There is a recent push for red light therapy as some sort of miracle cure for a lot of ailments. Bad skin, wrinkles, hair loss, muscle soreness, gum problems, allergies, etc. This appears to have been building for some time as I found reddit posts on is it bullshit or not from a couple years back. A couple of local gyms have replaced some of their tanning booths with red light booths, and the house I live in now one of the previous tenants replaced a regular light with a red light for therapeutic purposes.
I have found various articles, scientific (for whatever that means nowadays, I am looking at you COVID, climate change, and "green energy") and otherwise that state various benefits for red light therapy, a few that state some possible negative side effects, some that claim nobody has any real value what red light does, and various articles anf posts in between. Has anyone here dug into this and found anything tangible, truly scientific to back or dispel some of these claims? I sincerely doubt red light therapy is the miracle cure some people claim it to be, but how beneficial is it and what are the possible side effects?
Roxanne was cured and doesn't need to turn on the red light no more.
That is actually moderately witty. Well done.
My wife went thru a essential oil phase that would cure about the same problems as red light :))
But they're essential!
But does it got what plants crave?
Don't fall for it. Red sunlight drains us of our Kryptonian powers. Stick to yellow sunlight.
How would that even work? What's the "healing" mechanism?
Sounds like complete bullshit tbh, but admittedly I've never looked into it.
If it is what I assume it's not bullshit, but also not a miracle cure. You know about infrared heat lamps, right? Basically lamps that emit light (energy) in the infrared spectrum which you perceive as warmth. They have the benefit as any heat/warmth treatment like increasing circulation (your vessels will expand) which has various benefits. Don't expect anything magical though.
Apart from that light therapy can work in general. Psoriasis is an inflammation of the skin (due to an autoimmune response), and ultraviolet light therapy is a treatment (google PUVA). You can get sunburn from too much exposure though, cause hey it's energy again ;)
I bought 660nm and 950nm lamps to try it out a few years ago. The dose-response curve of red light therapy is like this, so you need to either have it done properly or calculate the dose yourself in Joules based on the lamp's output, distance, and application time. Too little and it won't do anything, too much and it will have a negative effect.
I haven't noticed any benefit from it myself except a couple of times where it seemed to heal a banged up knee quicker than normal.
Huberman says red light is legit and links to some research behind it: https://hubermanlab.com/using-light-for-health/
relevant part of the newsletter:
He doesn't say exactly what the "special" lights are but based on the article they appear to be some kind of attenuated laser other source at the near-infrared frequency.
There is actual science to it, but the people who promote it generally are middle class hippy idiots.
I'm sure hookers have helped many in the past.
Oh wait, wrong kind of Red Lights 👀
It's been scientifically proven to give some people lots of money.
I'm mostly memeing, for the record. I don't really know one way or the other.
The science behind blue light and the pineal gland and melatonin is well established
Red light (and longer wavelengths, infrared, microwave) have the ability to vibrate chemical bonds. You can generally feel this as heat, and too much will burn you.
So no, red light won't cure anything at all. If there is enough energy (heat) to burn your skin, etc. that isn't going to be helpful either for obvious reasons.
It's bullshit stay away.
Red lights were used extensively in photography darkrooms as a way of seeing what you were doing when making prints. I would think if they helped with anything that professional photographers would have picked up on it back in the film days.
I know they help with sleep cycles and don't hurt the eyes like blue lights do. That stuff has been proven, and I have every device with a screen possessing a red light filter because of it. Red light therapy gives me pause though.
Yeah I use them as night lights around the house because I know from using them in darkrooms back in the day that they're gentle on the eyes and don't wake you up. But that's different than using them for (eg.) curing bad skin.
I'm not fond of color temps below 3000K, much less completely red.