Red Light Therapy Pros & Cons: The Complete List

Many people ask: "What are the pros and cons of red light therapy?" Well, the answer is complicated and cannot be explained in just a few sentences. So I decided to write an article on the basic red light therapy pros and cons that you need to keep in mind.

First though, let's start with an introduction what red light therapy is and how it works:

Quick Overview Of How Red Light Therapy Works

Red light therapy has many different mechanisms. But, the main mechanism, arguably, is that it increases energy production in your cells. The light penetrates into your body but the deeper it penetrates, the less light reaches that area (1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 6; 7).

Many human and animal studies exist on that topic. Suffice it to say that the combination of red and near infrared light goes into your cell. There the light counters excessive what is called "Reactive Oxygen Species" (ROS). These ROS, if they're excessive, can inhibit energy production (8; 9; 10; 11; 12; 13).

Lowering excessive ROS increases energy production in the body. In turn, many different processes begin to work better. So basically, you shine the correct light at the correct intensity at the human body, and energy production goes up so that healing takes place.

A simple analogy here is that many people know they need sunlight for vitamin D production. So once the sun is high up in the sky and you've spent 15 or 30 minutes in it as naked as culturally accepted, your body has created its vitamin D for the day.

The same is true for red light therapy: you shine light on some target tissue or your body as a whole, and you're getting results. If you'd like more information, check my blogs on topics such as:

• What is red light therapy? - this blog explains these basics in far more detail.
• The systemic effects of red light therapy - light doesn't just affect the area you shine it on but has effects outside that area.
• The health effects of 830nm light or health effects of 850nm light. Different types of light, measured in "wavelength", have unique biological effect.

The Pros Of Red Light Therapy

So here are the pros of red light therapy, in other words, the red light therapy benefits. I'll go through a few cases below that most people ask me and others at Light Therapy Insiders most about:

1) Quicker Workout Recovery And Performance

Countless studies have investigated the effects of red light therapy for workout performance and recovery. I'm just quoting a few of these studies here (14; 15; 16; 17; 18; 19). Also, our very own Alex Fergus has made a great video about using red light therapy before or after workout:

The goal of this article is not to treat all studies on this topic as you'd still be reading tomorrow. Instead, I just go through a few examples:

• In the elderly with arthritis, red light therapy allows for greater working capacity (14). The biomarker for how bad the arthritis is also went down.
• Another study reviewed previous studies on red light therapy for workout performance (15). The researchers write:

"[red light therapy] can increase muscle mass gained after training, and decrease inflammation and oxidative stress in muscle biopsies. We raise the question of whether PBM should be permitted in athletic competition by international regulatory authorities."(15).

--

Bart here: In other words, the results were so profound that doping agencies consider banning red light therapy.

• For the last ten years, the number of studies on red light therapy for athletic performance have grown exponentially, and yet, there are no universal guidelines for dosing yet (16).
• Next up, for nerds, a recent study had impressive outcomes for Crossfit athletes. Inflammation and signs of stress went down while antioxidant levels go up. The light therapy could be applied before or after a workout for good results. Keep in mind that Crossfit is one of the heaviest sports out there (18)!

2) Skin Beauty Enhancer And Faster Wound Healing

Skin beauty - or even broader, skin, nail, hair, and facial beauty - is a darling of women (and necessary evil of men, perhaps!). Once again, I'll soon take a deeper dive into this topic so I won't cover all the research that's available but just take a few studies to make an example (20; 21; 22; 23; 24).

I'll summarize these studies here:

First of all, red light therapy reverses skin aging, well, at least its signs. Overall skin quality improves and keeps on improving the longer you apply red light therapy.

Also, after you stop using a product, the results will stay for a month (and perhaps longer).

One study, for instance, also showed that the wrinkles around the eyes can be reduced by 30% through just ten treatments in four weeks (22).

Also, there's evidence red light therapy works against a few skin conditions, such as acne. And, recently, I wrote a gigantic blog post about red light therapy for hair loss, that showed great benefits for red light (but not near infrared light yet). You can improve hair growth, thickness, and allow it to grow back in places where you've lot it, if it's not too far gone.

That's all you need to know about the benefit for beauty. Want to learn more? Then check this video on the best wavelengths for skin beauty:

And, the following video about the best red light therapy panels for beauty:

3) Countering Symptoms Of Many Diseases And Lowering The Risk Of Getting Them

Red light therapy has a huge effect on many chronic health conditions. I'll just take two examples here that affect many people in modern society.

First, let's look at diabetes (25; 26; 27; 28; 29). A very recent study that's yet to be published makes the case that red light therapy can lower blood glucose levels, for instance.

The researchers write:

"Here we show, with a glucose tolerance test, that red light exposure in normal subjects significantly reduces blood sugar levels. A 15 min exposure to 670 nm light, reduced the degree of blood glucose elevation following glucose intake by 27.7%, over 2 h. Maximum glucose spiking was reduced by 5.1%. " (25)

For the best results, combine exercise and red light therapy (26). Many animal studies also show very promising effects ( 27; 28; 29).

