🔗 Share this article

Light therapy is definitely experiencing a surge in popularity. Consumers can purchase glowing gadgets designed to address skin conditions and wrinkles along with muscle pain and periodontal issues, recently introduced is an oral care tool equipped with tiny red LEDs, described by its makers as “a major advance in personal mouth health.” Globally, the market was worth $1bn in 2024 and is projected to grow to $1.8bn by 2035. Options include full-body infrared sauna sessions, that employ light waves rather than traditional heat sources, the infrared radiation heats your body itself. As claimed by enthusiasts, it feels similar to a full-body light therapy session, enhancing collagen production, soothing sore muscles, relieving inflammation and long-term ailments as well as supporting brain health.

The Science and Skepticism

“It feels almost magical,” notes a neuroscience expert, a scientist who has studied phototherapy extensively. Certainly, certain impacts of light on human physiology are proven. Sunlight helps us make vitamin D, essential for skeletal strength, immune function, and muscular health. Natural light synchronizes our biological clocks, as well, triggering the release of neurochemicals and hormones while we are awake, and signaling the body to slow down for nighttime. Sunlight-imitating lamps are standard treatment for winter mood disorders to combat seasonal emotional slumps. Clearly, light energy is essential for optimal functioning.

Various Phototherapy Approaches

Although mood lamps generally utilize blue-spectrum frequencies, the majority of phototherapy tools use red or near-infrared wavelengths. In rigorous scientific studies, such as Chazot’s investigations into the effects of infrared on brain cells, finding the right frequency is key. Light constitutes electromagnetic energy, spanning from low-energy radio waves to short-wavelength gamma rays. Light-based treatment employs mid-spectrum wavelengths, including invisible ultraviolet radiation, then visible light (all the colours we see in a rainbow) and then infrared (which we can see with night-vision goggles).

UV light has been used by medical dermatologists for many years to manage persistent skin disorders including eczema and psoriasis. It modulates intracellular immune mechanisms, “and suppresses swelling,” says a skin specialist. “Substantial research supports light therapy.” UVA reaches deeper skin layers compared to UVB, while the LEDs in consumer devices (usually producing colored light emissions) “typically have shallower penetration.”

Safety Protocols and Medical Guidance

The side-effects of UVB exposure, like erythema or pigmentation, are understood but clinical devices employ restricted wavelength ranges – indicating limited wavelength spectrum – which minimises the risks. “Therapy is overseen by qualified practitioners, meaning intensity is regulated,” explains the dermatologist. Most importantly, the lightbulbs are calibrated by medical technicians, “to confirm suitable light frequency output – unlike in tanning salons, where it’s a bit unregulated, and emission spectra aren’t confirmed.”

Commercial Products and Research Limitations

Colored light diodes, he says, “aren’t typically employed clinically, though they might benefit some issues.” Red wavelength therapy, proponents claim, help boost blood circulation, oxygen uptake and skin cell regeneration, and stimulate collagen production – a key aspiration in anti-ageing effects. “Research exists,” says Ho. “Although it’s not strong.” In any case, amid the sea of devices now available, “we’re uncertain whether commercial devices replicate research conditions. Optimal treatment times are unknown, how close the lights should be to the skin, the risk-benefit ratio. Numerous concerns persist.”

Targeted Uses and Expert Opinions

Early blue-light applications focused on skin microbes, bacteria linked to pimples. Scientific backing remains inadequate for regular prescription – despite the fact that, notes the dermatologist, “it’s often seen in medical spas or aesthetics practices.” Certain patients incorporate it into their regimen, he mentions, though when purchasing home devices, “we recommend careful testing and security confirmation. Without proper medical classification, oversight remains ambiguous.”

Advanced Research and Cellular Mechanisms

At the same time, in innovative scientific domains, scientists have been studying cerebral tissue, discovering multiple mechanisms for infrared’s cellular benefits. “Pretty much everything I did with the light at that particular wavelength was positive and protective,” he states. It is partly these many and varied positive effects on cellular health that have driven skepticism about light therapy – that claims seem exaggerated. However, scientific investigation has altered his perspective.

Chazot mostly works on developing drug treatments for neurodegenerative diseases, but over 20 years ago, a doctor developing photonic antiviral treatment consulted his scientific background. “He developed equipment for cellular and insect experiments,” he says. “I was quite suspicious. This particular frequency was around 1070 nanometers, that nobody believed did anything biological.”

What it did have going for it, however, was its efficient water penetration, meaning it could penetrate the body more deeply.

Mitochondrial Impact and Cognitive Support

Growing data suggested infrared influenced energy-producing organelles. Mitochondria produce ATP for cell function, producing fuel for biological processes. “All human cells contain mitochondria, even within brain tissue,” notes the researcher, who, as a neuroscientist, decided to focus the research on brain cells. “It has been shown that in humans this light therapy increases blood flow into the brain, which is generally advantageous.”

With specific frequency application, energy organelles generate minimal reactive oxygen compounds. At controlled levels these compounds, notes the scientist, “stimulates so-called chaperone proteins which look after your mitochondria, preserve cell function and eliminate damaged proteins.”

These processes show potential for neurological conditions: free radical neutralization, swelling control, and cellular cleanup – autophagy representing cellular waste disposal.

Current Research Status and Professional Opinions

When recently reviewing 1070nm research for cognitive decline, he says, several hundred individuals participated in various investigations, including his own initial clinical trials in the US