Hey there!

A week ago, I decided to try out the Full Spectrum Infrared Sauna Therapy at Sweatspa located in Great Eastern Mall. I have never been to a sauna before, let alone a full spectrum infrared sauna, whatever that means! But… I decided to give it a go and experience this sophisticated looking therapy anyway.

Booking

There are a few ways for you to book your sauna session.

1. Walk-in
   • First-time sessions are at RM72. This is really worth it!
   • Google them! They have four different branches all over KL.
2. Call for an appointment
3. Classpass
   • This was how I did mine — through classpass. My first session with them was somewhat affordable as it was only at 7 credits! My second was relatively more expensive at 13 credits though.

The first thing that caught my eye as I read through the description of the spa was that it claims to be able to burn as much as 700 worth of calories in just one session. Honestly, I couldn’t believe it when I read it, but it definitely charmed me to the point I knew I could not ignore it. I mean, come on, 700 calories burned just by sitting down in heat? Sure, I can do that!

I’m pretty sure you’re just as intrigued as I am, aren’t you? With all those benefits it can offer you in just a session, you’re definitely googling for the contact number now, am I right?

Well, I definitely had to try it out if it was legit. I came to the spa with zero knowledge in hand but full of expectations on what it can offer.

Here’s what happened.

The one hour session comprises of two things:

1. 20 mins of consultation (pre- and post-sauna)

2. 40 mins of sauna therapy

In the first 10 mins of your session, the consultant will take your body measurements to analyze your fat and muscle percentages, as well as your overall body composition percentage. Higher percentage of body composition simply means that you are going towards the right direction, towards an ideal body shape — with lesser fat and higher muscle mass.

The idea of this consultation is to actually prove that even a session of sauna do shows immediate results. You will expect to see some percentage decrease of fat and higher percentage of muscle by the end of your sauna session.

Then, you will be escorted to the room in which the consultant will brief you on the sauna machine and what goes on while you’re in there. It’s recommended to go in there bare naked (don’t worry you are alone in this room, no cameras, and you can lock the door too) because trust me, you will be completely drenched anyway.

You may control the temperature in the sauna to your liking, but my session was averaged out between 57-58 degrees Celsius. I swear, the last 5 minutes was probably the longest for me as I couldn’t keep still cos it was really hot! But, as I said, you could actually control the temperature so that it is manageable for you. I just realized I could do that at the end of my session… so, you know… silly me for not asking about it earlier.

After the 40 minutes, you may call the consultant to hand you a cold towel so you can wipe off the sweat and to balance out the temperature of your body. Once you’re all set, the consultant will take your measurements again to compare the readings from before, and to observe an overall improvement from the session.

Outcome

This may seem a little embarrassing as I have now realized I have a lot of tummy fat (shame on me!), but I guess I can show you what my readings are so you know what to expect out of this sauna session.

Notice that my body percentage dropped 0.3% after the session! Not to mention, my overall body composition increased from 69% to 70%. Of course, it is not a drastic change, but it is a change nonetheless! Ultimately, it proves that there is immediate change just after one session. Although I have to admit that you may also see similar results if you were to do other intense workouts such as running, or HIIT. The consultant told me that the intensity of this workout is equivalent to jogging 3-4 km. I can’t 100% vouch for that, but I did feel exhausted, dehydrated and completely drenched in my own sweat after the session. I had to sit down right after getting out of the sauna for a few minutes as I was feeling lightheaded. It was a little intense, maybe because I wasn’t used to the heat, but it was definitely tiring too. All in all, it did feel like a workout, but much better, due to the benefits of what an infrared sauna can give you. The two most apparent to me were:

1. Detoxifying body from toxins
   • The first 10 mins of sauna will have you sweating as if you’re going for a workout, you know, like those sticky sweat we all hate so much, right? But the other 30 minutes will have you drip out water as if you’re showering. These liquids are actually toxins being removed from your skin. I also noticed things coming off from my skin, and I thought they were ‘daki’, but they’re actually toxins that are being removed!
2. Weight management
   • It burns calories, and a good amount at that too! Although it is not recommended to have it as a replacement to exercising, it can be a good add-on to your workout routine. It can also act as a replacement on days that you’re too busy to hit the gym. But, it does do a good job in maintaining an ideal weight as it proves to reduce a small percentage of fat even in just one session.

There are a lot more benefits other than those two, trust me. You just have to try it out for yourself!

Honest opinion

Truthfully, I was absolutely amazed by the whole experience especially because it showed immediate results. I was amazed at the fact that it was not your traditional sauna (I did go to a traditional sauna a couple of days after to experiment) because it was not as scorching hot. You can definitely feel the heat, but not as intense as a traditional sauna. This goes back to the foundation of the infra red sauna, in which it applies a full spectrum of wavelength so it can penetrate not just on your skin, but deeper into your body for that full-on application.

I also liked how my body felt after the session, in which I felt more energized and more relaxed as if I had a really good workout.

I was definitely in love with it that I came back for another session on Sunday, and brought my mom to try it out too. I also had the privilege of meeting the owner of the sauna, Sabrina, who I respect so much for her passion and dedication of introducing this cutting edge technology to Malaysia.

Overall, I really enjoyed my session and would definitely recommend many others to give it a go! Even my mom loved it!

Thanks for reading.

Love,

Yasmine