Natural Pain Relief Through Light? Here’s What You Need to Know

We mentioned that it really helps with pain and it helps with chronic illness. Can you break— just simply, in simple terms, just break down some of the science behind how this works for, you know, anyone who's sitting on the fence, they're not quite convinced about it? Yes.

So with infrared light, it goes deep into the tissues and it It helps with, uh, helps with your blood flow.

Hello and welcome to Beyond Diagnosis, a podcast to raise your awareness, decisions, and voice for alternative practices so you can take back control of your health. I'm Rita De Michele, your host, a mindset and empowerment coach, and the founder of the Onus platform. Join me each week so you can create the health of your dreams. Red light and far infrared therapy are transforming the way we approach healing, offering benefits from boosting skin collagen to detox and immunity. But how does it work, and who can benefit the most? Today, Tammy Nevin, founder of Happy Soul Wellness, will help us understand this as she shares expert insights on infrared healing for pain relief, chronic illness, and overall wellness. Welcome, Tati.

Thank you for having me. It's a pleasure to be here.

It's a pleasure to have you. I love— you know, like I said, we were chatting before and I said that my son has now started the far infrared, and I have already seen, and he feels the benefits. It's such an emerging therapy that, you know, some people kind of skeptical, skeptical about it. Others are, you know, diehard believers. So can you tell us what's the difference between red light therapy and infrared therapy?

So red light therapy gets more on, on the skin. The, the infrared light therapy gets deeper into the cells. So it— the infrared light helps more with pain relief, and it just gets more penetration into the cells, um, and it helps reduce inflammation. Red light helps with, you know, well, on the surface wrinkles. The infrared light helps deeper into the surface with wrinkles and pain relief and things like that. So So, um, they both have certain benefits, and some products you can use both of them at the same time, somewhere you can just do the red light, and then you could also switch back and forth to infrared light as well, just depending on your needs.

So there's 3 types. What I— from— I did a little bit of research around it, and there seems to be 3 types: the near infrared, The mid-infrared and the far infrared, and they all have a different purpose. Can you tell us what each one of those do so people understand if they were to buy a home-based product or if they were to go to a salon, what could they ask for? What are they looking for so they know it's for their specific condition?

Sure. So you have the red light, the near-infrared light, and then far infrared is actually— it's a different type of wavelength. And that is heat penetrating. So the far infrared is kind of like if you were in an infrared sauna, and that it heats you from the inside out. And that is better than just a typical sauna because it just helps with, well, from the inside out. So you're just detoxing more and you're just sweating out all of the bad stuff really. So, The far infrared is just a better heat than the regular heat of a regular sauna. So, um, and then once again, the red light and near infrared light, it's all different wavelengths. And, um, the different infrared heats do help with detoxing too. So the far infrared is more of a detoxing type of heat. For your body.

Right, right. Well, my understanding of it is kind of like how I've— people have explained it to me as well. And even my son who does do this explains like a normal sauna sort of heats you from the outside and you're, and you're perspiring, whereas the infrared, it's almost like you're cooking from the inside out. It's like an internal heat.

Yeah.

So it's like internal pushing outward. Sort of thing.

Yeah, you know, it is hot.

It is hot. I don't know, I don't know the, the temperatures in, uh, Fahrenheit, but here in Australia, you know, we use Celsius. So, you know, we start at 40, and you look at my son who goes to 65. I mean, you're almost cooking. But—

I know, he's, you know, and like you said, it's, it's seem to have helped him, uh, with, with some issues that he's had.

Absolutely immensely. You know, like I said to you before, he did a, a bacteria and toxin test, he did a mold test, and I know that he has had issues with all of that in the past. And I was expecting for the recent test that he's just done to see these things. There wasn't a scaric, and that's because he's been doing the far infrared sauna for, you know, a couple of months, you know, once, twice a week prior to that. There wasn't even a scaric of any of those. It is amazing.

Yeah, yeah. I mean, there's so many things out there now that Can just have such a positive effect on your life, and it doesn't take you long to do it. You know, if you give yourself 15 minutes a day, that could be profound for your health with infrared heat, infrared light. I mean, you know, multiple other things, but but you know we're talking about the infrared light and heat. But there's just so many things you can do that. It doesn't take a long time to have a profound effect on your health.

It is. I mean, I'm sold on it from his experience, that's for sure.

