Unlock the power of biohacking and elevate your health to new heights as you immerse yourself in the transformative sanctuary of the sauna. In this episode, we dive into the realm of advanced biohacking strategies that can propel you towards a vibrant and thriving life, reaching the remarkable milestone of a 100-year heart. We have the honor of speaking with Connie Zack, the visionary behind Sunlighten Saunas, the pinnacle of sauna excellence. From the undeniable cardiovascular benefits to the unrivaled quality of Sunlighten’s offerings, Connie takes us on a journey that merges cutting-edge science with personalized wellness. She emphasizes how individuals must not forget the essence of self-care amidst the chaotic stresses of life. Connie shares the importance of stepping into the sauna sanctuary, immersing ourselves in tranquility, and unwinding from the burdens that weigh us down. Remember, your heart deserves the best. Don’t miss out—press play now and embark on an unforgettable adventure toward a healthier, happier you.

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Advanced Strategies For Biohacking Health With Sunlighten’s Connie Zack

Welcome back to another fantastic episode of the show, where we talk about holistic heart health and wellness. We talk about concepts of eat well, live well, think well, test, don’t guess, evidence-based supplements, and advanced biohacking strategies on your way to the 100-year hearts. When it comes to advanced biohacking strategies, the number one thing that always comes to my mind is the sauna. When I think about sauna, I think about one sauna and one person who owns the best sauna company in the world. That is Connie Zack of Sunlighten. Connie, welcome.

Thank you so much. What a beautiful introduction. You made my week, not my day, just with that introduction. Like I was saying a little bit earlier, it’s been a crazy day and crazy week. I’m thrilled to be here. I appreciate you having me.

Let’s talk about that because we’ll talk about so many different things in saunas. We’ll touch base on the cardiovascular benefits, why Sunlighten is the best available, and the website, which is gorgeous and full of information. I love the fact that you can use your home picture and fit the sauna of choice into that. That’s a great feature.

Let me say this. You and I, before we started the interview, were talking about various stressors in our lives. There are so many things, whether it’s family, financial, work-related, or geopolitical events going on in the world. What about the concept of getting into the sauna, zoning out, and chilling out for the entire protocol, whether that’s a 20-minute or a 30-minute protocol, whatever it may be of getting there and relaxing?

It’s my favorite. When you said biohacking, I love that because it is one of the smartest hacks you can do for your body that produces exponential results depending on what’s going on in your body. One of my favorites is the mind chatter, the mind fog, or the mind stress. It is being able to have my brain and my head feels so much lighter and so much more energy once I’m done. It is such a great place to relax, a great place to think, a great place to engage with other people, a great place to meditate about yourself, and deep breathing.

The great thing is it doesn’t take a lot of time. You can do it in your own home whenever you want with whoever you want. You don’t have to go someplace. You don’t have to spend a ton of time. You don’t have to experience pain. It’s not like you’re going to hurt like there are a lot of things to get benefits from. There are a lot of ways to get healthier, and this is probably one of the easiest, most simple things to do that you can do in your own home.

We feel very strongly about that as well. When you get some of the family members in the sauna, it’s a great opportunity to sit and talk to each other, as opposed to all the different distractions where technology is involved, the phones ringing, and different conversations happening. When you get into the sauna, it’s like this safe zone to relax, converse, and detox. I love the fact that it’s not one of these quick fixes in the sense of, “Do this for two minutes a day and you’re going to be great.” I like the idea of like, “3 to 4 times a week, I’m getting in the sauna for 30 minutes, and that’s my time.”

I know we can’t do everything as it relates to health and wellness. There are so many different things, but I do think the sauna allows us to get that physical aspect of the detoxification from the heat, from the infrared, from the energies, but also that mental kind of state of the Zen that the whole process provides. I love it.

Thank you. I do too. I noticed a big difference when I used it. I also notice that, similar to exercise, if I haven’t done and been in my sauna, then I notice, “What’s different? I need to spend 20 to 30 minutes, just go in.” Not that we’re onto tips, but my biggest tip and the biggest change I’ve made as far as what’s new in my life with my sauna routine, a lot of times in the past, I would think, “If I don’t have 40 minutes or 30 minutes, I’m going to do it a different time.” I then find that different time ends up being a different day, and then it delays using it.

