How red light heals your mind and body
Phototherapy, or red light therapy, uses the healing power of red and infrared light at specific wavelengths to accelerate the healing of, and recovery from, a wide range of physical conditions – quickly, painlessly and drug-free using non- invasive portable devices.
Over the past few years it has become increasingly popular as a cosmetic therapy for people – especially for anti-ageing treatments using technology from strap-on face masks to light box panels you sit in front of to shrink your wrinkles and reduce your blemishes.
What’s not so well known or talked about in the beauty magazines, are the many other health benefits that red light therapy offers in helping treat acute and chronic conditions.
Red light therapy is an amazingly effective therapy that treats a range of physical and mental conditions such as open wounds, bites and stings, inflammation, eczema, psoriasis, bruising as well as pain relief from arthritis, joint stiffness, and recovery from sport and musculoskeletal injuries, to name but a few!
And if that’s not enough, red light therapy has also been shown to improve cognitive performance, prevent Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), enhance the health of mitochondria in the brain, increase attention levels and short-term memory in young adults, and improve memory in older adults who have been suffering from significant memory impairment.
More importantly red light therapy opens up the respiratory tract, reduces inflammation and increases and protects cell health & regeneration and maximises the body’s healing from viral attack.
Over the past few years the level of technology has increased so much, that LED light equipment is now as advanced as, and is replacing, the more expensive and potentially harmful laser light therapy. And the great thing is that with LED light therapy is that you can treat the whole body and mind in one session, quickly and cheaply and with no side effects.
How does red light bring about healing?
Red light therapy, or Photobiomodulation as it’s also known, uses the healing power of specific wavelengths of red and near-infrared pulsed light waves. This light penetrates the skin and stimulates the production of ATP molecules in the mitochondria – the power units or ‘batteries’ within our body’s cells.
ATP is the major carrier of energy in the cells and without it, all cellular functions cease to exist. An increase in ATP allows the cells to accept nutrients faster and also get rid of waste products by increasing energy levels in the cell. ATP basically provides the chemical energy to power the reactions in each cell.
When we suffer an injury, infection, disease or just age in general our healthy cells become compromised. When this happens the ‘battery’ in a cell is drained and no more energy is produced to allow the cell to function… in this state, the cell also has insufficient amounts of oxygen and nutrients to sustain it – rather like being choked! This can lead to slow recovery, inflammation, infection, poor brain function, low immune health… it’s like your whole body functions are on a go slow.
This is where red light therapy comes in, assisting the body in its own natural healing ability, gently and effectively with no side effects
The energetics of red light healing
We are all energetic beings and our bodies operate on certain frequencies of energy and light. This is a key factor in the effectiveness of red light therapy.
As an energy healer using colour and light as tools to facilitate and enhance the healing process in animals and people, it’s important for me to understand the relationship between light, colour, frequencies, chakras and consciousness and the dramatic effect that colour and light can have on us energetically.
We all have an electromagnetic field, or aura, around us and it’s through this field that you draw in and release energy, and ideally remain energetically balanced. Your energy field is where your chakras are located and they act as energy ‘funnels’ if you like – the points where energy flows into and out of your body.
The root chakra, located at the base of your spine, vibrates to the colour frequency of red and can be activated and balanced using this colour.
Emotionally, the root chakra energy affects our sense of security and survival issues such as money, food and our home. When it is open and balanced we feel connected and grounded and safe in our own body. When it’s blocked or overactive we can be fearful, insecure, depressed and confused.
Physically the root chakra affects a number of areas of our body such as the legs, feet, rectum, tailbone, male reproductive system, prostate, circulatory system, the adrenal gland and the immune system. Health issues related to these areas include degenerative arthritis, knee pain, lower back pain, sciatica, eating disorders, constipation, anaemia, fatigue, frequent colds or cold hands and cold feet.
Therefore in surrounding yourself in red light during a treatment session, you’re not only activating the physical healing reaction within your cells, but you are also giving a huge boost to the energy frequencies within and around your root chakra and helping to balance it. This in turn helps your body to heal conditions related with the root chakra, whilst positively affecting your mind, spirit and soul.
Why is Nimaya Advanced Red Light Therapy so beneficial?
Most places that offer red light treatments use small portable units that only treat limited parts of the body, such as the face or a joint area. The one I use with animals is a handheld pre-programmed unit, which is user friendly and idiot proof.
Nimaya MindStation has gone a step further than most and offers a full-body advanced red-light bed – similar to a sunbed – that in just 20 minutes can treat your whole body, leaving you relaxed and reenergised.
The red light bed uses pulsed LED diodes rather than laser diodes, and therefore it’s very safe to use. Laser diodes produce a pinpoint beam light which can cause damage to eyes whilst LED diodes produce a more diffuse/spread out light – like a normal light bulb or torch.
