There are many holistic therapies that you can use to help get your body in the best health possible. Some are quite simple and some are a bit more complex.
One of the best options that you can choose (for almost every part of your body), and one that doesn’t come with a lot of side effects, is known as red light therapy.
What is Infrared Massage Therapy?
Red light therapy is a simple technique that works with red low-level wavelengths of light. What initially started as a technique to treat a variety of skin issues (including scars and wrinkles), is now used to treat many different health concerns throughout the body.
Originally this therapy was used in the 1990s by a group of scientists who were trying to learn how to grow plants while in space. They found that the intense, but safe, light from the LEDs were able to help the plant cells grow. This is when they took that idea and started to study other potential uses of red light in medicine.
Today, red light therapy is used in a variety of ways to help with many common health conditions. Many people believe that this therapy can come in and provide a healthy way to rejuvenate and heal the body… making sure that cells have more energy, and in turn, helping to prevent disease.
How Does It Work?
Red light therapy can produce a biochemical effect in the cells of our body, one that seems to make the mitochondria stronger. Remember that the mitochondria serve as the powerhouse of the cells (or the location where the energy of the cell is created). The molecule in the cell that can carry the energy is known as the ATP.
When you use red light therapy to improve the efficiency of mitochondria, a cell is then able to create more ATP. With this added energy, cells function better, repair damage faster, and can perform to their full capacity.
It’s important to remember that red light therapy is different from laser therapy. When done properly, the red light isn’t going to cause damage to the surface of the skin.
Laser therapies, on the other hand, work by causing damage to the outer layer of the skin which then forces the tissue to repair itself. Red light therapy can bypass this step by stimulating the regeneration of the skin without causing any damage at all.
What are the Benefits of Infrared Light Therapy?
While there needs to be more clinical research done to in order to realize all that red light therapy can do, there are a lot of benefits that people are seeing when they decide to use red light therapy in their own lives. Some of the benefits of red light therapy include:
- Helps tissues repair and promotes wound healing
- Can help improve hair growth, even when you have struggled with this before.
- Is a short-term treatment to help with carpal tunnel syndrome in some sufferers.
- Will speed the healing of some wounds that typically take a while, including diabetic foot ulcers.
- Reduce lesions from psoriasis.
- Can help relieve pain and inflammation for a lot of people, including those who suffer from pain in their Achilles’ tendons.
- Will diminish scars throughout the body
- Is great for helping improve how good your joints function, especially for those suffering from osteoarthritis.
- Can prevent cold sores from coming back again.
- Will mend some of the sun damage that is done to the skin.
- Can improve the complexion of the skin while also building up collagen to diminish some of the wrinkles that are there.
- Some people have found that it is a great way to reduce the side effects of cancer treatments so you can feel better.
- May be able to treat neck and back pain.
- Reduces your weight when used properly and can help reduce cellulite.
- Can help to boost the immune system and will activate your lymphatic system so it is easier to detoxify the body.
As mentioned, these are just some of the known benefits out there for red light therapy. It is likely that with more research and time, we will find more ways that we can use this therapy to help improve the body and the mind.
Considering these lights are overall very safe (will not damage the skin and are easily accessible), it certainly can be considered as one of the first treatments you try for common ailments.
Are There Any Side Effects?
For the most part, red light therapy is not only efficient, but it is also safe and doesn’t bring about any pain. This is a big difference compared to other therapies that may seem comparable but come with a host of side effects. That said, there are a few side effects that you should know about before starting this treatment.
For example, there are a few reports about burns and a little blistering when using red light therapy units. Fortunately, this doesn’t happen often, and typically only occurs when someone falls asleep while using the unit. Other times it is due to broken wires or corrosion on the device that is being used (aka improper use).
In other cases, it’s important to consider the potential risk to your eyes and damage that any bright lights can cause. It’s always recommended to use proper protective eyewear. Granted, this is still a much safer alternative compared to the traditional laser therapies that you may have heard about, but it’s still worth using eye protection while you do red light therapy just in case.
Overall, red light therapy remains a non-traditional way of taking care of your body and ultimately providing it with the care and energy that it needs. There are a few side effects that users need to be aware of, but many people have found red light therapy to be a safe and efficient option for many of their common medical ailments. Feel free to continue browsing the site to see if infrared massage / light therapy is the right choice for you!
