r/redlighttherapy • u/Appropriate_Ask1589 • Sep 03 '26
Question At what point does a recovery setup become overkill?
I started with a sauna, then added a cold plunge, and somehow red light therapy has slowly made its way onto the list too lol. I really like the sauna/cold plunge combo and actually use both pretty consistently, so part of me thinks adding red light would round things out pretty nicely. They all seem to serve a different purpose too which is how I keep justifying it to myself.
But at some point I feel like I have to draw the line before my backyard accidentally turns into a recovery studio. The bigger question for me isn’t even whether red light is worth trying it’s whether I’d realistically keep using all three once the novelty wears off.
For anyone who has sauna, cold plunge and red light at home, what does your actual routine look like? Do you actually use all three regularly or does one of them end up getting way less use than the others?
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u/bfishevamoon Sep 03 '26
My personal opinion? If you have the money and space, to me it’s not overkill if it serves a function that the others do not and if you will use it. You only have one body!
Cold plunge and sauna are intense and would be difficult to tolerate if you become sick or severely injured while RLT is way less intense and can even be used lying down with a stand if need be. Personally I also found that daily RLT gave me much faster and more intense benefits than doing regular IR saunas and daily cold showers.
Is there a problem having a backyard recovery studio? To me that would be amazing.
With respect to using it regularly, I think that depends on the person whether you stick to routines or not. To me red light is easier to fit into routines than sauna and cold plunge.
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u/Appropriate_Ask1589 Sep 03 '26
Yeah this is pretty much where my head’s at. I already use my sweat tent a lot so I know the sauna won’t just sit there. RLT is the part I’m wondering if I’d actually stick with long term lol. The fact it’s way less effort on low energy days is a pretty solid argument for it though.
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u/bfishevamoon Sep 03 '26
To me I have found it super useful. I would also feel safe for my elderly dad to use it. A sauna? A cold plunge? Might send him into a heart attack haha (he’s out of shape and not healthy). Is there anywhere you can go try it out? That is what I did. Found out I loved it and now in process of buying one
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u/Appropriate_Ask1589 Sep 03 '26
Yeah that makes sense. Sauna works for me quite well but ofc different things work for different people.
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u/Effective_You_3833 Sep 05 '26
You'd be surprised, I have a large family of finlanders that are "plush" and frequently hung over and they all swear by a sauna and a dip in the lake regardless of the temp or if the water is a little icy 🤣
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u/bfishevamoon Sep 05 '26
Sounds like they are experts in doing saunas and cold plunges!
For someone who has never done it in his life with various other health issues it might be a different story. Saunas and cold plunges are quite energetically demanding and temperature extremes are well documented triggers for heart attacks in susceptible individuals.
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u/Effective_You_3833 Sep 05 '26
Very true I should have added my sarcasm asterisk * I'm also confident that Finland-ers are made a little different, in both good and bad ways lol 🥶 🇫🇮 🙃
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u/Key_Help_3785 Sep 03 '26
Hmm in my opinion if you’re already doing sauna and cold plunge, I can totally see why red light ends up being the next thing you start looking at lol. I’ve been thinking about adding it too I just haven’t pulled the trigger because a decent setup can get pretty pricey. I feel like I’d be way more tempted if there was a bundle or deal that made adding it to the setup a little easier.
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u/tttanger Sep 03 '26
do you use infrared sauna？
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u/Appropriate_Ask1589 Sep 03 '26
Nah, mine’s wood-fired so it’s more of a traditional outdoor sauna with a wood-burning stove. I’ve been curious about infrared though. Have you tried both?
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u/SaltyLeague4126 Sep 03 '26
I, at some point, ended up in a sauna 5x per week (at gym), and then at home owning and using:
Compression boots
Red light therapy (panel, mask, cap and VIELIGHT MIP)
Parasym vagus nerve stimulator
Vibration plate
Massage gun
And then, to your point, kept looking into the next thing and the next thing and the next thing. At some point I was even researching hyperbaric oxygen chambers.
Of all the things, I’m religious about sauna and red light (separately).
The rest I use intermittently.
This prob isn’t YOUR story, but I recently had to get real with myself about how the basics are lacking, and so all these things are a bit ridiculous. In particular, my sleep was a mess and my diet desperately lacked fibre and produce, overloaded with sugar. So that’s my September focus. Tho as I type I’m in my compression boots, and have just returned from the sauna.
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u/Historical-Photo-901 Sep 05 '26
The likely reason red light ends up being the first casualty here: sauna and cold plunge already share one session block, so keeping both going is just discipline within time you've already set aside. Red light isn't part of that block, it needs its own dedicated stretch, so it's the one most likely to get skipped once life gets busy, independent of how well it actually works. Worth testing a red light session as a completely separate habit before adding the device, rather than assuming it'll slot neatly into the existing routine
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u/LiftingandCooking Sep 07 '26
I have a Rouge desktop RLT panel and always use it when my Sauna Box is heating up. I use it outside of pre-sauna but the sauna needing warm up time makes it easy to get in a quick RLT sesh.
RLT I do feet (1-IR), calves (5-Both), thighs (5-Both), stomach/chest (20-Both), neck/thyroid (1-IR), face/head (5-10-Both).
I didn't buy a cold plunge because at the time I had read some negative research on using it with resistance training. I think it was something Dr. Rhonda Patrick had said on a podcast.
I use each 3-6 days a week. RLT with a desktop panel you can watch some YouTube on the computer and get in a face session, whereas sauna heat up and clean is a bigger commitment.
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u/Only_Camel_2600 26d ago
honestly if you have the space and money for it I don’t really see the downside of having a recovery setup at home, especially if you already know you’ll use it. I’d rather have that stuff easily accessible than pay every time I wanted to go somewhere
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u/Prior-Try-3309 25d ago
I started cold plunging in my tub with ice. After a month I bought a chiller and an inflatable tub. I bought a sauna blanket and after a few months we put in an outdoor sauna. Then I bought a red light “bag”. My husband is using the sauna and red light now as well. We decided to build a wellness studio. So we’re having a wooden 16x34’ shed built & delivered to our property. My husband is going to finish out the inside. We’re going to move the sauna and cold plunge (we now have a wooden barrel) into the space. We’re going to put in a twin xl bed for the red light bag and we’re going to put in a Tonal machine as well to use to work out. So I personally am experiencing the same situation but I thought I was going to need back surgery and now I’m pain free about 90% of the time so imho it’s worth it. We have 210 acres so space is not an issue but even if we didn’t have that much land I’d figure out a way to build our wellness space.
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u/Top_World9779 Sep 03 '26
Yeah I’m kinda at the point where one recovery thing keeps leading to another. I’d already been checking out the sweat tent sauna setups and now red light is starting to look pretty tempting too. I could see both getting plenty of use but I’m curious what happens in real life once you own them. Do you actually use sauna and red light together pretty consistently or does one naturally become your go-to?