One unfortunate inevitability of life seems to be that at some point, no matter what sort of life we’ll lead, we’ll experience some sort of pain. If you spend most of your day sitting in a desk chair, you might get aches and pains in your back or shoulders from staying still. On the other hand, if you’re focusing on building muscle or improving flexibility, you’ll probably experience some sort of muscle soreness along the way. Thankfully, far infrared pain relief may be the solution.
Through our new article series, ‘Infrared and Your Body’, we’ve been highlighting some of our favorite benefits to infrared heat. Today, we’ll know be looking at how far infrared has been connected to pain relief. When we look at the science between far infrared, there’s some clear reasons it makes sense it would help with pain relief. Infrared light is a type of light which can be absorbed deep into our tissues, meaning its able to affect us on a deeper level. But lets look a little closer at how infrared light can actually help with pain.
Infrared light stimulated the production of endorphins, described by h2health as “the natural painkillers produced by our bodies”. Endorphins carry signals to our brains to lessen the pain we feel. In fact, medicines often used for pain relief such as codeine and morphine work by mimicking the effects of endorphins. The word endorphin itself means “within the body” and “morphine”. Harvard Health explains hey are released by the hypothalamus and pituitary gland when we feel stress or pain in order to help us survive..
Other activities which release endorphins include exercise, so exercising in far infrared heat gives you the opportunity to have endorphins released both from exercise and infrared. Studies into other parts of infrared heat have also found ways infrared can help with pain, including as a painless way to treat acute or chronic pain. Infrared therapy has also been found to increase circulation and improve muscle relaxation, both of which can help alleviate pain. Endorphins help with conditions such as arthritis and muscle strains, and in fact infrared heat specifically has been suggested to provide pain relief from these conditions.
What do you have to do to try out these benefits for yourself? Pick out a class to try at a studio near you.