The Ultimate Guide to Red Light Therapy: How to Use Red and Near-Infrared Light Therapy for Anti-Aging, Fat Loss, Muscle Gain, Performance Enhancement, and Brain Optimization

by Ari Whitten

As mentioned previously, most studies showing benefits of red/NIR light therapy used light outputs of 20-200mW/cm2.

Many lights won’t provide effective doses beyond just 12” away.)

However, closer is not universally better—I generally advise staying at least 6 inches away to minimize exposure to EMFs (electromagnetic fields), just to err on the side of caution.

here are some simple guidelines: FOR SKIN ISSUES: Assuming you have one of the lights I recommend, for skin issues (e.g. anti-aging benefits) and other more superficial (near to the surface) body issues, here are my basic usage suggestions: Somewhere between 1-4 minutes from 12” away. (Note: For skin issues, I recommend going 12” or more away from the device, whereas with deeper tissues, you want to be closer and have higher power density to reach deeper into the tissues.) Or 1.5-5 minutes from 18” away. Or 2-8 minutes from 24” away.

FOR DEEP TISSUES: For deeper issues in muscles, tendons, ligaments, bones, glands, the brain, organs, etc., you want much higher doses more in the neighborhood of 10-60J. In general, this means that you want higher power devices and you want to be 6-12” from the device (as opposed to further away as with treating the skin) to get optimal doses of light to those deep tissues. The deeper the tissue you’re trying to treat, the closer to your body you want the light to be (i.e. 6” is ideal) and the higher the overall dose you want to do, so that you deliver adequate therapeutic doses to the deeper tissues. Also, for use on the brain, this may require higher doses (or doses on the higher end of the spectrum shared here) because it takes a relatively higher dose for enough light to penetrate through the skull and be delivered to the brain. Here are my general suggestions for treating deep tissues below the skin: Using the light from 6” away for between 2-7 minutes per area is the ideal dose range. Or 5-10 minutes per area from 12” away. (For treating deep tissues, I don’t recommend going further away than 12” away from your body.) If you get the lights I recommend, that’s really all you need to know.

it’s important to get the dose right and to be in the range I’m recommending. You aren’t doing yourself any favors by dosing higher than my guidelines suggest. The principle of the biphasic dose response is often explained as the Arndt-Schulz law, which dates back to the end of the nineteenth century, when H. Schulz analyzed the activity of various kinds of poisons like bromine, iodine, mercury, arsenic, etc. on yeast, where he showed that in very low doses, all of these poisons actually had a slightly stimulatory effect on the yeast metabolism. With the help of psychiatrist R. Arndt, they developed the concept (that later became the Arndt-Schulz law) which states that weak stimuli slightly increase metabolic activity, stronger stimuli increase it even more until a peak is reached, and from there, increasing the dose further suppresses the effect until a negative/harmful effect is eventually reached. Later, this concept became known as “hormesis” (which I discussed earlier.) The term “biphasic dose response” is also used. In the context of light therapy, Hamblin et al. describe it this way: “Simply put, it suggests that if insufficient energy is applied, there will be no response (because the minimum threshold has not been met), and if more energy is applied, then a threshold is crossed and biostimulation is achieved. However, when too much energy is applied, then the stimulation disappears and is replaced by bioinhibition.”368

In fact, Hamblin believes that in instances where studies don’t find significantly positive effects, it’s almost always because they did too large of a dose.

Fortunately, red and near-infrared light are safer and have less potential for harm (when you overdo it) than either sunlight or physical exercise. Therefore, it’s extremely safe!

How Often You Should Do Red and Near-Infrared Light Therapy Treatments

The studies all use different dosing schedules, but in general, the range is from two times per week to two times per day.

Although there is no consensus in the research yet, my hunch is that optimal treatment times are probably once every other day to once per day at the most. I personally do it every other day, because that’s what I believe will turn out to be most optimal.

Red and near-infrared light can penetrate several centimeters (close to 2 inches) into your body, and a high-power light with the right wavelengths (especially near-infrared) can even penetrate through the thick and dense human skull to deliver light directly into the brain. Hamblin has given the general rule of red/NIR light penetration of “up to 5cm,” which is almost exactly 2 inches. So that gives you a sense of how deep this light is actually getting into your body.

The Problem with Most Devices on the Market

Most devices being sold (that you might pay $100-$900 for) are: Grossly underpowered and simply too low wattage to reach therapeutic power densities of above 50mW/cm2 with large coverage of body areas. This is especially problematic for treating deep tissues. So you’d end up having to use the light for extended periods (sometimes upwards of 20-40 minutes) to generate an effect. Moreover, the weaker lights won’t penetrate deeply into the body and to even treat any deeper issues, even with extended exposure times. Very small, and thus, only treat a small area of your body. Even if a small light has optimal power density, a small light that radiates light on only 5-10 square inches will require multiple treatments to cover a significant portion of your body. (Note: This is a major limitation with small LED devices.) If I can give one piece of advice on which light to get, it’s this: Get a high-power light that reaches therapeutic power outputs and is big enough to cover a significant portion of your body.

