Light Shapes Our Health
Every Spectrum of Light is Bioactive
Each day, light frequencies either harm or improve the health of your:
Restorative Light
Healthy light frequencies improve each of those functions.
Each spectrum of light — both visible and invisible — causes a cascade of biological activity, even at very low intensity.
The body is designed to receive light and respond to it with metabolic and hormonal action.
Every minute of the day, photoreceptors in the eyes and skin receive light and send signals to the brain, informing it about the quality of light in the environment.
Therefore, light needs to be at the forefront of every health strategy.
Explore the Light section
Explore this article:
1 — Human Vision
2 — 3 Parts of Light
3 — Sunlight Is Mostly Infrared
4 — Sunlight’s Power
5 — Red & Infrared Light
6 — Compelling Research
7 — Photobiomodulation
8 — Comparing Red & Infrared
9 — Light Penetrates Into The Body
10 — The Incandescent Light Bulb
11 — Modern Lighting
12 — Modern People, Always Inside
13 — Improving Your Light Exposure
1
Human Vision
The human eye sees a small slice of the total light spectrum.
The sun produces energy across an extremely broad spectrum. The tiny portion the human eye can see is referred to as visible light.
What about the rest of the spectrum that the human eye cannot detect — the frequencies that are invisible?
Those are still light. The invisible wavelengths are just too small or large to see.
Just smaller than the visible spectrum is the invisible UV spectrum. If UV light were any larger in frequency, it would be blue light, and it would be visible.
Just larger than red light is infrared light — which is also invisible. If infrared waves were any shorter, they’d be red, and we’d be able to see them.
All visible light is perceived as a color by the human brain.
The Visible Spectrum
In physics, every time a frequency doubles, it’s referred to as an octave.
In music, the major scale covers one octave.
A grand piano has 8 octaves.
By comparison, the electromagnetic spectrum has 81 octaves.
Visible light is only one of these 81 octaves — essentially one major scale on an incredibly large piano.
2
3 Parts of Light
Think of light as three main parts — each affecting health.
For general thinking about healthy light, ignore the X-rays, gamma rays, microwaves, and radio waves.
Instead, focus on the most important spectrums of light — those which greatly impact health on a daily basis. They are:
Solar Radiation Peaks In The Visible Spectrum
Most life on earth is highly attuned to the visible spectrum.
It’s a narrow spectrum — only one octave — but it accounts for 42% of the sun’s power output.
* Wireless technology uses long-wavelength spectrums like radio- and microwaves — which is also very important for health. However, concerns about wireless technology can be grouped into their own separate discussion.
3
Healing Infrared
A majority (54%) of sunlight is invisible infrared light.
Infrared is becoming increasingly researched and shown to possess numerous health benefits for the body.
4
Infrared + red light
InfraRED
When the sun’s red and infrared output are added together, they make up a whopping 68% of total sunshine.
This means that more than 2/3 of sunlight is restorative infrared and red light frequencies.
68% of sunlight is infrared & red.
5
Incredible Health Benefits
…of red and infrared light.
The NASA ‘HEALS’ Light
“The innovation of the NASA HEALS technology provides the equivalent light energy of 12 suns from each of the 288 LED chips.”
— NASA
6
Research On InfraRED
Sleep
Show Research
improved sleep quality and endurance in female basketball players.
“Our study confirmed the effectiveness of body irradiation with red light in improving the quality of sleep of elite female basketball players and offered a nonpharmacologic and noninvasive therapy to prevent sleep disorders after training.”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23182016
Insulin Resistance & Weight Regulation
Show Research
improved glucose metabolism and obesity in mice.
“[Infrared] therapy improved glucose tolerance and phosphorylation of Akt (Ser473)… The results showed that chronic PBM therapy improved parameters related to obesity and insulin resistance in HFD-induced obesity in mice.”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29247431
Cardiovascular Health
Show Research
effective as a therapeutic tool for many disease states.
