Demystifying Infrared Saunas for Physical & Mental Health – with Connie Zack

Dr. Mindy  

In this episode of The recenter podcast, I am bringing you Connie Zach, from sunlighten saunas. Now, this discussion has so many pieces to it. And I want you to think this through because the, what the recenter podcast stands for is helping you make smart choices around your health. And as many of you know, so many of us especially women don’t understand the mechanisms of how our bodies function, and how our bodies heal. And when I look at a tool like an infrared sauna, and I’ve been studying Infrared Saunas for over a decade, now, we see that it has a very powerful detox effect, and a very powerful parasympathetic effect. Now, for women over 40. Having a tool that we can use that will detox us in an easy way, is a lifesaver. When we look at the conditions that are happening to the thyroid, when we look at menopausal conditions like hot flashes, and, and depression. And when we look at cancers happening to women more in their postmenopausal years, this at the root of that is our toxins. So we have to find something that we can do on a daily basis to start to detox. So that’s one major piece you’re going to hear us talk about of all the different ways you can detox, and how an infrared sauna would fall into that. The second thing that I really want you guys to stay through and listen to, is that so many of us are in this sympathetic fight or flight world. And, and Connie actually taught me something, and that I’ve been deeply thinking about and I know many of you are going to resonate with this. When we are under chronic stress, we get locked in a part of our brain that we call the amygdala or it’s a fight or flight part of the brain. And when we are operating from fight or flight, we are not operating from our prefrontal cortex, which is the place of hope and possibility. And what you’re going to learn you’re going to hear us both talk about strategies that we have used to pull ourselves out of fight or flight, and why Infrared Saunas are a really quick way to move you into your prefrontal frontal cortex. So you are in that place of creativity, and hope and possibility. And then the last thing you’ll hear and again, really phenomenal, which is what infrared can do for depression. And I know so many of you are struggling with depression, especially post COVID. But my menopausal women, you’ll hear my theories on why 42% of us are depressed as we go through our Peri menopausal menopausal years. This was such a deep informative conversation, those of you are trying to figure out the difference between an infrared sauna and a rock hot sauna, we dive into that those of you that are looking for a tool that can really handle both improving your sympathetic or your parasympathetic nervous system help you detox and help you overcome depression. Sounds like a Russian woman’s lifestyle. To me, this is what you’re going to want to hear. So Connie Zak. And as always, I really hope this helps you and moves your health forward in a positive direction. Enjoy.

Dr. Mindy  

Hey, Dr. Mindy here, and welcome to season four of the recenter podcast.

Dr. Mindy  

Please know that this podcast is all about empowering you to believe in yourself. Again. If you have a passion for learning, if you’re looking to be in control of your health and take your power back, this is the podcast for you. Enjoy.

Dr. Mindy  

Connie, I have to tell you, I have so many questions, because I have been following watching trying to understand infrared saunas and why they are so beneficial for years. So let me start off by just welcoming you to the resetter podcasts super happy you’re here. And yeah, and I just I want to start off with like, the elephant in the sauna room. Which is why do we need to consider a sauna? Like what is it about saunas that can change the direction of our health?

Connie Zack  

Yeah, I think everyone should consider an infrared sauna because they make you feel so much better. And there’s lots of reasons why. But with so much going on in the world and just you know, feels like just coming out of COVID and so many things. You know, there’s a lot of things we can’t control. You know, there’s disease and stress and and you know

Connie Zack  

Jobs stuff and family stuff. And I mean, there’s just so much that what you can control is what you put into your body, you can control you know, your habits. And I think this is it’s one of the best habits that is, in fact, one of the easiest habits because you can have it stack, you can do multiple things while you’re in there. So everybody should, everybody should, you know, incorporate one into their lifestyle and you doesn’t have to be I know, we can talk about this. But it doesn’t have to be like a sauna that’s behind me that can be intimidating, because it’s a large cabin. And they think, Oh, where am I going to put that and that looks expensive. And you just all those things that go through your head. I mean, we have a small, tiny portable one, too. So it doesn’t, you don’t have to sacrifice, feeling great, you know, to have something that’s super expensive.

Dr. Mindy  

Yeah. And what I what I think and this is sort of what I want to highlight for everybody listening, is that we’re in this really interesting time in human history, where we are, I always say women specifically, but I would even throw men into this. We’re at an evolutionary mismatch with physical, emotional, and chemical stress. So if I go back, and I look at like I was born in 1969, you know, in the 70s, in the 80s, Health looks like eat right exercise, and a story like I don’t know, maybe take some supplements. But now health has gotten so much more complicated. And when we look at bio hacks, like the sauna, my feeling is fine. even five years ago, we looked at them as optional. And what I’m starting to see now in just interacting with so many people is that they have now actually become this incredible preventative tool, or healing tool, much like fasting, much like exercise much like eating well. And we need to bring this back in to our health habits. So talk a little bit about what is the mechanism behind infrared? I know what how, what I feel I know it from a hormonal perspective. But if somebody was going to implement this on a day to day into their life, what is the mechanism behind how it heals

Connie Zack  

us? Yeah, that’s a great question. And it’s important to for people to understand this, I’ll answer both hopefully in the same. Understand the difference between infrared and what people think about it, think of a traditional sauna, and infrared heats your body directly, versus heating the air, and then you get hot with the air being hot, traditional, or conventional, or being outside, you know, hot rocks, on Steam, saunas, all of those, we’ve kind of categorize in the traditional sense, because you’re hot, when you walk in to that environment, the air is hot, and so you are instantly hot. So you’re getting hot, you know, from from that heat being in the air, when you walk into a you know, sunlight and sauna, you can breathe really easily, it is not oppressive, you don’t get like, like you don’t you don’t doesn’t take your breath away. And that is because the wavelength may get a little scientific here, but the wavelength is longer and farther, the surface temperature of the heat, the heater that’s coming from is cooler. So it allows the wavelength if you just can kind of think of these just like beautiful slow beach waves, you know, they it can be absorbed and penetrated into the body, you know, and like captured by the cells and with the water molecules, that’s where the magic starts to happen is getting it inside your body versus having the heat stay in the air.

