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

These are the five types of bioactive light in humans: Blue light—sets the circadian rhythm in our brain, which in turn regulates numerous different neurotransmitters and hormones UV light—allows us to synthesize vitamin D from the sun Far-infrared—acts to heat up our cells (this is the part of the sun’s spectrum that you feel as heat) which stimulates changes in cell function, as well as circulation changes Red light—acts on the mitochondria in our cells to stimulate increased cellular energy (ATP) production (among other mechanisms discussed in this book) Near-infrared (NIR)—acts on the same pathways as red light—particularly in the mitochondria in our cells to stimulate increased cellular energy (ATP) production (among other mechanisms discussed in this book)

our ancestors spent hours each day working under the sun and spent evenings around the fire, both of which emit ample red and near-infrared light.

It turns out that humans actually need some of these low-level stressors in their life. The absence of these stressors actually sabotages our health. Light serves a transient low-level stress to your cells. The end result of these cellular adaptations to the temporary stress is healthier cells that produce more energy, have a stronger anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory defense system, and are more resilient to overall stress.

This is the same way that exercise makes us healthier. Red and near-infrared light therapy also work by temporarily creating an increase in metabolic stress and increasing reactive oxygen species (free radicals), just like exercise.

In essence, what this all boils down to is that red and near-infrared light therapy help mitochondria produce more energy, decrease inflammation, and help build the cell defense systems to increase resiliency.

Because red light stimulates both collagen and elastin production, eradicates lines and wrinkles, as well as the appearance of scars, surface varicose veins, acne, and cellulite, red light therapy is fast becoming recognized as a safe and welcome alternative to injections and surgeries for anti-aging and skin rejuvenation.

In fact, collagen is the most abundant protein in the entire body.

If you want an effective light therapy session, you must have an effective dose. That requires: A light that is relatively powerful (i.e. has an ideal “power density”) Ideally, a light that can treat a large area of the body at once An understanding of the optimal duration of time using the light to get the right total dose Too little of a dose and you get minimal to no effects. Too strong of a dose and you get minimal to no effects.

To make this very specific and practical, 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 s...

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.)

As a general approach, I suggest starting slow to assess your body’s response at first (with low doses done infrequently for the first few sessions) and then building up to 3-7 sessions per week.

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.

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.

For skin issues, we want between 3J to roughly 15J per area. So optimal treatment times with the lights I recommend are: 30 seconds-2.5 minutes per area (if the light is 6” inches away). (But remember, further away is likely more optimal for skin anti-aging purposes, if you get the lights I suggest. See details below.) 1-3.5 minutes per area (if the light is 12” away) 1.5-5 minutes per area (if the light is 18” away) 2-7 minutes per area (if the light is 24” away). Remember that having it further away from the body allows you to treat much larger areas of your body at once, since light spreads out the further you move away from the light source. 3-14 minutes per area (if the light is 36” away).

For deeper issues (e.g. muscle, bone, brain, organs, glands, fat, etc.), we want around 10-40J per area, so optimal treatment times and distances with the lights I recommend are: 2-7 minutes per area (if the light is 6” inches away) 5-10 minutes per area (if the light is 12” away) I do not recommend going further away than 12” if you’re treating deeper tissues. Roughly 6” inches away is ideal for delivering the most light to the deeper tissues. If you get the Joovv light, these tend to have lower power density than the Red Rush360 and Platinum lights. So for the Joovv lights, you’ll want to add roughly 20-40% more time to the above dose ranges (when using them from 6-12” away from your body) E.g. If you would use the Red Rush360 for 10 minutes (from 12” away), you may need to use the Joovv Mini for 13-15 minutes to get the same dose. For use on the brain, some people recommend much relatively higher doses (the high end of my recommended dose ranges),

due to the fact that it’s harder to deliver a significant amount of light to the brain tissues since the light has to penetrate through the skull before it can reach the brain. Thus, less overall light actually makes it to brain tissue (relative to say, treating fat or muscle tissue). As a general rule, the deeper the tissue and the more it is covered by bone, the longer doses will be needed to deliver a significant amount of light to that targeted tissue.

Total Treatment Dose/Time: I suggest that you limit total treatment dose for all areas of the body to no more than roughly 120J. So assuming the light is 6” or 12” away from your body, that means no more than 15-20 minutes of time total with light shining on your body. There isn’t adequate research on this yet, so I suggest being conservative. Here’s Hamblin on this subject: “What we don’t really know is can you overdose the body on total joules or is it only when it’s concentrated? That’s what we don’t know … Ten minutes or half an hour does no harm at all … Mostly, I tell people they can use these things for 10 or 20 minutes a day and it’ll have major benefits and extremely unlikely to have any ill effects.” If you use the lights I recommend for supporting muscle recovery or fat loss for example, a reasonable session might be to treat your chest and abdomen for 3 minutes from 6” away, then the front of your legs for 4 minutes from 6” away, and then your back for 4 minutes from 6” away. This would give a total treatment time of 12 minutes, 24J per body area, and a total body dose of 72J. Another example for anti-aging, would be to treat your face from 18” away for 3 minutes, the front of the legs and thighs for 3 minutes from 18” away, and the back of your legs and thighs for 3 minutes from 18” away.

630-680nm (the optimal healing spectrum of red light) 800 to 880nm (the optimal healing spectrum of near-infrared) or a combination of both Earlier, it was mentioned that wavelengths of 600 to 700nm and 780 to1070nm have been proven to have the most significant impact upon cytochrome c in the mitochondria, and thus, these are the wavelengths that will provide the most stunning results for anti-aging, arthritis, fat loss, reduced waist circumference, re-growing hair for individuals with hair loss, joint repair, bone repair, cancer recovery and prevention, cognitive enhancement and brain health. The therapeutic range is only within those specific wavelengths. I do not recommend devices that specify other wavelengths than the ones I mentioned above (or don’t specify any wavelengths at all). If you see a device offering wavelengths in the 700-770nm range, be aware that far fewer studies support health benefits at these wavelengths. Again, if the company doesn’t give you information about the wavelengths in their light devices (or you have to go searching for it), or they are not using optimal wavelengths, I don’t recommend it.

Note: 20 minutes is the maximum dosage (with the lights I recommend). Remember that doing the maximum isn’t necessarily the best. Most people will notice better effects with lower doses than the maximum doses in the recommended dosing range.

Total Treatment Dose/Time: To calculate the total dose more precisely, please see the earlier sections that went over on power density numbers (e.g. 100mW/cm2) and how that relates to the amount of Joules. I suggest that total treatment dose for all areas of the body should be no more than roughly 120J. So assuming the light is 6” or 12” away from your body, that means no more than roughly 15-20 total minutes of time with the light shining on your body.