“Furthermore, FIR rays have been applied in treating various chronic diseases, such as hypertension, heart failure, and vascular endothelial dysfunction, which are associated with the depletion of tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4), a critical cofactor for NO synthases.”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5505738/
This research also applies to: Blood Pressure, Congestive Heart Failure, Pain, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Joint Pain & Inflammation
Show Research
relieved pain and lowered the inflammation in joints injected with endotoxin.
“Positron emission tomography (PET) scanning showed that the bioceramic was capable of relieving inflammation in the joints at 7 days after LPS injection.”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5505738/
Acne
Show Research
extremely effective at reducing the instance of acne.
“Twenty-eight patients were participated in this study. Ten weeks after treatment acne lesion were significantly decreased…”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3352636/
Chronic Pain Reduction (& Arthritis)
Show Research
Patients were pain-free for longer when receiving red and infrared light therapy.
“We observed significant functional improvement in red- and infrared-treated groups (p less than 0.05), but not in the placebo group. The period from the end of treatment until the patients required treatment was longer for red and infrared groups than for the placebo group.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1727843
Low-power light therapy is effective in relieving pain and disability in degenerative osteoarthritis of the knee.”
Cognition & Mood
Show Research
Red and infrared light appear to enhance normal brain function and improve memory, as well as mood.
“Among the most fascinating experimental applications of LLLT are those related to enhancement of normal brain function and the treatment of memory loss and mood disorders.“
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5436183/
Cancer
Show Research
Researchers attach photoabsorbers (molecules that absorb light) to cancer cells (using targeted antibodies).
Near-infrared light is applied to the area, and the light — in conjunction with the photoabsorber — cause the cancer cell to swell, burst, and die.
“When near-infrared light is applied, the cells swell and then burst, causing the cancer cells to die.”
https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/treatment/types/photoimmunotherapy-video
Ocular Health
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Gentle red light can improve the health of eye tissue in disease and after an injury.
“This evidence suggests that LLLT may induce beneficial effects in retinal and optic nerve pathology in humans.”
(Macular Degeneration & Healing Post-Injury)
Bone Health
Show Research
Infrared light increases bone mineral density.
“The results demonstrated that the increasing rate of bone mineral density was higher in the laser (L) group than in the control (C) group.”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19399356
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4707222/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11776448
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24286286
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27752476
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2000/12/001219195848.htm
For decades, researchers thought therapeutic lasers — which produced significant results for pain, inflammation, healing, smoking cessation and even hair regrowth — were effective because they were using lasers.
However, it wasn’t the laser aspect that provided the healing effects. By the mid-90s, it was clear that the (red & infrared) wavelengths of light themselves — not the laser aspect — were responsible for the successful findings.
Thus, the study of “low-level laser therapy” became the study of “photobiomodulation” (the study of how light affects changes in the body).
Show Research
“Most of the early work in this field was carried out with various kinds of lasers, and it was thought that laser light had some special characteristics not possessed by light from other light sources such as sunlight, fluorescent or incandescent lamps and now LEDs. However all the studies that have been done comparing lasers to equivalent light sources with similar wavelength and power density of their emission, have found essentially no difference between them.”
https://www.aimspress.com/fileOther/PDF/biophysics/biophys-04-00337.pdf
LEDs became the technology of choice because they can deliver specific wavelengths to bodily tissues.
Virtually Every Wavelength Has Been Studied
The most impressive results come from the frequencies found in visible red light (around 660nm) and “near infrared” frequencies (around 880nm).
ALL wavelengths of red & infrared light provide deep benefits.
8
Compare: Red vs Infrared
Red Light Is Visible
If an object appears red, red light is entering the eye.
Infrared Light Is Invisible
The human eye cannot see infrared light. The wavelengths are too long — just longer than red light.
Infrared Means “Beyond Red”
Infrared wavelengths are too long for our eyes to observe.
Special Technology Can See Infrared Light
Night-Vision Goggles
These $1,000 night-vision goggles detect “invisible” infrared light to “see” in the dark.
Security Cameras
Night-vision surveillance cameras “see” infrared light. This camera even has infrared LED’s to shine on potential criminals.