Dr. Mindy  

So there’s there’s the effect, the cellular effect of heat, and then there’s the sweating, are those two to be considered to sort of, therapeutically those are going after two different mechanism in the body? The way I see that?

Connie Zack  

Is that correct? Yeah, yeah. 100% Correct.

Dr. Mindy  

So what was interesting, and what first attracted me to infrared was the fact that that the way my brain understood this was that it simulated a fever. Would you say that that is and fevers heat the the body from the inside out to burn out an infection? Is that a proper way to look at an infrared? Correct?

Connie Zack  

Correct? Well, we say all the time at sunlight like back and 20 plus years ago, gosh, more than that. Now. I can’t believe it. We did a study on does our product as our heater. He increased the body’s core temperature, which is essentially the exact same thing. It’s just that right? Does it give the body does it induce a fever? And while still being safe, obviously, like I don’t want to, you know, cause anybody to have an alarm of like, I don’t want a fever. Well, you know what you actually do? Yeah, when you know that’s why a lot A lot of pediatricians and you know, most, you know, medical physicians, when you’re when your kid is small will say, Hey, let it run its course, you know, the best thing you can do for your kid is not medicate them. And because a fever is good, it’s changing the body. And whenever you change the body, which is what infrared does in so many different ways, which you can talk about, it makes the body stronger. If you I mean, the, the body is made up of a bunch of muscles. And when you change when you’re sore, you know, I always my kids come home, like, I make them I make them workout. It Come on, I’m so so I’m like, great. Yeah, what you’re trying to do is you’re trying to be so I don’t want to be sore. Well, do you want to be stronger? Yes, then you have to be sore. Well said, you can’t, you know, you can’t make a change unless you make a change.

Dr. Mindy  

Yeah, I think that’s a beautiful analogy, because we have been taught by our healthcare system, that any symptom that is a symptom other than I feel great, is a bad symptom. And yet you’re that is a perfect example that of the body has to break down to build itself up higher. If we look at the fever example, what’s really interesting in that one is, if we all truly asked ourselves as bad as a cold feels, when we come on the other side of a cold with a fever, we feel amazing. And I think a lot of times we think it’s because I felt so bad. So in contrast, I would feel amazing. But your body just cleaned not only the infection out, but it detox, do it burned all the bad out. So you’re literally a new person. So do we have any science or evidence of like, what exactly infrared is burning out of the cell and moving and mobilizing out of the body?

Connie Zack  

Yeah, there’s lots of studies on toxin removal. There’s a study that called the BU s study, which is blood, urine and sweat study that measured a lot of different components, such as, you know, the heavy metals, you know, pharmaceuticals, etc, to lots of toxins. And one of the main conclusions was that toxins that were not found in the blood in urine were found significantly in sweat. So we know that, you know, when if you’re not measuring, if you’re not considering, let me say a different light, because people aren’t going to measure it. But if you’re not considering it, measure it, you can do that you just do a SWOT analysis. But that’s not that’s too complicated. And I love I love your whole message. And I was listening to your YouTube and your, your, your hug, like everything is about making it simple, which I think because people will follow simple, yeah, complicated is for a certain, you know, you know, different type of person. And today, we need to make things simple. A grid, you know, so when you know, you’re looking at sweat, what’s important is that you’re like, the sweat that’s coming out of your body is making you feel better, because you’re changing. You’re the emperor as being absorbed is heating up your core temperature. Right. So you are literally creating a fever inside your body without disease. Yep. So when you’re sweating all that stuff out, you’re you’re you the reason you felt lighter. People always tell me that I feel so much lighter. I felt like my head’s clear. I feel like I have so much more energy. That is another really significant difference between a sunlight and sauna and a traditional steam or rock sauna is how you feel as far as energy afterwards, like a lot of times, and those types of in the traditional form people feel that, like that day at the beach, like at the end of the day, you’re just like, oh my gosh, you know, I’m exhausted. Yes, you know, you’re exhausted because you have all that heat. And that’s in the air and and that it takes a toll on, you know, on but it’s like years and years. Gosh, when we first started this business, there was a lot of evidence of, you don’t want a sauna. If you are hypertensive, or if you have any heart problems, you don’t want to get hot, you know, and we can talk about the change and all that later. Because reality is, you know, you, you want to get this powerful healing wavelength from the sun that’s natural without any harmful properties into your body with as much quantity as possible with the right frequency. And that’s really what sunlight that’s what we have focused on for the past 20 Some years is any sign of can be infrared, like the traditional saunas have a part of infrared and it because it’s part of the wavelength of light from the sun, but what you really want is you want to filter out all The nonhealing rays and you want to focus on the highest quantity possible have the right frequency of infrared. And get that into your body, increase your core temperature, how those water molecules move around, transform and change, push everything out and feel lighter, clearer, better, more energy, you know, and then you’ll also get the detox. I mean, you can all these other benefits as well.

