15 Benefits Of Red Light Therapy Use For Home - Does It Actually Work, Is It Worth The Money?

The growing body of research tells us that red light is a green light for hacking performance, sleep, skin and so much more

Benefits of red light therapy

What are the benefits of red light therapy use? Red light therapy is not a new practice in the wellness and recovery space and has mostly been used for skin treatments in the past. The benefits of regular red light therapy extend well beyond the beauty space and the biohacking space is showing the use for red light in things like healing injury, speeding up recovery from exercise, getting better sleep, boosting testosterone and improving immune function.

In fact, we have 15 benefits of red light therapy that point to why you should be using red light therapy daily, and there are loads of amazing red light therapy devices and panels on the market in 2021 that allow you to do it at home. All it takes is a quick google search of “red light therapy device for sale” to see how many options there are to choose from and to see how smart people are catching on to the benefits and accessibility of red light therapy as a solid biohack to include in your wellness routine.

Related Article: 5 Best Home Red Light Therapy Panels To Buy In Australia 2023

Getting the full benefits of red light therapy use, we have been using our very own Aurora Mini Red Light Panel at home for the last 30 days and we wrote about our findings in our article Aurora Mini Red Light Therapy Panel Review - What We Found After 30 Days Of Use At Home. We are so convinced that we did our research and have even more reason to use red light therapy to hack our recovery, sleep and quality of life. In this article we show you 15 benefits of red light therapy use, and prove that it does actually work.

15 Benefits Of Red Light Therapy Use

Red light therapy comes in the form of red light masks, red light panels, red light wands, LED face masks, and other red light therapy devices that emit red light and infrared light that penetrates into the tissues to provide a gamet of healing benefits.

Red Light For Sleep

Red light therapy is a practice we have been using more and more for our sleep and recovery efforts. If you experience issues around sleep, you are most definitely suffering a battle suffered by countless people in Australia and around the world. We know sleep is important for optimal human performance and we know that a lack of it can lead to things like weight gain, poor attention and memory, disease and illness, accidents and economic loss, poor immunity, low motivation and drive, poor mood and mental health, poor sex life and even death. 

So what are the benefits of red light therapy for sleep?

Red light mimics the light received in the later hours of the evening/day at sunset. Since we know that light signalling is an important factor in our sleep hygiene, we know that light has the ability to trigger (or blunt) our melatonin production, a crucial hormone for sleep.

Red light before bed has the power to boost melatonin production and contribute to our ability to get to sleep and stay asleep. A study of female basketball players saw the treatment group that received 30 minutes of red light therapy nightly for 2 weeks, giving a solid boost in both sleep quality and serum melatonin levels - a game changer for getting the best sleep possible for athletes and high performers.

Red Light Boosts Testosterone

Alright, the benefits of red light therapy for boosting testosterone in humans might just be a little anecdotal and something that has received some attention by some heavy hitters in the biohacking world like the Mens Health article by Ben Greenfield, I Put a Giant Red Light on My Balls to Triple My Testosterone Levels.

Despite the seemingly empty claims, there have been a number of studies showing promise for such benefits like that of the study done on low-level laser therapy to recovery testicular degeneration in rams.

We are prepared to take the risk and have been dropping our dacks daily to put a high dose of red light therapy on our privates to avoid missing the potential benefits. Since testosterone is produced mainly in the testicles and ovaries (as well as a small amount from the adrenal glands), we willingly assume that boosting mitochondrial function ultimately causes healthy testosterone production.

If it is all true, the downstream effects of upping testosterone include a boost to athletic performance, improved sleep, better mood, higher sex drive, increased cognitive function and increased muscle mass and strength. 

Red Light Improves Immunity

Does red light therapy boost immunity? The truth is, like plants, humans react well to, and need light to survive and thrive. Although we opt for the majority of our daily light intake from natural sunlight exposure which has its own superior set of benefits for immunity, red light therapy also offers a boost to the optimal functioning of the immune system.

Specifically, red light therapy promotes ATP (adenosine triphosphate) production by way of talking to the mitochondria. Because red light is causing the mitochondria to produce more ATP, which we in turn use for energy, red light is effectively allowing our cells to proliferate and fight infection to their full ability.

The other way red light therapy benefits the immune system is by stimulating the lymphatic system. Immunity relies on the optimal functioning of the lymphatic system, which is part of the circulatory and immune systems, and  comprises a network of vessels that carry a clear liquid called lymph to the heart, and affects our ability to defend against infection.

