Infrared Sauna Trends: 5x Search Growth, Geographic Shifts, and the Evidence Gap

ByBNW Staff

If you’ve glanced at wellness content in the past few years, you’ve probably noticed infrared saunas showing up everywhere — in spas, in apartment building amenity floors, in home catalogs. This isn’t a vibe shift. Google Trends data shows over a five-fold relative increase in search volume of ‘infrared sauna’ between 2004 and 2023.

Key takeaways

The Search Data Says This Isn’t a Passing Fad

Google searches for “infrared sauna” grew more than fivefold between 2004 and 2023.

Related keywords ‘skin aging’, ‘light therapy’, and ‘infrared sauna benefits’ showed parallel increasing interest alongside the main term. People are connecting infrared saunas to looking and feeling better.

Yelp data confirms people are acting on the interest. The platform reported a 40% annual increase in infrared sauna usage. Search interest is climbing, usage is climbing, and one thing is notably absent: ‘infrared sauna safety’ didn’t generate enough search volume to produce a trend line at all. Between 2004 and 2023, safety wasn’t a question people asked.

How an Infrared Sauna Actually Works

A traditional sauna heats the air around you. An infrared sauna uses light wavelengths to warm your body directly. Infrared rays penetrate skin deeper than warmed air, increasing perspiration despite lower temperatures. That tolerability is the whole appeal.

There are three types: near-infrared, mid-infrared, and far-infrared. You don’t have to remember the wavelengths. The practical takeaway is that far-infrared is the most common type in commercial equipment, and it represents roughly 33.5% of the sauna market when segmented by technology.

The key mechanism is penetration. Infrared rays reach deeper into your body than warmed air, which is why you sweat at lower temperatures.

From Rhode Island to South Dakota: Where the Interest Spread

Geospatial analysis of ‘infrared sauna’ search volume shows a diffusion pattern. In 2004, the top search states were Rhode Island, Maine, and Washington D.C. — coastal, urban, early-adopter territory. By 2023, the list had shifted to South Dakota, Montana, and Rhode Island. Inland states now lead.

In 2004, only 16 states registered any search traffic for ‘infrared sauna’. By 2023, every state plus D.C. did.

We are not going to over-interpret why one particular state ranks first. The spread itself is the finding. Infrared saunas moved from 16 states in 2004 to every state plus D.C. in 2023.

The Wellness Claims Run Way Ahead of the Science

A Google search in incognito mode of ‘infrared sauna’ first 10 pages found a pattern.

Wellness claims about skin and detox run far ahead of what studies actually show — no PubMed research exists on infrared sauna skin benefits.

Twenty-three non-medical sources promised skin clarity, pore clearing, and acne reduction. Nine claimed benefits for rashes and wound healing. Thirty-eight detoxification claims came from spas and sauna studios — commercial sources selling sessions, not medical sources studying outcomes.

Of the four medical sources that appeared in those results, none claimed evidence-based skin benefits.

A separate PubMed search — the biomedical literature database, found zero studies specifically examining infrared sauna skin benefits or safety.

Missing evidence is not evidence of harm. Consumers are making decisions on marketing, not data.

Red flag: A “detoxification” claim that never names which toxins are being measured or how. If a source can’t say what’s being removed, it can’t cite data for its removal.

The tell is a “detoxification” claim that never names which toxins are being measured or how. If a source can’t say what’s being removed, it can’t cite data for its removal. The full breakdown of detox claims includes 38 from spas, 5 from retailers, and 4 from media sites.

So, Is It Safe? What the Research Can and Can’t Say

Does infrared sauna cause cancer? A PubMed literature search found no studies examining infrared sauna skin benefits and safety.

A PubMed literature search found no studies examining infrared sauna skin benefits and safety. The trends shaping the markets reflect growing consumer interest despite that gap, though many users seek out these devices for benefits like detoxification and improved circulation. That does not make infrared saunas dangerous, but it does not make them proven safe either.

The documented risks concentrate on uncertified products. Uncertified thermal blankets pose risks including wiring defects, structural overheating, and electrical short circuits. For a complete buying guide, that’s a product-safety problem, not a modality problem, and the fix is checking certifications.

The near-silence on safety searches suggests most people are not aware of these risks. No clinical guidelines exist for optimal time, frequency, or temperature of use, and no independent head-to-head comparison of certification bodies is available.

Certification marks like UL 1647 are becoming the key signal for buyers who want evidence over marketing hype.

What’s Driving the Boom: Home Adoption

Coherent Market Insights projects the global infrared sauna market will reach $3.64 billion by 2033, with a 9.8% annual growth rate — yet the evidence on workout recovery remains lukewarm.

Almost 60% of the sauna market is now residential, and modular manufacturing is the reason. Modular manufacturing advancements have lowered structural barriers to installing saunas in apartments and high-rises. Infrared sauna blankets are also selling well in Europe and North America, giving people a lower-cost entry point.

High-end commercial studios can serve as paid discovery channels for residential sauna conversion. A mistake is picking a unit before checking ceiling height, electrical load, or ventilation.