Dr. Mindy  

So when we look at detox, there’s a wide spectrum of detox. And I’ve spent a large part of my career figuring out what the best detoxes detoxing 1000s of people. And one of the things I find about detox, it’s so difficult, is that it can bring up some really adverse symptoms. And what I love about the sauna, the infrared sauna is it doesn’t typically do that you go in, you feel yummy. If you sweat, you come out, you feel good. So if this could truly be an incredible detox tool, it’s so much easier to do than to go through a large supplement program. Do we have any studies showing? You know how much it detoxes us? I used to be you mentioned heavy metals. Do we know if it’s a detox is glyphosate and plastics? Does it get for the women in the group? Does it detox and to Kendras disruptors, like if we could use this as a tool on an every day or a weekly basis to detox these things, especially for women, this would be a game changer without the suffering.

Connie Zack  

Yeah, I totally agree. So that same study that the US study, yes, they measured plastics, all, you know, all of the heavy metals, oxycodone, I mean, all like all these, right? What was so powerful, and we were starting to talk about this we got distracted, is that the sweat is so much more detoxing through sweat is so much more powerful than detoxing from blood and urine, because you’re gonna get out so much more. So imagine this, we found they found in the study that Mercury was not, detox was not removed from the body, and blood or urine. But 100% was removed through sweat. So again, like I was saying, you know, people aren’t going to, like, measure that. But if you’re not looking at that as a resource as a way to rid your body of things that you don’t want in your body, you’re you’re missing a very valuable and efficient hack, for sure. So, you know, as far as some of the female aspects, we know that, you know, a definitely helps, you know, with your cortisol and your hormones, you know, has there been a specific study on detox with, you know, those types, you know, haven’t necessarily seen something that focused, especially with an infrared sauna. But I will tell you anecdotally, and from, you know, I go to a integrative concierge physician, and who’s, she’s just amazing, she has a sunlighten Sauna, she does it every day, she totally believes in and she was, she would say, you know, that it definitely helps with your thyroid and, you know, with with just removing in all the toxins in your body so that your body can then accept and change, you know, the good things, and, you know, and because it’s all this beautiful orchestra and Symphony when everything’s working, right, you know, and, you know, if something’s off balance, and it’s like, it sounds like a really bad violin or, you know, yeah, it’s not, it’s not singing in concert, you know. And in order to sing a concert together, you have to have the thyroid and all of the, you know, organs working together. And that’s one of the things that one of the benefits that infrared does on your body by moving everything.

Dr. Mindy  

Yeah. And when we look at things like thyroid, we look at, you know, the ovaries, we look at the brain. We learned living in the most toxic time in human history. So if you aren’t, you don’t have a detox strategy in place right now. You are setting yourself up for chronic disease. It’s just the way we eat, you know, the environment we live in. So one of the things I don’t was somebody on your team years ago, told me this hack, and I love it, which is you get in the sauna, and then knowing you’re detoxing, and then when you get out you can take some binders to bind to those toxins and you can also your your skin is so open, what you put on your skin actually will be absorbed and we want more easily. So we started doing this in my clinic where we would have people put women put probiotic lotion that we knew was really good on their abdomen after they Got out of the sauna? Do you have? Do you have any? I don’t think there’s maybe been any science on that. But is there a way to use the sauna post sauna to amplify a healing state, like I just mentioned, the only.

Connie Zack  

And it wasn’t really a, I mean, it was a study from sunlight and associate that is a little bit different, a little bit of a different angle, but it connects to the near infrared and our impulse sauna. And she did a study shed have immediate gallbladder surgery, and she used our near infrared LEDs to heal the wounds of her surgery. And they actually the third they did a control like they actually she mocked it up and did ABCD like the different, you know, incision points and showed, and they didn’t use a white men or anything, it was literally just a near infrared light and completely healed the wounds with a near infrared. And then she had one where she didn’t she did not put the LEDs. So she removed the panel and was able to just put it on Ah, so different answer, but that, that there’s a lot of sight. And that’s, there’s a lot a very extensive because when we came out with impulse, what 2009 10 So what does that 13 years ago, we relied on all the research that had already been done on the value of near infrared photo, bio modulation and on the skin, and how does this really help you know, the skin, and it’s, it’s so powerful each wavelength and we could talk forever about the power of the infrared spectrum as a whole. And then you separate it out and you have foreign for a mid infrared near infrared. And they all have their own like magical powers on the body. And depending on what you’re looking for, if you’re just looking for detox far, you know is good enough far we’ll get far we’ll get to the increase in core temperature, it’ll get you the increase, you know, the fever, it’ll get you the vibration of your water molecules, the changing of your cells that you know, mitochondria like impact, all of that is good enough. But then if you want to add on benefits, the other two by links have great capabilities as well.

Dr. Mindy  

And so this is interesting, I talked to me a little bit. So your sauna has all the wavelength. And I know you have, there’s a control and we can control all of it. But talk a little bit before I really want to also talk about parasympathetic nervous system, because that a lot of our listeners are rushing women that are trying to lose to figure out how to how to slow down, but talk about those different laser wavelengths, like what is it because it’s not just sitting in a box and like sweating, there’s there is a whole therapeutic value that we can use. So talk just so I understand the difference.

