Sweat Away Menopause Symptoms

Welcome and summit introduction 0:00

Hello and welcome back again to Mastering the Menopause Transition Summit I'm your host, doctor Sharon Stills, and it is such a pleasure and an honor for me to be your guide through your menopause transition and to share with you all the things that have helped me, that have helped my tens and tens of thousands of patients. And that's why I do this summit, to bring you all the information that is going to help you. And along with information, I want to bring you information about tools you can use on your journey.

And so today I have one of our summit sponsors, High Tech Health and Tess Harris, who if you've hung around with me a while, then you probably already know Tess because her and I chat and do webinars frequently. Because I've been working with high tech health since I was like a baby doctor I met. I met the owner back then when I was still in med school in the late 90s. And, we don't all hear about high tech health, but we need to hear about them because they are the best sauna company. They're the safest sauna company.

They are the sauna company that really handles the EMF issue and doesn't fool you with fake marketing. And today we're going to explain all that to you. So whenever I have a question about saunas or a patient, ask me, well, what about this sauna test? Is my go to I should hear a message. And, you know, she gives it to me straight and she understands the research. And so we are very lucky to have her here. And infrared sauna therapy is one of my favorite tools, whether it be in my clinic, which we're having a men's and a woman's put into our new clinic, but also for at home use.

I have plenty of patients or followers who purchase a sauna for their own home,

Infrared sauna basics and far infrared vs near infrared 1:57

because it's a lot easier to use it if it's sitting in your spare room or your basement. And so I'm really excited. We're going to. Every time I talk to Tess, I get more excited because she comes up with something new, which we have some new exciting stuff to talk about today. Or she just reminds me, like the the power and how the sauna not only helps with weight loss and cardiovascular fitness, but actual immune health and all of these things that she's going to talk about now. So I'm going to say nothing else and just welcome you and let you take it away and say hello to everyone.

And we are just going to dive in, and you're going to all know a lot more about saunas. By the time this 30 minutes is up. Well, thank you so much. I'm thrilled to be back and talking about saunas and just something that I'm very passionate about and love sharing. So, I'll give you a very quick overview of high tech health and what infrared saunas are. So we're one of the oldest sauna companies in the US. We're based in Boulder, Colorado. We've been building in designing saunas for over 26 years.

We are exclusively making far infrared saunas. So when we talk about saunas, there are a few different types of saunas. Traditional Finnish style sauna. Maybe more familiar to some folks. And that's just using hot air. Typically, like 170 over 200°F. Infrared saunas. We're using infrared light, which is the same reason the sun feels warm on our skin, and it has a direct heating effect on our body. Air temperature is going to be more like 120 to 140 is where you cap out in an infrared sauna. You have a range to go hotter with our saunas, if you choose.

It's not really necessary. Infrared saunas are, known for all of the heat benefits that we get from all types of saunas and particularly well known for detoxification. So, you know, in terms of the benefits and, and, and the research, I'm going to cover quite a lot. And, we can we can go into more depth if you have more questions. So just really quick a little bit about us. So like I said, we're very much, we're a very established the long running infrared sauna company. Everybody at our company has a science and or medical degree.

We're very research oriented in how we design asanas and that, based on the research and the benefits and working in the realm of environmental medicine, that really shapes how and why. So, that's going to sort of be a good narrative for a lot of why we do things the way we do. So, so can you just briefly, because you talked about the Finnish saunas, you talked about infrared, can you far infrared. Can you just talk about I think there's confusion and I'm sure someone, at least many ones are thinking, well, what about near infrared?

Is that something they should be using? So can you just explain the difference? Absolutely. This is common question. So, when we're talking about infrared saunas, infrared is a pretty broad range of wavelengths of energy that we get from the sun. Foreign red are the longest wavelengths and near infrared are the short wavelengths. All of the clinical research regarding saunas is done with far infrared. We're talking decades of research. It's proven safe, it's proven effective. And all of the benefits come from far infrared, near infrared is sometimes added to saunas.

