I keep getting spammed with ads for saunas like nurecover. They only hit 130 Max, not the full 175 of a Finish sauna. Is there any evidence, anecdotal or otherwise, to suggest it has recovery or longevity benefits?
I can’t say anything useful about the benefits of sitting in 130 degree room. But I’ve been doing saunas and banyas all of my life, so plenty of experience. The other critical parameter that I have not seen them list anywhere is, what is their humidity level at max temp? If you fill a room with steam at 130, believe me if you’re not used to it you won’t ask for more heat. Generally if you add the humidity and temp in Celsius, about 120-140 is the max of what most people will find tolerable. So 120C with zero moisture or 60C with 60% humidity, the effect is going to be a bit different but that’d be the top line of what you’ll perceive as “very hot”.
Another aspect of it is, if the space is very small then you’ll quickly use up all the oxygen just breathing, and it’s not a good feeling. So it will need to be vented, and the smaller the space, the more venting, which in turn means the more heating.
Another aspect is stratification. Proper sauna needs to be quite tall so that your feet are not much colder than your head. Difficult to avoid extreme stratification in a small space.
If I wanted to do cycles of hot/cold exposure, and I had a good cold plunge but no sauna, I’d probably go for it as a stop gap measure. But at least to me, I have to have that 120 combined to call it a sauna or banya, anything else it is just not the same experience and doesn’t have the same effect on my body.
I’m here for this as I need to do heat adaptation, but don’t want to spend $3k on a permanent structure I don’t have room for.
Here’s another portable (lay down) I’ve seen used ones on Craigslist for $1k
Listed max temp is 150F higher than the Nurecover which maxes at 130F.
Also keen to hear from anyone who has actually used these regularly. Would really like one at home but there is no chance of a permanent sauna happening. Also much prefer a steam sauna to a dry, so these look more suitable than the infrared blankets (for me anyway)
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We bought a portable sauna. They work great. I wouldn’t be deterred by the lower temperature. You’ll sweat plenty.
What I caution against is getting one large enough. I’m 6ft and can fit in ours ok but it’s not a fun and relaxing experience like a real sauna because you are sitting on a little folding chair inside a box.
If you want to park it in front of a TV and do a heat adaptation routine, it’s fine but it’s not like having a nice full sized sauna.
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I’m not so worried about the sweat factor. It’s that the recommendations for using sauna for longevity are all at 170*f or above. I’m after that, and the described ancillary benefits of better sleep and lower inflammation.
I’m not worried about heat adaptation cause I live in Texas. It’s gonna happen whether I want it or not! Lol.
Thanks for the point about the small space. I’m a big dude over 6 feet as well, so that may be a concern. Any reason you couldn’t just sit on the floor instead of the uncomfortable chair?
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Because your neck has to stick out of the top. The other way to go is to get a more full sized portable one. Ours looks like this:
https://www.amazon.com/TOREAD-Portable-Generator-Personal-Relaxation/dp/B098X1DL91/
I think I read in the past that the heat generated by IR saunas was different and that you couldn’t make a direct comparison to traditional sauna temperatures.
There’s can’t be anything magical about 170F. Basically, you get hot and your body goes through a heat adaptation process.
To me the bottom line is that I think IR saunas are good. You get hot and sweat. If I did it again, I’d just rather have a more enjoyable enclosure.
That’s an interesting sauna. The one I’m referencing is fully enclosed. But I don’t think either one is an IR sauna. Both yours and this one are advertised as steam saunas. Ami missing something?
Mine is IR. That isn’t my exact sauna. Mine just looks exactly like it. I don’t have a wet steam option.
I do see that the wet steam ones are much cheaper than the IR heated ones. (I haven’t looked at these things in two years since we bought ours.)
My only thought is that it should be very comfortable and enjoyable to sit in. The one you linked to has the same crappy chair as I have in mine. It’s not fun. I’d want to make sure that you could put a bigger, more comfortable chair inside. I can’t do that with mine since it’s so small.
My other concern would be cleaning. How do you keep a steam sauna from growing mold and whatever inside?
I’ve one of these on order. Based in UK and I’ll be honest the delivery times are awful so be careful.
I ordered on 20th Jan and still nothing has arrived. Customer support is terrible - just say it’s on way. Their tracking show it arrived in London on 27th Jan but since then no updates.