STUDIO 7:14
Wellness by Design
The Warmth That Started
in a Cardiology Ward
Why our Private Far Infrared Sauna Suite is more than a good sweat
Across cultures and generations, people have turned to warmth for comfort, renewal, and time to restore. Modern infrared sauna carries that tradition forward—with a remarkable chapter written by a Japanese heart doctor.
A doctor, a failing heart, and “soothing warmth”
In the 1980s and 90s, Japanese cardiologist Dr. Chuwa Tei explored how gentle, steady warmth could help his heart-failure patients feel and function better. He developed a specific protocol: a far infrared dry sauna held at 60°C (140°F) for 15 minutes, followed by 30 minutes resting under a warm blanket.
He named it Waon therapy—Waon means “soothing warmth” in Japanese. Over three decades, his teams studied it in hospitals across Japan. In a 2016 trial across 19 hospitals, patients receiving Waon therapy alongside medical care improved their walking ability and heart-failure symptoms more than those receiving usual care alone.
From Finland’s sauna tradition to Japan’s exploration of soothing warmth, heat has a place in the care of body and mind. Your suite offers a private setting for that restorative ritual.
What happens inside your body
Far infrared delivers radiant warmth directly to your body. As your temperature rises, a cascade begins:
Your blood vessels open.
Warmth widens blood vessels and brings more blood toward the skin. With repeated heat exposure, nitric-oxide pathways can help vessels respond more freely, supporting healthy circulation.
Your cells call in the repair crew.
Gentle heat challenges cells to adapt. Heat shock proteins act as a maintenance team, helping proteins keep their shape and protecting cells under stress. Waon research has also found reduced oxidative stress in heart-failure patients and new blood-vessel growth in animal studies.
Your circulation gets moving.
Your heart beats faster to move blood and distribute heat. Even while you sit still, your cardiovascular system is responding. For someone with a sedentary routine or tender joints, warmth offers an accessible way to engage that response.
Your nervous system downshifts.
Warmth, privacy, and stillness create space to release tension and settle. The rest afterward makes the experience a ritual of recovery for body and mind.
Warmth and the mind
One of the most exciting threads of research is about mood. In 2016, researchers including Dr. Charles Raison published a double-blind trial in JAMA Psychiatry: a single session of whole-body heating reduced symptoms of major depression compared with a sham treatment, with benefits measured across six weeks.
Later analyses linked heat-driven changes in immune signaling with changes in depressive symptoms.
The body’s response to warmth connects temperature regulation, circulation, immune signaling, and the brain. These systems work together. Researchers at UCSF are pairing heat with talk therapy, exploring warmth as part of a fuller approach to emotional well-being.
This is the larger story: warmth can be a meaningful part of caring for the whole person. Clinical heat treatments use specific protocols; the research helps explain the possibilities.
Private Far Infrared
Sauna Suite
The Warmth That Started in a Cardiology Ward
Who it’s designed for
People managing chronic inflammation or autoimmune flares who need gentle, low-effort ways to support circulation, comfort, and rest.
Anyone navigating stress, low mood, or poor sleep looking for a calming ritual that works with the body.
People working on metabolic health who want a low-effort way to support cardiovascular wellness without repetitive impact on joints.
Those in or after cancer treatment—with their oncology team’s blessing—who want restorative comfort and a quiet space to recover.
Your session at Studio 7:14
Each suite is private and locks behind you. Inside: your own sauna, a recovery chair, towels, and a lymphatic stimulation rebounder. Members may use the sauna up to four times a week, making warmth a regular part of their wellness routine.
Finish with time to rest: step out, wrap up if comfortable, and spend a few minutes in the recovery chair. Hydrate well.
A note on safety
Infrared sauna offers gentle warmth, but heat isn’t right for everyone. If you are pregnant, have a heart condition, are in active cancer treatment, or take medication that affects blood pressure or sweating, check with your doctor first.
Step out if you feel dizzy, faint, or unwell. Let yourself cool comfortably before standing or moving on.
Warmth. Then room to rest.
Research notes
Tei et al. WAON-CHF multicenter trial. Circulation Journal, 2016. doi:10.1253/circj.CJ-16-0051.
Fujita et al. Effect of Waon therapy on oxidative stress in chronic heart failure. Circulation Journal, 2011. doi:10.1253/circj.CJ-10-0630.
The Effect of Waon Therapy on Failed Myocardium and Ischemic Limb via Heat Shock Proteins, 2012. doi:10.11390/onki.75.238. Animal experiments.
Janssen et al. Whole-body hyperthermia for major depressive disorder. JAMA Psychiatry, 2016. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2016.1031.
Flux et al. Association of plasma cytokines and antidepressant response following mild-intensity whole-body hyperthermia. Translational Psychiatry, 2023. doi:10.1038/s41398-023-02402-9.
UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Health. HEAT Bed Study. osher.ucsf.edu/research/researc-findings/HEATBed.
UNESCO. Sauna culture in Finland. Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, 2020.