The 5 Best Infrared Sauna Blankets, Tested & Reviewed
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Get your sweat on.
InStyle / Reese Herrington
The residents of Finland have been locking themselves in rooms to sweat for nearly 2,000 years. This sauna tradition has persisted through the millennia for good reason: Exceptional and very real health benefits, like relieving muscle tension, improving sleep quality, and boosting mood.
But unless you happen to be a hardcore Finnish carpenter, chances are you’re not constructing a sauna room in your home—but a sauna blanket can give you the exact same sweaty benefits. "Infrared sauna blankets are just a newer spin on the traditional sauna experience,” says NYC-based board-certified dermatologist, Dr. Macrene Alexiades. “Infrared rays heat up the body with less impact on the temperature of the room, but still induce the intense sweating that characterizes a sauna experience.”
We’re not fans of wasting money and these wellness tools aren’t cheap, so we did the work for you. The InStyle editorial team tested 10 sauna blankets for five weeks. We evaluated each blanket across a set of criteria, including whether it was an easy set up, the degree of comfort we experienced lounging in the blankets (particularly the amount of wiggle room), helpful high tech features, range of heat settings, and the experience overall. Each blanket on this list earned the highest scores across each category to earn a spot on this list.
Best Overall: LifePro RejuvaWrap Infrared Sauna Blanket
What We Love: This blanket provides an undeniably rejuvenating feel and features a non-toxic, waterproof fabric.
What We Don’t Love: The highest heat setting might not be sufficient for those who are frequent sauna goers.
We selected LifePro RejuvaWrap Infrared Sauna Blanket as our best overall choice, which we used once a week for three months. Although almost $400, this investment-worthy sauna blanket made us feel refreshed and energetic, simply after one use. The blanket—crafted from non-toxic, waterproof faux leather with layers of flexible cotton underneath—also came with handy accessories like a head towel, a carrying bag, and a pack of five disposable detox wraps to lay in for an ultra sweaty session.
We loved the effortless setup process—we just rolled it out, plugged it in, set the timer to 60 minutes and went to sleep. If you’re new to the sauna game, we suggest starting off on the lower end of the heat spectrum. On the other hand, if you’re a frequent sauna-goer we think you’ll be comfortable using a higher level heat setting. In fact, you might even wish the temperature went even higher—we did notice that for those of us accustomed to regular exposure to sauna heat, we could’ve used another level or two. Also we would have preferred a pillow instead of the head towel that came with this sauna blanket.
Material: Polyurethane leather, waterproof oxford fabric | Temperature Range: 77–176 degrees | Heating Zones: 1 | Automatic Shut Off: Yes | Settings: 8 settings with timer up to 1 hour | Dimensions: 71 in x 31 in unfolded | Weight: 18.21 pounds | Storage Case: Yes | Closure: Zipper
Best Budget: LifePro BioRemedy Infrared Sauna Blanket
What We Love: For an affordable price, this blanket supplies ample heat, and it even features zippered slits on the side for your arms to move around freely.
What We Don’t Love: The material feels a bit too plasticky, we wish it was more soft.
If you want the spa-like treatment without those spa membership prices, consider the LifePro BioRemedy Infrared Sauna Blanket, which we tested twice a week on average for an entire month. This soothing blanket increases your body temperature, helping you to accelerate your sweat level and release toxins. And we can confidently say that our sweat levels were through the roof. We even got a little too warm while sweating everything out, but we were easily able to give ourselves some air by unzipping the splits on the side of the blanket to rest our arms outside of the blanket. In fact, this was our favorite feature for moments we got too hot, but didn't want to jump all the way out.
And thanks to the long cord, we could use this big sleep bag-style blanket basically everywhere—on the living room floor, sofa, and even our bed. To boot, this affordable option rolled up easily to fit into our closet or we could keep it laying flat and just slide it under the couch or bed. As for features that we could have gone without, the interior of the blanket was a bit too plasticky. Also, this blanket did get very warm, and it might take some time to fully acclimate if you're sensitive to heat.
Material: Polyurethane leather, waterproof oxford fabric | Temperature Range: 113–176 degrees | Heating Zones: 1 | Automatic Shut Off: Yes | Settings: 3 settings with timer up to 1 hour | Dimensions: 71 in x 36 in unfolded | Weight: 10.3 pounds | Storage Case: Yes | Closure: Zipper
Best Temperature Range: MiHIGH Infrared Sauna Blanket by Gravity
What We Love: There are nine heat levels with temperatures from 95 degrees to 167 degrees, making this blanket great for sauna aficionados and beginners alike.
What We Don’t Love: The weight of the blanket is a bit much, which might feel comforting to some but not others.
