50 Minutes in an Infrared Sauna
I book a series of 3 sessions in the Infra Red Sauna at Restore CryoTherapy in Virginia Beach. I am escorted into a room off the hallway and through a door that separates me from the rest of the patrons and employees. Everyone is there for different reasons. Some are getting IV drips, others are getting cryotherapy done and others are there for compressions therapy or assisted stretch sessions. I am there for some heat and light therapy. I’ve booked a series of 3 Infrared Sauna sessions.
My personal sauna space is a room off the main hallway. I enter, turn on the lights lock the door. The room is well designed and aesthetically pleasing. There are robes, towels, and a bench seat. In the rear of this room is my 1-person sauna. It’s a glass enclosure that has a ceiling mounted LED fixture. The size of the sauna is probably about 3 feet wide and 6.5 feet in length. On the shelves outside of the sauna is a remote that control the LED light spectrums and intensity. Inside the sauna, there is a bamboo bench seat that has a lumbar curve similar to the shape of an Adirondack chair, a thinly padded cushion for sitting, a big shower towel rolled up and a small personal towel.
I turn off the spa room light and only keep the on the red LEDs inside of the sauna. I sit down and close the door. There is sitting or standing room only in here and it is definitely meant for 1 person. There is not enough room to lay down. Flanking either side of the sauna door are dual heaters that resemble tall space heaters. Only 1 of them is on at the moment. To my right, there is a built-in control switch which monitors and adjust the temperature, duration, exterior lights and other settings. There are other buttons, but I don’t concern myself with that right now. The temperature is set to the maximum of 158 degrees. I turn on my audiobook of Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins and begin my 50 minutes in the hot red lights.
The first 10 minutes. I want my money back. It’s not even that hot in here. Is this even working? I decide that I will enjoy the peace even if it’s not as hot as I’d like. Plus, I get to get in 50 minutes of uninterrupted audiobook time.
15 minutes in: OK the sauna is working. It’s effin hot in here now and I am not even at maximum temperature. The sweat is pooling and dripping more rapidly. My heart rate starts going up and hovers in the 80s; my average resting heart rate is 51. My anxiousness starts to fester. I start playing with the lights and pressing random buttons on the control panel. In playing with the control panel, I discover I can turn on the second heater that flanks the door. I turn it on because well, fuck it.
25-35 minutes. The claustrophobia of this 1-person torture chamber starts getting to me. My anxiety levels start to rise. The temperature has been a steady 158 degrees for a while now. I am realizing that I am going to run out of water if I don’t pace myself. There is nothing I can seem to do to keep my mind off the punishing heat. I stand and I sit. I lean forward, I sit back. I close my eyes, I open my eyes. Heart rate is now bouncing between 130s and 140s. I play with the LED lights to keep my mind off things. I am not sure whats worse: the dry heat or the feeling like I am a glass tomb of death. Is this some sort of brutal ancient torture? Why the hell am I even doing this to myself? I actually paid for this?
I turn off all the lights and I am sitting in almost pure darkness. The only lights in the entire space are two glowing red heating coils staring me in the face. Meanwhile, Goggins is talking about not being a bitch and facing your demons. This isn’t just a sweat session; this is a lesson on physical and mental grit. So this is what the 6th circle of hell feels like? I can’t give up.
40-45 minutes. I am sitting down, and my heart rate reaches 151. I feel like there is a heartbeat inside my head. THUMP, THUMP, THUMP. I stand up to try and do something different. I am lightheaded so I sit back down. I start feeling around the edges of the sauna’s glass door frame of the glass door for some cool air from the outside room. None found. I am completely out of water. Every bone and muscle in my body is screaming, “Get me the fuck out of here”!
50 minutes. I push open the door and I am greeted by the crisp 72-degree air. Ambient air has never felt better. I stagger my way to the bench seat I passed on my way to my heat lair. I sit down and start drinking a bottle of lukewarm water that was left for me. As I sip and recover, I look back towards the rear of the room where that glass enclosure sits. Where I just spent one of the most challenging, insightful, hottest, demon facing hours of my life. I’ll be back tomorrow, bitch.
