Fluid Health

By
January 2022 View more

For years, Steve Braverman had battled a misdiagnosis, traveling from internists to specialists for medicines and injections that all seemed to make life worse. And then a doctor suggested he try a session in an infrared sauna.

“That made all the difference,” he says. “When I saw [my doctor] again he said, ‘I don’t know what you’re doing outside my office, but keep doing it.’ ”

Braverman has benefited from restorative infrared sauna treatments since 2012, and his wife, Araceli, benefited from red light skin treatments. When they decided to open a business together, franchising a Perspire Sauna Studio was the natural choice.

Perspire, which opened November 15 in Downers Grove (640 Ogden Ave., 630.324.7161, perspiresaunastudio.com), is part of a surge of suburban wellness centers filling the space between spa services and medical treatments. Offering cryotherapy, hydrating IVs, light treatments, and more, wellness businesses aim to help clients overcome and prevent illness, injury, and even aging.

IVme Wellness (47 E. Chicago Ave., 630.687.8833, ivmenow.com), which in November marked its first anniversary in downtown Naperville, also offers a menu of intravenous treatments formulated to boost hydration, fuel immunity, and fight migraines, jet lag, morning sickness, and hangovers. Other IV treatments are designed to help athletes recover from exertion, as well as support cognitive function and anti-aging. IVMe also has physicians that perform hormone replacement procedures, as our hormones diminish with aging and are detrimental to feeling your best, says manager Kayla Wollenzien.

“For a lot of the clientele, it is preventative. Almost all of the population is
going to be dehydrated and this is replenishing,” she says. “All of our treatments come with a mixture of different vitamins. Most of us are deficient because we aren’t getting enough of these vitamins through the foods we eat.”

The IV formulas and protocols are created by Dr. Jack Dybis, a Chicago trauma surgeon who founded the chain of four treatment centers. In Naperville, Dr. Scott Yilk, an Edward Hospital emergency department doctor, oversees the medical staff of registered nurses and paramedics experienced at starting IVs, Wollenzien says.

Though clients often are referred by doctors for IVs to support traditional treatments, she says the services are client directed. After a consultation to choose a formula ($69–$349), the client moves to a private room for the 30- to 45-minute treatment.

“It’s a private room with a recliner and a TV. You can dim lights and shut shades,” she says. “It’s your own private space, and that has its own benefits.”

Perspire, too, offers clients a space where they not only control the TV streaming service but also their 40-minute sauna experience ($20–$30 per session), the owners say. The client controls the chromatherapy—which has different benefits by color wavelength—as well as the temperature of the infrared light.

Unlike a typical sauna that heats the room, the infrared light heats the body and raises the core temperature by two or three degrees, Braverman says. “The first 10 minutes or so, it’s not hot. … It just feels cozy warm. Then, all of a sudden, your pores just open up and the sweat just pours out,” he says. “It creates an artificial fever that stimulates the body” to repair itself.

While treatments at wellness centers may have medical benefits, they typically are not covered by insurance. An insurance provider can help determine any exceptions. 

Photos courtesy Perspire and Ivme