The Benefits of Red Light Therapy are Real and Proven

The idea of affordable, convenient, at-home self-care for a variety of issues seems too good to be true.

So it’s natural to be skeptical of something like red and infrared light therapy – which has been demonstrated to be easy, inexpensive, do-it-yourself, and most importantly, effective for a wide variety of applications.

The benefits of Red Light Therapy (also called Photobiomodulation Therapy and PBM Laser Therapy) are real and scientifically proven. Thousands of peer-reviewed medical studies on the health benefits of red light therapy have shown unequivocally that red LED light therapy has positive effects on many different bodily systems and multiple aspects of your health.

In the decades since red light photon therapy was discovered by NASA, the hypothesis of real health benefits from red light therapy has been tested repeatedly in scientific studies and medical trials. The consensus is clear: red light therapy works, and it has a wide range of therapeutic effects. Some of the benefits of red LED light therapy include reducing inflammation, encouraging wound healing, lower recovery times after exercise, firmer and healthier skin, increasing testosterone, alleviating symptoms of hypothyroidism and more. You can see then why whole body red light therapy devices are one of the most efficient ways to enjoy many health benefits... More coverage and higher power equals better results in less time.

The way red light therapy works specifically is by interacting with the mitochondria inside your body’s cells. As high school biology taught us, “the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell” because it produces adenosine triphosphate, or ATP, that each cell uses for energy. Red light stimulation of these mitochondria causes them to produce more ATP than they would normally, providing more available energy for the cells. More energy available for your body’s cells means all kinds of bodily processes are quicker and more efficient: faster wound healing and muscle recovery, improved hair growth, carpal tunnel relief, psoriasis reduction, increased collagen, cold sore prevention, reduced swelling, and other benefits all stem from ramped-up ATP production within the mitochondria of your cells.

Because the light needs to reach the mitochondria within the cells for red light therapy to work, many of the most studied benefits are skin-related. With near-infrared wavelengths of light, however, the photobiomodulation effect can penetrate the surface layer of skin cells and activate the mitochondria deeper in your tissues, allowing for benefits like reduced arthritis pain and stiffness, improved joint health, and quicker post-workout recovery.

One of the interesting things about Red Light Therapy is that not all kinds of red light are effective for therapeutic purposes: specific wavelengths of light between visible red and near infrared have been found to provide the best mitochondrial stimulation. The sweet spots are right around 660nm and 850nm (visible red and near-infrared, respectively).

Next time you visit ask about giving the Red Light a try!