Then, there's chronic pain. Lots of research exists on pain and red light therapy in fact (30; 31; 32; 33; 34; 35; 36). No matter whether it's lower back pain, neck pain, neuropathic (nervous system) pain, myofascial pain, joint pain such as osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis, red light therapy seems to have an almost life-changing effect on that pain.

How exactly red light therapy impedes pain is not fully understood. What is known is that you can impede biological processes with a high dose, which then has a pain-killing effect.

4) Improved Brain Health And Functioning

There's been tons of research on red light therapy for brain health and brain conditions lately (37; 38; 39; 40; 41). For many different brain conditions, such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and dementia in general, stroke recovery, brain aging, and others, there are very promising results available.

You do need to be more careful treating the brain with red light therapy than other bodily areas. If you want to learn more about these topics, consider the interviews Alex Fergus has done with some scientists who use red light therapy for the brain:

Also, if you wish more information on applying red light therapy for the brain, check this interview with the Vielight founder - which offers a device for brain red light therapy treatment:

How does red light therapy for the brain work? Well, some of the light penetrates through your skull and reaches your brain. Other light, such as around your clavicle, is irradiated by the light before it moves into the brain. And, it's also possible to directly shine light into the brain through the nose or ear, for instance.

Also check out this amazing interview on red light therapy and brain trauma if you haven't seen it:

5) More Energy Production At The Cellular Level

It's a given that red light therapy improves energy production at the cellular level (42; 43; 44; 45; 46; 47). And, almost everyone in life wants to have more energy to do stuff.

So, boosting energy production is a very welcome addition for many people. Who doesn't want their energy levels to last into the late evening, without crashing mid-day?

Enhanced energy is precisely what many people on red light therapy experience, anecdotally. There's much less of an inclination to nap in the afternoon, for instance, or much less of an afternoon crash.

Many of the studies I cited above also show that the red and near infrared light directly affect the mitochondria. "Mitochondria" are the energy-producing factories of your cells. In that mitochondria, oxygen goes in as well as the substrates of food, and CO2 and byproducts come out.

But, if you can make those mitochondria work more efficiently, your entire body - as an organism - works better. Mitochondrial function also tends to go down with age, in part, because the unique DNA in mitochondria (that's different from the DNA found in the center of your cell) doesn't replicate perfectly. Red light therapy can then augment your energy levels as you age.

6) Better Sleep Quality

Four different published studies investigate red light therapy for sleep purposes. I'll go over these studies one by one:

• During the wintertime, a low dose of red light therapy (6.5 Joules /cm2, for nerds), led to "consistent positive benefits on well-being and health, specifically improving mood, reducing drowsiness, reducing IFN-γ, and resting heart rate!" (48). Sleep quality didn't improve though, but daytime performance and stress levels did improve!
• Another study used the NovoTHOR red light therapy bed and allowed athletes to perform better while requiring less sleep (49). Total sleep time was reduced by a whopping 20 minutes. If you're curious, read my blogs on the THOR lasers and NovoTHOR red light therapy beds research.
• One more study showed improved sleep in people with cognitive decline after a few days of treatment (50). Cognitive performance also increased.
• In an older study on the Chinese army, red light therapy exposure led to more melatonin production (51). More melatonin, in turn, will improve sleep quality as it's the "darkness hormone" that helps you fall asleep and stay asleep.

If you want more info, check my article about red light therapy and sleep quality!

7) Better Mood

An example here is red light therapy for depression or anxiety. There's less research on people who are healthy in this case. However, the studies regarding red light therapy for anxiety or depression are very promising (52; 53; 54; 55; 56; 57).

The best results, so far, have been with "transcranial red light therapy" - or red light therapy applied through the brain. The Neuronic Neuradiant 1070 and Vielight are two great devices for that goal, if you're interested.

What's interesting here is that red light therapy may specifically work for "treatment resistant depression" (52). And, these effects may be achieved specifically by upregulating the energy production in the brain (53). A recent review study states on "transcranial photobiomodulation" (t-PBM) or "red light therapy through the skull" that:

"Theoretically, t-PBM penetrates into the cerebral cortex, stimulating the mitochondrial respiratory chain, and also significantly increases cerebral blood flow. Animal and human studies, using a variety of t-PBM settings and experimental models, suggest that t-PBM may have significant efficacy and good tolerability in [Major Depressive Disorder]. In aggregate, these data support the need for large confirmatory studies for t-PBM as a novel, likely safe, and easy-to-administer antidepressant treatment." (54)

So even for a Major Depressive Disoder (MDD) good results are found so far. For anxiety too, results are promising although more research is needed (55; 56; 57). Overall though, red light therapy mental health is a big winner!

8) More Fat Loss

95% of people living in the Western World probably want to lose more body fat. And, it turns out that red light therapy for fat loss studies are very promising (58; 59; 60; 61; 62).

