Infrared Light Health Hazards

An infrared sauna is a type of sauna that uses light to create heat.

Infrared light health hazards. Large doses of infrared waves can also damage skin and tissues. Prolonged exposure to infrared radiation comes with potential health risks and lovers of infrared saunas should be wary of such health hazards. Unlike ultraviolet light which can damage the skin infrared light. The main hazard to the eyes is that prolonged exposure over a matter of years causes a gradual but irreversible opacity of the lens.

It is probably the most common health problem associated with infrared heating. Laser beams are composed of highly amplified electromagnetic radiation visible light microwaves infrared and others. Below are some of the health risks associated with infrared heating. Safety hazards of infrared since ir radiation only works to get molecules moving any moderate dose of ir radiation will simply heat up any living tissue it touches upon.

The burning of the skin occurs when the. Ir light which has even less energy than visible light does not have enough energy to damage molecules in the way that higher energy waves such as x rays do. Infrared therapy is a new and innovative light based method to treat pain and inflammation in various parts of the body. This type of sauna is sometimes called a far infrared sauna far describes where the infrared waves fall on the light spectrum.

Infrared heaters are used most often in saunas where ceramic tubes or panels produce primarily infrared heat radiation to heat the skin. Although occasional exposure to these rays is not enough to cause danger everyday contact can cause long term health problems. There are to date no studies showing that far infrared exposure has any sort of negative health impacts and certainly not at the dosages received from infrared heating panels. Infrared radiation is of longer wavelength than the visible light frequencies and is perceptible as heat.

These lasers can be strong enough to burn a hole through metal and so could certainly damage flesh. The health impacts of far infrared on the other hand extend simply to warming the tissue. Since no ultraviolet radiation is produced this is safer than other options such as sunbathing but infrared radiation still produces dangers of its own especially in a sauna environment where the heat is intense. At zenith sunlight provides an irradiance of just over 1 kilowatt per square meter at sea level.

Of this energy 527 watts is infrared radiation 445 watts is visible light and 32 watts is ultraviolet radiation. Infrared radiation waves are the same as heat waves. Sunlight at an effective temperature of 5780 kelvins 5510 c 9940 f is composed of near thermal spectrum radiation that is slightly more than half infrared.