I will tell you right now that 99% of the red light therapy products being sold in major outlets online are a waste of money. So please be aware of the power output and size of the light you’re interested in.

Here’s why low-power devices and small devices are a problem (even if you were to increase the length of time you use it): Penetration Depth: Let’s take two lights of equal size, but one light is 50W and the other is 100W. Theoretically, you could use the 50W light for twice as long (let’s say 10 minutes instead of 5 minutes) and reach the same dose. And on paper, based on the simple math, this is indeed the case. But here’s the problem: More powerful lights penetrate more deeply into the body. They deliver more overall light deeper into the body. So if you’re trying to reach deep tissues, you may use the weaker light device for 5 or 10 times longer (than the more powerful device) but still not deliver enough light to the target tissues to reach therapeutic levels.

The bigger more powerful devices allow you to do something very cool. They allow you to stand further back from the light (2 or 3 feet away) and still have enough power output to reach therapeutic levels. This allows the light to spread out and hit a much larger area of your body at once. In this way, a light that is 20 or 30 inches long can effectively treat the entire front or back of your body at once, from head to toe. Basically, a light that size can effectively act the same as a light twice the size. In contrast, if you take a small light and stand 2 or 3 feet away, it’s still only going to hit a relatively smaller portion of your body, but more importantly, if the light is low wattage, you have to be within 6” of it to even get therapeutic effects—so standing back 2 or 3 feet will decrease the power density so much that you’re no longer getting an effective dose (even if the light is technically hitting a large portion of your body).

the companies that I consider to be the top red/NIR light device companies on the market—the Red Rush360 by Red Therapy Co., the Bio-300 from Platinum Therapy Lights, and the Joovv Mini.

If you get any of the three lights below, you’ll have the actual (rather than claimed) light output measurements at various distances, so you can dose accurately. (Note: I’ve already done this for you, so all you have to do is follow my dosing guidelines—you don’t need to do any calculations or measure light output or anything complicated.) But if you decide to get a different light other than what I recommend, you will want to buy a PAR meter and test your device to get measurements of the actual output and dose accurately.

I want to mention a few specifics: For all three lights, I tested a 50-50 mix of red and near-infrared LEDs. Also note that if you get a pure near-infrared device, it will emit slightly higher outputs due to the LED bulbs themselves emitting more light output. If you were to measure a pure red light vs. a pure near-infrared light produced by the same company, the near-infrared device would have roughly 20-30% higher light output. Compared to a 50-50 mix of red and near-infrared LEDs, the pure near-infrared device would have roughly 10-20% higher light output. If you get a pure red light device, your light output numbers will be slightly lower, and if you get a pure near-infrared device, your light output numbers will be slightly higher. For the sake of equal comparisons, I am using a 50-50 mix of red (660nm) and near-infrared (850nm) LEDs for each of the three brands.

The Joovv Mini (left) Platinum BIO-300 (center) and Red Rush360 (right) Here is a photo of all three lights side-by-side so you can get a sense of size. Note the overall number of individual LEDs—the Joovv has 60 LEDs, the Platinum BIO-300 has 100 LEDs, and the Red Rush360 has 120 LEDs. So even though they are somewhat similar dimensions in terms of casing, there is a large variance in the number of LED lamps packed within that space. Also, the Platinum light has a slight edge in terms of length, while the Red Rush360 has a significantly more expansive coverage area with its width. Also note that there are significant differences in overall wattage—the Joovv is 120W, the Platinum is 300W, and the Red Rush360 is 360W. These differences in size of the light, number of LEDs and wattage all affect how powerful the light is (especially at further distances) and how broad of an area of your body it can effectively treat at once.

Joovv Mini (50-50 mix of red and near-infrared) from 6”—74mW/cm2

BIO 300 (50-50 mix of red and near-infrared) from 6”—87mW/cm2

Red Rush360 50-50 mix of red and near-infrared) from 6”—92.5mW/cm2

Joovv Mini (50-50 mix of red and near-infrared) from 12”—38mW/cm2

BIO 300 (50-50 mix of red and near-infrared) from 12”—55mW/cm2

Red Rush360 (50-50 mix of red and near-infrared) from 12”—62mW/cm2

Joovv Mini (50-50 mix of red and near-infrared) from 18”—22mW/cm2

BIO 300 (50-50 mix of red and near-infrared) from 18”—36mW/cm2

Red Rush360 (50-50 mix of red and near-infrared) from 18”—41mW/cm2

Longer sessions are ideal with the Joovv while shorter sessions are needed with the Platinum BIO-300 and Red Rush360.

