City Sweats: The Science Behind Sweating (and Why Its Good For You)
June 10, 2024 - by Soumya Sahay
City Sweats: The Science Behind Sweating (and Why Its Good For You)
Trying to keep up with a healthy lifestyle can be difficult, but City Sweats offers services that let you sweat off that stress. Franchise owner Janet Lee opened City Sweats Bellevue in 2019, and loves bringing new people to the infrared sauna spa experience.
“We focus on wellness using infrared therapy, lymphatic drainage, massage therapy and much more,” said Lee, Washington native and proud City Sweat owner.
Infrared saunas are unique because the electromagnetic light waves penetrate 4 inches into your skin, providing clearer results, more calories lost, and even quicker muscle recovery after a workout. The PNW business is the original infrared sauna, and differs from other spas in their extensive services list and unique knowledge of the craft.
“Some spas and gyms have saunas, but usually you’re sweating with other people. With us, you’re in your own room, which we keep super clean. We also have Bluetooth in the sauna cabins, so you can play your own music if you want to,” said Lee.
Though they are enough to bring in a crowd of customers, sauna cabins are just the surface of what City Sweats has to offer. Experience chromotherapy during your visit to City Sweats, which is the act of matching your body vibrations to a particular color, and receiving the mental and physical health benefits associated with that frequency.
For example, red light therapy has gotten especially popular recently, as it has been shown to improve and support circulatory and nervous functions. It increases your rate of breathing by increasing your blood pressure, allowing more oxygen into your system.
“When you’re sweating, you sweat out metals, heavy toxins, bacteria, germs but it also increases your serotonin and dopamine, and all those feel-good chemicals to help you relax,” said Lee. “In this day and age, there’s just so much going on, to find something that you can utilize your body’s natural response to heat, to infrared, is really pretty incredible.”
Alongside the services mentioned, City Sweats also offers Mechanical Lymphatic Drainage, which naturally works to improve your circulation. The service is meant to maintain strong blood circulation, and aid immune functions.
Best of all, City Sweats has a ‘Sweat with a Friend’ service, where you can spend your sauna cabin session with your close friends, releasing tension and catching up on life. The option comes with a discounted price, and freedom to use the space how you relax best.
“We have clients who will come in once a week, and they’ll sweat together, and all they do is they come in, they sweat, and they catch up on the week. That’s also something we can do to increase our dopamine and serotonin, is to socialize, be with your friends. People will sweat with their significant others as well.”
How much can “sweating it out” really help?
More than you might think.
According to an article by the UW School of Medicine and Public Health, more time in a sauna meant less sudden cardiac deaths and less risk of cardiovascular disease due to increased blood flow and decreased stress.
The National Library of Medicine agrees, though with caution, as limited studies have been done on the health effects of infrared saunas. However, it has been shown that these heat-controlled rooms have had exercise-like effects on the people who use them, in terms of physical responses like increased blood pressure and heart rate.
“We always have membership options, to help people get on that regiment, it helps people just take care of themselves. We have a new one that just came out that’s unlimited for infrared saunas only for $199/month, so you could sweat every day for as little as $6/day. And with a membership, you can go to any four of our locations.”
So, consider stopping by City Sweats after your next workout to add some extra sweat to your workout routine, or just to relax and release some stress, all while helping your mental and physical health.
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City Sweats
825 Bellevue Way NE
Bellevue, WA 98004
