What is Red Light Therapy?

Photobiomodulation Therapy (PBMT) is a form of light therapy that uses specific wavelengths of red light to penetrate tissue and stimulate cells.

Red light therapy can accelerate wound recovery, reduce pain, reduce inflammation, stimulate hair growth, and treat certain types of acne.

Scientists still do not fully understand the cellular and molecular dynamics behind these results, and the common explanation is that the photons of red light are absorbed by an enzyme in the mitochondria, which are the energy factories of cells.

This stimulates metabolic processes, causing the mitochondria to produce more adenosine triphosphate (ATP), a molecule that facilitates cellular chemical reactions and is thought to increase energy levels in humans.

Since the 1980s, red light boxes have been used to treat Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).

It is known that exposure of the skin to sunlight for 20-30 minutes allows the body to absorb enough vitamin D.

And in areas of the world where there is too little sunlight in winter, people who do not receive enough sunlight can develop depressive symptoms (seasonal affective disorder), for which a simple and effective treatment is to expose the sufferer to bright light during the day.

There is also blue light, especially at wavelengths around 460-480 nanometres, which can affect the body's circadian rhythm - keeping you awake at night - so wearing glasses that block blue light and turning on blue light filtering software can more or less help you sleep.

Infrared light, also called infrared, is one of the many invisible rays of the sun's light and was discovered by the British scientist Herschel in 1800.

He separated the sun's rays with a trigonometric prism and placed thermometers in the position of the various colour bands and found that the one located on the outside of the red light warmed up the fastest.

It is therefore concluded that the wavelength of infrared light on the solar spectrum is greater than that of visible light, with a wavelength of 0.75 to 1000 μm.

Infrared physiotherapy, on the other hand, is a type of light therapy, which is transmitted to the skin (approximately 5 mm) by infrared physiotherapy devices emitting infrared light.

When your cells are exposed to the wavelengths of red light, it causes the molecules and atoms to vibrate faster and spacing to widen, which can raise the local temperature.