Connie Zack  

So there’s three wavelengths, far mid and near. And it’s really based on the surface temperature of the heater. So that you know the quantity and quality of the wavelength. And all of this, the infrared spectrum, which is again comes from the sun, all natural healing. That far infrared is the longest wavelength, it’s also the coolest wavelength of the three. So that’s the wavelength that goes the deepest, you know, as far as absorption into the body, and that’s the one that that works with your water molecules gives you the increase in core temperature. The second is mid, that’s hotter. So when you increase heat, you decrease the absorption of the wavelength. So the mid is shorter and chop choppier, and you’re going to feel hotter when you have the mid, you know, wavelength, it’s great for inflammation in the joint in tissues, there’s been studies done on flexibility, inflammation, muscle recovery, we are now working with so many different athletic facilities, professional athletes, because of the speed to get them back, you know, into their profession as quickly as possible. And then near which is I mean, that’s this like that’s just show on its own. It’s, it’s, it’s it’s complicated. And my passion is working hard to make it as simple as possible to help people understand. So it’s there’s invisible light that comes from it and there’s visible light and there is no heat that come because it’s that far is the coolest then mid then near near if you were really to deliver well you can’t but if if if you want theoretically, to deliver a high quantity of Near Infrared to the body, you would get burned. Because the temperature would have to be so incredibly hot, there’s no way you could be anywhere near it. And the value of near as being close to it. So far, you don’t have to be right next to it. And neither with med but near you, we all want to be as close as possible. So we’ve converted the near infrared wavelength to LEDs. And so there is no heat. Am and but there are so they’re super, super powerful. And they are amazing at skin rejuvenation, wound healing inflammation on the surface, you know, I used my near infrared when I was going through running training and doing when I was helping my husband, he wanted to do an Ironman. So I did the running portion with him. You know, which is a lot. And and but that was sauna was my tool. I mean, after a long run, I would run downstairs in my basement. Actually, I wouldn’t run downstairs, I would painfully walk areas or downstairs. But I would you know, right could run upstairs after 3040 minute sauna session. And I would place my feet and my knees the parts that were hurting my ankle, right, right up next to the LEDs. That way you could feel you can feel almost immediately the connection between the wavelength and you know, the muscles and the area that’s inflamed. And you can just feel it starting to, like go from the angry state to Okay, okay, I don’t need to be this mad.

Dr. Mindy  

So you’re so your sauna does all three wavelengths, it does all

Connie Zack  

three. And then we all sit well, that’s the impulse. So we have four different series we have a portable unit that has far infrared we have a wooden cabin has foreign for those two are like the same type it but once portable in a lie down and one’s a wooden cabin. And then we have amplify that has a blend of all three in front of you that’s hotter. Some people want that they want that boost of heat, far and behind you. And then we have impulse, which has all three. And now we just introduced so this is cutting edge on your show, we just introduced a fourth wavelength in there, which is the red light LEDs and so you have red, which crosses over so there’s invisible near infrared. And then once you cross over to kind of 660 nanometers and keep going to the left, you start to get into the different colors of light therapy, and red is right next to invisible. There’s great benefits of that. So we have now we have four different wavelengths. And we call it the smart sauna. Because we also have the tablet, we have programs and you’re able to use it via an app and also amazing.

Dr. Mindy  

Yeah, I mean, you guys have really tricked it out into this really healing modality, which is

Connie Zack  

trying to make it easy, right? Because if Yeah, easy, then people will do it over and over again, you just press a button, go in there and press, press the cardio button, press the anti aging button, you know, press the detox button, whatever weight loss, and then you don’t have to think anymore, you just sit back and relax.

Dr. Mindy  

Talk a little bit about its benefits on the parasympathetic nervous system. Because, you know, one of the biggest challenges I see specifically for women over 40 Is that as our ovaries are going into retirement, our sex hormones are going away. The burden of making sex hormones lands on the adrenal glands. And I don’t know, maybe there’s a handful maybe out there of 4543 year old women that are stress free, but for the most part, women in their 40s are so stressed out. And so this is a big piece that I see is causing so many Peri menopausal and menopausal symptoms. And what I noticed in my clinic when we are using your sauna, and what I’ve noticed with a few of my virtual clients is that there’s this relaxation that sticks with you, after you get out of the sauna. Is that activation of the parasympathetic?

Connie Zack  

Well, you know, there are a lot of different things. So because you’re able like infrared, we know for sure that it helps with relaxation with you know, balancing your body’s you know, level of cortisol. So that’s and that’s been proven forever. I mean, that was one of the first scientific elements that you know, we found for years ago, you know, which is a stress hormone, right and so, so there’s the cortisol impact. There’s also the whole heat benefit on your body to just instantly relax your body and just allows your shoulders and your entire body to like go from the gym. Just tense, you know, I’m gonna go slay this dragon, you know, and, you know, I’m one of those women that I, you know, I like, well, we’ll do it all. And I go in there and really is almost instantly you know, where you can just feel, you know, everything moving around the flow, you know, and that’s the other thing that’s been proven. I mean, that was way back when we started, there was evidence over in Asia of increased blood flow increased oxygenation, I mean, significant benefits on the heart, because of the increased blood flow, the thinning of, you know, all of the endothelial lining so that everything slows better. So more oxygen is getting to your cells, more oxygen is getting to your brain, that helps, you know, eliminate the mind chatter in the mind fog. And so, when everything starts to flow, it’s very similar. This is how I always spent money has never been in one. It’s kind of like how you feel if you go for a vigorous walk. Or if you’re a runner, and you go for a run, and you when you’re done. You just, you feel like lighter and refreshed, or and you for or, right.