There's a lot of hype surrounding that right now. It's really not based on any clinical evidence. There are therapies that use near infrared, but it's a very, very different cont text than a sauna. So much lower dose lasers and LED light. And basically there's it's called a hermetic zone. So there's like a sweet spot where near infrared can be therapeutic. So too little is ineffective and too much can be quite harmful and damaging. So all of the near infrared, near infrared therapies are very low dose and targeted.

Typically it's a few treatments spaced out, you know, for a few minutes and then they're spaced out over a set number of treatments, very different from long term use in a sauna, which is proven to be very beneficial. And, you know, far infrared, you can use saunas regularly for months, years and keep accumulating the benefits.

Sauna benefits for detox, aging, and menopause 6:12

So they really need to be different therapies. And again, there is some hype with some sauna companies again, not coming from the clinical background or adding near infrared in addition to far infrared in the saunas and there's marketing around it. But it's it's really can be misleading and actually quite potentially damaging and harmful cataracts. Yeah. Skin damage things like that okay. So real harmful. So the bottom line is don't put near infrared in your saunas if you want to use it separately.

Yeah that's okay but not in the sauna article. And that does some serious side effects like cataract. So that's that's a big deal. Yes. Okay. So, we're at a menopause summit, so we all are like pro aging and want to age healthy and gracefully. And you know, just live well beyond our hundreds rocking our sacred second act, as I always say. So why saunas? What are the benefits for aging? Sure. Numerous benefits. So detoxification is a big one that's very relevant to menopause. One topic near and dear to my heart. So I'll start there.

So, you know, throughout our lives and, you know, just living in this modern world, we have a lot of exposure to chemicals and toxins, whether it's, you know, heavy metals, food packaging, pesticides, you know, personal care products, air pollution, things like that. And this can all accumulate, in our bodies and sort of complex ways. Many toxins are known to be endocrine disruptors, and that can actually interfere with normal hormones functioning and, hormone receptors. So there is a lot of evidence pointing to having a higher toxic load.

You know, in all of these endocrine disrupting chemicals can actually, create an earlier onset menopause, more symptoms during menopause, and more of the risk factors that come with early onset menopause. So more weight gain and metabolic issues, higher cardiovascular risks, and, actually, earlier death. So detoxing is really important. And, you know, I get this question, how do I know if I need to detox? The answer is you do just like in this world. We all do. And, you know, and just maintaining that, lowering your toxic burden.

So inference saunas are extremely well known for supporting detoxification, particularly passive sweating, meaning sweating when we're not making all the byproducts from exercise is an extremely efficient pathway out of the body for a lot of toxins. Numerous of these common, toxins and metals, flame retardant pesticides, rates are measured in highest quantities in sweat. So we know this is a powerful tool to support detoxification. Infrared saunas can also help us eliminate toxins in urine and stool and even respiration.

So this is a really key benefit we get from infrared saunas. And and having this as a regular part of our routine, in terms of additional benefits, couple really big topics that are very well under, very well studied in a lot of depth are cardiovascular benefits and fitness and weight loss. So saunas are known to lower blood pressure, improve cardiovascular functioning and cardiovascular basically like efficiency of the whole cardiovascular system, reducing inflammation. Throughout the body. Also, in terms of fitness and weight loss, there are studies comparing them.

So saunas and sauna therapy, infrared therapy mimics cardiovascular exercise. So all the benefits we get from cardiovascular exercise are mimicked when using a sauna. And a lot of those benefits are compounded or additive if you were using sauna and exercising. So, studies on, you know, fat loss and, you know, boosting metabolism, we see comparable amounts with exercise, cardiovascular exercise and using the sauna. And they're additive. So when you do both, also saunas can help us increase our exercise capacity.

How much exercise can we can we do and before we're tired. And so it can help people who are wanting to get fit, get a little bit of a jumpstart on that. Now they're pretty amazing. There are studies showing that when we use saunas regularly, long term sauna use actually can, prevent. So some of the physiological changes that come with that can prevent sarcopenia or the age related muscle loss. So that is really relevant, particularly as we age and wanting to maintain fitness, stay active and not and not losing muscle.

