Can Any Red Light Be Used for Red Light Therapy? Find Out
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Can Any Red Light Be Used For Red Light Therapy? And Other Amazing Questions
Here are the answers to your light therapy questions.
1 – Can Any Red Light Be Used For Red Light Therapy? (will A Red Home Lightbulb Work?)
A Cell Phone’s Red Light; an Incandescent, Halogen, Fluorescent, RGB or LED Light; a Red Image; a Red Cell Phone App; or Red Clothing?
LIGHT HEALS WITH ENERGY OF SPECIFIC WAVELENGTHS. It doesn’t heal with the color that hits the eyeball or because a non-light object is red. If an incandescent, fluorescent, or LED bulb is therapeutic, that’s a coincidence and not by design. The bulb has to output the right wavelengths of light with the right intensity for healing.Incandescent bulbs tend to get hot, too. If you feel heat when doing red light therapy, you are not benefitting from the lamp’s energy. It jiggles cells, which creates the sensation of heat. Without heat generation, we want light absorbed in the cells’ mitochondria.
The device to measure wavelengths (a spectrophotometer) is expensive. It tells you which wavelengths a light emits. Does that mean it emits enough of that wavelength at a high enough power to get a good dose in 5 to 30 minutes? For it to work, you must have the right wavelengths and intensity.Also, understand that a red object cannot do red light therapy. Red clothing, images, and cell phone lights are psychologically interesting as color therapy, but they are not therapeutic lamps. Painting a bulb does not change the wavelengths emitted from it.A proper therapy lamp has the right wavelengths and power to deliver the target between 0.5 and 65 joules of light. However, the power density of a lamp cannot be determined from its wattage. The manufacturer must state the light’s power density, or you must measure it. It is much easier to buy a cheap therapy bulb.
2 – Can You Just Use A Red Screen On Your Phone?
“So, what about the benefits of having red wallpapers on our devices? You mentioned light going through a curtain was used as a sort of red light therapy. I wonder if there’s mental/physical benefits to having your wallpaper a certain color” “patient: im depressed doctor: no worries i gotchu (proceeds to shine laser pointer at head)”
The red wallpaper on your phone can have positive psychological effects. However, those effects are not red light therapy. For that to happen, the light from the phone would have to meet specific wavelength and energy requirements. A phone screen does not have enough energy to have a biological effect.
3 – Do Grow Bulbs Work For Light Therapy?
“I have been doing red light therapy for years. ONLY near infrared light is suitable for long term use(it is actually a nutrient for cells but science still needs to catch up), far infrared is too similar to microwave spectrum waves and causes radiation damage. Oh, and also, you dont need to spend hundreds of dollars on a premade device. Buy a near infrared red light bulb and a clamp for it, it’s about $30-40 at home depot. You can even buy two or more of these pairs and then hang them over your body”“I wonder if my growlight would work for this? Its Mars Hydro SP 3000 with IR diodes.”
You can successfully use plant grow lights for home therapy, and many people do. Grow light manufacturers often sell their plant lights as therapeutic devices because the wavelengths appropriate to plants and humans overlap.
CAUTION: DO NOT USE GROW LIGHTS WITH ULTRAVIOLET WAVELENGTHS. UV is bad, mmkay?Grow lights usually offer wavelengths between 400 and 700 nm, encompassing blue, green, red, and orange. Therapy lights usually have 400 to 850 nm wavelengths, which add to the infrared range of electromagnetic fields.Be aware that blue light can harm the eyes and suppress melatonin production. However, blue light is useful for treating skin conditions such as acne, psoriasis, and rosacea.For example, the Mars Hydro SP3000 grow light has the following wavelengths:
- 260-400 nm UV
- 660 nm red
- 730 nm infrared
The 660 nm is a healing wavelength. The 730 nm wavelength is debatable. The 260-400 nm wavelengths are dangerous to your health. I would not use it as a therapy lamp.
4 – Isn’t Sunlight Better than Red Light Therapy?
