Transcription
Red light therapy has been shown to reduce pain, decrease fine lines and wrinkles, support injury recovery, and so much more. Red light therapy offers tremendous healing benefits, but only if you're using it correctly. So, you'll want to avoid these big mistakes that I'll share with you in today's video.
In this video, I'm going to share with you the science behind how red light works, the benefits it will offer you, and of course, how to use it. So, stick around to the end. But before we get started, I'm Dr. Nick Zarowski and as always, it's a pleasure hanging out with you in today's video. This is really awesome cutting-edge information that you need to know about. So let's dive in and look at red light therapy as a whole.
Now, in general, when you are looking at using red light therapy, you're going to hear it referred to by many different names, and it really has to do with the type of unit that you're using and also the quality of the unit. So you may hear of red light therapy being referred to as just simply red light therapy, but also when you look at the research, it's typically going to be referred to as photobiomodulation. And if you're using a really high-end unit, it will even be referred to as low-level laser therapy. And I'll get to the differences between all of that in just a moment.
But before we do, I want to tell you about Health Club. This is a private natural health community that I run. In Health Club, I talk to you about how to lower your cholesterol, lower your blood pressure. I teach you different therapies that you can start utilizing in your home in order to improve your health every day. I teach you how to use the proper supplementation to nourish your body well. In Health Club, I share with you all the cutting-edge resources that I utilize every day in my natural health practice. So, if you want to join me over in Health Club and you want to start transforming your health today and you like the information, like what I'm giving you today, go ahead and click on the link in the description below and join me over at Health Club. I promise you'll be very excited with the information that you're able to start implementing every single day into your lifestyle in order to avoid disease and live a better life. So, join me in Health Club today. Click on the link in the description below. I look forward to seeing you there.
So, let's break down a little bit further what red light is and how does it actually work, and then we'll talk about the benefits that it'll offer to you. Now, when we talk about red light therapy, we first want to look at the light itself. Okay? And what we're referring to is a spectrum of light that's measured in nanometers. And it's really broken down into near, mid, and far infrared light. The reason that this matters is because the type of spectrum that you're actually utilizing will determine the result that you get or the type of tissue that you're trying to heal. And what you'll find is that the different spectrums of light will be able to penetrate the skin and the tissue at different depths.
Now, there's over 7,000 studies on this topic of red light therapy or photobiomodulation, proving the amazing benefits that it offers. Now, I want to point out that in these particular studies, they're using very specific spectrums of light. And these spectrums are what have been found to actually offer the healing benefits. And the reason that that's relevant is because there's a lot of hoaxers out there that are selling you screen covers for your iPhone, for instance, claiming that it's red light therapy, or a bulb from your local hardware that is red in color, claiming it's red light therapy. That, of course, is not red light therapy, but it also certainly isn't the spectrums of light that has been used in the research and offered the research-proven benefits that you're hoping to achieve.
Now, in terms of red light in the spectrums, what you're going to find is that 620 to 700 nanometers, remember it's measured in nanometers, is going to be referred to as the traditional red light type of therapy, and it's going to penetrate the surface tissue of the skin. It impacts the networks of capillaries and the circulating blood along with the local immune cells. So you're going to find that this offers a more superficial benefit that can have systemic implications due to the impact that it is having on the blood itself.
Now, near-infrared light is going to penetrate a little bit deeper. We're looking at spectrums of light ranging from 700 to 1000 nanometers. And this is going to penetrate deeper into the muscle tissue, the joints, and even the brain. Now, this is where you're going to get the impact of deep tissue healing. It's not only going to support the blood cells at a deeper layer, but you're also going to offer that systemic effect of deep healing throughout the entire body. And it is for this reason that depending on the issue that you're facing, you're going to want to know the spectrum of light you're dealing with and which one would be best suited for you.
Now, how can light heal? This is a very interesting question I get all the time because it almost seems a little bit hokey to some extent. Right? Now, here's the real deep science behind this. I'm going to try to make it very easy to understand. One of the big reasons that red light therapy is so beneficial is because it penetrates through the layers of tissue and then it will impact the mitochondria, specifically stimulating the mitochondria. The main cellular target is going to be the enzyme cytochrome C oxidase inside the mitochondria.
Now, red light at specific wavelengths is readily absorbed by the chromophore in the mitochondria of the body cell, which activates the metabolic energy process. Now, both red and near-infrared wavelengths of light promote ATP production, which boosts energy transport within the cell, leading to an increase in cellular proliferation. Now, this is going to boost the body's natural healing cycle. It's going to help reduce inflammation and promote healing to the damaged tissue. This ultimately increases ATP in the body, meaning more cellular energy. And more ATP and more cellular energy means faster healing, better cell function, along with higher performance.
Now, that's not the only benefit that red light offers. Red light also offers reduced oxidative stress, improved antioxidant defense as a result of that, and also reduces inflammation, especially in the damaged or stressed tissues. This is one of the reasons that I actually use this therapy clinically, and I'll share with you more about that in just a second as we start talking about some of the amazing benefits not only the research has seen but also that I have seen in private practice.
