🔗 Share this article

Light therapy is certainly having a wave of attention. Consumers can purchase glowing gadgets targeting issues like complexion problems and aging signs along with muscle pain and oral inflammation, the latest being a toothbrush enhanced with miniature red light sources, marketed by the company as “a significant discovery for domestic dental hygiene.” Globally, the market was worth $1bn in 2024 and is projected to grow to $1.8bn by 2035. You can even go and sit in an infrared sauna, that employ light waves rather than traditional heat sources, your body is warmed directly by infrared light. Based on supporter testimonials, the experience resembles using an LED facial mask, stimulating skin elasticity, easing muscle tension, reducing swelling and chronic health conditions as well as supporting brain health.

Understanding the Evidence

“It sounds a bit like witchcraft,” notes a Durham University professor, professor in neuroscience at Durham University and a convert to the value of light therapy. Naturally, we know light influences biological functions. Sunlight enables vitamin D production, essential for skeletal strength, immune function, and muscular health. Light exposure controls our sleep-wake cycles, too, triggering the release of neurochemicals and hormones while we are awake, and winding down bodily functions for sleep as it fades into night. Daylight-simulating devices frequently help individuals with seasonal depression to elevate spirits during colder months. Clearly, light energy is essential for optimal functioning.

Types of Light Therapy

While Sad lamps tend to use a mixture of light frequencies from the blue end of the spectrum, the majority of phototherapy tools use red or near-infrared wavelengths. In rigorous scientific studies, including research on infrared’s impact on neural cells, identifying the optimal wavelength is crucial. Light is a form of electromagnetic radiation, spanning from low-energy radio waves to high-energy gamma radiation. Phototherapy, or light therapy employs mid-spectrum wavelengths, including invisible ultraviolet radiation, then the visible spectrum we perceive as colors and infrared light visible through night vision technology.

Dermatologists have utilized UV therapy for extensive periods to manage persistent skin disorders including eczema and psoriasis. It affects cellular immune responses, “and dampens down inflammation,” explains a dermatology expert. “Considerable data validates phototherapy.” UVA reaches deeper skin layers compared to UVB, whereas the LEDs we see on consumer light-therapy devices (which generally deliver red, infrared or blue light) “tend to be a bit more superficial.”

Safety Considerations and Medical Oversight

The side-effects of UVB exposure, including sunburn or skin darkening, are recognized but medical equipment uses controlled narrow-band delivery – signifying focused frequency bands – that reduces potential hazards. “It’s supervised by a healthcare professional, so the dosage is monitored,” says Ho. And crucially, the lightbulbs are calibrated by medical technicians, “to ensure that the wavelength that’s being delivered is fit for purpose – as opposed to commercial tanning facilities, where regulations may be lax, and we don’t really know what wavelengths are being used.”

Consumer Devices and Evidence Gaps

Colored light diodes, he notes, “don’t have strong medical applications, but could assist with specific concerns.” Red wavelength therapy, proponents claim, enhance blood flow, oxygen utilization and skin cell regeneration, and promote collagen synthesis – an important goal for anti-aging. “Studies are available,” says Ho. “But it’s not conclusive.” Regardless, with numerous products on the market, “it’s unclear if device outputs match study parameters. Optimal treatment times are unknown, ideal distance from skin surface, whether or not that will increase the risk versus the benefit. There are lots of questions.”

Treatment Areas and Specialist Views

Early blue-light applications focused on skin microbes, microorganisms connected to breakouts. Research support isn’t sufficient for standard medical recommendation – although, explains the specialist, “it’s often seen in medical spas or aesthetics practices.” Individuals include it in their skincare practices, he says, though when purchasing home devices, “we advise cautious experimentation and safety verification. If it’s not medically certified, standards are somewhat unclear.”

Advanced Research and Cellular Mechanisms

Simultaneously, in a far-flung field of pioneering medical science, scientists have been studying cerebral tissue, discovering multiple mechanisms for infrared’s cellular benefits. “Nearly every test with precise light frequencies demonstrated advantageous outcomes,” he states. The numerous reported benefits have generated doubt regarding phototherapy – that it’s too good to be true. However, scientific investigation has altered his perspective.

The researcher primarily focuses on pharmaceutical solutions for brain disorders, however two decades past, a GP who was developing an antiviral light treatment for cold sores sought his expertise as a biologist. “He created some devices so that we could work with them with cells and with fruit flies,” he explains. “I remained doubtful. It was an unusual wavelength of about 1070 nanometres, which most thought had no biological effect.”

Its beneficial characteristic, however, was that it travelled through water easily, allowing substantial bodily penetration.

Cellular Energy and Neurological Benefits

Growing data suggested infrared influenced energy-producing organelles. Mitochondria produce ATP for cell function, generating energy for them to function. “Every cell in your body has mitochondria, including the brain,” notes the researcher, who concentrated on cerebral applications. “It has been shown that in humans this light therapy increases blood flow into the brain, which is consistently beneficial.”

With 1070 treatment, cellular power plants create limited oxidative molecules. In limited quantities these molecules, explains the expert, “stimulates so-called chaperone proteins which look after your mitochondria, protect cellular integrity and manage defective proteins.”

These processes show potential for neurological conditions: free radical neutralization, inflammation reduction, and cellular cleanup – autophagy being the process the cell uses to clear unwanted damaging proteins.

Present Investigation Status and Expert Assessments

Upon examining current studies on light therapy for dementia, he says, several hundred individuals participated in various investigations, incorporating his preliminary American studies