And it where it gets harder and harder to exercise. So this is a pretty significant, benefit we get from sauna therapy. Regular use also reduces chronic inflammation. There's studies on acute pain and chronic pain and showing that it can have a big impact in that realm. Cognitive benefits. Regular long term sauna use is associated with a lower risk of neurodegenerative diseases and and better cognitive function improving mood. Elevating the feel good hormones and like so elevating endorphins and lowering cortisol.

So these are all benefits we get from saunas. And a lot of this is tied in with regularity of using saunas. So you want there sort of parameters for, what we call sauna fitness, which really means how acclimated to heat are we? So, when we, when we use sun is regularly, there are some physiological changes that come about. So we see, lower resting core temperature. We see, sweating at a lower temperature, a higher volume of sweat, which is important for detoxification. You want to be able to sweat and sweat quickly and a lot.

And we see lots of cardiovascular adaptations like, better plasma volume, better fluid balance, lower resting heart rate, and then a higher baseline of proteins that are throughout our bodies called heat shock proteins that do numerous protective and repair functions. You know, finding and fixing misfolded proteins and preventing protein aggregation. So throughout the body, these are like the the protective proteins that help, manage and reduce cellular stress. So this is all tied in with like, end aging and not just lifespan, but healthspan.

How much of our life's lifetime are we spending healthy? So all of this is called heat acclimation or sauna fitness. And there's a lot of really specific research that goes into how to achieve it. And how to maintain it. So, it has to do with, you know, regularity of raising our core temperature, doing it quickly. So how quickly can you raise your core temperature and then how the, the frequency of repeating that. So there's a lot of research that goes that has gone into and continues to go on about how to achieves on a fitness and maintain sauna fitness.

So it's okay. Can you be more specific for those listening like how often do they need to go in, how long do they need to go in? Because I know there's some women listening who already have a sauna. Probably. Right? Yeah. So, there there are a lot of factors that go into it. And it can depend on the sauna you have. So our saunas are very high output of infrared.

Sauna fitness, frequency, and healthspan 14:02

They do raise your temperature quickly. There are a lot of, parameters in terms of age, weight, how much fitness do you have? And regularity. So we actually do have some, some programing in our new sauna that does answer all of that for you. It gives you all guidance and adapts to how you use your sauna to give you ongoing guidance for folks who already have the sauna like myself. As as frequently as you're comfortable would be my short answer. So, it is a lot, a lot of sorry. Go ahead. Yeah. I usually tell patients like, five, six times a week, take a day off, right as.

Yeah, yeah. You know, and it varies from person to person. You have to make sure you can stay hydrated. And, what feels comfortable for you individually. But the more regularity the better is the short answer. But there are, there are some pretty complex, factors in how to achieve and maintain it. And that is, some of the new technology that we have with our sun is that is really going to guide you through all of that, which is quite exciting. Yeah. Tell us about the like I yeah, I was new to meeting so I'm like, oh yeah.

Absolutely. So let me give you a quick overview about all of our saunas and then what this new technology, offers. So can you also make sure, because it's always so fascinating to me, like, can you explain the difference in your wood and like, how the other companies kind of skew the data so it sounds better than it is? I think that's really important for women to hear. It is really important. Yeah. So again, coming back to our background, we're a research based company. We're environmental medicine focused.

So that drives everything about our sauna design. So starting with the wood that we choose, all of our saunas are single wood construction, meaning there are no, like, filler wood for the frame. Internally, there's no plywood. It's surprising how common it is to find plywood and so on. Is even the, you know, the high end price saunas, pretty much everything. You will find plywood that's very problematic because it off gasses formaldehyde from all the glues. We also don't use, formaldehyde based glues.

We use a very minimal, minimal amount of water based glue and all tongue and groove joinery with the sauna. So the lighting isn't great, but you can kind of see the paneling on my sauna behind me. But that's our tongue and groove hand joint paneling and all of our saunas. We make all of the foundation model saunas and two wood types. Hemlock and poplar. So poplar wood is really the the sauna for environmental medicine. People who have a lot of sensitivity, who don't want to have a wood smell. The compounds in wood that cause of wood smell, very commonly cause a lot of lung irritation.