“Heat Signature” = Infrared Light
The “night-vision” camera can see this dog at night.
(More infrared wavelengths are coming out of the dog’s eyes and mouth — fur absorbs infrared light.)
Infrared light is invisible, but we can actually FEEL it.
Infrared light is felt as heat.
How?
Heat is infrared light.
Humans can see light — and also feel light.
What cooks the food? Infrared light.
9
Light Penetrates Into The Body
All frequencies of light penetrate into the body, to a specific depth.
Some frequencies penetrate deeper than others.
Tissue Penetration Depends On The Wavelength
The longer the wavelength, the deeper light penetrates into tissues.
Blue light barely penetrates at all, just 2-4 millimeters.
Red light penetrates several inches into the flesh.
Infrared can penetrate deeply into the body, nourishing even the inner organs.
Penetration Depth In Human Tissue
Blue Light
2-3mm
Red Light
5-10mm
Infrared Light
9-27cm
Infrared Rays Penetrate Deepest
Infrared light travels in a straight line, just as all light does.
This deep penetration into the body allows infrared therapy to affect all tissues and organs in the body.
90% of incandescent bulbs’ output is infrared light.
Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, but it mostly produced invisible infrared.
THE criticism of INCANDESCENT BULBS: TOO MUCH WASTED INVISIBLE LIGHT.
“An incandescent bulb is a better heater than light bulb.”
–Industry scientists circa 2010
Throughout the 2010s, countries began banning the sale of incandescents to save energy costs and burn fewer fossil fuels.
Modern lighting provides almost no red & infrared.
Fluorescent Bulbs
LED Bulbs
Fluorescent & LED bulbs do save on energy costs.
——-> By removing the red & infrared light.
12
Modern People, Indoors
The average American spends 93% of their life indoors, with another 6% in automobiles.
— Environmental Protection Agency, 2001
99% Indoors
Fifteen minutes. That’s how long the average American spends outside each day.
What are the health implications of spending nearly all time indoors? There’s a serious air quality threat (on average, indoor pollutants are 5 times worse than outdoor air, but are often 100 times worse), for sure. But there’s a lack of healthy spectrums of light.
What are the missing frequencies in modern life? Red and infrared.
For most, artificial lighting is the only lighting.
Most folks get very little sunshine.
As a result…
Infrared & red light are absent in modern life.
Stats for the Average American
93% indoors
+ 6% in automobiles
= 99% of life spent indoors.
On average, 99% of modern life is spent indoors.
Humans Throughout History
Throughout history, humans spent waking hours in direct or indirect sunlight.
Fire is incredibly rich in red & infrared light.
Modern people tend to receive very little red & infrared light from their environment.
What Light Can Do
Red and infrared light has already been a major player in the improved health of thousands of people worldwide.
The trend is certainly rising. Professional athletes are using red light to improve recovery after both exercise and injuries. Hair is being (expensively) regrown at hair clinics with simple red light technology available on Amazon.
Light therapy is resulting in better sleep, energy levels, pain perception, workouts, post-exercise and post-surgery recovery, mood, digestion, gut health, and better skin.
I personally utilized red & infrared (infraRED!) light as a foundation of my recovery from hypothyroidism and mold illness. It spurred my digestion and metabolism, while improving my circadian rhythm and sleep. My brain, long sluggish, became a little more active in the presence of these healing wavelengths of light.
I’ve also seen this light improve thyroid labs, and increase energy levels and brain function in the elderly. Joint and muscle pain has been relieved in folks of all ages.
It doesn’t take a lot of effort to get proper, restorative therapeutic time. It just takes awareness of the best methods, and time during the week to implement.
Fortunately, you can also save money and achieve superior results without spending hundreds on expensive, inferior LED products.
Virtually everyone can benefit from proper frequencies of light. In chronic illness and aging, these restorative frequencies will be even more important.
I restored my health, in part, by understanding the profound biological effects of light.
…and you can, too!
This completes ‘Understand Light.’
To continue, select ‘InfraRED.’
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— Travis
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