Red light therapy has been shown in multiple studies to be beneficial for the lymphatic system improving drainage, restoring normal lymphatic activity, and reducing swelling. It could be said that the amazing benefits red light therapy has on sleep quality could also cause positive downstream effects to the immune system when we consider that mental health illnesses like depression and anxiety have a triggering and suppressive effect to the immune system, by lifting mood we maintain strong immunity. 

Red Light Lowers Cortisol

Does Red light therapy reduce stress? Much like our sleep-wake cycle, cortisol follows a circadian rhythm too. While our melatonin (sleepy hormone) rhythm is associated with day and night, our cortisol rhythm is more tied to a transition between dark and light (and for light to dark).

What we know about cortisol is that it has a predictable peak in the morning, shooting up roughly 30 minutes after waking. While cortisol is desirable in the morning as it helps us to rise from sleep, it is not desirable at night when we are trying to transition into sleep and can keep us awake.

This is where using red light at home helps - by getting 20-30 minutes of red light exposure close to bedtime we can counter the effects of blue light intake from devices and screens, and reduce our cortisol levels, allowing seamless transition to sleep.

Red Light Causes Hormesis

We can define hormesis as causing some sort of stress response in order to affect adaptation by the body. We see such hormetic responses by the body when we do other things like heat up the body in saunas, shock the body with cold water exposure and cryotherapy and do intense exercise.

Your body is constantly adapting to these events and (hopefully) getting stronger as we do them. Red light therapy benefits us but causing a similar hormetic response by causing oxidative stress.

Although this may seem counterintuitive as we often hear how we should be trying to minimise oxidative stress, but, in many ways oxidative stress (and inflammation) is essential in the process of physiological adaptations. These small doses of oxidative stress caused by red light therapy essentially kick start our natural defence and repair mechanisms. 

As described on Kaiyan Medical, “Beaming red light and near-infrared light onto cells creates a short, low-dose metabolic stress that builds up the cells' anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, and natural defense systems, making the body stronger and more resilient to infections.”

Red Light Reduces Pain And Headaches

Can red light therapy help headaches? Pain is a debilitating thing for a lot of the population. Often people live with pain for a large portion of their lives from injuries, surgeries and disease.

We have been using red light therapy every day for years now and outlined some of the things we noticed after using red light for 30 days straight.

As we noticed, science proves that photobiomodulation is effective against various pain conditions. Red light therapy significantly reduces the severity of pain hypersensitivity while improving sensorimotor function. 

A common source of pain for many people, from sportsmen and women to office workers, is lower back pain. Red light therapy has been shown to significantly benefit reducing pain in the lower back in a number of studies.

This study shows benefits of IR in reducing chronic low back back. Another meta-analysis study of the effectiveness of low-level laser therapy for nonspecific chronic low back pain found that low-level laser therapy (red light therapy) to be as effective as high-intensity laser therapy (HILT) for the treatment of nonspecific low back pain, with significant improvements in pain, range of motion, and quality of life. 

As for headaches, red light therapy is also good for reducing the severity of those too! In a study of 10 females experiencing tension headache episodes on average 20 times a month for at least six months, diminishing pain scores were experienced from the effects of effects red light therapy on “blood flow velocity, serotonin (5-HT and cholinesterase levels in patients with chronic headache associated with temporomandibular disorders (TMD).”

Although anecdotal, we most definitely notice reduced headache symptoms following a session of 10-30 minutes of using our red light therapy devices at home. Another study published in 2019 evaluated the effects of red light therapy on three patients suffering from chronic migraines.

The first patient received three treatments over four weeks, the second six treatments over 23 days followed by another four treatments over four weeks, and the third eight treatments over four weeks. Each patient experienced a significant reduction in pain during the course of treatment, and they all reported being migraine-free at the end.

Red Light Improves Brain Health

The brain is part of our nervous system, which is essentially our operating system that is responsible for sending electrical signals throughout the body. It is responsible for collecting, processing and responding to external stimuli.

Red light is beneficial for the brain and nervous system in a number of ways. It is true that there are a number of different disorders that can come about in the brain like traumatic brain injury, stroke, dementia, depression, anxiety and post traumatic stress disorder. 

As shown in this red light study, “There is some evidence that all these seemingly diverse conditions can be beneficially affected by applying light to the head.