Dr. Mindy  

Yeah, exactly. It’s

Connie Zack  

how you feel. It’s a passive cardiovascular benefit. You’re getting that increased heart rate, you know, you’re getting that blood flow. While you’re in there, you’re getting that increased oxygenation. You know, you’re helping with your cortisol, your, you know, helping with your water molecules, which is so important. It’s such a massive part of your body, you know, to release toxins that are trapped. Get them out, because again, that’s the burden that’s heavy. That’s it’s really hard. It’s it’s hard to get that stuff out of your chest. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. And so if you can do it on a daily basis and keep things moving, you know, it’s like Dr. Hyman always says just move. I don’t care where you move to, I don’t care how you move. I don’t care if you do it. But if you move your body, that’s it’s so incredibly important. And part of being inside the sauna is moving your body without moving your body. Yeah, right.

Dr. Mindy  

And I would also add to mark hymens just move, we need to just relax. And when I look at every problem that’s happening again to women, as they go through menopause, over menopausal age, humans in general, stress is at the core. But as a Russian woman, I can tell you, I get to the end of the day. And it’s like now there’s no switch in my body that can just calm me down. And and so it ends up being like a glass of wine. Or now that I have a sauna many times it’s a sauna get in the sauna, and there’s this this parasympathetic switch that takes over that now let’s make move into a more relaxed state. And I really have come back and all my knowledge of of hormones, too. You cannot heal a hormonally imbalanced body, if it stressed out. You have to master relaxation first. But yes, you know, you tell any overachieving woman that and she’s like, great, better said than done. So I think that you guys are really onto something with this being a tool that switches us into a relaxed state that helps us heal. And one of the measurements of that is HRV. How able how quickly your body is able to relax? Do we know any studies on infrared that that can show it changes? Ah HRV

Connie Zack  

Yeah, there are a bunch. I don’t have any off the top of my head. But I know. I mean, I’ve seen a lot of cardiologists that have looked at and I know like Dr. Khan, I’m just thinking now of all the different people who have talked about the value of you know, changing your heart rate and increasing your heart rate and, and doing it doing it in a non invasive non, you know, active way to right you’re getting the soothing you know, way on therapists machines for soothing you know, warmth, and that’s been proven for years over in Asia to help extend not only that quantity to live you live longer, but the quality of your life with only 15 minutes a day with infrared heat. And that’s it. So that’s the other thing is it doesn’t take it’s this is not something you have to commit. That’s been another change while we’re on that topic. That’s been another change I’ve made in my life post COVID You know, during COVID obviously easy for you know, you can stay in there. I mean, cuz you’re you’re not going anywhere. But I feel like I don’t know if how you feel but I strongly feel as though this last year to ish, it seems like it’s so much busier and so much crazier than it was pretty COVID Yeah, so like, it’s just, it’s just, it’s just crazy. And so therefore, your mind can play tricks on you, I can say can tell, you know, your body, you know, you don’t have time, you don’t have time to sauna, that sounds like a luxury and you need to train your mind. I, I that’s not an option, I absolutely have time. And I have to, it is not like a want to this is something that I have to do. And so one of the things I’ve started to do to finish that sentence is, is just tell my when my brain does it, because I’m that mom, you know, I’ve got two kids, I’ve got a husband, I’ve got a business, I’ve got friends, I’ve got a community, you know, all that stuff. I’m all like, you know, brought all that stuff. Just like I’m sure all of your listeners. And when my when my brain says, Oh my gosh, what about this and this and this? You have to I’m like, You know what, I’m just gonna go in there. And I’m gonna get started. And I’ll do five minutes, 10 minutes. And that’s okay. I mean, what happens is I ended up staying in there longer, because I still went on once I’m in there, I start to figure out how I can manage the rest of my day. Because I’m relaxed. Like my brain, my brain starts to become incredibly creative. I mean, I become, you know, I mean, I transform my brain into like, oh, my gosh, why was I overthinking this? This is so easy. I just moved this to here. And this in here. You know, and I always leave paper in there, too. That’s been another new things. Because I come up with all these great ideas. I think about oh, I should, I should do that. And so I write it all down so that I remember, you know, but my point is, is don’t think don’t not do it. Because you don’t have 30 minutes, or you don’t have 40 minutes. So you think, oh, you know, I can’t I if I do it, then I have to shower and have to do all this. Because if you can wipe down you can I mean, it is better to do 10 minutes of healing and for read your will thank yourself like you will be so happy then then not do it. Because what happens is it’s all a momentum and a cycle. Right? So like, okay, you don’t do it this day. Well, now tomorrow, you didn’t do it. So you don’t receive the benefits of it. So you don’t know what you’re missing every day,

Dr. Mindy  

right? I just I just started this with meditation, I had fallen off my meditation path. And I told a friend, I’m like, okay, hold me accountable, I got to do it every day for 40 days. Because I’ve been telling myself, I’ll do it tomorrow, I’ll do it the next day. So you’re right, there is something really rhythmic about doing it every day. And it just becomes part of your health habit. I never thought the creativity part. So I’m like, I’m gonna write my book in there. I had, I never even thought of that. You just gave that to me. And so again,

Connie Zack  

you will love that experience, I can’t wait for you to do that, like you will see for sure. And there’s there’s science behind the especially the near infrared light, but all of the different ones and the way they work with your brain and your body, just the stimulation of again, going back to the flow, and then the near infrared on the brain itself, you know, helps to kind of unlock a lot of things that are stuck. And so you get that just beautiful release in your brain. And it always happens. I mean, I get more relaxed, but I also it’s just fascinating. I also get more creative, which gives me more energy, but it’s not this stress energy. Yeah, you know, it’s a just powerful energy where I’m like, it’s a calm, calm energy, if that makes any sense where I know, okay, I totally, I totally have this, like that, like this is just another day.

