7 Red Light Therapy Myths That Are Wasting Your Time

Hey, today I'm covering a somewhat controversial topic, which is the seven counterintuitive light therapy myths. And after almost a decade of experience in this light therapy space, I still seem that many people are getting details wrong or like even simple stuff. And yeah, this video is ma mostly aimed at beginners but also a little bit at intermediates because as you will learn and many of these things will have consequences down the road if you believe them. And on many of these topics either I already created a video or I will upload one soon. So yeah, like and subscribe if you want deep dives on these topics. We are affiliated with some of the companies in this video. We earn a commission if you use a discount code or discount link that is listed below. We got these critics free of charge. All our opinions are our own and this is not medical advice. First one is less powerful panels or devices are better. Um yeah, you hear this all the time, right? We've saturated how much power is good for people. Uh yeah, it doesn't help anything if a panel or even another device is even more powerful than it currently is. Even some of the top experts honestly believe this in the space that's yeah with saturated power no more extra power. So the amount of light the quantity of light coming out of a device is necessary. But my counterargument in this and let's take a panel as the situation that I'm going to analyze here. If you don't want maximum power and there are many situations where you don't want that uh then you can simply stand away further from the panel right and the benefit of that is that you get better coverage. So more more square inches will be covered by a panel the further you stand away from it. So the big thing here is that if you have two panels and one has much higher power is that the much higher power one uh all other circumstances being ethical offers you a lot more value. So let's consider an example here. Uh let's say that we have a panel that emits 90 m over centimeters squared at 6 in which which is quite close to uh some of the best panels that are on the market today. Right? If you stand away at 12 inches, you would yeah have uh maybe 60 m over centimeters grid. So you lower your exposure, which is good. Uh in many cases, many people don't need the 90 m over centimeters, but you also increase the coverage. And my friend, uh Alex Fergus, the founder of company, has actually made some some great videos on on how much coverage on on each part of the body you can expect at different distances from a panel. So yeah, all other things being equal, I still think even if you have just a simple wall panel, a more powerful panel is better because you can always stand further away and get better coverage that way. And one of the one of the examples here, it's maybe very simple, but yeah, um if you have two bags of oatmeal and they're both organic, same quality, then of course the three pound one is better than the 2B one, even though you may not eat that in the entire big three pound one uh during that week for instance, right? But it still offers better value. Myth number two is you only need panels. Honestly, I will say that uh I I still consider panels the best option for most people. Uh the best option for general health benefits. Red light therapy bats, for instance, are far too expensive. Specialized smaller devices don't allow you to treat the entire body in one go. So, yeah, I I still think that uh panels are the best device out there for most people, but there are many specialized cases, right? So if you have like a brain condition then a VI device may be much better or another brain device. If you have a joint condition and you don't want to spend time in front of a panel and you want treatment right now when you're at work for instance then a Kenny on move plus around your uh elbow or knee may be the best option. If you're only concerned about facial beauty then a red light therapy mask may be the best option. Um yeah people disagree about that. also about the panels. I know that there's a lot of lot of discussion about this topic and I would also recommend that you check out my science tool which I link will link in the description below on finding the best device for your unique use case whether it's joint health, hair loss, uh brain health, different brain conditions, muscle recovery, etc. I would still say that the panels are the number one tool in the toolbox for most people. But on the other hand, for many cases, I would say a specialized device can be much better. The third myth is you only need 660 and 850. And this is a big discussion in the space. There's no simple answer. And this is really complex, but yeah, there's lots of science on on on different wavelengths, they haven't always been compared. Uh so there are not even in the red spectrum. So 660 versus 630, there's not always a comparison, especially in different context, right? But um yeah, people say in the space then yeah, we don't know that that 630 is really better than 660. But uh so yeah, we're just going for 660, right? Uh because we don't know whether 630 is really better. But in my opinion, you can use that argument in both ways. If you don't have evidence that 660 is better than 630 and yeah assuming sunlight also contains both I would say yeah from a simple evolutionary perspective that's both are better. Now there's another perspective here that is if you look at uh mechanisms for instance now there are many mechanisms out there the mitochondria the energy producing factories in your cells but also the iron channels in your cells uh growth factors etc. And and if you look at the evidence there uh again I will have a video coming out on