“Aren’t we getting the full light spectrum (including near IR) form the sun throughout the day anyway? So, just take more sunbathes, go outside more frequently, let the sun rays hit your skin, and you won’t need to buy all that expensive red light stuff, thanks you. ““TLDR: Red light therapy works great if you stay inside all day. A more cost effective alternative is going outside. ““So sunlight could do this or am i mistaken” “Perhaps this is one reason why humans are relaxed by sitting around a fire. ““This is a big ad to say, GO OUTSIDE YOU LAZY BASTERED. Because there are healthy benefits to it so you dont spend hundreds of dollars on a really cool lamp that glows red. (Ps great video) “ “What are the main differences between red light treatment vs just taking big doses of vitamin D (5000+ IU)?”
Millions don’t get enough sunlight, which offers UV to create Vitamin D and infrared, promoting mitochondrial health.Depending on your latitude, it can be impossible to get enough sunlight to allow the body to produce the day’s supply of Vitamin D. I don’t want to confuse you: Red light therapy does not promote vitamin D production. I’m just pointing out that we wouldn’t have a Vitamin D crisis if everyone got enough sunlight.I’ve noticed that young, healthy people don’t benefit much from red light therapy, which makes sense. The therapy supports the mitochondria in the cells, the organelles that make “biological batteries” (adenosine triphosphate or ATP). Mitochondria fail with age and injury, so red and infrared light profoundly affect mitochondria returning online to create ATP. If we got enough infrared light from sunlight, we wouldn’t have the revival of mitochondria from red light therapy. The sun would take care of that for us.A 15-minute session with a red/infrared lamp gives a day of sunlight without UV to the human body.
References
- Sunlight and health: shifting the focus from vitamin D3 to photobiomodulation by red and near-infrared light
- Sunlight, ultraviolet radiation, vitamin D and skin cancer: how much sunlight do we need?
- Infrared and skin: Friend or foe
- The role of near infrared radiation in photoaging of the skin
- The role of latitude, ultraviolet radiation exposure and vitamin D in childhood asthma and hayfever: an Australian multicenter study
- Seasonal Affective Disorder: An Overview of Assessment and Treatment Approaches
5 – Aren’t Lasers Better than LEDs?
For several reasons, lasers are not superior to LEDs for red light therapy. They produce the same health effects on skin, muscle, and pain relief. Red light therapy is a low-energy modality. High energy produces heat, which is counterproductive for stimulating the beneficial effects. Laser light is so strong that it bounces off the skin, making it less available to the cells.Go low and slow to get the best results. The first principle of light therapy is that the body must absorb the photons to create a response. The second principle is that too many photons stop (and often reverse) the healthy response.Suppose you have a weak therapeutic device: How do you get a high enough dose? The answer is that you spend more time with a weaker device to accumulate energy over time.
Doing 20 seconds with a class IV laser might take 15 minutes using an LED array. So long as you know the lamp’s wavelength and power density, you can calculate the time it takes to emit the right quantity (joules) of photons onto the target. Power density is written as follows: N mW/cm^2 @ some distance, where N is a numeric value, mW is milliwatts, cm^2 is per square centimeter, and the distance is in centimeters or inches.Many vendors offer lamps that supposedly shine 100 mW/cm2 when held 6 inches from the target. Some biohackers have measured popular lights and found that they overstated the power density by as much as 67%, i.e., the 100 mW/cm2 at 6 inches was more like 33 mW/cm2 at six inches.The overstatement often occurs because vendors use solar meters to measure LED output. Solar meters overstate LED light by two to three times. Laser light is columnar and strong. LED light is distributed and weaker by comparison.But this does not mean LED light cannot penetrate the skin or induce a healthy effect. Cytochromes in the mitochondria absorb LED light, which increases the respiratory mitochondria cycle. LED has further advantages over laser:
- LED does not burn the skin
- LED is much cheaper than laser
- LED is available to the consumer
6 – Do Cheap Red Light Therapy Lamps Work?
“Where do you get one for cheap?”“Anyone got any brands they recommend for this? especially aiming for the lowest price highest effectiveness” “Me: looks up red light therapy items on amazon;Me: digusted by the prices ;Me: Gets my small night light lamp and sets it to red”“Get some smart light-bulbs, program them to have a red tone during certain times of the day?”“Would the rbg lights that people hang up in their rooms be capable of providing ANY benefits when set to red?”