Dr. Mindy  

Like I’d never really thought through it through this lens, which is when we’re in stress, we’re locked in our amygdala, which is our fight or flight brain. And I can tell you, because I’m currently writing my next book. And when I get locked there, I can’t write. Because when you’re locked in that fear part of the brain, all the brain wants to do is look for problems that it needs to fix. But for a lot of us, we get locked in the amygdala for a very, very long time. And so we need tools to pull us out of that. So if you’re noticing more creativity, what my thought is, and I don’t know if they’ve ever done a study on this, but my thought is what’s happening is it’s pulling you into your prefrontal cortex because they work it they communicate with each other they work when the amygdala is active. The prefrontal cortex is quiet when the prefrontal cord Text is active, the amygdala is quiet. So I’m wondering if I mean I now you got me wanting to go look at the science if there’s some activation in the prefrontal cortex, and it could be the heat, because heat relaxes us. That I feel like it’s there’s a brain switch. And when I, when I get in one of those big barrel saunas, which are fun as well, I just count the hours until minutes till I can get out. My heart is pounding so bad. I’m sweating for sure. But that is a tummy, a totally different experience. It’s actually one that’s more stressful. And what you’re what infrared does is actually create a more calm state. And that’s why I think you’re getting the creativity you’ve noticed.

Connie Zack  

Yeah, that’s a great way to sum it up. And I’ve heard that, from many physicians that have shared that with me. I write they will say that, you know, they’ll write or they’ll journal or, you know, they because they find that their brain unleashes a lot of things that they were wanting to do, you know, because you’re relaxed, and you know, it just, yeah, when you’re stressed, you can’t, you can’t think, right, it’s just like,

Dr. Mindy  

yeah, when you’re stressed, and it made it and the brain is made this way. Because when you’re stressed, there’s one focus and that survival. So all your brain is going to do is figure out how to keep you alive, it’s not going to figure out how to help you write your book, which is one of the things I’ve noticed. So there’s some real primitive logic, when we actually sit down and look at what stress does to us. And we know it shuts down our digestion, we know it brings all the circulation back to the heart and lungs. I mean, there’s so much chronic damage over time. So it makes incredible sense that just 10 minutes in a day would allow your brain to switch out or fight or flight. I just never thought of using it in that tool. So that was that was brilliant. So I,

Connie Zack  

you’ll find the like that 10 minutes will find you the time. Yes, in your day later so that you can stay in that moment longer. Yes, that’s what happens. It’s so cool. I mean, it really is.

Dr. Mindy  

It’s kind of like, Have you ever been looking like you’re getting ready to go out and you’re looking for an earring and your jewelry box? And you can’t find it and you’re stressed? You’re like, Okay, I gotta find it. I can’t, and you can’t find it. Because you’re so stressed trying to move forward, that your brain is actually constricted, that’s how life is, is that we can’t find answers when our brain is locked in this amygdala. And then you come home and you’re like, wait, the earrings right there there is who’s right here? And what How did I miss that? You missed it, because the brain was jammed up. But what I’m hearing is really, really exciting. And something I never really thought of it before we got to this conversation is that it is this tool for brain expansion, because it relaxes you enough to pull you out of that fight or flight. Which leads me to the next question. And what you talked about when we first started is depression. And I can tell you recently, I’ve been doing a lot of research on Astra dial. And Esther diawl actually activates a serotonin receptor site in the brain that makes us happy. And for women who are going through menopause, as we go through menopause, estradiol goes away, it’s no longer necessary. So we’re left with a serotonin receptor site that isn’t activated. So we have to bring makes us depressed. In fact, 42% of women that go through menopause hit depression, or are clinically depressed. So one of my new cries to women is we need as many tools to help with depression as possible. So talk a little bit about the new studies that you’re seeing on depression, because I just see this sauna working from so many angles for menopausal women. And I think, you know, when we’re depressed, we turn on ourselves. We don’t think it’s, you know, we don’t think that, you know, there’s anything we can do about it, we just live in it. And that and that’s really a hard place to be when you’re year after year after year.

Connie Zack  

So there is a so choose two studies I’ll reference so one is Dr. raisons. from Wisconsin, his original study that every time I said it just is mind blowing, because they studied depressed patients and put them in a a heated infrared heated device that was in Germany, but I mean, it was this $50,000 I mean, a very, very expensive device. And their goal was to elevate their core temperature. So it kind of comes back to everything We talked with the very beginning. And the conclusion without taking too much time was that in one session, that’s the thing that it just blows my mind. In one session. They, they found the depression symptoms were relieved for up to six weeks. One session, and the the mechanism, you know, was the elevation and core temperature, as well as the other thing that some other physicians studied in a different study is that the skin and this is what’s the value of infrared versus hot air, the skin really appreciates the heat, the heat makes the skin communicate with the brain, that it’s happy. So like, there’s this, there’s this happy connection. It’s like, oh, you know, and it’s just this really interesting brain scan, he did, you know, where it’s not too hot, which is the value of infrared, right? Because you’re not, you’re not uncomfortable, you know, you’re in, you should be you should be enjoying this session. So that was Dr. raisons. Study, there’s been other studies, very similar, that say the same results, what was really exciting? Well, that’s exciting, but was extra exciting, is Dr. Ashley Mason is now doing a study in California, that copies that mimics what what Dr. rezoned is did, but she’s doing it in a way to make it accessible for people in their home. And so she’s using a portable LIDAR model that looks just like the solo, that’s infrared. And the goal is, you know, although she’s already done, the first part, which is will it heat up the core temperature will love it, you know, core temperature, one of the values is doing it slowly for what depression. So that’s another benefit of, you know, just, hey, get in, don’t worry about if you have time or not, you know, just get in, you know, even even if it’s not hot, you don’t need it to be hot, it’s about baseline, with increase, right. So you know, that, the longer you’re in there, the better because it’s going to elevate, but you don’t have to wait until it’s hot, because the infrared will get into your body, it’s actually better for your body when it’s cooler, because it’ll be absorbed faster, because it’s easier to get in, versus the hotter it gets. And it gets you know, shorter, etcetera. So, so, it’s really exciting, because soon she’s going to be able, you know, to give so far all the results, and everything has been, like really promising. But the issue with Dr. rezones is, you know, is in Germany, the accessibility? You know, I mean, the how do people do that at home? So to be able to have a tool, which we have, you know, the the solar, which we know, we measure the core temperature years ago, we know, we can increase the cord temperature, which is the pointing question, you know, and that leads to happier people longer. And and you don’t need a lot of sessions in those studies. But my thought is, if it makes you happier, why not do it all the time? Right, you know, I mean,