And, you know, so then that reduces inflammation and it gets into the mitochondria and it helps with your cells. Um, it rejuvenates your cells. So that in turn, you know, reduces inflammation. So that helps with the pain relief. Just last week, a friend of ours And this is an old country boy who they don't believe this stuff. They think it's foo-foo. And he fell down. You know, we, we live in a cold climate, and he fell down his steps in the snow. And he, he hurt his muscles, his tendons. And I mean, he has been in pain for the last month. And I'm just like, John, just try it. The worst that could happen is it doesn't work for you and you're not out anything. And I let him try my red light therapy belt and he texted me 2 days later and he's like, this is amazing. I love this thing. And he's told everyone he knows about it. I've had calls from all kinds of people in my area. Like I need to get myself one. So it just someone who's a skeptic and you know it just helped with with his muscle and he uses it every night for like an hour. He puts it on and and he couldn't say more good things about it. So it just goes to show that you know it doesn't hurt to try it at least. Try it, you know, without taking— if it's going to be pills or red light therapy, try this first before you take some pills to, you know, help with the pain. So, you know, just— it could just have a profound effect on, on yourself.

And did I hear correctly that he mentioned that he felt A difference within just 2 days?

Yes, yes, he did.

That is profound. And did he mention how he felt different? The difference between if he was to leave his leg or ankle, um, to heal just naturally, you know, the ice, the rest program, you know, the rest, that ice, all that sort of thing, compared to the infrared? Did he feel There was— could he physically describe how he was feeling different from it?

He just said the pain was hardly at all. He had hardly any pain after that. And he said that he wished there was a Milwaukee battery that he could put on it to have it all the time. And I'm like, I— there you can have a battery pack on our red light therapy belt. So I let him know that because it's a plug into the wall or you can have a battery pack. But he just said it and that the belt warms up too. So that feels good. But he just loved it and he said he didn't do it for a couple days. I think he was out of town working or something and he left it there and he said he could tell the difference of not using that. So I, you know, It made me so happy that knowing, you know, someone who is a skeptic and he's not gonna lie, so he has absolutely, you know, absolutely.

And did he find that the swelling and bruising wasn't as significant using this?

He didn't say. I, I should try to find his text message to me though. Um, He didn't say about that. He just— his biggest thing was the pain because his pain was, was pretty bad. And, um, you know, I guess I didn't ask him about bruising or anything, but it's— it was, you know, it's pretty— he just said, I love this thing you gave, thank you so much. Um, that was after I had talked to him about it. He texted me again.

So yes, yes. That's fantastic. That's brilliant. It's good to hear that there's something that's non-invasive. It's, uh, not a drug that you have to take or even a supplement that you have to take, that there's only, uh, I guess a light wave. Would it be a light wave that's going into your body?

Yeah, it's a wavelength.

A wavelength. Yeah, that's the word. Yeah.

Yep, absolutely. What's going into your body. And I mean, this has been around, they've been studying this since at least the '90s. Um, it's not new, it's been around for a while. It's just kind of more people are learning about it and getting on the bandwagon about it. So NASA has been studying this since the early '90s. Um, they were, they started studying it trying to grow plants in space. And so there's been so many studies on it that it truly does help people. And it's not just some fly-by-night thing that, that, you know, people say it works and it doesn't. It truly does help with pain relief and, well, wrinkles for that matter. And it also helps with hair growth. And I mean, it's Studies have shown to help with hair growth. Um, it promotes testosterone levels, um, things like that. So it's not just, you know, one size fits all. There's so many uses for this red light therapy.

Wow, that's amazing. Sounds like— and when you say hair growth, are you talking about for people who can't grow their hair long, who want longer growth, or for new hair growth?

New hair growth. Yeah. So, um, new hair growth studies have shown that it can help with, uh, hair follicles, you know, hair follicle growth.

Well, hey, I can hear every bald man running to you, right?

Like, tell me more. I know, I know. It's just, it's, it's crazy the amount of Of different positive effects that this has on our body.

Yeah, absolutely. So do you recommend using— can it be very successful to use this as a standalone, or do you think it's even better to use it in combination with a holistic approach with something else you're doing?