this uh below in the future. So subscribe for that. If you look at the mechanisms here they don't all align with 660 and 850. It may be 630. It may be even in the 900s in the thousand plus. So that's that's an argument why you need multiple wavelengths. If you look at the mitochondria, the energy producing factors in your cell, the peak of the of the cytochromeg oxidase is around 820 for instance, not around 850. So yeah, somehow uh this space started out almost 10 years ago with 660 and 850 and people have accepted that as this basis and I don't think that basis is 100% correct. Even for health conditions, if you really want to align yourself with uh yeah the best evidence of many health conditions, then you would have to look at the wavelength test used in those studies, right? And it may be tempting to change it up slightly. If many of the studies on a given disease are carried out on 810, then it may be tempting to go out for 850, right? even though they don't completely line up but I would say that yeah following the evidence and evidence-based medicine it is it is most important to get it as correct as possible and aligned as much as possible even though it may be difficult there are some caveats here more wavelengths isn't always better so yeah if you have just like uh 3 or 4% allocated towards the wavelength in a panel or a different device that's a little bit gimmicky in my opinion uh there's a lot more nuance to this. So I would say that if you have be better coverage of of of of different wavelengths. So let's say your device emits four different wavelengths or five then better coverage with dual or triple or quadruple chip LEDs is important in panels because better coverage uh equals better penetration in my in my opinion looking at the research again. Yeah, I've got more resources on the topic below. But all other things being equal, yeah, I I would say uh assuming the coverage is good, the more wavelengths and um is is generally a better thing. So number four, this is also also a big one. Red light therapy should always be non-healing, right? Which is also a myth. Um in my opinion, it's completely completely impossible to add red or near infrared light to a tissue and not to have some he build up. every single photon you add to the system will increase heat generation. So it's a continuous scale. So the more light you add to the tissue, the more heat generation there will be. Of course, there's a point at which uh it will become counterintuitive. There's too much heat build up and yeah the same thing that will basically happen. Uh if you put your hands in the fire, you will withdraw it, right? If there's too much heat generation because of light therapy, then people will withdraw their tissue from the source of the lights. I will also say that this doesn't happen frequently with with general panels or some other with 99% of devices out there. It's it's almost impossible to overheat the tissue and if you do, you will withdraw. There are some cases where overheating is possible such as high powered lasers. Yeah, I've seen them burn materials in real time personally at conferences for instance. I've seen that with high power lasers. If you keep it at one location, it will burn there. Um, of course, the same will happen uh on your skin, right? So, if you keep an high power laser at one location, it will burn. So, that's why you need to move them around, etc. Um, some other devices such as the chroma iron forge, if you keep it at one location for a long time, it will overheat there. So I don't recommend that but it's also not a problem because yeah if somebody keeps and the chroma iron farts at your lower arm for instance you will will withdraw it. It's a non-issue. Yeah again check check other resources that I made on this topic below. I don't think uh heat is a problem in red light therapy. Counterintuitive in that case another part of this equation is that you don't need heat for sessions to be successful. Right? Again there's always some heat generation. So, but if you wear a red light therapy mask for instance, it may not be very powerful. In general, it's not very powerful. Uh, yeah, you will have a nice slow session with a little bit of heat generation. It doesn't mean that more heat generation is better. In that case, the dosing is almost always perfect for like facial rejuvenation. So, it's a great tool. Myth number five, which is you can treat your entire body with like a handheld panel or tabletop. Technically, that's true, but it's very difficult. Um, yeah, because let's say I'm treating my chest with a handheld panel, I would I would need my uh left chest, it would at least need a few minutes of treatment time, maybe five, maybe 10 minutes for to get the maximum dose here. And I would need to move it around to another part of my body to the right for uh chest, then my left biceps, right biceps, uh maybe two or three locations and my deltoids, etc. So you can imagine if if it's five 10 minutes per location with the handheld device it will take very long. tabletops are better. Maybe with one tabletop I can cheat my treat my chest at one time then then the left shoulder at another time, the other shoulder at another time. But by the time I'm Yeah, I've done that. I've already treated for 30 minutes. And if I want my entire body, it made to take two or three hours in total. Right. So if you want really full body treatment, I do really recommend uh at least a wall panel or body panel or like something like the Chroma Iron Forge. Um yeah, size does matter here. It doesn't mean that pe that big is always better. Uh in some cases for some people you just want a small device, right? There might be a person with like shoulder pain and only shoulder pain and want to treat only