There is even the possibility that PBM could be used for cognitive enhancement in normal healthy people”. This is nothing short of amazing in our eyes and is for some a huge reason to buy a red light therapy device for home.

Red Light Clears Skin

Does red light therapy help acne and improve skin health? Several studies support that visible red light is capable of modulating collagen production in vitro, this has positive implications for clearing and improving skin blemishes, acne, scarring and stretch marks.

Multiple studies have shown significant evidence for the use of red light therapy in treatment of many skin related issues, one study stating, “Phototherapy using LEDs is beneficial for a broad range of medical and aesthetic conditions encountered in the dermatology practice”.

How does red light help the skin?

It does so via processes like “stimulating fibroblast proliferation, collagen synthesis, growth factors, and extracellular matrix production by activating cellular mitochondrial respiratory pathways”. 

Red light therapy is in fact most well known for its application and effectiveness for aesthetic and skin rejuvenating benefits, and make no mistake, these benefits are scientifically proven. Subjects involved in various clinical studies on red light have experienced softening of wrinkles, improvement in photoaging scores, improvements in softness, smoothness, and firmness of their skin, decreased rosacea, decreased acne, decreased scarring and stretch marks, decreased psoriasis to name a few.

Red Light Increases Blood Flow

Does red light therapy benefit blood flow? One of the most widely recognised and documented benefits of red light therapy has been its ability to improve blood flow and circulation, “In conclusion, 670nm light energy produces acute increases in vessel diameter at physiological pressures through the release of a vasodilator”.

This vasodilating effect of red light therapy has a host of downstream benefits that makes us excited about using red light therapy daily at home.

With increased blood flow we can also expect things like more oxygen rich blood flowing to the muscles, brain and organs; better ability to heal and repair from illness and injury; better ability to perform execute functions like decision making, memory and learning; improved waste removal and digestion - all of which are off the charts benefits for our overall performance, wellbeing and recovery. 

Red Light Reduces Sun Damage

The difference between early morning sun and midday sun is obvious. This difference also presents some differences in the effects on your skin and body.

For starters, you would have little trouble staring into the morning sunrise, however, attempt with a full power midday sun and you can’t last a second.

What are the implications for sun protection from red light therapy here?

The early morning sun gives us a dose of near-infrared light, which according to research, could play a role in preparing and priming the skin for the stronger and harsher midday sun. So, when we dose up on red light therapy from our home device, we may be pre conditioning the skin for the  later harsh sun.

A study on hairless mice profiled an expression of genes involved in wound remodeling and healing and confirmed that exposure to low level laser therapy from red light produced by light-emitting diode (LED) array “was capable of attenuating the effects of UV light on gene expression in the live healthy epidermis.” 

In another 2008 study, 13 participants received pre-treatment with red light at a wavelength of 660nm (the Aurora Mini operates at red and 660nm for example) on one thigh before UV exposure to both thighs.

The side of the body that had received red light treatment experienced significantly less redness compared to the side that did not, suggesting some degree of sun protection associated with red light therapy exposure.

Red Light Increases Hair Growth

Hair loss is a touchy subject for many men and women, some of our male RG team are experiencing the somewhat distressing signs of balding and fading hairlines.

Red light therapy has been involved in a large number of studies proving its benefits for hair growth for a number of reasons linked to benefits we have already mentioned including increased blood flow, improved immunity, tissue regrowth, cell proliferation,  improved sleep, lowering stress hormones, hormesis and wound healing.

A study of 44 males testing growth of human scalp hair mediated by visible red light laser and LED sources, showed a 35% increase in hair growth. A similar study of 47 females produced similar results, proving benefits of red light therapy for hair growth across both sexes. 

Red Light Increases Strength And Muscle Mass

Using red light therapy at home has been a game changer for us in our exercise recovery and performance journey. Red light therapy as a treatment has shown benefits for athletic performance and is certainly another obvious reason why we recommend its regular use.

As we have already spoken of, red light therapy talks to our mitochondria and encourages the production of ATP. Our muscles have bulk amounts of mitochondria and are therefore a key area of benefit from red light therapy use.

Photobiomodulation from red light therapy gets its benefits from several mechanisms including “increases in energy metabolism and ATP synthesis; stimulation of defenses against oxidative stress; prevention and repair of muscle damage; modulation of gene expression by activation of transcription factors; possible increase in the excitability of muscle fibers”, according to this red light study. 