Remember that my default recommended treatment times listed in this book are for the Red Rush360 and Platinum BIO-300, but I have also put notes for how to adjust the doses for anyone who wishes to purchase the Joovv Mini.

Key Points for Dosing—Summary: IMPORTANT: The following recommendations are based on the lights I recommend. All these calculations change when you use lights that are less powerful than the ones I recommend. If you purchase a different light, you will need to measure the power density of that light at different distances and calculate doses for that specific light according to the guidelines in this book. For general use, the light should be about 6-36 inches away from your body. Closer distances (6”-12” away from your body) are ideal for deep tissue treatments as you’ll get a higher dose and much greater depth of penetration. Further distances (12”-36” away from your body) are ideal for treating surface skin issues and anti-aging purposes. Get a high-power light that can still deliver an effective dose from further distances. This allows you to treat much larger areas of your body at once compared to lower power lights. This is especially important for people wanting to treat their skin for anti-aging purposes. By getting one of the high-power lights I recommend, even though they are smaller (i.e. not the size of a full human body), you can use them from a further distance away and basically treat the entire front or back of your body at once. Because light spreads out the further you go from the source, a light that is only 15” or 20” inches long may be able to treat 40” or 50” inches of your body at once when used at a further distance. (Again, be aware that this ONLY ...

The basic idea is to just switch the light on and put your body in front of it. Okay, it’s a little more complicated than that, but really not much. The details to be aware of are: Optimizing power density/irradiance for the tissue you are treating by adjusting your distance from the light Getting the dose right Your body position Practical tips/strategies for specific goals Let’s cover each of these in more depth now. Optimal Power Density First, you must know the general optimal power density/irradiance for the tissue you’re trying to treat. I’m not going to go into detail on this one again, because I already covered in-depth in the earlier section on getting the dose right. The basic idea is that for treating the skin (e.g. anti-aging), you want to use the light from further away from your body (ideally 18”-36” with the powerful lights I recommend) to get lower power density and higher body coverage. For deep tissues, you want to use the light much closer (6”-12”) to get a higher power density and to deliver more light to the deeper tissues. Dose I covered dosing guidelines in the previous section on dosing as well, so please reference that for specific guidelines on how long to use the different light devices from the different distances away from your body. Also remember that skin and surface treatments need much lower doses than deep tissues, and that total body dose (adding up all the light delivered across all areas of the body you treat) also matters. Again, pleas...

Fat loss—Follow my protocol I outlined in the fat loss section. If you can’t do that specific fasted morning protocol, I suggest using it right before your workouts. You can shine it on both the fat areas you want to lose as well as the muscles that you are going to exercise in that workout. Use the light from 6” away for 2-5 minutes on each area.

Cellulite reduction—Ideally, follow the stubborn fat protocol outlined previously while specifically targeting the light on the areas of your body with cellulite. Alternatively, if that protocol doesn’t work for you because of the timing, then use the light on the cellulite area just prior to exercise at whatever time of day you do your workout.

Immune health—Doing one treatment every few days on the thymus gland area in the center of the chest is likely supportive of good immune health. During an acute infection, you can try one treatment per day. I suggest a treatment time of 3-5 minutes fr...

Skin anti-aging—Either in the morning or at the end of the day. Use the light (assuming you have either the Red Rush360 or Platinum device) from about 24”-36” away for 5-10 minutes. (E.g. 5-10 minutes on the whole front of your body and then 5-10 minutes on the whole back of your body.) If you get the Joovv, a more ideal range would be from 24” away for about the same amount of time (but with less broad body coverage ...

Muscle and/or strength gain—The ideal time for this is either right after exercise or 3-6 hours later. Some research has even shown muscle gain benefits while using the light before the workout. Do 3-7 minutes from 6” awa...

Exercise performance—You can use it to allow your muscles to perform better (endurance, strength, and power) during your workouts/training. For this purpose, I suggest using the light right before exercise (between 0-30 minu...

Brain performance, mood enhancement (e.g. combatting depression and anxiety), or brain healing—Use the light (ideally a pure near-infrared light or 50-50 mix of NIR and red, since near-infrared penetrates the skull much more effectively than red light) from 6”-12” away. Since hair blocks the light, you want to use it on an area of your head without hair. For people with hair (no shaved or bald head), this generally means to use it on the forehead, or on the sides of the head through ear area, or at the base of the neck. The base of the neck may allow you to target the cerebrospinal fluid (the fluid that surrounds the brain), and this may provide beneficial effects on the cells in that fluid which impact brain health. The forehead is definitely the most effective area, and has actually been used in several of the studies on depression and brain enhancement. In addition to using the standard LED panels in this way, you also have the option to get the VieLight Neuro device, which allows you to work the lights into the base of your hair follicles and deliver light through the s...

