PhotoBioModulation or Red Light Therapy

With light therapy, you’re aiming to improve your health or body through the use of light. This light is applied to the body and it requires particular wavelengths (colors) and sufficient power.

Many different types of light therapy exist. Spending time in the sun is one form of light therapy. Tanning beds is another example. Though lately, some types of light therapy have seen a surge in popularity.

Red light therapy and infrared sauna therapy are the two forms of light therapy that are becoming widely used due to their low cost, ease of use, scientific backing and effectiveness.

Red light therapy, also called “Low-Level Laser Therapy” (LLLT) or “photobiomodulation” in scientific circles, uses red and invisible infrared light to achieve a biological effect. Infrared saunas also use infrared light.

This red and infrared light is part of the “light spectrum”. The light spectrum is made up of infrared light (which makes the sun feel hot on your skin), visible light (all colors of the rainbow that you can see with your naked eye including red), and ultraviolet light (which can lead to sunburn).

Many different methods exist to administer light therapy. Lasers, filaments in a bulb and more recently LED’s. The technological advancements we have seen with LED’s (and the resulting drop in prices) is the main driver pushing light therapy out of the scientific labs and into the home.

Light therapy refers to the use of various different wavelengths (or colors) from the light spectrum to achieve a biological effect. You can see that light spectrum below

Red light therapy uses the red part of the visible light spectrum, and a tiny part of the infrared spectrum referred to as “near infrared” light (compared to infrared saunas which typically use far infared light).

Light therapy, on the other hand, might use blue light, green light, red, ultraviolet light, or even a combination of light. Think of red light therapy is a subcategory of light therapy. Or better yet: red light therapy is one type of light therapy.

Red Light Therapy does not just include visible red light (600-700nm light) – it also refers to the invisible near infrared light out to ~ 1200nm.

If you’re asking “who is light therapy for” then the answer is simple: everyone. Just like exercise at the right intensity is good for everyone, and a healthy diet is good for everyone, the same is true for light therapy.

All the different types of light therapy, such as red light therapy, seasonal affective disorder (SAD) lights, infrared saunas, and sunlight have their own unique benefits.

Red light therapy has 8,000+ studies backing it and has benefits for sports performance and recovery, sleep quality, countering inflammation, decreasing disease risk, and boosts well-being, skin health, wound healing, and brain health, just to name a few.

Hundreds of studies on saunas show benefits for lowering disease risk (heart disease, Alzheimer’s, airway conditions), helping you lose weight, improving skin health, enhancing well-being, boosting sleep quality, and more.

The bottom line is this: If you’re human, you’ll benefit from light therapy.

Since the early 1900s, thousands of studies have been carried out on light therapy. At first, sunlight and ultraviolet light were deemed the most important and heavily researched.

In the 1960s, the first lasers were used for enhancing health. These lasers commonly used red and near-infrared light. Since the 2000s, LEDs have become much more affordable and have started to be used in consumer products.

As stated before, more than 8,000+ studies have been performed on mostly red and near-infrared light. Most of these studies have been included in a spreadsheet on light therapy that you can read online, from Vladimir Heiskanen. In that spreadsheet, 90%+ of studies show positive results.

Also, hundreds, if not thousands of studies have been published on sauna therapy, mostly finding very positive outcomes.

So, yes, there’s overwhelming evidence that light therapy works. Anecdotal evidence supports this, with hundreds of thousands if not millions of people who had their lives changed after buying red light therapy panels or an infrared sauna.

Next up, let’s explore how it all works:

How Light Therapy Works

Light therapy works through many different mechanisms. Different types of light of the light spectrum penetrate your body tissue at different distances.

Infrared light, for instance, can travel up to several inches into the body. Red light penetrates well but . And other types of light, such as blue or parts of the ultraviolet light spectrum, stay on the skin’s surface.

Red and infrared light can travel into your cells. In the cell, the light affects the “mitochondria” – the energy-producing factories of your cells. One or multiple steps of that energy-creation process can be influenced by red and infrared light, thereby leading to higher energy production.

Blue light, on the other hand, has biological effects as well. For instance, blue light can inhibit bacteria formation in your skin. And, when the blue light enters your eyes, it signals to your brain that it’s daytime. Your eyes are not just a camera to see the world but a portal to the clock in your brain that tracks time.

Ultraviolet light, also has various effects. Ultraviolet light can be divided into ultraviolet-A (UVA) and ultraviolet-B (UVB). UVA makes you feel more relaxed when it hits the skin, improves circulation, and helps build brain-signaling compounds such as serotonin and dopamine when it hits your eye. UVB aids the creation of vitamin D in the skin.

Though the side-effects are rare and rather minimal, light therapy can have side-effects when used improperly. Anything in life has side effects when used incorrectly. Water can kill you if you drink too much of it, too much exercise can lead to over training, injuries and elevated stress levels.

Too much ultraviolet light from the summer sun leads to sunburn. Almost any type of light can be abused. Blue light with it’s stimulating effect can keep you up at night. Red light can make you tired and lower your energy levels when you overdo it. Infrared light can make your skin look worse if you sit inside an infrared sauna for hours per day.

If you follow the guidelines that come with your light therapy device you should not have any issues. But if you have any serious health problems always check with your doctor before starting a new form of therapy.

How you use light therapy depends on the device you are using. For instance, you would use a red light therapy panel ideally four to five days per week, for 3-20 minutes a day. But all of that depends on how large your device is, the power output, the condition(s) being treated, treatment duration, what time of day you are receiving the treatment.  It is truly a medical device that requires a health care provider to review your medical history and dose you based on the device being used to ensure the best results and the safest results possible.