Saunas Are Becoming Wellness Platforms

Infrared saunas are increasingly paired with halotherapy (salt therapy), red light therapy, PEMF, chromotherapy, VRT, and aromatherapy. As the #1 manufacturer of custom infrared home sauna with red light therapy, SaunaCloud exemplifies how buyers want one unit that does more, and a brand quietly becoming one of Australia’s most trusted shows this trend is going global.

FUMEI’s premium blanket models incorporate natural gemstones, PEMF technology, and photon light arrays. SaunaCloud builds integrated systems with red light therapy. The strategy is to stop selling a wooden box that gets hot and start selling a wellness platform with bundled therapies.

Bundled therapies are not clinically proven to enhance each other. The convergence is a market strategy, not a medical breakthrough.

Why Certification Is Becoming a Competitive Edge

The market is sorting itself out through certification. In the European Economic Area, electrical wellness products require the CE mark to be sold. In North America, UL 1647 is the benchmark.

FUMEI, one of the manufacturers in this space, holds more than 20 international certifications — including CE, FCC, FDA, RoHS, ISO 9001, UKCA, PSE, CB, CCC, and VOC.

Shipping uncertified products means risking customs detention, platform delisting on marketplaces like Amazon, and liability downstream. A brand sourcing from an uncertified supplier to shave unit costs may watch a shipment get held at customs or a listing disappear when regulators question the paperwork.

For consumers, certification functions as trust. Visible certification marks reduce purchase hesitation and lower return rates. Sophisticated buyers focus on safety anchors and low-EMF performance rather than marketing. Regulatory standards are tightening, certified manufacturers absorb those changes as routine, while uncertified suppliers become liability.

Trade Policy Meets the Sauna Market

The U.S. more than doubled the countervailing duty on Canadian softwood lumber in 2025 and added a 10% Section 232 tariff.

Clean, unaltered wood is a safety argument in saunas because clients heat and breathe in the space. Material transparency is a major theme; safe heated space depends on clean, unaltered wood. Material transparency is becoming a premium differentiator. SaunaCloud, for example, builds with Western Red Cedar and makes the material choice central to its pitch.

With cedar supply and softwood lumber costs under pressure, knowing what the unit is made of — and why that matters in a heated room, is increasingly part of the decision.

The Wellness Shift That’s Pulling Infrared Saunas Along

McKinsey data shows roughly half of U.S. consumers now prioritize clinical effectiveness over natural ingredients; only 20% say natural ingredients matter most. Consumers prioritize clinical effectiveness.

Four in ten consumers now incorporate low-impact exercise into their routines, and 41% say calming and relaxing benefits are the primary motivation.

The demographics reinforce the trend. Seventy-eight percent of baby boomers say wellness has become more important to them, 67% prioritize health for a long life, and 30% are motivated by mobility. The alcohol-free movement adds another layer: about 25% of people of every age have chosen an alcohol-free lifestyle, and one in five is considering it. At-home health testing is rising too — 26% for vitamin deficiencies, 24% for cold and flu, 23% for cholesterol.

An infrared sauna fits inside that story.

The Next Decade: Trust, Evidence, and Material Honesty

The infrared sauna market is moving past fad wellness into a mature phase. The searchers are better informed, the home buyers are more practical, and the certification infrastructure is getting stricter.

Buyers are starting to reward brands that explain the science, the design choices, the safety standards, and the installation requirements. As Christopher Kiggins, founder of SaunaCloud, put it: “Trust is becoming the product.”

The brands that win the next decade will close the gap this research exposes — between marketing claims and available evidence. Evidence-based marketing, real safety certifications, material transparency, and honest consumer education, that’s the bar.

The interest is real. The market is real. But the evidence is still catching up — so treat the marketing claims as what they are, and check what’s actually certified before you heat anything up.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the downside to an infrared sauna?

The main downside is that the evidence lags behind the marketing. Many claims about skin benefits and detoxification are not backed by peer-reviewed studies, so you are often buying into promises rather than proven outcomes. There is also a safety gap with uncertified products — wiring defects and overheating risks are real, but most people do not know to check for certifications.

Does infrared sauna help lower cortisol?

Many users and wellness sources claim infrared saunas help lower cortisol and promote relaxation, but the research has not caught up to those claims. A PubMed literature search found no studies examining infrared sauna skin benefits and safety.

What happens to your body when you use an infrared sauna every day?

There is no long-term research on the effects of daily infrared sauna use, so it is hard to say definitively. In the short term, you will likely sweat at lower temperatures than a traditional sauna because infrared rays penetrate deeper into your body. But without safety studies, daily use is a decision based on personal comfort rather than proven outcomes.

Are infrared sauna detox claims backed by science?

No, they aren’t. A Google search in incognito mode of ‘infrared sauna’ first 10 pages found 38 detox claims from commercial sources like spas, but a PubMed literature search found no studies examining infrared sauna skin benefits and safety. The tell is when a source cannot name which specific toxins are being removed — if it cannot say what is being measured, it cannot cite data for its removal.