How to use infrared sauna for recovery
In the wellness world, the word “recovery” often gets linked to sore muscles after a tough workout. But recovery is much bigger than that. It’s your body’s ability to bounce back from all kinds of stress—both the good and the not-so-good. Infrared sauna offers the perfect recovery tool. Let’s explore why.
You recover from intense exercise, but also from lack of sleep, emotional strain, high-pressure meetings, too much screen time, air travel, or even navigating noisy environments. It’s all input, and your nervous system tracks it all.
At the heart of recovery is one question: How ready is your body to respond today? Infrared sauna therapy can be a powerful tool for recovery—especially when you learn to use it in tune with what your body needs.
Understanding stress: defining good and bad stress
Stress isn’t inherently bad. In fact, some forms of stress—called hormetic stress—are good for you. Exercise, sauna heat, cold plunges, and intermittent fasting are all examples of stressors that make your body more resilient over time.
But chronic stress, especially without time to recover, wears you down. It taxes your nervous system, disrupts hormones, impairs sleep, and accelerates aging. Recovery is what determines whether stress becomes strength or strain.
Infrared saunas help your body reset and recover from all kinds of stress. Now, let’s explore how they can assist in recovery from physical and emotional stress, and how wearables can help track your progress.
How infrared sauna and light therapy help recovery
Infrared sauna therapy is a unique tool because it supports both types of recovery:
Muscle recovery from physical stress (workouts or injury)
Relaxation and recovery from emotional and nervous system stress
Infrared saunas offer both restorative and “good stress” qualities, depending on how you customize your session. Unlike traditional saunas that only use high heat, infrared saunas use light wavelengths that penetrate the body and energize cells directly. Your body absorbs this light—especially through water and mitochondria-rich tissues—to initiate repair, reduce inflammation, and restore equilibrium.
You can use it on low settings for a restorative session or at higher settings for an activating, hormetic session. Infrared saunas have been shown to aid relaxation and recovery in many ways:
Improve heart rate variability (HRV)
Support deep, restorative sleep
Lower cortisol levels (your main stress hormone)
Improve circulation and lymphatic flow
Reduce muscle soreness and joint pain
Calm the nervous system through parasympathetic activation
All of these contribute to the body’s ability to recover faster and more deeply.
Tune into your body’s own signals
You don’t need wearables to know when your body needs recovery. If you learn to tune into your body’s cues, you can tell when it's time for a sauna session. Here are some signs that your body may need extra recovery time:
You wake up groggy or unmotivated, even after sleep
Your workout feels harder than usual
Your mood is off, or you feel emotionally flat
You’re sensitive to noise, light, or social interaction
You feel overwhelmed or wired, even when nothing’s wrong
You’re craving rest but keep pushing through
These signals can be subtle, but when you become mindful of them, you’ll know when to use your sauna for deep restoration.
How to use your sauna based on your recovery needs
Your infrared sauna can be customized to fit your recovery needs. Use it for relaxation or stimulation based on how your body feels.