Nimaya is one of the first centres in the UK to offer this full-body light bed option. The treatment lasts just 20 minutes and takes place in a private room with soothing music playing and lulling you into a wonderful state of relaxation. It’s fast, effective and after a lovely warm and soothing lie down, you do emerge feeling refreshed and reenergised.
A course of treatments is recommended to get the best results as the effects are cumulative, and the number of treatments you’ll need depends on your condition and the severity of it. Tissue or cell bruising can heal after just 24 hours, but degenerative conditions such as arthritis need more of a long-term pain management programme. You also need to leave 2 or 3 days between treatments, to allow the body’s healing to take place.
The science bit! The biological effects red light therapy..
It reverses the cell death process
When an injury occurs, a damaged cell quickly reaches the point of no return and it’s likely that the cell will die. But if you apply red light immediately to the point of injury, ATP production increases, the cell battery immediately recharges, and cell death can be avoided.
It speeds up cell renewal and repair
If a cell does die, then the body needs to make a new one to replace it. Red light therapy ensures that this regeneration happens up to 250 times faster. As you can imagine, this accelerated cell renewal is super important especially in treating accident victims. Red light boosts the normal functioning of the cell, so it can quickly produce new blood vessels, nerve tissue, bone cells and cartilage. Light therapy also does not produce an overgrowth of cells or cancer, and it creates less scar tissue. The healing process is much quicker and effective.
It reduces inflammation and increases lymph activity
Local inflammation, whilst being a necessary part of the healing process, effectively chokes a cell. Red light therapy reduces the inflammation and restriction of blood supply to the affected area allowing the cell to properly absorb nutrients and oxygen from surrounding tissue and blood vessels. In addition, the lymph vessels and flow of the lymphatic system can be almost doubled through red light application, and this allows for a quicker evacuation of lymph fluids to reduce swelling.
It increases blood supply
Red light widens the blood vessels and stimulates the formation of new blood vessels and capillaries to replace damaged ones. This speeds up the healing process by increasing the oxygen and nutrients available for the repair of damaged cells, and increases the removal of waste and debris from the damaged areas.
It boosts collagen production
Collagen is the most important protein building block that the body uses to repair and replace damaged and old tissue.for cosmetic and beauty purposes, it reduces pore size and improves skin texture. Red light therapy helps the body produce the optimal amount of collagen needed for healing in a regulated way, which results in less scar tissue being produced and wounds healing in a better way.
Light Therapy in the Future
Light therapy is becoming a very significant and successful way to treat and manage many conditions and will continue to grow in popularity in the coming years. Many colour and light therapists believe that it will overtake traditional medicine in the way we look to heal ourselves.
Light therapy benefits people of all ages and does so without any known side-effects and it can be used on all living things, including animals and plants.
It’s not just red light that is being used to treat conditions but also blue and purple light are increasingly utilised for the their antibacterial effects, whilst green light inhibits the production of excess melanin in the skin’s epidermis and can reduce existing skin discolouration and it can also be used to calm and reduce redness to inflamed conditions. Yellow light stimulates the nervous and lymphatic systems, tones and strengthens the muscles under the epidermis and tightens the skin, thereby reducing wrinkles.
Colour and light therapy, together with sound healing, is becoming the future of healing. We are all starting to take a more hands on approach to our healthcare, thinking twice before we take more prescription drugs with all side effects they bring and we are looking for something more natural, less invasive and something that we can see and feel working!
Light therapy is truly a wonderful healing treatment that anyone and everyone can benefit from and if you haven’t tried it yet, I highly recommend that you give it a go.
Article by Rosy Watson, energy healer and Reiki master
You can book a session of Advanced Red Light Therapy now at Nimaya MindStation Further information and Sources:
Beneficial neurocognitive effects of transcranial laser in older adults- Vargas. E (2017) -https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28466195
Jacob Liberman: Light: Medicine of the Future – https://www.jacobliberman.org/about
Let There Be Light, What The Doctors Don’t Tell You – https://youtu.be/ZCkx86vafwo
How Red Light Heals Pain & Inflammation – https://youtu.be/nWN83dqas6E
Infrared Light: The answer to Parkinson’s – https://www.wddty.com/magazine/2020/march/is-infrared-light-the-answer-to-parkinsons.html
Red Light Therapy as an Alternative Therapy for Multiple Sclerosis -https://www.stayinghealthywithms.com/blog/redlight-therapy-as-an-alternate-therapy-for-ms
Journal of Immunology – Photobiomodulation and Multiple Sclerosis -https://www.jimmunol.org/content/202/1_Supplement/193.16
Red Light Therapy Treat Erectile Disfunction – https://redlightman.com/blog/red-light-therapy-treats-erectile-dysfunction