yeah ... or just some other things, or exercising on one side or the other.

[00:38:30] Christa Biegler, RD: You kinda just spoke to that, but anything else that rings a bell there? 

[00:38:34] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: Yeah I actually developed a relationship with a fellow by Arnie Kander, who's a sports physiologist and works with a lot of the big different sports teams over the years. Great guy. And he said he's been using infrared for training for professional sports people for decades, and what he said he liked to do was to do very light exercise, like maybe just have, [00:39:00] they would put a little lymphatic, what are those called, the, that you bounce on?

[00:39:05] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: The rebounders. But- Yeah ... just very easily have your feet on something and just bouncing or a little cycle machine, but very easily. Nothing that you're trying to really kill yourself, but just some movement or little movement exercises. 'Cause when you're in the sauna, you're not only relaxing the body, but you're opening up your neurology so that even these little movements will have greater impact in the sauna.

[00:39:31] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: So that's one way to spend your time in the sauna and up your game while you're in there. So glutathione's great, 'cause that's gonna help in the detox. Anything that you're doing is gonna be amplified by the sauna,

[00:39:45] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: those are two things I think would are really good.

[00:39:48] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: We use aromatherapy a lot. That's as long as you're in the sauna, aromatherapy, color light therapy. There's a lot of things while you're spending time to make it [00:40:00] better. 

[00:40:00] Christa Biegler, RD: Yeah, I need to start integrating aromatherapy into my sauna experience actually. And speaking of color therapy, my sauna happens to have, many types of lights, right?

[00:40:10] Christa Biegler, RD: And so when you're using chromotherapy, which is something I really still don't know a lot about is there, I'm guessing there's a lot of research around chromotherapy, and maybe I should just allow you to tell us about chromotherapy. 

[00:40:22] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: Chromotherapy is it's been well-studied and you can...

[00:40:27] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: what I tell people to do is just, again I'm a great advocate of Google. Just go in, do a search chromotherapy because you will see systems that talk about how chromotherapy works with different chakras or works with different organs or works with different moods. So you can find just about anything in there.

[00:40:50] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: One of the things that most people aren't aware of is that if you're in an area where the sun doesn't shine, then if you use blue, [00:41:00] that will affect for a seasonal affective disorder. Yellow's used a lot of times. They, people say that it helps with indigestion and purification of the skin.

[00:41:12] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: Green is associated with calming and harmony. Blue is like I said, for seasonal affective, but it's also good for the joints and violet is good for lymphatic system. So each color, it's not just what somebody says it is, it's more for you to go in and really tune into your body and go in and let's say put red on while you're in the sauna and see how your body reacts with that.

[00:41:43] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: So part of the infrared sauna and part of healing really in my book is to gain more body awareness, more awareness of living in this body and having your understanding and feeling and getting better at [00:42:00] understanding what's going on internally. And so color therapy is one of those ways to experiment.

[00:42:05] Christa Biegler, RD: I love that one right there, that healing is about increasing your own awareness of your body- Yeah ... and what makes you feel best and not your best. So at the end of the day, try sauna, see how you feel. If you had the experience like I did the first time, which, actually this is a really great point.

[00:42:24] Christa Biegler, RD: When you're calling a sauna place and you're looking for a type of sauna, what do you wanna look for in a quality sauna experience? Because I remember the smell at my very first sauna experience not being- ... great. I was sensitive to smells more so at that time than even now.

[00:42:38] Christa Biegler, RD: And so I think that's a great point. If someone's gonna call around and look for a place to go sit in an infrared sauna, what should they ask? 

[00:42:46] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: Let me ask you a question. What was the smell that when you... Was it like old sauna that a thousand people had sweated in or something or- 

[00:42:55] Christa Biegler, RD: I'm not sure.

[00:42:56] Christa Biegler, RD: That's a good point, right? Make sure you have a towel sitting down. And I don't know if it was- Yeah ... cedar [00:43:00] and I didn't like the cedar, or I don't know- Yeah ... if it was, like, glue. I just remember that it wasn't a good- Yeah ... it was like a... I just remember it not being positive, right?

[00:43:07] Christa Biegler, RD: And sometimes when th- something's not a good experience we just don't even have a positive reaction- Yeah ... to the whole experience. Who knows best? It could 

[00:43:13] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: turn you off. So I tell people if you're going to a sauna center it's like picking a doctor, a chiropractor, a dentist. Try and see if you have any friends that have gone there and get a recommendation.

[00:43:25] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: But barring that, here are the questions you can ask. Ask them if it's a low EMF sauna So a lot of the saunas out there, still to this day, people will go into saunas and they don't know that they're being bombarded with a high amount of dirty electricity, and that's counterproductive and it's not healthy.

[00:43:46] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: So that's number one. Number two, just get a feel for the people and what their orientation for healing is, and that may be difficult to do over the phone, but you get pretty good at sizing up people. What [00:44:00] type of establishment is this? Is sauna something just they put a sauna in a room somewhere?

[00:44:05] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: Are they understanding and using it? The other thing is just find out which saunas do you guys have, and then you can go online and look that up and find out a little of what your experience is gonna be. So some places will give a free session just to try out the sauna, so then you're not really committing a lot of cash at least.

[00:44:28] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: You're committing your time. 

[00:44:29] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: But I think that EMF is the very most important thing. And then look in the sauna and see how the heaters are placed. If a sauna has heaters that go up above the head or if there's no saunas... Remember when I talked about that it's the infrared wavelengths coming into the body.

[00:44:47] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: So you wanna get into a sauna that has heaters in the front, heaters on the side. We put heaters down by the calves, even put heaters under the floor. You can't see them, but they're there. So it's important to have a [00:45:00] sauna, infrared sauna, that the heaters are all around you, and if the heater's going up above the head, that shows me that, that whoever did that sauna didn't really understand what they were doing, 'cause infrared doesn't heat the air.