Here's the outcome a recent study with 60 overweight participants (I'll break down what this means below):

"When comparing across treatment groups, the greatest reductions from baseline were observed in those assigned to twice weekly for 6 weeks in weight (1 ± 1.7 (±SD) kg by week 6), waist circumference (- 2.0 ± 3.2 in. by week 6 and - 1.5 ± 3.2 in. by week 26), body mass index (- 0.4 ± 0.6 kg/m²), and body fat mass (- 1.1 ± 1.6 kg). This group also had the most significant improvement from baseline in quality of life (+ 0.5 ± 0.8 by week 6), body satisfaction (+ 0.2 ± 0.4 by week 6 and week 26), and body appreciation (+ 0.2 ± 0.3 by week 6 and + 0.3 ± 0.3 by week 26)." (58).

So, you lose more weight, especially around the waist and that weight loss lasts for around half a year. Quality of life and life satisfaction, as well as body appreciation also improved most in the group that received two weekly sessions for two weeks.

Of course, if you've got a good red light therapy setup at home, you can easily do many more sessions than what was used in the study I described above!

Also check out my Red Light Therapy For Weight Loss: The Science Of Supercharging Fat Loss article if you want more info!

The Cons Of Red Light Therapy

Finally, I want to say something about the cons of red light therapy. Very few cons of red light therapy exist but I still need to mention them:

1) Lack Of Long-Term Studies

First up, there are almost no "longitudinal" or "long-term" studies. Overall, many people have very positive effects with red light therapy but it's a bit of a guess about what these interventions will do over time.

I've personally asked experts in the field such as THOR Founder and CEO James Carroll about this topic. James has used red light therapy with his patients and even full-body exposure for decades now. And, instead of there being side-effects, the opposite is true: the results stack year after year and are cumulative.

Nevertheless, I'd still like to see some long-term studies with red light therapy where participants are followed not for months but for years. Doing so is very expensive for researchers, which is why we don't have these studies yet.

2) Dubious Research About Cancer

Many people ask: "Can red light therapy cause cancer?" The answer is probably "No". But, you have to be careful with existing cancer. The assumption here is that the increase in blood circulation may help the cancer spread.

In the last few years, the research on this topic has become a little less worrysome but still (59; 60; 61; 62; 63). I won't go into much detail here.

What you need to know instead is that if you've got active cancer, reach out to your family doctor first. With your doctor discuss whether it's okay to use red light therapy or not.

Often, a cancerous area needs to be covered up with red light therapy treatment. However, if you do, you'll need to know for sure that the cancer hasn't spread to other parts of the body first. So it's complicated!

3) No Beneficial Evidence For Certain Conditions

For some conditions, there's no evidence that red light therapy works. An example here seems to be recovery from stroke or preventing it, which has amazing research in animals but poor outcome in human studies. Study design might explain that difference though, although more research is needed.

Red light therapy is not a panacea. So some conditions might not improve with it.

4) Potential Side Effects

Lastly, there are a few potential side effect you should keep in mind:

• Fatigue can happen mainly in people with chronic health conditions or poorer overall health. The red light therapy space found out about this side-effect on its own, as far as I'm aware. For instance, if you've got chronic fatigue or fibromyalgia or have a combination of heart disease, diabetes, and another health condition, it's wiser to start very slowly,.
• Fatigue in healthy people due to overdosing. If you're applying far too large a dose, not only will the results you're getting slowly go down, but they'll disappear.
• Itching or headaches or tingling. Many people ask: "Can red light therapy cause itching?" or "Can red light therapy give me headaches?" Theoretically the answer is yes, although there's no direct research on this topic as far as I know.
• With very dark skin you may respond to red light therapy slightly differently (64: 65). You may need a slightly lower dosage, in fact. Just something to keep in mind.
• If a laser is used, that laser often needs to be applied through a medical professional. Lasers can have more side effects than the LEDs used in most consumer products.

So overall, the "red light therapy dangers" are manageable!

For more info, check out my blog about the risks and dangers of red light therapy!

So, Should I Live With Or Without Red Light Therapy?

For most people, especially if you're not getting sufficient sunlight exposure in your daily life, red light therapy likely improves your health over time. Some people are non-responders though, so they don't get any effects of red light therapy--although very rare.

Generally, I recommend people to use red light therapy. Whether you're a 30-year-old athlete or an 80-year-old person with Alzheimer, red light therapy offers something for almost everyone.

And, there's very little risk in trying. You can visit a neighborhood salon and get a few sessions in before having to buy your own product, for instance. If you're already convinced that red light therapy works, however, then check out some of the resources I added below:

Below are a videos that might convince you red light therapy is the read deal:

Conclusion: The Pros Outweigh The Cons Big Time But More Research Is Needed

I hope you understand the basics of the pros and cons of red light therapy a lot better. Red light therapy has amazing pros and very few cons. And if you want to learn more about these pros, check out the articles on red light therapy's benefits.

The future is bright (literally)!

This is a post by Bart Wolbers. Bart finished degrees in Physical Therapy (B), Philosophy (BA and MA), Philosophy of Science and Technology (MS - with distinction), and Clinical Health Science (MS), has had training in functional medicine, and is currently chief science writer at Lighttherapyinsiders.com

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