You know, I think it depends on what you can do. So as a standalone, this it could be a start to to a holistic approach to better health. You know, if you only have ten minutes in the day to do something, do it for ten minutes. If you have more time to do other things as far as your wellness goes. Do that too. You know, I think as long as you start something, that's going to have a positive effect no matter what it is. You know, whether it's red light therapy, whether it's just, I mean, going outside barefoot, grounding yourself. You know, things— there's so many things holistically that you can do to make you feel better without taking pills or drugs. that, that will have a profound effect on your life. But, but it, it could be used as a standalone as well if that's all the time you have, you know, in your day. Uh, my red light therapy I usually do at night before bed, and because that's when I have the time to do it. And red light therapy also helps with, uh, sleep. It, it helps with better sleep. So, um, you know, there's just so many, so many benefits to it. So I, I Truly think people, you know, should start looking more into it. And so there's so many people that still don't know about it, which is— oh, I'm trying to get the word out.

Absolutely. There, there isn't a lot of people that know about it. I'm— I mentioned it to a couple of friends and they had no idea about it. And in actual fact, they did book in to the center here in Australia that does it, you know, because they were so keen to find out about the benefits. So with sleep, I find that really interesting about the sleep because you did mention about, you know, the detoxification and the mitochondria before, which is the center of our cells. So does it help with melatonin production? Does it help with our hormones?

Yes, yes, it does. Um, and you know that I think as far as hormones, there needs to be more studies on that. There aren't a ton of studies on that, but from what they have studied, yes, it does help with that. And hormone as testosterone, for instance, it has helped with testosterone production. So they have studied that. And, um, I mean, I'm, you know, 50 years old and I am having problems with low hormones.

So—

Aren't we all? Yeah. So, so it, it truly can help so many different people. And, um, and yeah, it, it does help with, with the sleep, and, and studies have been shown to— for that too. Um, there's also different light therapies. It's not just red light either. And there's, um, they've studied blue light therapy and yellow and green and, you know, uh, purple light therapy. So, so So there's a lot of different light therapies for different issues as well. Blue light therapy, for instance, helps with acne. And I mean, I have 3 daughters and 2 of them really had acne in high school. And if I would've known about blue light therapy, it could've changed their lives as 15 and 16-year-old girls. You know, I just, it— it, you know, it breaks your heart seeing your kids suffer like that. And, um, and blue light therapy has, has definitely helped people with acne. Um, purple light is a combination of blue light and red light, so that, you know, helps. Yellow light therapy helps with, uh, actually like dark circles around the eyes and things like that. Um, skin rejuvenation. So different light therapies Um, have been studied to help with different things as well, which it's just fun doing, doing the research and going down that rabbit hole.

Absolutely. And do you work with those other lights, or are you specifically, uh, have products for the red light therapy?

So I do have a light therapy face mask, and that does have all of the other lights. Oh, I see. Um, because knowing about the other light therapies, I wanted to have something that other people could benefit. And, uh, I, I think with the blue light and, you know, at my 50-year-old self, the dark circles around the eyes, you know, having that yellow and green light actually helps with that too. Uh, but, uh, yeah, I wanted something to have other light therapies just to, to help other issues. And, uh, more people.

Absolutely. So it's— to me, it sounds like that, um, you can personalize this therapy depending on whatever it is that you're needing, whether you need to reduce inflammation or whether you have, um, circulation issue. Or you need— you've got too many heavy metals, you want to detox. It sounds like there's so many applications for it. So what— can you talk to us a little bit about the products that you have and how you use them with your clients?

Sure. So, um, the, the light therapy face mask, as I mentioned, and it's a silicone face mask you put on your face. You know, you probably feel goofy and goofy wearing it, but, but, you know, no, you don't have to have anyone see you. It can do it at night right before bed. Um, we, we also have an infrared sauna blanket. So the sauna blanket actually just looks like a sleeping bag, and, but it's, you know, like leather-like material, and you get in it, and that is— it's the far infrared heat, so it heats you And it you sweat your butt off, and that helps once again reduce inflammation, detox, and that is just such a great thing to have you know before you shower. And we also have a little it's a a little red light therapy device, and this is just my little handheld one, and this is red light and infrared light, and This is just take on the go. It's a little bigger than a cell phone. And just, I wanted something that could be where you could just take it with you wherever you needed to go. There are a lot of light therapy panels, big panels, things you have to plug in that you can purchase and are great. But I just wanted something a little more affordable for people and that just you could travel with. We also have copper body brushes as well. And so I have my body brush here and it has copper bristles. And copper helps with the friction and it helps with negative ions. And dry brushing is such a great thing for people It's it's something that you can do that also helps detoxify, that helps with lymphatic drainage, and do that before a shower. And that's that's one thing too that that doesn't take a lot of time. It's not that expensive, but it it it really helps with your body. So we have a light therapy belt. That's what my friend used for the pain relief. It's a belt. It's Um, it has a Velcro strap and it could go on your shoulders, your back, and that's more, you know, for, for the pain relief. It's red light and infrared light. So, you know, I— every product we, we decide to sell, I— it's something that I use and I'm my customer. And, um, if I'm not going to use it, it's not something that I even think about. So So all the products are something that I would want to use just for my self-care routine.

