Red Light Therapy vs. Sunlight: What’s Actually Better?
“The sun is free!”
If you’ve ever searched for red light therapy online, chances are you’ve seen this comment before. It’s a fair point — sunlight does offer powerful health benefits. But that doesn’t mean red light therapy is pointless.
In fact, both have their place. And if you’re a modern human living under artificial lighting, inside most of the day, or covered in clothing — you’re probably missing out on the full spectrum of healing light your body needs.
📌 TL;DR:
- Sunlight offers broad-spectrum benefits — including UV and blue light — that red light therapy doesn’t provide.
- However, red light therapy delivers concentrated red and near-infrared wavelengths that are often missing from our modern indoor lives.
- Sunlight contains only 1–3% red light at the wavelengths that stimulate mitochondria — so getting enough from sunlight alone is difficult.
- Red light therapy helps restore the balance when your lifestyle limits natural light exposure or increases blue light exposure indoors.
🌞 Sunlight: The Ultimate Natural Light Source
Sunlight is powerful. It contains multiple wavelengths that impact your body in unique ways — from UV rays that trigger vitamin D production to blue light that supports alertness and mood.
And perhaps its greatest strength? It changes throughout the day. Morning light is different from midday light, which is different from the golden tones of sunset. These shifting signals help regulate your circadian rhythm — the internal clock that governs your sleep, energy, hormone production, and more.
🔴 What Red Light Therapy Can (and Can’t) Do
Red light therapy focuses on just a few specific wavelengths: primarily 630nm, 660nm, and 850nm. These are the ones that directly stimulate your mitochondria — the powerhouses of your cells — to produce more energy and reduce inflammation.
Unlike sunlight, red light therapy won’t guide your circadian rhythm or help you make vitamin D. But that’s not what it’s designed for. It’s a concentrated tool for cellular repair, mitochondrial function, pain relief, and recovery.
🥬 Why “Just Go Outside” Isn’t Enough
Here’s where the “sun is free” argument breaks down: modern life.
If you spend your day fully clothed, indoors, under artificial lights — then even when you step outside, you’re not getting full-body red and near-infrared light. And the little bit you do get from the sun? Only a tiny fraction (1–3%) of sunlight falls in the red light therapy range.
To match the mitochondrial stimulation of a high-quality red light therapy session, you’d need to spend hours naked in the midday sun every day.
That’s about as realistic as getting your protein intake by eating 100 heads of lettuce a day. Technically possible, but extremely impractical.
🔵 Blue Light Overload: Another Modern Problem
Most indoor lighting (LEDs, screens, fluorescent bulbs) emits a high concentration of blue light. This isn’t inherently bad — but it’s unbalanced. In nature, blue light is always accompanied by red and near-infrared light, which protect your cells from oxidative stress.
When you’re indoors under blue light all day — without the balancing effects of red and near-infrared — your cells suffer.
Red light therapy helps restore this balance. It’s a tool to bioharmonize your body in an artificial light environment — bringing your cells back to a more natural state.
🎥 Watch: Why Red Light Therapy Complements Sunlight
In this video, Nick Coetzee explains why sunlight is incredible — but also why most of us still need red light therapy. You’ll see exactly how red light therapy fits into a modern lifestyle and why it’s not meant to replace the sun — but to supplement what you’re missing.
💡 The Bottom Line
Sunlight and red light therapy aren’t enemies — they’re allies.
Sunlight provides a broad, natural spectrum that regulates your body’s internal clock and drives essential functions like vitamin D production. Red light therapy delivers targeted wavelengths in concentrated doses — ideal for healing, recovery, and energy.
If you live in the modern world, with limited sun exposure and high screen time, red light therapy can help restore the balance. It’s not about choosing one or the other. It’s about using both — wisely.
🔥 Featured Product: MyLight PRO 2.0
The MyLight PRO 2.0 is our most versatile and powerful red light therapy setup. With two full-body panels and horizontal or vertical options, it delivers clinical-grade red and near-infrared light exactly where you need it — all in the comfort of your home.
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