Why Red Light Therapy
Why Red Light Therapy
Our bodies need sunlight. Biologically, our body has evolved to live outside. While the modern way of life is very different from our distant ancestors, our body has not actually changed much in an evolutionary sense over the past few thousand years. Living outside meant much more exposure to sun. The body consequently evolved to have cells that respond to sunlight. These cells use the sunlight to work optimally and to reinforce and drive various biological processes. The red and near infra red light that the sun emits is particularly beneficial to the human body.
Unfortunately, in modern day life, we spend a lot of our time indoors. At home, at the office and in cars, for example. This drastically reduces the amount of sunlight that our bodies receive. Moreover, for the light to properly affect our cells, it has to penetrate the skin. Red light and near infra red light does not shine through clothes, it has to shine on naked skin for its beneficial effects.
The sun is especially rich in red and near infrared light closer to sunrise and sunset. In our busy lives we are however not always able to be outside during these times of the day. And if we are, we normally would be wearing clothes. So that our bodies receive less light than they need. Also, the sun does not always shine of course.
We believe that the real deal is always best, so if you can, go outside and enjoy the sun. But Red light panels can help bring the best qualities of the sun to your own home at your own convenience.
The Science
Experiments with red light therapy as early as in the 1960s demonstrated that the use of this light led to better wound healing in mice. Especially in the last 15 years, a lot of research has been done to confirm the positive effects that red light and near infra red light have on the cells of the human body. Most studies show benefits for red light between 630 and 680 NM and near infrared light between 800 and 880 NM.
So how does red light therapy work?
Certain spectra of light penetrate the skin. Think of infra red light for example. Red and near infra red light penetrate the skin at varying levels of depth. The cells in your body have receptors that pick up and respond to this light. This boosts your mitochondrial health. Mitochondria are like little power plants that give energy to your cells and help power them.
Early in life, you will have very high levels of mitochondria, but throughout life it will start to diminish, also greatly depending on lifestyle. This means less energy for your cells to do their work efficiently. Your body spends a lot of energy every day to regenerate, replacing old cells for new cells. Think of your skin for example. The more energy your cells have the smoother this process of regeneration will go.
In short, exposure to red and near infrared light gives your cells more energy to do their job.
Professional athletes are also recognising these benefits, and the number of athletes that use red light therapy to boost their recovery and performance is increasing, for example, Manchester City star Erling Haaland.
Dosage
When using the red light panels, it is important to hit the right dosage.
More is not necessarily better. It is best to think about the beneficial effects as a bell curve. Whereas initially the benefits increase with time, until an optimum is hit, after which the returns decrease or can even become negative (hormesis).
So too little is not good, but too much is not good either.
In red light therapy, there are two key factors that help determine the dosage: distance to the light and time.
In general, for deep tissue treatment it is recommend to aim for a higher dosage, whereas for skin surface benefits a lower dosage is fine.
You can calculate the dosage with the following formula:
irradiance/cm2 x time in seconds x 0.001 = J/cm2
Recommendations:
Try to stay within 3 – 50 J/cm2 per area of your body per day. And don’t exceed 120J total dosage / day for your whole body.
For skin surface aim between : 3 – 15 J/cm2
For deep tissue aim between: 10 to 50J/cm2