So it's really important, particularly having something in your home. And with the heat in the sauna, you want something that is low VOC or low outgassing. So our poplar wood has almost no wood smell. It's the one that the most sensitive people can use. We also make a hemlock option for folks who aren't particularly sensitive. It's not going to cause any irritation, but it's got a very faint wood smell to it that some people really like or prefer. And esthetically, it's more of a a golden brown color with a very pretty wood grain.

So it's folks like, we like to have those two options, but we're, we're very specific about sourcing. We're also a green sauna company. So these are, you know, environmentally friendly woods that we're using. And they grow a lot faster than cedar and some other wood options. So so that is a really important factor in the saunas and the you know, unfortunately a lot of saunas are marketed as hypoallergenic. But the reality is these are woods that have a very strong wood odor. People can often not tolerate them and need to return them or get them out of the house as soon as they unbox it.

So we acquire storage and you speak to the MPs? They that, like, blew my mind when I first heard you talk about that, do I? Certainly that is a big topic with infrared saunas. And folks shopping for saunas can get confused very easily.

High Tech Health design, EMF safety, and smart sauna features 18:18

So, we use our own heater technology. It is, high grade metal heater designed by us. Our president is an electrical engineer. We have patents on the technology. They're very high output heaters, meaning they're, they're very bright in terms of the output of infrared. So that's important for raising our temperature quickly tied into achieving sauna fitness. And they're they're great longevity. They're very efficient. And they have total EMF mitigation. So most infrared sauna heaters typically the sort of the standard style of heater we'll see today are these flat panel heaters called carbon style heaters.

So it's that panel technology. They're notorious for very, very high EMF. Unfortunately they're, often marketed as low EMF. So the tricky thing here is that when we're talking about EMF, with anything plugged in running on electricity, there's two pieces to it electric fields and magnetic fields. These are two separate things that happen together and together and, you know, together. It's called EMF or electromagnetic fields. So in order to really be low and not be causing stress to the body, it needs to be low in both.

So the panel style heaters are notorious for very, very high electric fields. So what happens is they are advertised as low EMF, but the marketing is really just disclosing the magnetic field part of it. And they're not, disclosing electric fields. So, it gets a little bit, confusing or murky when, when, there's a lot of advertising that all the sun is, say, low EMF. The reality is they can be literally thousands of times higher than the recommended exposure levels. We're sitting very close to the heaters, and it has a big impact on, how much we're actually benefiting from the sauna therapy.

The high EMF causes a lot of stress to the body, particularly brain cells and heart cells. And it can cause a lot of nervous psychiatric symptoms. So in a sauna that's high EMF, you can actually come out feeling really drained and lethargic and headaches and and it can really diminish the benefits that you're getting from sauna therapy. So it is a big problem within the sauna industry, something we take very seriously. So our technology is all third party tested, independently tested for EMF at the surface, meaning the maximum EMF from our saunas and heaters is well below recommended exposure levels.

The sun is as a whole are lower than most household appliances, so these are extremely low EMF saunas. And this even stands for our new Smart sauna. So we, we have a few models now, so our transcends sauna is our foundation model sauna, including all the features. Right. Those heaters, the single wood construction, all of our saunas have active ventilation, so you don't get a buildup of CO2. They've got chroma therapy lighting. They've got an ergonomic backrest. Now, the new smart sauna that we've introduced includes, two options so you can connect via Wi-Fi or Ethernet.

So Ethernet for folks who are very EMF aware and prefer not to have Wi-Fi in their home. And if you do connect via Wi-Fi, you can you have an app where you can start from anywhere you can preheat, you're going to have personal user profiles, so every individual in the household gets their own profile. To keep track of your own biometrics and sessions, it's all, you know, it's not like cloud based. It's all in the sauna, the technology. And when you. And it has a reduced EMF mode so you can start from anywhere, say you're out at the gym or running errands or at the office.