If you’re the type to go from warm to hot in a flash, you’ll love the wide range of temperature settings on this sauna blanket. We flipped between temperatures quickly and easily when we got too warm, so the impressive temperature range—95 to 167 degrees—was great for the InStyle sauna newbies who started at a moderately hot temperature and worked their way up.
During each sweat session, we could just slide into the amazingly spacious blanket and stretch out (after setting the timer), close our eyes, and not worry about a thing, thanks to the automatic shut off once the session was over. And when we got a little too toasty, we didn’t have to unzip the blanket and disrupt our experience—we just kept the remote nearby and dialed it down when we needed to.
Material: Polyurethane leather exterior, waterproof fabric interior | Temperature Range: 95–167 degrees | Heating Zones: 1 | Automatic Shut Off: Yes | Settings: 9 settings with timer up to 1 hour | Dimensions: 62 in unfolded | Weight: 20.1 pounds | Storage Case: Yes | Closure: Zipper
Best Zero EMF: Heat Healer Infrared Sauna Blanket
What We Love: The design of the blanket provides the safest sauna blanket experience on this list.
What We Don’t Love: It’s very large, so this blanket is not ideal for those who are limited in space.
EMF stands for electromagnetic fields, which, in non-marketing speak, is more commonly called radiation. This sounds worse than it is, as most EMF is not harmful; designed with zero-EMF infrared coils specifically developed to cut emissions to zero, this tech-forward blanket promises a totally safe experience. It's also made with 96 jade and tourmaline stones, which felt like an incredible mini-massage beneath our backs, but the real purpose is to aid the body’s absorption process by dispersing heat within the coils.
Although we enjoyed how we felt once inside the blanket, we weren’t huge fans of the set up process. One, the instructions didn’t mention what we should wear while inside the blanket, and we felt that this could've been a bit more explicit. And two, it was sort of annoying to unroll the blanket because of how large it was. We even struggled to fit it on our couch and had to remove some of the cushions to make it fit, but it was smooth sailing from there.
Material: Premium heat resistant Aramid fabric | Temperature Range: 140–176 degrees | Heating Zones: 1 | Automatic Shut Off: Yes | Settings: 9 settings with timer up to 1 hour | Dimensions: 75 in x 69 in unfolded | Weight: 24 pounds | Storage Case: Yes | Closure: Zipper
Best for Muscle Recovery: HigherDose Infrared Sauna Blanket
What We Love: The warmth of the blanket helped soothe our muscle aches.
What We Don’t Love: It doesn't come with a carrying case.
Dealing with achy muscles can be a chore on its own, so why not make things a bit easier for yourself by simply slipping into the HigherDose Sauna Blanket? This relaxing blanket uses infrared technology to elevate the body’s thermal energy, which in turn, increases blood flow through the body to get rid of lactic acid stored in your muscles. We would have loved an option to select independent heating zones to target specific muscle soreness, but overall, we don't know how we lived so long without it in our post-workout routine.
To soothe our muscles, we decided to put this blanket to the test, using it everywhere from the bed to the couch. The instructions were very clear, and it didn’t take us long to begin our sweating process. And after just one hour of sweating, we noticed that our muscles felt much looser. There was also an overall feeling of flexibility, almost as if we had just completed a thorough stretching session. To wrap things up, we simply sprayed the blanket with a disinfectant spray and wiped it down.
Material: Non-toxic PU leather body with amethyst and tourmaline crystals | Temperature Range: 60–158 degrees | Heating Zones: 1 | Automatic Shut Off: Yes | Settings: 8 settings with timer up to 1 hour | Dimensions: 71 in x 71 in unfolded | Weight: 16.45 pounds | Storage Case: No | Closure: Zipper
What to Keep in Mind
Material: Infrared sauna blankets are typically constructed of synthetic materials, like polyurethane, or a blend of vegan and standard leathers. It’s important to look for materials that are free of solvents and other toxins, which have the potential to release gas.
The best infrared sauna blankets will provide proof that their materials have been independently tested by an accredited lab. These tests demonstrate whether their materials meet FCC standards for radiated emissions, SGS Labs for toxins and international safety standards, says Heat Healer founder, Lauren Dovey.Temperature Range: “A full-size infrared sauna generally is heated to between 110 and 135 degrees,” says Samantha Altan, a personal trainer and corrective exercise specialist. “So you’ll definitely want your blanket to achieve those temperatures as well.” She tells clients to look for sauna blankets with a minimum temperature of 68 degrees and a maximum of around 158 degrees.
If you’re sensitive to heat, it’s particularly important to consider the highest heat setting as well as the time it takes for the blanket to reach it. “Start with lower temperatures and shorter sessions, gradually increasing them as your tolerance builds,” says Dr. Tony Nakhla, a board-certified dermatologist with a practice in Orange County, California,Settings: All infrared sauna blankets are equipped with temperature settings, and some offer more specificity and customization than others. Some models offer multiple heating zones, allowing you to more precisely control the temperature in different areas of the blanket. If, for example, you know you’d like your feet to stay cooler than your torso, this might be an appealing feature for you. You’ll also likely want a model with a built-in timer, says board-certified naturopath, Dr. Lana Butner, to support an overall zen vibe.
