Do Infrared Photons Cause Heat — or Are They Heat?
In a recent blog post, we touched on why your body can feel infrared light but not ultraviolet rays. That sparked a deeper question:
Does infrared heat emit infrared photons — or are infrared photons the source of heat itself?
To answer this, let’s first understand what photons are and how your body interacts with them.
Photons are packets of electromagnetic energy:
Whether from the sun, an LED, or an infrared sauna, light delivers energy to your body in the form of photons — the building blocks of light.
Your body heats up by absorbing photons:
When photons hit your skin, they’re either absorbed, reflected, or transmitted. If absorbed, their energy is conserved by being converted into molecular movement — which we feel as heat.
Infrared light is uniquely suited for deep cellular heating:
Infrared photons have longer wavelengths that resonate with water molecules in your cells. This resonance increases molecular motion, which raises your core body temperature from the inside out.
This is why an infrared sauna feels different from hot air:
Traditional heat warms the air around you. Infrared light penetrates your tissue directly, heating you without needing high ambient temperatures.
Your body also emits infrared radiation as heat:
Most objects on Earth — including your body — release heat in the infrared spectrum. That’s why thermal imaging and night vision work: they detect infrared radiation from warm bodies.
The infrared spectrum overlaps with your body’s natural energy signature:
This makes it especially effective for therapeutic applications like detoxification, pain relief, and circulation support.
So What’s the Answer?
Infrared saunas don’t just “give off heat” — they emit infrared photons, which your body absorbs and converts into heat at a deep cellular level.
Infrared photons are the heat you feel — and the healing your body needs:
Rather than heating your skin’s surface, infrared energy activates your body from the inside, supporting detox, boosting immunity, and restoring energy naturally.
