Adding an infrared sauna to my program

I just bought a far infrared sauna and of course it offers a whole new set of considerations about how to use it and integrate it into my intermittently flagging exercise program.

First, here's what it looks like. You'll have to imagine the pervasive cedar scent.

I'm satisfied that the better quality infrared saunas are safe. They emit the same kind of radiant energy that is produced by things like campfire embers, warm rocks, human bodies and cute little kitty cats.

As a note, I think it's strangely counterproductive the way that sauna brochures describe infrared as being between microwaves and ultraviolet-B. I wonder why they don't also relate it to cosmic rays, x-rays, microwaves and particle beam accelerators?

On the other hand, the time and temperature exposure levels that the saunas provide is a legitimate concern. Both traditional saunas and infrared saunas can provide an extreme environment and they must be used carefully.

I don't have any strong feelings about the health benefits of infrared saunas. I'm pretty skeptical about all the claims. I bought mine for purely creature comfort reasons. If any health benefits come along that would be nice too. It is, however, both a physical an emotional benefit to relax in total warmth when those cold winter days start coming around. Just knowing it is there with it's wonderful cedar scent always offering comfort and (can I use the word "warmth" again) is enough to get me through the day.

Then comes the question about how to use the sauna and I have questions with few answers.

1. Should I use the sauna before or after a workout? Browsing around the web I see that most people seem to use it after a workout. I suppose their intent is to help the recovery process. But I'm thinking that warming those muscles and joints up before beginning my exercise might be a better way to go. Maybe first a little sauna with some stretching, then smoothly into a cardio session finally followed by a strength training workout. It's rather appealing to me. And I sometimes need some incentive to get out of bed and get started on those chilly early mornings.
2. My sauna temperature control does not seem to control air temperature. Since the heating effect is mostly due to radiant energy and less due to air convection this makes sense, but I don't know how they calibrate it. What is that little sensor really measuring? Is it some kind of material that is sensitive to radiant energy? Does it have a real significant mass to provide control damping when the heater cycles or is it a virtual heat load of some kind? 
3. I want to start using my heart rate monitor while I'm in there and measure my water weight loss. Today I noticed that my heart rate went from 60 to 93 in 25 minutes as the temperature built up from 126 to 150 degrees F. I was impressed with how smoothly heart rate increased. 
4. Of course the sauna exposures fit right in to the Google docs workout diary.