shoulder pain to try out where the red light therapy works for him or her then yeah go for a handheld device. If you only want to treat your face, go for a mask maybe. So yeah, it really depends on the person. I will say that most people eventually uh I've done a poll on this in a Facebook group which has over 30,000 people in it. Uh yeah, you can join below. I I've done a poll on this and most people eventually, especially if money is not an issue, will lean towards a yeah, multiple wall panels or a bonny panel. So full body setup. Number six, getting advice that has a label will ensure that you will get great results. And yeah, there are some labels out there. One of them is like FDA cleared right now. So I don't want to criticize the FDA too much but yeah this is just an example going for a label in most cases almost all cases is yeah not the correct thing to be looking at because it doesn't assure quality what does assure quality is like the very simple measurable effects yeah which we routinely do at light therapy insiders that's why we have so many refills comparisons etc where we measure devices with a spectrometer or a similar device such as the amount of light that is emitted right in which is measured in millows over centimeters squared. The the power density of the light, the treatment area that you can expect from a device is is it this big, is it this big, etc. at what distance? What wavelengths are emitted, which is basically the type of light? Uh yeah, different types of red lights in the 600s for instance range or in the near range uh 700 plus. So you want information on that and I would recommend beginners not really to be focusing on labels because uh yeah most of the labels out there uh are just misleading for people and they give you a false sense of security that you're getting a great device while that may not be the case. So that's why I recommend check out uh the shopping tool or the mass shopping tool below because that that's where you see a lot of data uh with all the third party testing that we do um so that you can quantify the outcomes. Now number seven is also an interesting one. Uh light therapy gives you in instant results. Yeah, there is some truth to that in in a way. Of course there are some immediate rewards if you do a light therapy session. You may feel more relaxed. You may sleep better at night. uh you may have a little bit of pain uh less pain but in most cases it takes some time for the for the biology to adapt to the yeah the new input right it may take days weeks months even in some cases for you to maximize results and the best analogy here is basically an exercise program or a new diet you don't expect immediate results there let's start let's say that you're starting on like a Mediterranean diet or carnivore and nobody out here hopefully is going to expect immediate results in the first day. Um, yeah, it's a little bit common sense. Even though uh yeah, let's let's say you're starting a new exercise program, there are some im immediate effects, right? You immediately feel uh more relaxed after workout or uh yeah, your joints or muscles may feel more loose. But everybody knows that for the exercise program, it takes a few weeks, days, weeks, months to really to see the effects. Same is true for light therapy. In many of the studies, we see improvements over the course of weeks and months. Um, which is great. The only thing, yeah, we need more studies on long-term effects such as three to six months, maybe up to a year. The only problem there is that it's very expensive to f to to fund these studies. Often it's already uh in the millions of dollars for one one single study. But I've also been assured in many yeah by by many professors in the space and other experts that uh yeah we will likely find some more additional effects once once we have more of these longerterm studies and yeah the few long-term studies that are out there right now I can say uh yeah many many cases such as disease etc we have some longest term studies in in over the course of years and often you see great results there. Uh so yeah, of course again you may have some immediate effects but over the course of week, months, etc. years even you can expect additional effects in the same way that an exercise program can. Yeah, there's a lots of nuance there and I would recommend you join our uh Facebook group which has over 30,000 members. you can join below because there we also talk about these effects and there's lots of discussion around the effects that that people are getting and I can confirm from that Facebook group talking to people almost daily in there that many of them have the results building up over time. Some somebody may have like a neuropathy or they may have a another pain condition and yeah often there it is over the course of weeks and months that people get results. So yeah, there are some instant results with life therapy relaxation, less pain, etc. My muscles here right now in my neck would feel better if I did a red light therapy session. But over in general, weeks, months, etc. So yeah, makes I hope that makes sense. Again, next steps. Um, if you want more information or to troubleshoot your results, uh, join the Facebook group below. If you want recommendations on the science or the device recommendations for different goals, I recommend my science tool. I've got a uh article on that where you can see all of the articles and videos that I've created on a given topic, but also the devices I recommend. And yeah, it simplifies it a lot to help you make a decision on um yeah, what kind of device you would need. Is it a panel? Is it not a panel? And uh how to use it, etc. So yeah, I hope it makes sense and like and subscribe and leave a comment below,