Mine’s downstairs in my basement, so I go down there. I’m like, “Connie, just get in. If it’s only ten minutes, then that’s fine. That’s better than nothing.” What I found is whenever I do it, I find ways to make it longer. It’s never just 5 or 10 minutes. It’s always a good session. The biggest thing is starting and doing it and not being worried about, “Is it on? How much time do I have? Am I going to get sweaty? Can I get sweaty?” and all of those stresses on the brain. The reality is I’m going to feel better. It’s no different. I always feel better when I exercise. I’ve never ever exercised once where I’m like, “I feel so mad that I did that.” That never happened. Same as a sauna.

That’s like Superman’s fortress of solitude where it’s like you get in there and you can take as much time as you need. I put it into my Google calendar like any other appointment that I have where it’s dedicated, and it’s in there. I know in the morning, “This is the time I’m going to hit the sauna, so I know that’s that time of self-care for me.”

I spoke about saunas at the Dave Asprey Biohacking Conference. Talking about all the different cardiovascular benefits of sauna, it would be fraudulent of me to not sauna knowing that all of the benefits from a cardiovascular standpoint, lower inflammation, lower oxidative stress, and increased nitric oxide.

I like to think of it oftentimes as well that the infrared is harnessing the power of the sauna and it’s shooting right in through the heart, energizing the mitochondria, producing more cellular energy, and being better cellular water. The cardiovascular benefits are tremendous. We see that in the literature. The people who use saunas live longer and live better. It’s such a great concept.

Thank you. I appreciate that. I love that you’re sharing the longevity data. It’s important that people know. There are lots of data, and it’s been out there for many years showing that you’re going to not only increase the quality of your life. You’re going to feel better, but you’re going to be able to live longer because you’re taking care of yourself.

There is a lot of data that’s been out there for many years showing that you’re going to not only increase the quality of your life, but you’re going to be able to live longer because you’re taking care of your cells. You’re taking care of yourself.

The benefits or the percentages as far as life extension of sauna users versus those who don’t, there’s nothing even close in the pharmaceutical industry. There’s no statin drug, blood pressure drug, or aspirin. There’s not much in the cancer industry as far as what chemotherapy does that would come close to these benefits that we’re seeing from sauna users, specifically in life extension and cardiovascular benefits along with that as well. Give me some of the secret Connie Zack tips for before and after sauna use. What are your routines?

Before, hydrate and have a big glass of water. Eight ounces would be great if you can. After, double it because you sweat. If you have your favorite electrolytes or your favorite supplements, and it doesn’t have to be a supplement, that’s always good to do after. Another one when you say Connie Zack favorites, I love to also do some movement before. My perfect day is doing either a vigorous walk or a short run. I’ve started doing shorter runs with increased pace versus a longer run and then sauna because I’ve found that long runs don’t feel good on my knees. I started to shorten it, and then come home, and sit inside my sauna.

I call it stacking. The greatest thing is to sweat stack, meaning that you’re doing two things where you’re sweating because the data on sweating shows that if you can sweat stack, increase your amount of sweat, and increase the time that you’re sweating, it’s exponentially better than doing a bigger walk on one day and then sauna in the next day. Now, I sweat for 30 minutes doing this, and then 2 days later, I sweat for 30 minutes doing it. If you do it together, it’s seven times more effective. It’s the actual data.

Habit stacking would be my other hack. It’s my other way of getting myself in there. Say I have all these texts, communications, emails, or I’ve got to make a list. Whatever is going on that I need to do, I’ll go downstairs and do it there. It’s because there’s nothing limiting me from that. It’s a great way to A) Get it in, and B) Accomplish things while you’re doing it. If you’re cycling or if you’re running, you can’t make a list and you can make it in your head, but you can’t do other things when you’re doing other types of cardiovascular activities. This is a passive cardiovascular activity that you can accomplish other things.

Also, I’ve focused on meditation and deep breathing. Why not do it while you’re in there? It’s a great place to do that. The other thing I’ve tried to increase in that level is stretching, so I could do that in there. There are so many things that you can accomplish. You can multitask. You can be smart. Like Dave always says, “Work smarter versus harder.” One of the great ways to do it is by doing it when you’re inside the sauna.

