We've already covered how red light therapy can benefit us through reducing inflammation, improving thyroid heath, improving skin texture, and speeding up muscular recovery; but we rarely talk about the direct impact of red light therapy on the brain.
So, if this has triggered a neurotransmitter of excitement and intrigue, read on…
Tell us how!?
Your brain is one very complex organ, with up to 100 billion nerves that are consistently communicating to trillions of synapses. Since red light therapy is able to penetrate your tissues at varying depths, it can give benefits deeper than just the skin.
Red light therapy assists brain health in the following ways:
- Improving metabolic cell functioning through increased energy production in the mitochondria. This encourages neurons (brain cells) and stem cells to function more efficiently.
- Increasing oxygen flow to the brain through stimulation of cerebral blood flow.
- Reducing oxidative stress which is as a result of inflammation in the body, which has been liked a positive effect on the effects of Alzheimer’s and depression.
- Stimulating the regrowth of neurons in the brain, through a process called Neurogenesis – this improves the brain’s level of neuroplasticity. Which means – more neurons = more organized brain through better formation of neural connections.
Improving brain disorders
The three most common brain disorders are: Traumatic events, Psychiatric disorders, and Degenerative diseases.
Many clinical trials that have been performed in this field have showed promising results by enhancing reaction time, mood, memory, brain function, improving the symptoms of psychiatric disorders, and speeding up the healing time required following stroke or brain injury. Awesome right?
As long as your device is powerful enough, the light from your red light therapy device will be able to penetrate through your skull for you to reap the benefits. The areas of your brain that are commonly affected during accidents (frontal and temporal lobes) are easily reachable and treated through a red light therapy device that can penetrate 5cm.
A study performed in 2017 looked at how red light therapy can be used to benefit Age-related degenerative disorders, which includes Alzheimer’s and Dementia. During this study, patients reported improvements in the following:
- Visual attention
- Memory and recall ability
- Clock drawing test performance
- Better sleep with decreased anxiety
(all with no adverse effects!)
Check out this study for more on this topic: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5066074/
For optimal results, we encourage combining red light therapy with a healthy diet, exercise, daily exposure to sunlight and a consistent sleeping pattern.
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Written By: Caroline Bursey
