Infrared Re-Invented At Biohacker Summit 2023 Amsterdam

Steve Heykers Cast The Sauna As A Networked Wellness Machine

At Biohacker Summit 2023 Amsterdam, held in Amsterdam on 14 October 2023, Steve Heykers took a familiar object of modern self-optimization, the infrared sauna, and tried to turn it into something more ambitious: a personalized, data-driven wellness platform.

Heykers, the European distributor of Sunlighten infrared solutions and owner of the Sunlighten company behind the patented SoloCarbon® infrared sauna line, delivered a presentation titled Infrared Re-Invented. His message was clear and commercially polished. Infrared, he argued, was no longer simply about heat. In Sunlighten’s vision, it had become programmable, targeted and connected, fused with red light therapy, mobile controls and software updates in pursuit of a more customized biology.

A Familiar Promise, Reframed Through Wavelengths

The talk began with a broad claim that has become common currency in wellness spaces: that infrared therapy may support pain relief, muscle recovery, detoxification, anti-aging and cardiovascular health. But Heykers sought to ground those promises in a simple explanatory framework, returning again and again to one word: wavelengths.

Infrared light, he said, sits just beyond the visible spectrum and accounts for more than half of the sun’s rays. Though invisible, it can be felt, and in his telling, different bands of infrared light produce different physiological effects.

Near infrared and red light, he said, stimulate cell health and growth by acting on mitochondria, described as the body’s “energy factories”. Mid and far infrared, by contrast, were presented as the warming wavelengths, gently vibrating water molecules and helping raise core body temperature. The distinction mattered because, in Heykers’ argument, no single wavelength was “best”. The right combination depended on the desired outcome.

For pain relief, one blend. For detoxification, another. For skin health and collagen support, yet another.

The Three-In-One Pitch

That logic underpinned the central product proposition of the session: Sunlighten’s three-in-one heater technology, designed to combine near, mid and far infrared and then vary the blend according to the user’s aims.

Heykers described this as a departure from the more static sauna model, where heat is delivered uniformly and users are left to supply the interpretation. In its place, he offered a system with six preset, data-driven health programs intended to tailor the infrared output for specific goals.

This was the pitch in its purest form: a sauna not merely as an environment, but as a responsive therapeutic device.

“No other sauna on the market comes close to this,” Heykers said, presenting Sunlighten’s system as both technically differentiated and clinically informed.

Red Light Therapy Moved From Add-On To Centerpiece

The presentation’s most pointed attempt at reinvention came with the addition of red light therapy to the sauna format. Heykers framed the combination of red light and near infrared as synergistic, with benefits extending beyond warmth and relaxation toward skin rejuvenation, inflammation reduction and cellular recovery.

“Near infrared and red light stimulate cell health and growth while igniting our body's energy factories,” he said. “This fuels our body so we function better and have more energy.”

Later, he pushed the claim further, saying: “By combining red light and near infrared therapy, you can reset your clock, reverse the signs of aging, and restore a youthful appearance.”

It was a striking line, equal parts futurist promise and anti-aging allure, and it captured the broader language of the session. This was not simply wellness as maintenance. It was wellness as upgrade.

The Smart Sauna As Lifestyle Operating System

If the infrared and red light elements formed the biological core of the pitch, the digital layer supplied its contemporary sheen.

Heykers introduced what he called the Ample Smart Sauna, also described during the session as the mPulse Smart Sauna, as a connected system featuring Android-based controls, mobile app connectivity and updateable programming. Users, he said, could schedule routines, track progress, access content and participate in a broader community ecosystem.

The idea was not just convenience. It was future-proofing.

Clinical understanding evolves, Heykers said, and the sauna should evolve with it. Because the platform could be updated, users would not be locked into a fixed model of wellness science. Instead, they would receive the latest refinements as Sunlighten’s engineers incorporated new findings into revised preset programs.

In that sense, the sauna was presented less as furniture than as firmware.

Beyond Heat: Sound, Color And The Full Sensory Stack

Heykers also emphasized that Sunlighten’s system stretched beyond infrared alone. Chromotherapy and sound vibration therapy were folded into the experience, expanding the sauna into a multi-sensory recovery space.

This layering of modalities reflected a wider trend visible across the biohacking economy, where singular therapies increasingly arrive bundled with adjacent interventions, each promising a cumulative effect. The sauna, in this framing, became a platform for stacking benefits: heat, light, sound, color, connectivity and data, all orchestrated toward systemic optimization.

“We have redefined the boundaries of well-being to invite you to the future of wellness,” Heykers said.

Endorsement, Authority And The Language Of Trust

As with much of the health technology market, authority was not built through engineering claims alone. It was also borrowed from recognizable names.

Heykers pointed to endorsements from figures including Dave Asprey, Ari Witten, Dr Mark Hyman and Dr Will Cole, presenting them as evidence that the system had already earned trust among prominent wellness and functional health personalities.

He also leaned on testing and certification language to answer a predictable concern: electromagnetic field exposure. A high-tech sauna packed with electronics, he acknowledged, might raise questions among health-conscious consumers.

His answer was Vitatek. According to Heykers, independent testing showed Sunlighten’s saunas producing EMF levels between 0.11 and 0.8 milligauss, which he said sat well below commonly cited hazard thresholds.

The Deeper Message: Personalization As The New Wellness Creed

What lingered after the presentation was not one isolated claim about infrared, red light or collagen. It was the broader ideological architecture underneath the product.

Heykers’ real argument was that wellness should be personalized, measurable and continuously updated. Modern life, he suggested, had estranged people from natural infrared exposure by keeping them indoors. Technology, paradoxically, would now restore what modernity had taken away, but in a more targeted and optimized form than nature ever could.

“Sunlighten's infrared saunas harness the healing powers of the sun, delivering systemic whole body health benefits that allow us to feel better, do more, and live fully,” he said.

That sentence encapsulated the ethos of the room. The sun, translated into software. Ancient energy, reformatted as a premium consumer device.

A Reinvention That Spoke To Its Moment

At Biohacker Summit 2023 Amsterdam, Steve Heykers did more than present a sauna. He presented a worldview in which health became a programmable environment and recovery a curated user experience.

Whether all of the claims surrounding infrared, red light therapy and anti-aging will withstand long-term scientific scrutiny is a larger question, and one that extends beyond the stagecraft of a summit presentation. But as a cultural artifact, Infrared Re-Invented was revealing. It showed how thoroughly the language of consumer technology has entered the wellness sphere.

Here, the promise was not merely to relax or recover. It was to select a protocol, press start and let a machine tune the body toward a better version of itself.

Frequently asked questions

What is Steve Heykers trying to change about the sauna?

He wants it treated as a personalized, data-driven wellness platform rather than a box that gets hot. Heykers is the European distributor of Sunlighten infrared solutions, whose patented SoloCarbon technology sits behind the pitch.

Why does he keep returning to wavelengths?

Because they are the explanatory framework for the claims. Infrared light sits just beyond the visible spectrum, and Heykers grounded promises about pain relief, muscle recovery, detoxification, anti-aging and cardiovascular health in which wavelengths are delivered.

What is the three-in-one pitch?

A heater technology designed to combine near, mid and far infrared and vary the blend according to the user's aims, departing from the static sauna model where heat is delivered uniformly and users are left to supply the interpretation. Red light therapy is added on top.

About the event

This recap is part of the Biohacker Summit 2023 Amsterdam series, recorded in Amsterdam on 14 and 15 October 2023. Read the summary of the whole event or join the next edition, HOLOLIFE Summit 2026 Amsterdam, on 14 and 15 November 2026.