Now, you're also going to find that red light has this incredible ability to activate cellular repair and gene expression. Now, when you use red light therapy, it supports collagen production, antioxidant defense, and also growth factors for tissue repair. This is going to stimulate stem cells and fibroblasts for faster skin and tissue regeneration. This is one of the main reasons that people will say all the time, "My skin looks so much better. My skin feels so much tighter. I look better because I'm using this type of therapy."
We're also going to find that this red light therapy improves blood flow and oxygen delivery, accelerating recovery. It's going to increase nitric oxide and improve the blood flow throughout the body. This factor is very interesting within itself. You could actually take a test strip and you can test your nitric oxide through your saliva before using red light and after using red light, and you'll see that nitric oxide is dramatically increased by using red light, which is very impressive.
Now, as I mentioned, in my clinic, we use red light therapy. Let me tell you the type of red light therapy we use. We use a full bed, and it's considered a Class II medical device. From the onset of this video, I said, "Well, there's kind of the traditional red light therapy that you can get in the home model, but then there's also the red light therapy that's looked at as more photobiomodulation or low-level laser therapy." This is more of what we're using.
Now, in my clinic, we actually use a full light bed. It's considered a Class II medical device. From the onset of this video, I said there's kind of the red light therapy that's found in most home units, there's the photobiomodulation and low-level laser therapy, and that's more of what we're using in the clinic here. And what's very unique about this is that we're actually specifically able to target different tissues based on research. And also, we're able to change the hertz frequency of the red light. And we're able to not only use the near, but also the mid and far infrared light as well, which is very powerful when it comes to healing. You're able to get to those deeper tissues, and you're able to have a much wider application.
Now, this offers systemic benefits, but here's what I will tell you, too. Though we may use a higher-grade device in clinical settings, there is still benefit to using red light at home. It's just that it's not going to typically be as efficient.
When you use red light at home, you're going to get more of a localized red light. You may have a little tiny red light panel, or you may have something that's in the form of a red light pad that you lay on. And what you're going to find is that you get more of a localized benefit by using that light. But also, it does have the ability to offer that systemic health approach, too. Because though we use a clinical-grade red light in order to help people with clinical conditions, you can actually get red light panels that you can utilize at home, and they still offer a systemic benefit to your overall health. The big difference is going to be how you utilize it.
So, if you're using like a full red light bed and maybe you're going somewhere to use this service, you're going to be able to do it in much less time, in much less frequency, and still get amazing results. So, for instance, the bed that we use has over 52,000 red lights in it. So, therefore, the time that you have to spend in it is very compacted down to just about 15 minutes. And you also are going to find that because it's hitting the whole body, you get tremendous benefit from it quite quickly, and you don't have to use it every single day.
Whereas, if you're using a home model that may have now dissipated down to about 10 red lights, only using a particular spectrum, and then you also are going to have to use that a little bit more frequently in order to get the same benefit. Instead of maybe using it 15 minutes, you'll increase that time frame up to laying in front of that red light for maybe 30 minutes and then using it multiple times a day and every day. And so that is the big difference that you're going to see between a really heavy-duty system and more of a light-duty home model of red light.
Now, this is what gets really interesting: the benefits that you can receive from utilizing red light. Now, first of all, there's plenty of research on this. There's over 7,000 studies. Sometimes when you see some of these natural healing techniques, you're going to get people say, "Oh, it's not research-proven." This is extremely research-proven. It's been shown to help people with arthritis, nerve pain and nerve regeneration, tendonopathies, soft tissue healing. It's been shown to help people reduce anxiety and depression, improve skin health, appearance, and elasticity, which means less wrinkles, less sagging skin, and anti-aging. Essentially, we're also going to see that it offers improved muscle performance and recovery from anybody who's maybe very physically active. It has been shown to improve sleep. And I will tell you that all my years in practice utilizing all the different types of nutritional vitamins and nutrients and minerals and sleep aids out there, there has been nothing that I have seen improve individuals' quality of sleep like using this red light therapy.
Also, it's very supportive of weight loss and improving eye health. And this was kind of a thing that I never thought I would see, but people say, "Yeah, well, when I started using your red light therapy system, my eye health started to improve." And I can tell you that though there are all these research benefits out there, there has been so many things that I have personally seen people have health improvements with that have not been quote-unquote proven. And it would almost fall into the category of not making sense or miraculous. But what we know is if you're constantly improving ATP output and you're improving the quality and health of the cell, then the sky's the limit as to the benefits that you can get from using red light therapy.
So whether you're using more of a clinical-grade red light therapy or you're using an at-home unit, there's tons of benefits to be able to get from using this type of therapy. Now you know though, even if you are going to get a home benefit, you can look at the different spectrums of light, and you have a better understanding now of the spectrums you're going to be looking for in order to get the benefit that you hope to achieve.
In summary, red light is able to charge the battery in your cells. It's able to supercharge your mitochondria, allowing your body to heal faster, better, and also reduce inflammation. Though this was a very complex topic, I hope I did a good job at breaking it down and making it very easy for you to understand. I'm Dr. Nick Zarowski, and if you enjoyed this video, check out this one next.