Dr. Mindy  

well, then again, I’ve always looked this through a menopausal woman’s lens. And that’s, we need as many tools for happiness that we can find. So if 10 minutes in the sauna, it makes us happier. Yeah, I you know that what a gifted detoxes you and balances your parasympathetic. It’s a lot. I mean, as much as I love a glass of wine, it’s a lot more healthy than a glass of wine, in the sense, but it has that. And it also has that cumulative effect, where once you start to feel a little bit better, and then the next day, you feel a little bit better. And then you know, weeks go by months go by and you’re like, wait a second, I’m not even in the sauna now. Now I’m happy. And I think that’s what we need is a building of happiness as whereas the glass of wine is feels good in the moment, the next day not so good. So I really I’d be actually really interested in if you have those studies seeing Oh, yeah, we’ll

Connie Zack  

have there’s a lot and there are they’re all They’re all great. And it’s to me, if you know about a tool that can help people kind of, you know, change that switch in the brain that, you know, like Dr. raisonne says he’s like, I think it’s a thermo regulation. There’s lots there lots of theories, ones of thermo regulation, you know, one is the skin aspect connection to the brain. I mean, I think there may be more than one thing that’s going on, right? Yep. But the thermo regulation that should switch is that it’s been it has been shown people with depression aren’t able to naturally cool themselves down at night. Oh, And so, so if they can’t, if that if if they stay, if their body stays warm and they’re not able to, then they you don’t have that change which your body needs that change in order to have a good night’s sleep. And then as you’re waking up, then things start to change in your bodies that hormones start to change and your body knows Okay, now I wake up and you should be you know, wake up happy, etc. So infrared the heat, that experience that study, Dr. Sun would say, helped change the thermal regulation in the body. So now when they measure them, they were abled by unlocking that switch of hey, I’m stuck. I can’t cool down. Well, now I’m increasing your car temperature, which is now making the body cool down. Know when your

Dr. Mindy  

medic stress? It’s like medic stressor. Yeah, yeah, just like fasting

Connie Zack  

out. Right. So now it can do it on its own. Yeah, like, I don’t need that every single day, which is why that the results happen, you know, extended for six weeks. So I mean, what a gift to be able to have a good night’s sleep.

Dr. Mindy  

Yeah. Oh, my God. Yeah. For every, every woman over 40 is like, yeah, sign me up for that. So I absolutely. And you know, that’s the interesting thing about fasting is that it your body becomes so reparative it with a little bit of stress like that, that your results in the fasting window get better and better and better. It’s not like you’re just healing when you’re fasting. What we’ve seen over time, is that you’re healing more and more and more with the shorter and shorter fasts, which that’s what you the comment you just made? I was thinking, yeah, it’s kind of the same concept where you flipped a switch where the body has now put itself into a healing state a more a more expansive state. And you’re going to keep that state as long as you don’t bombard it with more stressors. Is that would that be a way of looking at?

Connie Zack  

Exactly, yeah, yeah.

Dr. Mindy  

So yeah, it’s, again, I want to say that I’ve watched the whole biohacking movement. And I feel like tools like infrared went from optional to everybody’s getting one. And then I also see this dilemma that a lot of people have, which is, do I get the one that I put my backyard and has rocks, and I just sweat like crazy? Or do I get an infrared? And after experiencing both? They are totally different tools. That’s the way that’s the way I look at it. And especially for a menopausal woman. Because personally, and I don’t, I don’t I don’t, I don’t want to upset anybody. But I will say that I think the extreme heat is too hard for the menopausal body. I can just tell my heart rate is so high I when I go into those other saunas, so this is an another door in to healing using heat in a different way. So yeah, I just, it’s fascinating to me. So. So with that, I always like to end my podcast on to personal questions. I always have a theme for the year. And this year, it’s been self love. So I would say your sauna is a daily practice of self love, but outside. Yeah, outside of that, do you have a daily practice of self love? And my second question is, if you had, if you could describe one of your superpowers that you bring to the world, what would it be?