Photopuncture—For this, you’ll need the photopuncture kit from the Photonic Therapy Institute. They provide detailed instructions with the kit on how to use their special “torch” lights on the acupuncture points. This has primarily been studied in the context of tendinitis, muscular trigger point pain, and headache treatment—with very positive results. My friend Kay Aubrey-Chimene (the owner of Photonic Therapy In...

Sleep enhancement/melatonin production—As mentioned previously, there is some research suggesting that red/NIR light can impact melatonin (interestingly, melatonin produced by the body outside of the pineal gland!)374,375,376 While further research is needed to explore the potential for red/NIR light to be used for increasing melatonin/sleep enhancement, I have experimented with this heavily with my Energy Blueprint program members and it clearly seems to work to enhance sleep. For many people, it has an extremely powerful and very noticeable sleep-enhancing effect from the very first time they do it. Here’s how I recommend using it: Timing is key for this purpose. Do the treatment 1.5-2 hours before bed. I do not suggest doing this closer than 60 minutes to bedtime. Use the light on your spine and the back of your neck area from about 12-18” away for 3-7 minutes Even though blue light is primarily what effects circadian rhythm and suppresses melatonin (red light generally doesn’t suppress melatonin), research has actually shown that very bright red light (like red light therapy LED panels) can suppress melatonin. For that reason, I have a few more detailed recommendations: I do...

Circadian rhythm/SAD—As discussed previously, red/NIR lights are not optimal for use as SAD lights for treating/preventing seasonal affective disorder or for optimizing circadian rhythm with bright light in the mornings. However, the bright light devices used for circadian rhythm optimization/SAD prevention typically have a huge amount of blue light and little to no red/near-infrared light. Blue in isolation can be harmful to both the eyes and skin, so I always advise using the red/NIR light alongside the bright white/blue light to counteract the blue and give some healing to your cells at the same time. For this use, I suggest using the light from about 3 feet away. You can position it behind or next to the bright white/blue light.

UV light treatments for vitamin D—To be clear, I don’t mean that red/NIR lights work for stimulating vitamin D synthesis. For that, you need UVB rays. To understand this requires a bit of background. In some cases, when people live in latitudes/climates where there is little sun or little UVB available for months during the winter, I advise using a “vitamin D lamp,” which is basically a fluorescent bulb setup specifically designed to emit UVB light to stimulate vitamin D synthesis in the skin. (I recommend the Sperti UVB Light Box.) In these cases, I also advise using the red/NIR light alongside the UV light, for the same reason as explained above in the circadian rhythm/SAD section—UV light in isolation can also damage cells, and the red/NIR helps mitigate damage and support cellular healing/protection processes. For using it in this context, you can put the red/NIR light next to or behind the UV lamp, and I suggest using the red/NIR light from 24” away during the 3-6 minutes that you use the UV lamp.

Injuries (e.g. sprains, strains, cuts, burns, fractures, whiplash, etc.)—In these cases, the most important tip is to get the red/NIR light on the area as quickly as possible after the initial injury. The sooner the better. I know some practitioners who swear that they’ve seen injuries that normally take weeks to heal, take only a day or two when they can get red/NIR light on the area very quickly after the injury. The other thing to be aware of is if the injury is a surface/skin issue (e.g. cut or burn) or deeper tissue issue (e.g. bone bruise/fracture, muscle strain, ligament sprain, etc.), then follow the dosing guidelines ...

Fatigue treatment/energy enhancement—For this purpose, we want to boost overall mitochondrial health, decrease inflammation in the blood, enhance immune function, optimize hormones, and decrease brain inflammation. First, take of all your clothes and shine it diffusely on your entire body for 30-60 seconds (from 24”-36” away), back and front from head to toe, to wake up every cell in your body. 1-2 minutes shining it on the neck and thyroid gland area and thymus area in the center of the chest, from roughly 6-12” away. There are studies already showing this can impact thyroid function (the studies were done in people with Hashimoto’s hypothyroidism), which is critical to metabolic health in the entire body. The light on the thymus can potentially enhance immune function. 1-2 minutes on your sex organs (from 6-12” away) if possible, as this will increase the health of those tissues and promote optimal hormonal function. 1-2 minutes on your belly (from 6-12” away) to get systemic effects through getting the red/NIR light in the entire blood of your body. (Remember, some research has shown systemic effects, likely from irradiating the blood and affecting blood cells, inflammatory c...