In another study involving two 19 year old identical twins, red light therapy compared to the placebo was shown to promote a resistance to muscle fatigue, reduced a biochemical marker of muscle damage, lessened the score of delayed onset muscle soreness, reduce expression of genes related to inflammation and atrophy, increase the maximal load achievable in exercise, increase protein synthesis (mTOR) and produced thigh muscle hypertrophy shown by MRI.

This is unmistakably a huge proof of the benefits of red light therapy for athletic performance and another solid reason to buy a red light therapy panel for home. We have covered 5 epic red light panels of different sizes and prices in our article, 5 Best Home Red Light Therapy Panels To Buy In Australia 2023 For Faster Muscle Recovery, Better Sleep And Clear Skin.

Red Light Helps Fat Loss

Does red light therapy help lose weight? This seems to be a somewhat controversial claim for red light therapy as far as benefits go. There is quite a lot of research that suggests red light therapy is beneficial for reducing waist and abdominal girth.

This study of 18 females given 12 sessions of laser therapy 2 times per week revealed that low level laser therapy was effective for abdominal girth reduction in 100% of the subjects without any side effects. We stress that for weight loss and fat loss efforts, red light is more suitable to be used in conjunction with a holistic training and nutrition program.

The majority of our body composition benefits come from regular movement, quality diet and healthy sleeping habits, with red light being used as more of a recovery tool than a primary weight loss tool. Relying on red light for weight loss, based on the research we have come across, is setting yourself up for failure just so we are clear on that one.

Red Light Speeds Up Healing

We are stoked to be on board with this fast growing use of low-level laser (light) therapy as a safe and effective technology used to treat a multitude of conditions that require stimulation of healing, relief of pain and inflammation, and restoration of function. Science tells us that the skin responds well to red and near-infrared wavelengths.

When we talk about the healing power of red light we talk about it across the very broad range of healing potential that has been mentioned in previous sections of this article. In a study of red light for healing, we can see the benefits of using red light therapy in its ability to improve ATP production, nitric oxide release causing vasodilation, blood flow, reactive oxygen species increase and diverse signaling pathways get activated, activation of stem cells allowing increased tissue repair and healing, beneficial effects on wrinkles, acne scars, hypertrophic scars, and healing of burns.

It can also reduce UV damage in a treatment sense as well as a prophylactic sense. It can assist in healing pigmentary issues like vitiligo, as well as Inflammatory diseases such as psoriasis and acne.

All of this, paired with its safe and non-invasive nature with no known side effects as well as there being a plethora of types of red light devices for sale at affordable prices, makes red light treatment at home an absolute no-brainer. 

Red Light Helps Eye Health

Does red light therapy improve eye health? The eyes are one of the main methods of taking in light signals that affect so many other functions in the body as we've seen from this article. Red light therapy is beneficial for eye health in the same sense by increasing mitochondrial function, whereby red light therapy protects against the death of neurons.

Not only this, red light therapy has been shown in multiple studies to be effective in the treatment of many eye conditions like macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, amblyopia, retinitis pigmentosa and glaucoma.

A 2018 study followed 33 subjects over the age of 60 with macular degeneration. 11 of these subjects received red light therapy treatment while the remainder received a placebo treatment.

After 5 years of monitoring, the placebo group showed no improvement while the treatment group showed significant improvement, indicating that red light therapy can have long-term benefits for sufferers of macular degeneration. 

Since the eyes are such a sensitive and important part of the body, a big question for people doing red light treatment at home might be, “is red light therapy safe for eyes?”. This is an important question and we have definitely done our research before we used a red light at home for 30 days straight too. It is worth remembering that red light has been involved in hundreds if not thousands of studies that confirm both its efficacy and overall safety.

Although there is broad confidence across the safety of using red light therapy for a broad range of treatments, there is still the potential for damage, and for this reason we recommend a mindful approach to both exposure time and wavelength. For exposure time to the naked eye we would recommend no longer than 2 minutes but we generally use the safety goggles provided by most good red light panels you can buy in Australia.

As for wavelength, we know that red light is measured around 600-700nm, with the vast majority of off the shelf red light devices sitting around 660nm like the Aurora Mini Red Light that we used for a month straight at home. Because of the fact that much of the research around red light use is conducted at the 660-670nm mark, we would recommend sticking to that sweet spot for choosing your red light device for home or commercial use. 

Can You Get Too Much Red Light?