[00:45:14] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: You really don't wanna heat the head. There's no reason for that. So anyway, those are some of the things to look for. 

[00:45:21] Christa Biegler, RD: Yeah. 'Interesting point. It makes me curious who makes saunas with it in that place now, but I suppose you can find anything out there, right? 

[00:45:29] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: You can. When I started my company, there were only two infrared sauna manufacturers in the whole country And over the years we've just watched them come and go, so it's been, it's interesting.

[00:45:39] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: Yeah. 

[00:45:40] Christa Biegler, RD: Yeah. It is interesting. Okay, so today we covered, we talked about detoxification in many ways, and other benefits of sauna, as well as the physiology of how the sauna benefits you with raising the core temperature vasodilation how you can exercise while sitting still. I'm just joking- 'cause it's, makes me laugh a lot, right? We talked about how it's such a great [00:46:00] self-care piece and helps you do that whole relaxation, activating that parasympathetic side of your nervous system, which is so very important. We talked about getting the most out of your trip to the sauna, making sure you have plenty of water to take in loose clothing, toweling off the types of heat that would be best for sauna.

[00:46:17] Christa Biegler, RD: Are we missing anything from the benefits or anything else that you wanted to make sure that people knew today about saunas? 

[00:46:24] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: One of the things and people when they even hear this are very skeptical, and that's that we've seen a lot of people lose weight by getting in the infrared saunas.

[00:46:34] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: But there's so many weight loss things going on, so what we did is, oh, I guess it's been six years ago, we partnered with Binghamton University SUNY in New York. Actually, they came to us, and we supplied the saunas, and they did a four-month study using sauna three times a week for 45 minutes, and they found that in an average, against a control group of people who didn't use a sauna, they [00:47:00] lost 4% body fat over 12 weeks doing nothing else except using the sauna.

[00:47:06] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: So that's huge. 

[00:47:07] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: And if you're losing weight, you're losing toxins, so that's the one thing to bookmark. 

[00:47:13] Christa Biegler, RD: Yeah. Yep, that's for sure, right? I have a- actually a- another podcast episode probably coming out right around you that we, where we talk about fat being, an endocrine organ and kind of producing- its own things. It's got a mind of its own, for sure. 

[00:47:25] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: Oh, that's one I wanna hear. That's, I find very fascinating. And I love how you put it all together, how you took what we've talked about and then put it in a good outline. I found that really useful. 

[00:47:36] Christa Biegler, RD: I was just trying to summarize like you can summarize 20 years of experience in the sauna industry.

[00:47:40] Christa Biegler, RD: People like a good, concise sentence, right? 

[00:47:43] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: Yeah, 

[00:47:44] Christa Biegler, RD: that's true. And I'm not always great at being concise. So Dr. Duncan, if someone asked you what your gut reaction was if someone's listening today and they say, "Wow, I had heard of saunas, but I thought they were rock boxes," or- ... "I haven't been in a sauna since the pool [00:48:00] room when I was a kid," what would you tell that person?

[00:48:04] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: Yeah, I'd say the proof is in the trying, just try it. If, I hope if we've done anything today is just encourage someone just to try it, to be open enough to see, again, how does your body feel in an infrared sauna, and then go from there. 

[00:48:21] Christa Biegler, RD: Yes, absolutely. In fact, that was really where when I was opening my brain and mind to having a sauna, we talked about how it can be perceived as this luxury to have a sauna, but honestly, self-care is not a luxury, it's a necessity, and it's a necessity that most of us are ignoring, and that's why, probably one of many reasons why we have, very poor health outcomes.

[00:48:42] Christa Biegler, RD: So this is just one way- Yeah ... you can do multitasking 101. You can benefit your life in many ways by sitting down, taking a breath of infrared air, ... and and enjoying the experience, right? So- 

[00:48:57] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: Ex exactly ... 

[00:48:58] Christa Biegler, RD: so Dr. Duncan, where can people [00:49:00] find out more about your sauna company and find you online?

[00:49:04] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: So we're easy to find. We're infraredsauna.com, so it's infraredsauna.com. And there's a lot of good information, and people have been kind enough to send in testimonials, written, video, and then I find those the most useful. 'Cause companies will say all kinds of things, but, it's really what have people found in using the product.

[00:49:26] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: And I look at this company as my practice. I don't practice as a chiropractor. I became a chiropractor 'cause I wanted to make some difference in the world, and this is how we make a difference, so it's very fulfilling for me. And we love our customers and we take care of them, so that's the bottom line.

[00:49:42] Christa Biegler, RD: Yeah. I dare you guys to go out to YouTube and find a video of Dr. Duncan because he really does have this great aura, right? I don't even know how to, I'll come up with something and I'll send it to you- Okay ... about how to describe you. But, really, I watched 45 minutes, intently of you talking about the saunas, and I thought, "Yep, this is it.

[00:49:59] Christa Biegler, RD: This is the one [00:50:00] I'm gonna get now." I just got lucky enough to find the perfect one, right? And so- This is a good point. I love your mission, and I can tell you're really living in your purpose, and I really thank you for sharing some of your wisdom with us today. 

[00:50:12] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: Thanks for having me on.

[00:50:13] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: It was a pleasure and I can't wait to see, your next podcast or listen to it on fad. 

[00:50:18] Christa Biegler, RD: All 

[00:50:18] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: right.

[00:50:18] Christa Biegler, RD: Sounds great. 

[00:50:19] Dr. Raleigh Duncan: Sounds great. 

[00:50:20] Christa Biegler, RD: Thank you so much.