Infrared Light

Aajonus's core critique of infrared radiation rests on what he described as the biological incompatibility of isolated spectral rays with human physiology. He stated that any time radiation is created by a nuclear or nuclearized mineral, including infrared, it is an isolated ray and has not been found to be beneficial long-term, even at the least magnitude. Sunlight, whether received directly or by reflection, delivers rays that are always complete. Isolated manufactured light, whether from a sterile rock such as ceramic or from manufactured infrared emitters, is not an emitter of balanced rays and therefore causes biological imbalances. How those imbalances manifest, he noted, depends on the individual.

He extended this principle to explain why a single band of the spectrum, including both ultraviolet and infrared, produces systemic disruption rather than healing. He described minerals in the body, not in light itself, as the reactive substrate: different spectral bands cause different minerals to move and react, and when only one narrow band is delivered in isolation, only a subset of those mineral reactions occur. Using his analogy of the seesaw, he said that isolating one band, such as ultraviolet, produces movement of perhaps 23 ions while leaving others unaffected, generating imbalance rather than correction.

Aajonus cited a direct personal observation to illustrate the harm of infrared lamps. When he was a child, his brothers had acne, and his father, an inventor and engineer with GE, purchased an infrared lamp as a remedy. His brothers used it mildly, and over a period of two weeks, it damaged their skin. His father discontinued his advice to use it for skin problems and concluded that the human skin was not adapted to use isolated infrared properly.

In his workshops, Aajonus returned to this point more broadly, stating that infrared lamps do not provide the heat-based therapeutic benefit that a hot water bottle or heated bath delivers. Instead of increasing the flow of nutrients to an area for cleansing and healing and relieving pain, he said infrared lamps usually cause skin problems and a lot of other problems. The contrast he drew was explicit: ordinary heat from a hot water bottle relieves approximately 80 percent of any pain and promotes cleansing, while infrared does not accomplish this and adds harm.

A significant portion of Aajonus's writing on infrared addresses the far infrared sauna specifically, prompted by correspondence from people treating children with autism and by members of his community who found the saunas more comfortable than conventional saunas or hot baths. He acknowledged that far infrared saunas are substantially less hot than normal saunas, but he rejected the conclusion that this lower temperature makes them safe.

His specific threshold was 43.4 degrees Celsius (110 degrees Fahrenheit), the temperature at which vitamins and bacteria are destroyed in the skin. He identified this as the critical boundary, noting that infrared saunas operate at 137 degrees Fahrenheit as a minimum, which places them well above this threshold and places them in a range that destroys tissue. He stated directly: "110 degrees, you've destroyed your own tissue. 110 is fine. Don't go higher. Infrared saunas are 137 degrees minimum."

He went further, stating that the radiation from infrared destroys bacteria and very gradually depletes bacteria in the body. His equivalency was precise: one 20-minute infrared sauna session is equivalent to consuming one antibiotic pill. This destruction of bacteria was his central objection to far infrared sauna use for autism therapy. He explained that the improvements people were observing were not the result of the infrared rays themselves but of the heat causing perspiration of stored toxins, such as mercury accumulations, which he identified as a cause of autism. The sauna accomplishes the detoxification through heat-induced sweating, not through the infrared spectrum. But the sauna, he wrote, will gradually do harm to the child's sinuses and respiratory system by destroying bacteria and mucous membranes.

Beyond the temperature and bacterial arguments, Aajonus identified the electromagnetic field generated by infrared saunas as a serious independent harm. He stated that infrared saunas use an electrical system and that the EMF field inside such a sauna is over 200 milligauss. His established threshold for cellular disruption was 3 milligauss, the level at which the molecular structure of animal cells is altered negatively. An infrared sauna at 200 milligauss therefore exposes the body to 197 milligauss above the level at which all cellular molecular structure is altered. He described this as making infrared saunas "very bad."

He contrasted this with the recommendation to use a hot tub kept below 110 degrees Fahrenheit, which delivers therapeutic heat without an EMF field of this magnitude, provided the motor is positioned sufficiently far from the tub.