Too much red light appears to not be a possibility. Of course, we wouldn’t recommend spending hours upon hours in front of a red light therapy device as we run into a ‘risk vs. reward’ issue here. Although red light has been shown to be extremely safe and without any obvious risk associated with extended daily use, we recommend moderation.

If anything, the potential side effects that we would envisage with overusing red light therapy would be temporary redness or tightness of the skin, which could come about from the mild heat emitted from most red light therapy devices, headache and eye sensitivity from the using the red light device for extended periods without eye protection. 

Therefore, when using red light it is important to keep your sessions to a reasonable (10-30 minutes) amount of time, wear goggles to protect your eyes and remain hydrated with plenty of fluid during your red light sessions.

How Much Should You Use Red Light Therapy At Home?

Again, there is still room for research to gather on the amount of time that is ideal to spend in front of a red light device. In general, experts recommend using red light therapy at a frequency of 3-5 times a week at a session length of 5-20 minutes.

As a rule of thumb, we have incorporated our red light therapy into our meditations which go for anywhere between 10-30 minutes, so we let our meditation duration set the duration. Our meditation practice is daily, so that means we get in roughly 140 minutes worth of red light exposure every week. Despite the lack of evidence to suggest the potential of getting too much red light, we recommend sticking to 30 minutes/day. 

Where To Buy The Best Red Light Therapy Panels In Australia 2022?

We have done extensive research into a number of different red light therapy options for sale to buy in Australia and around the world. We covered a variety of different types of red light therapy panels in our article 5 Best Home Red Light Therapy Panels To Buy In Australia 2023. Some of the most reputable red light therapy brands that offer high quality red light panels for a good price include Rouge Australia, BlockBlueLight, MitoRedLight and various Amazon brands.

If you are interested in doing some more research on red light therapy we highly recommend reading the book The Ultimate Guide To Red Light Therapy: How to Use Red and Near-Infrared Light Therapy for Anti-Aging, Fat Loss, Muscle Gain, Performance, and Brain Optimization, which is available on Amazon.

How To Choose The Best Red Light Therapy Device

In general, all red light panels and red light therapy devices emit some degree of red light or infrared light. Choosing the right red light device for you involves a few key points of consideration:

Target area for using a red light panel?

The coverage area you are targeting is important to consider when choosing a red light therapy device as you need to choose a red light panel that will access that area of the body. If you are looking to target a larger surface area like the whole body, then you will obviously need a full body panel. If you are just looking to target a small area like the face, then one of the mini devices like the Aurora Mini would be suitable.

What is your budget for red light therapy?

Budget is always a consideration when buying health related devices like red light therapy panels. The reward of using a red light therapy panel needs to be weighed up with what price can be afforded for the gear. Of course, if you can afford it, we highly recommend full body types of red light therapy panels because with a smaller budget generally comes a smaller, lower quality panel.

What is the quality of the light and design?

The irradiance and frequency of the light emitted by the red light therapy panel is extremely important when choosing a red light device. These factors are big determinants of the output and strength of red light that the panel gives to the body. Irradiance is the amount of energy a specific part of your body receives over a set period while using the device. That’s why this is perhaps the most important technical specification to consider when choosing red light because the higher the irradiance, the less time you will need to spend using the device to achieve the benefits.

What is the return and warranty policy on the red light panel?

The returns policy and warranty are generally a very good indication of the trust that the provider of the product has in their own product. Many of the quality red light therapy panels that we have tried like the Aurora Plus, offer a 30 day money back guarantee period to give you the opportunity to try out the red light panel for yourself before committing to it. The warranty also determines how secure you are if there are any issues with the product for repairs and breakages which is important to consider for the long term use of the red light panel.

Conclusion On Red Light Therapy Benefits

Using red light therapy at home gives you access to high quality biohacking potential with high value benefits. The fact that there are so many red light therapy devices to buy in Australia and around the world, provides no excuse for not incorporating red light into your recovery routine every day.

This article shows 15 reasons that you should already be finding the nearest red light therapy device and using it daily, but this is most definitely not an exhaustive list of red light therapy benefits.

As always we encourage you to do your own research on red light therapy to make sure it is right for you. We maintain that red light therapy is extremely safe for pretty much anyone to use and so do the experts.

Athletes, military, nurses, office workers, mums and dads, those with chronic pain or sleep issues, simply click your mouse and tap the keyboard and you can have access to the highly effective recovery and wellness tool that is red light therapy.

Smarter recovery for humans…