Red Light Therapy & Infrared Sauna

A.) Infrared

  • Really cool research showing that Red Light Therapy had many beneficial uses

    • Simple red light: (aka “color therapy”)

      • Has many benefits- red light may be useful with just an extremely cheap simple light (sleep/ alertness/ mood/ hormones). (VERY GOOD EVIDENCE)

    • Infrared light (different type of light)(more powerful/ brighter):

      • Has very different benefits for skin/ scars/ wounds/ healing/ acne. Can penetrate into the deeper layers of the skin. (VERY GOOD EVIDENCE)

B.) Red Light Sauna Vs. Traditional Sauna

(Long story short: More reasearch is needed)

  • There are 3 main different types of red light saunas

    • Near Infrared

      • Less penetrating in the skin…. But likely it is exacatly the same benefits as a traditional “steam style sauna”

        • Still good for skin, good for cardiovascaulr health, good for mental health.

        • Because the light rays are less penetrating…likely arne’t getting any additional benefits

    • Mid- Infrared

      • In between

    • Far Infrared

      • Deeper penetrating… so IN THEORY- you should get similar benefits as the typical far infrared - Red light therapy (as seen above in section A)….. However in practice…. these lights are typically much less powerful…..It is unclear if you are getting bright enough/ powerful enough light rays. (AKA more research is needed)

    • Full Spectrum

      • Combination of the 3

Check out Huberman’s podcasts to dive into more detail!

https://youtu.be/XcvhERcZpWw?si=Im0NtQaOWViRn1PS&t=9698 (2:41:42 mark)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF0nqolsNZc (watch full episode to gain greater understanding)

Matthew Sweeney