If you’re looking to bring the sauna home without investing in a complete home sauna, sauna blankets and portable sauna tents are both great options. But how do you know which one is for you?
Sauna blankets and sauna tents both reach about 140°F and have comparable health benefits, so which is better will depend on the specific needs of the user. A sauna blanket is basically an infrared sleeping bag and has almost no humidity. A portable sauna tent is more like a mini tent and can reach 100% humidity, making it better for pain relief.
Find out everything there is to know about sauna blankets vs portable sauna tents in this article!
Is a sauna blanket better than a portable sauna?
When you’re looking to bring the sauna experience home without breaking the budget, you’re probably going to end up with either a sauna blanket or a portable sauna tent. Which is better?
A sauna blanket is not better than a portable sauna, but a portable sauna is also not necessarily better than a sauna blanket. Both offer the same health benefits. In fact, portable saunas with humidity control are better for injury recovery than sauna blankets are. Sauna blankets cost around $250-600 while portable saunas cost around $100-$1000.
Sauna blankets and portable saunas all have lots of health benefits that will be discussed later in this article, so keep reading!
What is the difference between a sauna blanket and a portable sauna?
Okay, so what exactly is the difference between a sauna blanket and a portable sauna?
The difference between a sauna blanket and a portable sauna is that sauna blankets look like sleeping bags whereas portable saunas look like little tents. Sauna blankets have low humidity while portable saunas can reach a humidity of 100%. Both sauna blankets and portable saunas have the same health benefits as traditional saunas.
A portable sauna is a mobile device that mimics infrared saunas and steam rooms. They have the same health benefits such as relaxation, muscle recovery, and detoxification. They can reach 140°F and can even reach 100% humidity.
Sauna blankets are convenient because you can use them whenever you want, you don’t have to drive to the sauna, and you can customize the temperature. They’re essentially sauna sleeping bags! Sauna blankets use infrared light to heat you up from the inside out.
Sauna blankets vs portable saunas
Let’s examine cost, availability, temperature, relaxation, general health, sports recovery, and injury and pain relief to compare sauna blankets vs portable saunas!
Cost
It doesn’t matter how much you want something if you can’t afford it!
Sauna blankets cost around $250-$600. Portable saunas can cost anywhere between $100-$1000. This means that the cheapest portable sauna is cheaper than the cheapest sauna blanket, but the most expensive portable sauna is more expensive than the most expensive sauna blanket.
Portable saunas have a wide price range. That means you can find extremely high-end portable saunas. If you have a big budget, you may want to invest in a pricey portable sauna.
But if your budget isn’t so wide, sauna blankets have a smaller price range and there’s less difference between the cheaper ones and the more expensive ones.
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Availability
How easy is it to find sauna blankets and portable saunas?
Sauna blankets and portable saunas are equally available as you can find them both easily online.
You can find sauna blankets and portable saunas on Amazon or on sauna websites.
Temperature
How hot do sauna blankets and portable saunas get?
The temperature of sauna blankets vs portable saunas is similar. Both reach up to°F.
The perceived temperature may be higher in portable saunas if you set the humidity on the higher end of the range. This is because humidity increases how hot it feels regardless of how hot it actually is.
People tend to sweat within about eight minutes of being in a sauna. Sweating is what induces detoxification.
Relaxation
Is a sauna blanket or a portable sauna tend better for relaxation?
Whether you find sauna blankets or portable saunas more relaxing comes down to personal preference. Sauna blankets are more enclosed than portable saunas, so if you have claustrophobia, portable saunas will definitely be more relaxing.
There are also ways to boost how relaxing saunas are such as using sauna aromatherapy or meditating in the sauna.
Since sauna blankets and portable saunas are at-home devices, you can watch TV while using them. You can read a book while using a sauna blanket if you take your arms out but that’s not really possible with a portable sauna. You can also listen to music, whereas you can’t bring electronics into a traditional sauna.
General health
Is a sauna blanket or a portable sauna tent better for your general health?
Sauna blankets and portable saunas both provide the same general health benefits as traditional saunas. This includes better heart health, lowered blood pressure, lowered cortisol levels, and more.
People who use the sauna 2-3x a week reduce their cardiovascular mortality rate by about 30% while people who use them four or more times a week reduce their risk by about 50%! Those are huge numbers.
Meanwhile, having sessions 2-3x a week reduces hypertension risk by 25%, and having sessions four or more times a week reduces it by 45%.
Stress management alone makes saunas worth it. Chronic stress can lead to anything from anxiety to heart attacks. The relaxing effects of the sauna can help lower cortisol levels and reduce your risk of stress-related side effects and illnesses.
Sports recovery
If you’re using the sauna for sports recovery, you want to make sure you’re using the correct one.
Portable saunas are better than sauna blankets for sports recovery. This is because they’re more humid. Wet heat penetrates muscles better than dry heat. Meanwhile, they both increase hGH which aids in sports recovery.
A single sauna has the ability to reduce oxidative stress.
Likewise, saunas increase hGH by around 150%. hGH aids in muscle growth and recovery. Additionally, it improves strength and endurance.
When you’re looking to soothe and repair muscles, wet heat does the job best. Using a portable sauna blanket at 100% humidity is the way to go!
Injury and pain relief
If you’re looking for pain relief, look no further.
Portable saunas are better than sauna blankets for injury and pain relief because they’re more humid, and wet heat penetrates muscles better than dry heat. Both portable saunas and sauna blankets will relax your muscles and reduce muscle tension.
Saunas have been proven to be beneficial for patients who have low back pain. Saunas can even increase people’s likelihood to return to work if they have chronic pain!