I can almost hear you think, “Red light therapy is just another gimmick—just another way companies try to sell products.” You know what? A month ago I would’ve agreed with you. Having been on Instagram and Facebook since they first landed on the internet, I’ve seen all kinds of health and fitness gimmicks come by, many of which are indeed a waste of money. And if it weren’t for the fact that a red light panel isn’t thousands of dollars, that it’s currently trending, and now that we have a room available, I would have never bought it.

But, I’ve been wrong before when it comes to health and fitness modalities, and I was willing to be wrong again—oh my, am I happy I did.

Before diving into specifics, I’ll tell you what I did. I aimed for about three to four sessions a week, with each session lasting about half an hour. For the first few weeks, I was super skeptical, but the panel was warm and I could catch up on emails and social media content during, so I wasn’t chasing any results.

Now, I have to mention something before we move on. We all know about placebos, right? You think something works, and your expectations make it so. The placebo effect is, in fact, so powerful that one (maybe more) study showed that half of the benefits of caffeine come from your expectations, and the other half from the actual compound. But, have you ever heard of the word nocebo? Nocebo is the exact opposite of placebo; you thinking that something doesn’t work will almost completely suppress any benefits (especially those of a psychological nature).

So yeah, I noticed nothing. But after a few weeks, I had several people compliment me on my skin and hair, which to me speaks volumes. Now I’ll be transparent—I have also been consuming more collagen as of late, but hey, it’s a start. The big change was, my interest was piqued, and I started to pay attention.

The next thing I noticed was that after every session, I felt this calmness. Like all the rough edges of my experience were smoothed over. I also started to notice a slight increase in my general energy levels, as well as a brain that seemed to work a little better.

Let’s jump out for a second. To those of you who don’t know my nature very well, I’m very obsessive and tend to hyper-fixate on how I feel—please take what I say with a grain of salt.

Alright, next. Sadly, I injured my shoulder during BJJ recently—a small tear in my deltoid muscle. RLT (red light therapy) has done wonders for my recovery. The first thing I noticed was an immediate increase in mobility in the area after a session. I’ve also gone from barely being able to lift my arm to having 90% of my range back in five days.

What's the mechanism? What is red light therapy exactly? And why these benefits?

Once again, I can almost hear you think, “No way that just exposing yourself to red light has all these benefits.” Bear with me, please (no pun intended).

So, light is electromagnetic radiation, and red light in particular has a long wavelength, whereas blue light is the exact opposite. Now, if you know anything at all about quantum mechanics, chemistry, or physics, you’ll know that all matter is frequency—where denser atoms have a higher amplitude and frequency, and lighter atoms the opposite. Are you starting to see the potential?

Now, I’ll take it a step further. Red and blue light are polar opposites—blue light excites, and red light downregulates. Our body is very attuned to our light environment, because for thousands of years the circadian cycle of the sun was our main regulator. In the morning and evening, we’re exposed to more red light (this has to do with the angle of the sunlight), and during the day, we’re exposed to more blue light.

Any additional light sources (until about 40 years ago) we had were mostly red light—think fire and incandescent light bulbs. Nowadays, we’re exposed to way too much blue light through LED lights and screens—yeah, that’s a problem.

Not only does too much blue light wreck our skin and hair, it also deteriorates our eyesight, causes unnecessary neurological stress, and increases blood pressure through the contraction of your blood vessels.

Now you might ask yourself, what is the difference between the infrared sauna and the red light panel? For starters, the red light panel has both infrared and red light, just less intense, whereas the sauna only has infrared. The difference between red and infrared light is that because the frequency of infrared is lower, it penetrates our skin better and therefore has other biological effects. Also, you don’t have to heat up the panel—it works instantaneously, without the sweating. You can do work without dripping over your device or needing a shower.

So what now? How do I start?

Currently, a 30-minute red light therapy session is $20, which will get really expensive if you want to see results. Kiley and I have the intention of being of service to our community, and we don’t want you to be out of pocket, so for just $35 a week, you get unlimited access. Sold? Head over to Square Booking Flow to book your first session.

Are you a member of Eltham Martial Arts Academy, and are you on recurring fees? Send us a message and we will strike you a good deal.

Want to know more in-depth information about red light therapy? Head over to our Red Light Therapy webpage.

Additional reading

• Harvard Health Publishing – The healing power of light
• Cleveland Clinic – What Is Red Light Therapy?
• Healthline – What Is Red Light Therapy?
• WebMD – What Is Red Light Therapy?
• Verywell Health – Red Light Therapy: Uses, Benefits, and Risks
• NIH – Photobiomodulation: mechanisms and applications
• NIH – Low-level laser (light) therapy (LLLT) in skin: stimulating, healing, restoring
• Mayo Clinic – Does red light therapy work?
• Forbes Health – Red Light Therapy: How It Works, Benefits And Risks
• Health.com – What Is Red Light Therapy and Does It Really Work?