And then when you start your session, it removes the Wi-Fi. It's just too slow. EMF is our foundation model on this, so that was a priority for us in designing a smart sauna is how do we make it as smart as possible and still as low EMF as our customers and our, you know, our, our health care, professionals that, you know, use them and recommend them are expecting from high tech health. So these are, just as low EMF as the foundation model and the that you are the word smart. I like I know you hear the word smart.

You think excessive Wi-Fi. Yeah. Not that I was like, all right, there's got to be I know there's no way you're you're doing it. So that's just so good. Yeah. I'm so excited. That wasn't a big priority for us. So the, the, you know, you've got all these smart features, the remote start and, you know, there's there's, really nice. It's a backrest that adjusts to different incline and recline and heights and things like that. But the real magic is the sauna guide. So you like I mentioned, you have your user profiles, so everyone in the house gets their own profile and it's going to help track your sessions.

It's going to guide you through. Some folks need to start very slow if you're new to saunas and detoxing gradually and slowly, but it's going to guide you through acclimating and then continue to give you guidance based on how you're using the sauna and adapting to how you're using the sauna on, like when you should use it next and for how long to help achieve and then maintain your sauna fitness. And it's there's nothing else even close to this technology. This is developed by us. It's based on a huge amount of research on sauna fitness or heat acclimation.

And our sun is specifically and how how our heaters work and how our saunas work to bring this to you. And, we're extremely excited about it. And I'm just thinking it's like the aura ring of saunas or rings tells us how much activity, how our sleep is, what when to go to bed. So it just makes so much sense. And so that you can optimize and know what you personally need. I can't wait to get mine there. Yeah, they're going into the clinic. I'm so excited. We're going to have, like I said, a men's and a women's.

So you can go naked in there because I don't like sweating in bathing suits. I like sweating naked. So I made sure that that was something we were going to have at the clinic. So I want to say I yeah, I often say I'm trying to think how to say this. I often say that, yeah, there's no magic pill. Right. But if I have to, like, there's no magic pill in health I can't give you, like, the one magic pill that's going to make everything better. But when we're looking at technology and therapeutics, I feel like the sauna comes pretty close.

And I want to say like, to everyone listening like, this could be such a huge like it hits the bull's eye for so many things. But before I say that, I want to ask, are there any contraindications? Very few. Some conditions where folks have, pretty significant heat intolerance. So in which case, you know, specifically speak with your health practitioner before using a sauna, it's not recommended to use them while pregnant or nursing and, you know, very, very few honestly, there, there there aren't many.

So folks with, pacemaker or implants, whether it's, you know, metal implants or breast implants, it's perfectly fine to use the sauna and all of those instances. Of course, if you have breast implants, you should get them out. But that's the whole nother conversation. But yeah, I mean, the one other thing I think of is if someone has really low adrenal function, I kind of build them up first and well, I'm going to power questions at you while we have left. You know, the questions I always hear. Do I take my binder before the sauna or after the sauna?

Could you just speak to any kind of tips that you have around what to be taking in when? Yeah, absolutely. Like I said, we have a lot of experts on staff here. So my colleague is our expert on binders and recommend about 30 minutes before using the sauna. His top recommendations are activated charcoal and zeolite. And you can take them together. Awesome. And then I don't want to like offer you up but can like the women listening if. Because I'm sure you know some people have saunas or there's certain saunas that a lot of influencers push constantly.

Can the ladies call you and like ask you about their sauna and sure, things like that. Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. You're going to get a lot of calls and they they can call me. They can call any. We have we have a wonderful team on the phones here who can answer questions with, great depth of knowledge about sauna therapy. So even if I'm, you know, tied up on a call, whoever they get on the phone will be, will be more than happy to help with questions. Some. And we didn't speak about. And I think this comes up a lot.

Sauna blankets could just speak to those because I know for some women, they don't have access to, like a clinic like mine where you can go use the sauna or they don't have room. Maybe they live in a city and they only have a small apartment. So and so they think, you know, sauna blanket, you can fold it up. So what are your thoughts on the sauna blankets? The first thing that comes up is the EMF. They're not going to be nearly as low as what we have. So that's going to be a factor. Are you going to get some benefits from the infrared? Yes.