You do not need an expensive lamp to get benefits, but you cannot use just any lamp with blue, green, red, or infrared light. The issues are:
- the light might not emit the right wavelength
- the lamp might not have enough power
There’s nothing special about LEDs and light therapy; they are not required as the only alternative to doctor’s office lasers. But they do offer something you won’t get in a household lamp. LEDs can emit specific wavelengths (usually give or take up to 20 nanometers), and that’s very specific.
That specificity is necessary to get the same absorption as we know works from the studies. Multichromatic lights (of many colors) can interfere with absorption as wavelengths cancel each other out.
7 – Can I Make My Own Red Light?
Okay so why shouldn’t I line my headset with a red LED if I’m on a computer for 15 hours a day during lockdown? Can I Build My Own Light Therapy Helmet?
Yes, you can certainly build your therapy device. That is the purpose of the Red Light Therapy DIY group on Facebook.
Resources
- Red Light Therapy DIY on Facebook
- Wendy Zelmer on YouTube
- Inflammation Coach
8 – What About Unwanted Uv Light?
“Does red light produce any uva or uvb and contribute to skin cancer? Thx”
Red light therapy is a subset of light therapy that uses healing photons from light waves ranging from 400 nm to 1000 nm. The wavelengths are 400 to 1000 nanometers (billionths of a meter) wide.
These correspond to the visual blue, green, yellow, orange, and red colors and the invisible lower end of the infrared range. UV, UV-C, UV-B, and UV-A have wavelengths from 100 nm to 400 nm wide and are not part of the therapeutic range.
9 – What About Unwanted Emfs?
“Any information on the EMF output of these machines and any particular recommendations please?”
Some therapeutic lights emit unwanted electromagnetic fields (EMFs). EMFs aren’t good or bad except in how the body responds to them. We are bathed in EMFs from wireless, cell phones, and Bluetooth. Are we dropping dead? No, Yes, and Sort of.While the EMFs emitted from low-power devices are non-ionizing, this doesn’t mean they’re safe. Leaving a cell phone in your pocket long enough will reduce your hip bone mass.A multi-year study of cell phone use concluded in its abstract that cell phones probably did not cause cancer. The authors worked so hard to turn the data into submission that they concluded cell phones PREVENT cancer. Meanwhile, if you read the data, you found that 40% of heavy cell phone users who always used their phones to their ears developed glia blastoma, a fatal brain tumor.
Cell phone radiation is non-ionizing, which does not stop it from being dangerous. The lengths these authors went to appease their telecom Gods are downright fraud. But I digress.So yes, non-natural EMFs can cause damage to biological creatures, including humans. I don’t know if the EMFs emitted from therapeutic lights cause damage, but I’d still rather not have one hugged to my body. This is a shame because Dr. Michael Hamblin said at a conference last year that he’d like to see people who stand in front of lamps hug them to their bodies.Dr. Hamblin specializes in photonic biology and did not address the EMF elephant in the room. So I’ll sort this out so you can make an intelligent choice. Any device that uses electricity from the wall cycles at 60 Hz (America) or 50 Hz (everywhere else) alternating current.Transformers of such devices usually put off non-natural EMFs. Any device with a fan uses electric current to run the motor, potentially outputting non-natural EMFs in the process. Man-made devices can emit polarized EMFs, which increase biological activity.Constructive interference amplifies field intensity and alters the body’s cells’ electromagnetic balance. Therapeutic lamps are man-made; are we doomed? No, not all man-made devices affect biological activity. Therapy lamps powered by BATTERY or USB CORD will likely be safe from unwanted EMFs.
References
- Polarization: A Key Difference between Man-made and Natural Electromagnetic Fields, in regard to Biological Activity
- Mobile Phones [Don’t] Cause Brain Tumors (study summary)
- How a Canary in the Coal Mine Transformed Red Light Therapy Engineering
It’s not a great idea to put it directly on a tumor, but putting it on your thymus is a good idea.
It could also be beneficial by increasing the local area of the immune system so that it can fight cancer better. There are some studies on infrared light therapy in advanced cancer and preliminary studies have been positive. But at this stage, it’s too early to say if it can benefit or not.”
Dr. Judith Zech et al. said in their paper:
“Vigilance remains warranted to detect any potential adverse effects of PBM on cancer treatment outcomes and survival.”
References
Conclusion
While you can’t use a red light bulb for red light therapy, there are cheap options that will work very well.
