BUS Study: How Infrared Saunas Can Help You Detox Heavy Metals

There are a lot of claims about the benefits of a hearty sauna sweat session, but how much science is there to back up these claims? One benefit of saunas may be a degree of heavy metal detoxification, or the elimination of toxic heavy metals from the body. A study from the University of Alberta studied the potential of sweat as a detoxifying process.

BUS: The Blood, Urine, Sweat Study

The BUS stands for blood, urine, and sweat. Analysis of blood samples and urine samples are already used for detecting certain toxic substances in the body, including heavy metals. Heavy metals that can harm the body include but are not limited to:

• Mercury

• Lead

• Cadmium

• Nickel

• Zinc

• Copper

• Chromium

• Selenium

While some elements are essential nutrients for the human body, like copper, zinc, and selenium, they can cause lasting health problems when consumed in excess or when built up in your body over time. Exposure to these heavy metals comes from natural sources, like cadmium, and from environmental pollutants and everyday products like cosmetics. We absorb them by eating foods grown with contaminated water or soil, breathe them in from air pollution, and some can even be absorbed through the skin. Sweating is a natural process that helps detox the body of these heavy metals, and visiting an infrared sauna is an easy way to do it.

In the BUS study, blood, urine, and sweat were tested for approximately 120 substances, some of them known toxic elements. The blood, sweat, and urine were collected from 20 individuals, including 10 healthy participants and 10 participants with existing health problems. The study cohort included 9 men and 11 women aged between 21 and 68 years old. The amount of toxic substances cleansed by these individuals was then measured, and the sweat produced from visiting a sauna came out ahead of blood and urine, suggesting that the body can sweat out heavy metals. . 

What Toxins Can You Sweat Out In A Sauna?

Toxic elements were found in varying concentrations across all three fluids. While the levels detected in blood were in line with previous scientific literature, some heavy metals and nonmetal toxins seemed to be preferably excreted in sweat even when there was little evidence of these substances in either blood or urine. This means that  sweating in a sauna can help you detox heavy metals and other substances that may not be cleared from your system without sweat. 

Cadmium, a heavy metal that can cause symptoms from upset stomach to kidney damage, was found in blood analysis for half the participants, but was found in detectable levels in the sweat of 80% of study participants after visiting a sauna.

Mercury, a heavy metal that can cause tachycardia (a persistently faster than normal heartbeat) and psychiatric symptoms, was not found in any detectable level in the blood of 15% of study participants, but was present in the sweat of all of these individuals after visiting a sauna.

The BUS study also found persistently higher amounts of other toxic substances in sweat than in urine, suggesting that visiting an infrared sauna is a more efficient and thorough means of cleansing heavy metals than other detox methods. These substances include nickel, lead, aluminum, cobalt, arsenic, and chromium.

Conclusions Regarding Saunas, Sweat, and Detoxification

While regulating body temperature through evaporative cooling is sweat’s primary function, the presence of heavy metals and other toxins in sweat demonstrate that sweat appears to be a part of the body’s detoxification process, along with the respiratory, digestive, and lymphatic systems. So yes, visiting a sauna can  detox your body.

One reason for the effectiveness of detoxifying with saunas could be that many toxic substances reside in the tissues of the body once consumed, and are present in these tissues even when not present in your blood. Fatty tissues particularly can harbor toxic substances. This is why hair and fingernail samples are sometimes taken in tests for toxic materials.

It’s possible that a sauna sweat session is a process that can access the substances stored away in the body’s tissues, allowing them to be excreted through sweat when they can’t be filtered by the kidneys and excreted in urine. The study also found that when monitoring levels of toxic substances, blood and urine analysis may not be sufficient. To accurately assess the levels of some elements, it may be necessary to test the sweat of the individual. This has the added benefit of cleansing toxins in the process.

So do infrared saunas help detox your body? Infrared saunas (or IR saunas) use infrared light to heat the body, rather than heating the air around you, allowing the heat to safely reach deeper under the skin and draw out toxins from within. Using an infrared sauna can ease you physically and mentally into a state of relaxation, and help you detox as well!! 

Learn more about infrared saunas and where you can find one.