I love doing pushups in the sauna too. That’s one of my favorites. Pushups and also doing squats, I like that as well.

Squats, I love that too. How many squats do you do? It is because I want to start doing it. What’s an acceptable number of squats?

Whatever you can do safely and effectively. Start low, and then gradually build up. A lot of times when I’m doing pushups, me personally, I’ll do sets of 50. Everybody starts off lower. I do want to say this, and I know you have feelings about this as well. We like to limit our technology. I don’t like bringing tech inside the sauna. If we’re looking at lists and stuff like that, it’s good old-fashioned, like a pad of paper. Even so, my concern with the pad is that the pad is connected with glue. What I’ll do in that scenario is I’ll take a sheet of paper with a pencil, and I’ll do that in there.

To that point, whether I’m outside and I’m exercising, if I’m on a run, if I’m on a bike ride, or if I’m in the sauna, I find it is such a place of creativity for me. The thoughts just rush in. The challenge is that you need a pad of paper with you. As much as I eat seafood and do all the things to accentuate my brain, sometimes I have all these flights of ideas, and if I don’t write them down, I’m going to forget them. That’s the purpose of doing that in the sauna. It’s awesome.

I have started doing that as well. I leave paper inside my sauna. I leave it in there underneath the bed so that it’s there. Most of the time, unless I am focusing on meditation, my brain just goes crazy. It’s in such a great way. It’s like I am unloading the superfluous stuff, so that goes away. Incoming, all this creativity and all these great ideas, I’m just like, “I’ve got to capture this. This is so fantastic.”

We also talked about the kids letting everybody know in the family, “Unless it’s an emergency, don’t come down there and say you’re hungry, or so and so did something to you, your brother did this, your sister did that.” Those are the arguments we have in the Wolfson household. One story I love to tell is about my wife’s grandfather, Grandpa David. He lived until he was 99. He was a retired pharmaceutical salesman from the ’50s and ’60s.

He lived in the New York area for many years. The guy never ate a vegetable, nothing healthy. Nothing was ever organic. Nothing was free-range, grass-fed, etc. He took a million pharmaceuticals. Why did the guy live until 99? One of the reasons why we think is that for the last 50 years of his life, he lived with his wife, my grandmother-in-law, down in Florida, and he played tennis outdoors every day. Heather, my wife, recalls him constantly sweating. He’s in the sun. He’s getting all the benefits of the sun and all the detox from sweating. That is why he lived until he was 99. What do you think?

It makes perfect sense. What a great story. The fact that he lived to 99 is a great story. The fact that he was outside because of the infrared from the sun, so you’re getting infrared rays while you’re playing tennis, he’s moving his body, which is great for increasing blood flow and getting oxygen to your muscles and muscle recovery. He is sweating. We know, from lots of data and lots of research, that you can remove things, your blood and urine.

There are other ways to do it. However, there’s the BUS study that showed that lots of harmful toxins can get stored in the sweat and don’t get removed in other ways. If you’re not actively sweating, you could be storing stuff in your body that doesn’t need to be stored. That needs to be released. It will lighten your load, make you healthier, and live as long as your grandpa.

If you’re not actively sweating, you could be storing stuff in your body that doesn’t need to be stored. That needs to be released, and will lighten your load and make you healthier and live as long as your grandpa.

One of my favorite bits of data certainly is on how metals are in sweat. There’s also some evidence that mycotoxins are excreted in the sweat as well. Mycotoxins are toxins that come from mold. There can be mold contamination in food, which is very common in the grain industry, including coffee. There’s also water damage in a home that leads to mold production in the environment, a mold mycotoxin excretion, which is highly toxic. I talk about this a lot. I talked about it at the Biohacking Conference as well. All these different ways to get these mold toxins out of our bodies and the fact that we do that with sweating is another monumental benefit.

We talk about my wife’s grandfather in Florida. My concern is for all the people who live in Seattle and Portland. They’re outside of the Kansas City area or my hometown of Chicago, Buffalo, Minneapolis. For these people, they don’t get outside the majority of the year. They aren’t sweating. If you live in South Florida, a sauna may not be the biggest priority for you personally. Although there’s no downside to doing it. If you live in Boston, New York, Buffalo, Chicago, etc., this is the perfect investment you need for eight months out of the year when you’re focusing on this particular part of technology.