Is it more diminished because of the EMF factor? Unfortunately, yes. So, you know, it really has to become an individual decision on, you know what, what makes sense for your home and your lifestyle and your budget? That that that is going to be a difference. I just kind of thought, like, are you good? Why don't you guys figure out how to make a sauna blanket? Know, we've talked about it, but there are so many things that the nature of the design and the heaters and how we address the EMF really does make it pretty limiting.

We we spend a lot of time, like, how do we. There's nothing we're willing to sacrifice on in that current design that we're willing to live with to make something that, you know, sort of that a different price point. So I gotcha I hear you well.

Contraindications, binders, and sauna blankets 28:38

We are at a time, but I'm going to tell you guys a sneak peek after the sauna. I mean, after the sauna, after I got sun on my brain after the summit, I always do some webinars and I always do a webinar with test. So we will dive deeper and we do it live and we answer your questions. So make sure you stay on my mailing list and you'll be notified of that. And you know, whether you buy a sauna or not, the we just want to educate. And so we'll dive deeper into some of the studies test as a real, you know, research geek.

So we will dive answer your questions. We can talk more about the smart sauna. And like I said, I just feel like one of the reasons I do this summit is to bring you as much information without being your physician that I know can help you on your journey. That's truly why I do this. And so having a sauna in your life, because I think when I started practicing almost 23 years ago, it was more like, are you toxic? Let's find out. And I think I even used to get, if I remember correctly, like little forms from you guys.

You had like a hand and I would check and like you said, we can't ask, are you toxic anymore? We know you're toxic. I run toxicity panels, whether it be pesticides or glyphosate or heavy metals or mycotoxins. Yeah, they never come back. Zero. And if they do come back zero, it means your organs are so shut down you're not able to excrete, which is not a good thing either. And so we really have to be having a like we get the oil changed in our car, we go for our eye checkup, right? We we hopefully have our thermography every year for our brass.

We have to have a detox plan in place and to burn calories, lose weight and hence your immune system and answer cardiovascular system, preserving muscle, etc. etc. while sitting there chilling out, talking to your partner, listening to some music, meditating like it really is the best of both worlds. And if you know me, you know that sweating is like one of my favorite things to write on my prescription pad. You must be sweating if you are not sweating. It is a sign of diminished health, of toxicity, of thyroid issues.

And so sweating like we got to get our sweat on ladies. And this is a fabulous way to do it. So I'm just so grateful for you guys because you have the same values and alignment with me of putting quality and really, you know, practicing what you preach and putting out a good product and not being misleading and really, you know, doing the real deal. So I so I'm so grateful that I ran into you so many years ago. It wasn't you personally, but at a conference and just, you know, learned about high tech.

And we've been working together. I had a high tech health sauna in my first clinic, and now I'm going up to in my new clinic. So, so check them out. What's the best phone number to get you? Oh, let me let's see.

Closing remarks and special offer 31:48

So, let's see, what's our best phone number I'm going to give you are 800 number 71 second here. We are offering a special for all of the summit attendees, and that's going to go through October 22nd, and that's going to be a $1,000 off of any sauna and the equivalent of free shipping in the continental US. And the phone number to call us is (800) 794-5355. Awesome. Well, you guys always give my community such great discounts and I appreciate it because, you know, the shipping is a lot on a sun and $1,000, so it really helps.

So even if you don't end up buying one and you're interested, you know, call them, talk to them, tell it, tell them, you know, you're coming from the menopause summit and you know, find a, you know, find a if you can't buy one on your own, find someone who has a clinic who's doing high tech health infrared sauna. Because if you're going to do it, you want to do it right? Right. Like you don't want to get the benefits of sweating and then get the detriment of EMF. So, so and like I said, stay tuned.

We'll we'll do another webinar and dive deep. And I just hope that you all walk away from this either with a new appreciation for infrared sauna therapy or a deepened appreciation of what it truly can do for you on your hormonal journey. So thank you for being here. Thank you Tess. I just adore you guys and so grateful you exist. And sweating is like one of my top health care tips. So everyone get your sweat on and we'll be back with another talk. So thank you for being here.