Size: "Some people can tend to feel a bit claustrophobic if the blanket is too tight or heavy,” warns Shana Ominsky, Executive Director of Lake Austin Spa. If that sounds like you, make sure to look for roomier models.
Type of Closure: The best infrared sauna blankets generally utilize either a zip or a velcro closure. Zippers not only provide ease of accessibility, but they trap heat better, making them more energy efficient as well.
On the other hand, we tested several sauna blankets with thick velcro closures, which we found surprisingly strong, and it's also much faster to jump out of a velcro blanket than a zippered option, in case a bout of claustrophobia hits.
Your Questions, Answered
How do infrared sauna blankets work?
An infrared sauna blanket delivers heat to your body through the air, similar to what you would experience in a cabin, just in a much smaller space. According to Dovey, this is what makes infrared sauna blankets so great: “A sauna blanket actually heats up quicker and is more energy efficient and space saving than a traditional cabin.”
What are the benefits of an infrared sauna blanket?
The benefits of infrared saunas mirror and even improve upon those of traditional home saunas, according to all of our experts.
Cardiovascular function: Dr. Alexiades calls out that sauna has been shown to improve and strengthen the heart's ability to keep blood flowing and lower blood pressure, increase metabolism and release toxins from the body.
Detoxifying properties: Dr. Butner says that internal organs, including the kidney, bowels, lymph nodes and lungs, reap major detoxifying benefits from infrared therapy.
Skin health: "On the skin level, sauna use has been reported to not only flush out toxins, but also to remove dead skin cells, purge clogged pores, deliver fresh nutrient supplies to the epidermis, and help reduce the prevalence of stress-related skin breakouts," says Dr. Alexiades. Keep a bathrobe nearby to absorb excess sweat before hitting the shower.
Pain relief + muscle relaxation: “The heat of a sauna helps promote muscle relaxation by reducing muscle tension and eliminating lactic acid and other toxins that may be present,” says Altan. “Under the high-heat provided by a sauna, the body releases endorphins which can also help to minimize pain. As the body temperature rises in the heat of the sauna, blood vessels dilate allowing for increased blood circulation, which in turn speeds the body’s natural healing process.”
Stress relief + overall wellness: "One of the best attributes of the blankets,” says Ominsky, “is that when you are lying down it allows the blood to circulate and that contributes to a deeper relaxation, while reducing stress and all the other self-care benefits as well.”
What are the downsides of using an infrared sauna blanket?
Dr. Nakhla explains that although infrared sauna blankets are certainly beneficial, experts are still unsure with regard to whether or not they are as effective as actual saunas. “The effectiveness of infrared sauna blankets compared to traditional saunas is a matter of debate, with some experts questioning their ability to provide the same benefits.”
Are infrared sauna blankets safe?
Children, pregnant women, and anyone with a heart condition or sensitivity should avoid sauna blankets until speaking with their physician for clearance.
Exposure to high heat over long periods of time can lead to burning, overheating, and dehydration according to Dr. Nakhla. It can also lead to irritation if you have sensitive skin or skin conditions such as eczema, psoriasis, and dermatitis.
What should I wear under an infrared sauna blanket?
You should fully cover your body with all-natural materials while using an infrared sauna blanket. Long-sleeves, pants, and socks are all recommended for two reasons. First, it will help protect both your skin and the blanket itself by avoiding any direct contact. Second, the layer of fabric will help to absorb excess sweat, making clean up easier.
How often can you use an infrared sauna blanket?
Our experts all agree that it is safe for most people to use an infrared sauna blanket daily, as long as you are properly hydrating before and after your sessions. “We would suggest three to four times per week for 30 to 60 minutes for at least six weeks,” says Dovey, especially after a workout or run to help support muscle recovery. “15 minutes helps to relax you and provide muscle relief, whereas 30 to 60 minutes works to get a good sweat on, increase circulation, burn calories and improve cardiovascular function.”
Why Shop with Us
Peter Tittiger and Lauren K. Tappan are contributing writers at InStyle. To write this article, Tittiger consulted board-certified dermatologist Dr. Macrene Alexiades, board-certified naturopath Dr. Lana Butner, Shana Ominsky, Executive Director of Lake Austin Spa Resort, personal trainer Samantha Altan, and Lauren Dovey, the founder of Heat Healer. Tappan consulted Lisa Mitro, DPT, a Virginia-based physical therapist who specializes in injury prevention and rehabilitation for runners, and Dr. Tony Nakhla, a board-certified dermatologist in Orange County, California, to learn the science behind the sauna blankets.
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