I completely agree. You need to bring the sun inside into your home and expose your body to infrared as much as you can. Again, you won’t be sad or sorry. I never had a sauna session where I was like that.

You need to bring the sun into your home and expose your body to infrared as much as you can.

I thought of something. How did you come up with the name, Sunlighten?

The name comes from the infrared is from the sun, so that’s the sun part. All parts of infrared are healing lights, so that’s the light. The en is to help enlighten people to empower themselves to live the fullest life and to be able to do more of what they love to do with people they love to do it with. When we first started, we were called Sunlight Saunas. After we were on The Oprah Winfrey show with Dr. Oz, we changed our name to be broader because we want people to understand that we’re in the light business and there are different parts of the light. There’s infrared that doesn’t have any heat and the invisible part that doesn’t even have any visible light. That’s great for your body and it’s great for your brain. It’s great for lots of different things like your skin.

That’s our wheelhouse. That small little part of the light spectrum is the infrared. We wanted the name to reflect what we were doing. We dropped the sauna because it doesn’t have to be a sauna as long as it’s light therapy. We did that many years ago. How fast has this gone, this whole experience? How much still do we want to do? I always say at the beginning of every year, “This is going to be the best year ever.”

There are other sauna companies that are out there. I don’t think anybody is better than Sunlighten, and that’s why you and I have a great relationship. While you’re on the show, I also want to say this as well. Everybody I’ve met at Sunlighten, and I’ve met a lot of the people at the Biohacking Conference for Asprey, I think there were probably ten people from Sunlighten there. What a great bunch of people you have working over there. It’s a great tribe. Personally, I love and make an effort to only support the people whom I’m in resonance with and whom I like to do business with. I want to support them and the like-minded people.

I know that you people are certainly about freedom of healthcare choice and about the idea that there is a place for pharma and surgeries, but those are at the end of the game, never at the beginning. As I mentioned, our methodologies at Natural Heart Doctor, where biohacking is part of that process. In doing so, that’s all this beginning-of-the-game type stuff. There’s a time and a place for emergencies, but let’s focus on this other stuff. I’m so happy to be in alignment, and everybody at Natural Heart Doctor and the fans of show to be in alignment with you guys. It’s unique, so thank you again.

Thanks for sharing that feedback. Now, you’ve made my week twice. That means so much to me because I’m just one person. One of the common threads here at our company at Sunlighten is the passion that everybody has for making a difference, for doing the work that we do, and for providing products that give people access to this great wellness tool. Typically, it comes through when you meet them. They’re still talking about being there. I got a text from somebody who’s like, “By the way, I want to tell you how amazing it was to go. I’m so glad that I had the opportunity to go.” I’m like, “This is so great.”

I love the word that you used by the way, “resonate.” I love that word. Part of what makes everything special is we are intentional about the influencers that we choose to have relationships with. We want to make sure that there’s a resonance and that there’s chemistry between the two. Part of what people love to work here is they work with some great people. It’s pretty cool. That makes their job better. That makes them happier and healthier, and every day, they learn.

Everything that you say, you’ve got data and I love your natural approach to doing it. That’s so in line with what we do and you have so much to share. That fills our bucket up when we learn, “I learned this from Dr. Wilson. We could do this. Here’s a different product. Here’s a different way to do it.” Thank you for the feedback and thanks for doing what you’re doing. It’s more enjoyable to work with people like you.

I appreciate it. So much of what we do is common sense methodologies. Our ancestors came from the equator. They came from an environment that was hot. It was oftentimes humid. There was sweating going on. There was light going on. There was sunshine going on. If you live at the equator these days, the sauna may not be the first investment for you. For all the people who don’t, unless you’re going to move to those places, you got to bring the sun to you. You have to harness the power of the sun. That’s what the Sunlighten Sauna system does. It is all of that.

