EMF Levels in Infrared Saunas: What You Need to Know

What Is EMF?

EMF (Electric and Magnetic Fields) describes the available peripheral energy that surrounds any wiring used to pass electricity of any form, whether it is the electricity that runs everything in your house, work-place or car, or the radio signals that transmit from your Wi-Fi, cell phone, baby monitor, or even the electric discharge between the sky and earth when lightning strikes. The available energy from EMF can be in the form of  electrical energy, magnetic energy, or a combination. A transmitted radio signal (a wave that travels through space such as a cellular or Wi-Fi signal) contains a coupled combination of both electric and magnetic field. One very common source of EMF is the AC power line that runs everything in your house. This AC  cycles through its voltage level  60 times a second in the USA, so it is referred to as 60 Hertz (60Hz).  Most EMF that you hear or read about about is either due to 60 Hz or radio signals from Wi-Fi or cell phones. With respect to emfs in infrared saunas, it is the EMF generated from the 60 Hz power signal the power is the heaters in the infrared sauna, as well as the other electronics in the infrared sauna, that creates most of the discussion. 

EMF is only considered available energy and not used energy until the energy is imparted into something, such as a human body, so that it gets absorbed or used. The EMF from the AC power is peripheral energy because it manifests outside of the main conduction path or wire that’s carrying electric current. EMF is always present in our environment to a lesser or greater degree. It is that degree that needs to be addressed. 

How much EMF is too much?

For decades, people have been concerned about:  how much EMF would have no effect on the human body, how much would have a tolerable effect on the human body, and how much would have an effect to be really concerned about. For general exposure, there’s always a push to keep the EMF as low as practical. (However, not all EMF is bad.  Surprisingly, in specific medical  situations, relatively large levels are often used for therapeutic reasons.) 

As with any health issue, whether it is EMF levels, or other common ones like supplements, or diet, there is a great deal of pseudoscience, speculation and conjecture in the popular information base that is substituted for solid scientific information. That is because there are so many variables among complex biological systems (a human is immensely complex) that it’s very difficult to isolate the impact of an experiment. Some things you can measure very directly, like how much of an environmental electrical magnetic signal appears on a nerve axon when passed through a specific amount of flesh or bone, and how much of this signal do you need to create an actual stimulus on that axon. given the best scientific information available,  international standards have been established that state safe operating thresholds for EMF exposure. Well designed Infrared saunas produce EMF levels that are a very, very small fraction of the safety threshold. 

There are those that assert the EMF scientific community cannot be trusted and that it is a narrow and closed group of people that are biased by those who fund the work and stand to benefit financially from a particular result. However, the truth is that there were actually hundreds of engineers, scientists and research doctors from dozens of organizations and many countries across multiple continents that came together in the analysis and determination of the safety standards that are in use right now. The safety standards are documented in great detail with thorough explanations for how the conclusions have been formed. As well,  these reports frankly point out what aspects have raised attention, but do not yet have any scientific backing. When there is new scientific evidence available, the safety standards will be updated. That is not to say there aren’t fringe elements that dispute these safety standards; However, the possibility that the mainstream standards exist because of some incredibly large worldwide conspiracy, spanning such a large number of interest groups, is extraordinarily unlikely. 

It will become clear from this discussion that the EMF exposure from an infrared sauna is so small as to be a tiny fraction of the safety limits, and hence insignificant.

The following discussion is from the report of the “International Commission on Non-ionizing Radiation Protection”2010. The commission updated their findings for frequencies from 100 kHz to 300 GHz in 2020 but left this standard, which goes from 10 Hz to 100 kHz, intact. 

There are two plots below that are labeled figure 2, and figure 3 from the technical journal that they were reported in (Health Physics). Those two plots reflect the numbers shown in table 4 (from the same report) below. As with most electrical safety standards over the years, there is a different and more lenient standard for people who are occupationally exposed because they’re expected to be able to take safety precautions. 

The AC power frequency of 60 Hz falls in the fourth row of table 4. The electric field is calculated with the equation

2.5x10² /f   ( kV/m²). = 2500/60 kv/m²  = 4166 V/m²

It can be seen in figure 2 below that for an X axis of 60 Hz the Y axis shows about a little above 4000 V/m². The usefulness of the graph is to show how the limits change as a function of frequency. But for purposes of a infrared sauna, we are looking at 60 Hz.

Typical electric fields in an infrared sauna at 60 Hz are of the order of 25-50 V/m², which is just 1% of the safety threshold.

At the safety threshold of 4200 V/m², the most sensitive 10% of the population can perceive the electric field, but it’s still would not cause any effect of significance and definitely not injury. Infrared saunas are generally around 1/100th of the threshold. Even if there are some small hotspots (I.e., localized spots where there’s a little higher EMF than the vast majority of the locations in the sauna), they would never exceed 1/10th of the threshold.

In table 4, the magnetic field is just 2x10^-4 Teslas = 2000 milligauss (mg).   

Review of Safety Standards for EMF at 60 Hz

·       4000 V/m

·       2000 mg

Typical emf in an infrared sauna would have operational measurements of 1/100 of this threshold. Then maybe some hotspots 1/30 of the threshold, but it would be very hard to find something larger than that.

To get a sense of the type and level of EMF that we typically live among, below is a reading of a typical electric kitchen stove when a burner is on. It varies as you move around in the kitchen, but it can get as high as 100 mg as seen in the photo below that is still just 5% of the ICNIRP threshold. An expensive microwave oven might have the same output and a cheap microwave oven might have a similar high electric field output because of poor shielding. Every house is different and some houses you have places that are very low e-fields but here’s a measurement from the center of my living room, for example, which shows 32 V/m, less than one percent of the ICNIRP  standard, but by some peoples characterization would be considered significant.

The IEEE (Institute for electrical and electronic engineers)  group also published a highly researched standard for safety levels with respect to human exposure to electromagnetic fields up to 3 kHz In 2002 and it was more lenient than the ICNIRP so there’s no need to consider that here.

All organizations that look at this recognize that there may be new scientific data that is forthcoming. We should always be vigilant and considering new safety standards that may emerge. It is always a personal choice to believe the science or believe conjecture.

References:

1.       ICNIRP GUIDELINES FOR LIMITING EXPOSURE TO TIME‐VARYING  ELECTRIC AND MAGNETIC FIELDS (1 HZ – 100 kHZ)   PUBLISHED IN: HEALTH PHYSICS 99(6):818‐836; 2010

2.       IEEE STD C95.6 2002 IEEE Standard For Safety Levels With Respect To Human Exposure To Electromagnetic Fields, 0-3kHz

 J. Fischer

Mr. Fischer is an electrical engineer with over 30 years experience measuring and suppressing emissions from electrical systems.