Connie Zack  

Okay, so two come to mind. So one, one would be I am intuitive, very intuitive. And when I lean into my intuition, I am never led astray. And it is, it’s just so cool. Awesome. So but you know, you have I have to consciously Of course, you know, because I do have a brain and the brain sometimes wants to think logically and blah, blah, blah. So and then the other is this. And I think a lot of this has to do with signing and, and just being intentional about what I put in my body and how I you know, how it shaped my body and but is just as positive intention, this positivity towards balancing and integrating all of the beautiful choices we have made in our life, you know, and I hear so much stress, you know, from from women, specifically, men stress to I have a husband. In fact, he’s stressing a lot right now. Just finding a way to remind, you know, myself that, for the most part, everything that I’m doing is is a choice. And so it’s within my own power Am I How I look at each lens, look at my choices for my two kids and parenting them and the choices I’m making with work with my children and the choices I’m making with their choices. And, you know, and my husband and the company and my friends and, and saying no, when you want to say yes to, you know, invitations, you know, I’m saying no, it’s hard, it’s really hard, super

Dr. Mindy  

hard, especially, you want to do,

Connie Zack  

right, super, super hard. But I think if you stay, if you stay, and have focused on this beautiful circle, that I kind of, it’s kind of like to have a bull’s eye, you know, and I just kind of just always stay in this kind of nuclear state of, you know, if my end game is making sure that, you know, my kids are making good choices that my husband is happy, as well as gets the partnership from me in our business. And if I, if I do all of that, you know, then it just came to becoming that it helps make the decisions, right? If you know what, if you know what your values are, and you’re clear about them, then it is easier to say no, it’s doesn’t ever feel good and never does. But like I tell my kids all the time it like a lot of times it doesn’t feel good to do the right thing at the time. Yep. It will always feel good later. Yeah, you know, but at the time, it’s it’s painful. And but you know, suck it up. I love that. And then you went the other?

Dr. Mindy  

Yeah, what’s your what’s your self love practice? Do you have a, like a meditation practice anything you do every day to give back to yourself?

Connie Zack  

Okay, so that’s probably I do a lot of stuff, but it’s probably how I start in the morning, before I get out of bed. You know, I like lying down and I make myself tall and stretch before I go to bed. And I go through my intentions of, of that day. And just it’s the time where I just, you know, say to myself, here’s, here’s how, you know, I’ve vision this going. And this is what I would like to have. And, you know, and I asked the universe for if there’s some gaps in what I’m kind of setting out for and what I don’t feel that maybe I have to be able to, you know, to get there. But then I always, always, before I put my feet on the ground, I always kind of just tell myself, you know what, you’re enough you got it. Like you’ll figure it out. And, and if I can’t, if I’m really struggling, that a lot of times, I will run downstairs and I will get in the sauna, or I’ll go for a walk outside. I’m a huge believer in fresh air and like getting your I mean, I’m in the light business. So it’s like getting your eyes on the sun and, you know, just connecting with the elements outside versus being inside. And just feeling the world and it’s like, okay, deep breathing. You know, it’s hard. I mean, it’s work.

Dr. Mindy  

I mean, taking amazing care of your brain is work. It’s work. Yeah. And I think we just walk around with it in our head. And we’re like, oh, it’s just this is the way it is. But the more I’ve learned, the more I’m like it’s work. It’s totally work. So

Connie Zack  

yeah, but it’s worth it. If you just take one day at a time, and you practice self love, and you get into yourself and you take care of yourself. First, there is an end, like you do come out on the other side, you know, in a beautiful place and but you have to embrace you can’t just go crazy and you have you do have to find tools, find resources, find friends, find some support for yourself to embrace the beautiful person that you are and the beautiful choices that you make. And if you’re not making beautiful choices and change, then make different ones you know, but find things that do make you happy. Because then it builds the momentum of those around you. Right you know?

Dr. Mindy  

Yeah, yeah, I yeah, I absolutely agree that when one person heals themselves, they just open up the door for everybody else to follow. So it takes that courageous leap to be maybe the first one in your friend group or the first one in your environment, which to your point means saying no, and and protecting yourself first. So Connie, this was amazing. How do people find you? How do they find all your products and dive into your saunas?

Connie Zack  

They go to sunlighten.com so su n l IG HT e n.com. And we you know, we’ll always take care of people like yourself, you know your customers, so we will also offer you No discounts. So we you know, make sure the most important thing of people are listening is to make sure you mention, you know you and where they where they heard about it because That is, you know, we believe in Win Win relationships and we want to take care of, you know, our, our, our friends and our partners, and we want to take care of those people who take care of them. And so just make sure everybody, you know, shares, you know, they listen to the reseller podcast, or Dr. Mindy or whatever the hour you have them, you know, reference you. And, or you can call to, you know, we have a toll free number 877-292-0020 You know, I always offer my email see, zach@sunlighten.com is somebody you mentioned at the very beginning, and I, it just brought me back to 20 years ago, when I started and people were so confused about, like, I don’t understand this whole infrared thing. And really, like, it sounds too good to be true. And so I always offer myself, you know, if they’re just really confused, you know, they can send me an email, and I will help as much as I can, you know, myth, myth bust and clear up any confusion, you know, simple way as possible. So, this has just been so much fun. I really, really enjoyed every minute. And, you know, I’m like, sad that, you know, looking forward to it, but like, I’m really excited. I’m excited to get to know your audience. And however, our people at sunlighten can help. We’re here.

Dr. Mindy  

Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate you all. And as you know, I’m on a mission to get women healthy and change the paradigm of health for women and this is a this is a part of it, this is key. So thank you for making these products, getting these products out to the world. And just to gather were more but I mean, that’s the feminine energy, in my opinion, is women coming together collaborating to heal each other and heal ourselves. So thank you for being on that journey. And being your your small little piece like my small little piece when we put a bunch of small pieces together, everybody wins. So thank you, Connie. Thank you. Thank you so much for joining me in today’s episode. I love bringing thoughtful discussions about all things health to you. If you enjoyed it, we’d love to know about it. So please leave us a review, share it with your friends and let me know what your biggest takeaway is.