When asked specifically about the BioMat, a device that delivers infrared radiation through a pad one lies on rather than through ambient air in a sauna, Aajonus gave a qualified answer that distinguished it from infrared saunas in one respect while maintaining his fundamental objections. He noted that because the BioMat is a surface one lies on rather than an enclosed sauna, breathing hot air is avoided, so the harm to sinuses and respiratory system through inhalation of destructively hot air does not apply in the same way.

However, he maintained that infrared pads can be helpful for very short applications but will cause lower bacteria levels in the areas applied. The radiation from infrared, even through a pad, destroys bacteria in the tissues it contacts. He did not provide a specific maximum duration for "very short" applications in the passages available, but his framing made clear that any repeated or extended use falls into the category of long-term harm through bacterial depletion. He used the word "convenience" as a frame for the appeal of such devices and noted that convenience can be very damaging in the long term, while stating that it is up to each individual to decide what degree of health they want to achieve and maintain.

One of the more specific mechanisms Aajonus described for isolated infrared harm involved vitamin D production. He stated that isolated radiation from non-biological emitters, including sterile rock such as ceramic and manufactured light sources, very often causes production of a toxic variety of vitamin D. This toxic vitamin D can appear beneficial for one to two years, creating the appearance of improvement that users of infrared devices might report, before deeper harms become apparent.

He identified one of the worst reactions as a type of adrenal exhaustion accompanied by hyperactivity in nerves. He noted that these same symptoms, adrenal exhaustion with nerve hyperactivity, result from many types of overexposure to other forms of radiation, including cell phone radiation and WiFi. He also flagged that removing the toxic vitamin D produced through isolated radiation exposure can be troublesome.

The question of far infrared saunas and BioMats for autistic children generated one of the most detailed exchanges in Aajonus's correspondence on this subject. People were reporting great results in children using these devices, citing claims that the rays penetrate more deeply than conventional heat and help the mitochondria. Aajonus's response was to separate the mechanism from the claim: it is not the infrared rays causing the improvements, it is the heat producing perspiration of stored toxins such as mercury, which he identified as a cause of autism. The benefit is attributable entirely to sweat-mediated detoxification, which is a function of heat, not of the infrared spectrum itself.

The same detoxification benefit, he argued, could be achieved with a hot bath at below 110 degrees Fahrenheit, without the attendant destruction of bacteria, without the EMF exposure, and without the tissue-damaging temperatures associated with infrared sauna use. He pointed to a testimonial in the source materials where users who had previously used an infrared sauna switched to the hot bath and bed method and reported significantly greater sweating and detoxification results without the sauna's temperature risks.

The only context in which Aajonus mentioned infrared without objection was thermographic screening, which he described in the context of evaluating swellings and tumors. He noted that thermographic screening measures infrared radiation heat emitted from bodies without discharging much EMF into the body, and that the data can be translated into anatomical images capable of registering increased and intense blood flow to cancerous areas. This use is passive detection of the body's own infrared emissions rather than the application of external infrared radiation to the body, and his reference to it was in the context of describing it as a less harmful diagnostic option than X-rays or other high-emission procedures.

Throughout his discussions of infrared, Aajonus repeatedly returned to the principle that the sun's full spectrum is what the human body is adapted to receive. Infrared is one portion of that spectrum. When infrared arrives as part of sunlight, it arrives balanced with all other rays, and the body's mineral systems respond proportionately across all bands. When infrared is isolated, concentrated, and delivered without the rest of the spectrum, the body receives a one-sided excitation of certain mineral movements without the balancing activity of the other rays. He described this as exciting certain elements in the body without being overall helpful, calling it "overall harmful."

He made this same argument in relation to ultraviolet light, noting that isolating ultraviolet also produces a one-sided 23-ion reaction. The underlying principle is that any isolated portion of the solar spectrum, when delivered in concentration without its complementary rays, creates a biological seesaw effect that cannot be corrected through other means. The correction, in his framework, comes from patient adherence to proper foods, allowing the body to move through detoxification cycles on its own timeline.