Before we started as well, we were talking about some new things going on at Sunlighten including maybe some standalone light therapy. I don’t want to get too ahead of us if you’re not ready to share on that, but do me a favor. By the way, everybody, please check out the Sunlighten website. It’s such a beautiful website. You’ve got all the information there. They talk about contraindications there as well, who should be concerned with that, and all the rhetoric about checking with your doctor. We often get questions about pacemakers and defibrillators.

Let me tell you that sauna, in my opinion, is perfectly safe for that purpose. No issues, whatsoever. If you’re safe out in the sun, you’re safe inside of a sauna. Check with your doctor. You may be on several pharmaceuticals, but you want to be careful, certainly with blood pressure drugs in that scenario. Tell me what’s new over at Sunlighten and what can we expect over the next year or two.

There are some things I have to keep under wrap, but I can share a couple of things. I am going to steal that “If you’re safe in the sun” answer because I get questions all the time about safety. I like your sun analogy because it’s perfect. As far as new and exciting, we introduced the first and only product on the market that has far infrared, mid-infrared, near-infrared, invisible light, as well as red light therapy, which is visible light. There is no other way to get all four wavelengths anywhere else than at Sunlighten. That’s new and super exciting. The feedback so far on the experience itself getting in there with the addition of the red light has been overwhelmingly positive. Those are amazing stories.

That’s exciting. We are enhancing our app. That’s coming up as far as increasing and making some changes. I know that technology is not one of your things, so maybe not the best for the audience. The red light addition as well as having the other three wavelengths is a game changer. I know a lot of people sometimes want to do red light separately or whatever. Now, it’s all about efficiency and taking away obstacles in your life. If you can do it all in the same place, you’re probably going to do it more often than if you don’t. We’re super excited about that change.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not down on tech, and I know you agree. It is the idea of getting into the sauna and that’s the time when you pick up your cell phone, you’re checking your emails, and you’re doing all your stuff there because that light can be very harmful and your light is very healing.

As well as just the stress on the brain. What I noticed is there’s PBM, which is PhotoBioModulation. There’s data on giving that light therapy to your brain and how it can give the brain more energy. It’s funny because, over these years, I’ve always felt better and noticed a difference in my brain and noticed a difference in X, Y, and Z. Over the past years, there’s so much robust science that supports all. I’m like, “That makes sense. That’s why I have more energy. That’s why my brain feels so much clearer with more creativity than it did before.”

If you didn’t know this and you’re watching Connie Zack, Connie Zack is 78 years old. This is how you look when you practice what you preach and you use the Sunlighten Sauna. Connie, it was an absolute pleasure to see you as always. Much love and gratitude to everybody at Sunlighten and everything you guys are doing. I know it’s such a passion and purpose for you. You and I have talked about that before and how many years you’ve been in this industry and the health-related space.

Coming from a pharma background and seeing all the devastation from the pharma side, which I saw in my career as a hospital-based practitioner, and to come over here and be able to help people and see the results and the testimonials, I so appreciate everything you guys are doing in Sunlighten. Thank you for spending time with me and all the guests.

Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it. I love what you’re doing and I love working with you. I look forward to many more.

Sounds good to me. For Connie Zack and everybody at Sunlighten, we’ll see you on another episode show.

Important Link

• Sunlighten

About Connie Zack

Connie Zack is co-owner of Sunlighten™, the global leader in infrared light therapy and infrared sauna manufacturing. After seeing how spending time in an infrared sauna transformed her brother’s traumatic health issues, Connie and her husband committed everything they had to helping others through the benefits of nature’s healing infrared light.

They’ve now spent more than 22 years bringing light, hope, and happiness to people around the world with locations in 13 countries, as well as operating an award-winning day spa at its headquarters location in Kansas City. Sunlighten delivers its promise to help people feel better so they can do more of what they love and live fully through a caring approach that drives innovation, investment, and relationships.

Prior to Sunlighten, Connie held positions at Procter & Gamble ranging from Alternative Marketing Manager, District Pharmaceutical Sales Manager and Gastrointestinal National Manager. During that time, she successfully joined the P&G Leadership Group, a collection of elite staff groomed for future executive positions. Being a minority in her field, with very few women in managerial roles, Connie made a commitment to herself that when she received promotions, she would reach back and pull other women through the organization. Subsequently, Connie served as a member of the P&G Women’s Board – a mentoring program for junior-level female staff.