Giving the classic relaxation activity a modern touch

A trip to the sauna is one of the common activities people do to relax. Saunas are known to deliver various health benefits: the heat it produces helps detoxify the body, improve cardiovascular health, and relax tired muscles. While saunas have been there for over a thousand years, new tech has made it more effective than ever before. Such is the case of the infrared sauna—a type of sauna that makes use of infrared heaters instead of electric stoves or burning wood.

Unlike the more traditional ones, infrared saunas work at a lower temperature but deliver the same effectivity since the infrared light waves travel much deeper into the body. Aside from lower operating temperatures, infrared saunas are more power efficient: according to an article, infrared saunas need around 1.6KW of power, compared to the 6KW needed for traditional electric saunas.

How is the experience?

Infrared saunas in the Philippines are very uncommon as only a few wellness centers in the Philippines actually have them. One of those is Heilen Medical Wellness—the same wellness center where we tried out Low-Light Laser Therapy (LLLT). According to the staff, their infrared sauna is their most popular service, so we had to try it out and see why that was.

Heilen Medical Wellness uses a Sunlighten mPulse infrared sauna. It is a compact, cabin-like sauna that can accommodate up to two people at a time. Inside the cabin, you have infrared heaters hidden behind the mesh panels inside the cabin. You control the sauna settings according to your needs using the Android tablet inside the cabin.

While the tablet uses an old version of Android (specifically, it uses Android 4.4), it comes with a few basic essentials like MX Player (if you intend to play DVDs using the cabin’s built-in DVD player), a web browser, and access to Netflix.

Each session lasts for around 40 minutes and Heilen Medical Wellness gives you a pitcher of lemon-infused water because no one likes to be parched and dehydrated inside a sauna.

As with the actual experience, the temperature was consistent at around 52 to 55 degrees throughout the whole 40 minutes. The infrared heaters barely make any noise, and the heat generated was efficient enough to make me sweat those toxins inside my body.

40 minutes inside the cabin is not long, even if you’re alone. During my experience, I was quite busy inside the cabin filming the whole experience (with a waterproof smartphone for obvious reasons) and watching an episode of Tidying Up with Marie Kondo. Even if you are busy watching, you will know that the session is over by the flicker of the lights inside the cabin.

After the session, I felt much better, as the amount of sweat I had inside the cabin made me feel refreshed and energized. Unlike LLLT, you feel the effects immediately using the infrared sauna.

 

Is it worth the asking price?

For Php 995 per session, it is worth spending 40 minutes inside the Infrared Sauna cabin. While it may be more expensive than the usual sauna in other places, the price can go lower if you take advantage of Heilen Medical Wellness’ promos and packages.

Speaking of effectiveness, what I liked about the infrared sauna is that even if it uses less energy and operates at lower temperatures, it does the same job as traditional saunas. Being a modern version, Heilen Medical Wellness’ infrared sauna is Millennial-friendly, as its control panel offers a variety of sauna treatment options, on top of being able to binge-watch some of your favorite Netflix shows and browsing the web while inside the cabin.

Heilen Medical Wellness is located at Upper Basement, 111 Paseo De Roxas Bldg.
Paseo de Roxas Street cor. Legazpi Street, Legazpi Village, Makati City, Philippines. You can check out their services here, along with their Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts. You can reach Heilen Medical Wellness via phone with these numbers: +639178665226 and 5411923.