Great. And that's the important thing, isn't it, is developing a self-care routine. And this sounds like it's a great adjunct to whatever you're doing to take your self-care that little step further, especially when it comes to circulation and detoxification. And for anybody who has chronic pain, You know, that sort of thing. Um, with all of these new products that come onto the market, you always get flooded with cheap versions. And what is the recommended— like, how do you measure the light wave? What is it measured in? Is it like everyone says get 16? Yeah, I can't remember.

Yeah, so it's nanometers they measure it.

Nanometers.

And yep, the, you know, like the red light is 660 nanometers, you know, infrared light is 850. So, and like the blue light, yellow light, they're all different nanometers of light, and that's how you measure it. And that's where you want to make sure, do your research to know, okay, What are the nanometers of the light that, that they're using? Um, and, and that is because you're right, there are a lot of products on the market and, um, you need someone to actually stand by the, the products. And, um, yeah.

So for clarity for our listeners and viewers, if they were to either contact yourself Or if they are looking on the internet, what is the minimum nanoparticles, did you say, or nanometers? Nanometers?

Yeah, nanometers.

Yeah, nanometers. So red light, the ones underneath the skin, what's the minimum? If they want something for pain, what's the minimum so they know that what they are buying will actually penetrate as opposed to Just sit on the surface and make them feel warm.

Right, right. Um, so the red light is 660 nanometers. So if it's less than that, then— yep, yep. And 850 for the infrared light. So if it is less than that, then it's not going to be as effective as what, you know, the studies are showing. The studies, I believe, are based off those certain nanometers.

Yes.

So, um, yes, yes. So it, it, yeah, I, I, I think the biggest thing is just doing your research on the company and, um, you know, if they stand behind their products. It, there's, there is a lot of cheap versions out there and, you know, and I think with, with Happy Soul, and that's, that's kind of what where I wanted to come in and start a company because I— that's what I was searching for. I was searching for products that I could use in my home on my own time. And because I didn't have time, I was a burnt-out real estate agent, and the only time I had was from like 10 o'clock at night to 11 at night, you know, for myself. And I was looking and The stuff I found was either really cheap and I was kind of worried about it, or really expensive.

Yes.

And I just thought there had to be something that I could do to make it kind of in the middle where it could be affordable, but just higher quality products. So that's where, that's where we're trying to make our mark and, you know, just, just have higher quality products, but at an affordable price.

Well, that sounds like a good ethos to me because that's what people need. People who are looking for help, the majority of them cannot afford— I've seen some of these panels and they're like $2,000, $3,000, $4,000 or more. That's, that's not helpful. That's not helpful for most people. You know, they need—

No, absolutely.

Yeah, I know we're talking about each other.

Oh, I'm so sorry. That's right. Um, but some people don't have the room either, and I, I would love a big panel like that, but I'm not gonna spend $2,000 or $3,000 on it. Maybe someday, but I— that's just not something I, I was going to do either. So, um, you know, people, people need something cheaper.

Yeah, absolutely. But it's great to hear that you have products that are smaller, they're affordable, but not only that, that they're actually effective. And I think that's the key. So yeah, to finish off today, what advice would you give to someone or to our listeners Who are just getting started out looking into this therapy?

So just start. You know, a lot of people, they, they research and research or talk and, and, you know, but they don't start. And I would just say just start. You know, yes, you want to research, you want to, you know, research everything you can about it. But start small. And whether it's a little, you know, light panel, or even if it's, if it's not light therapy, if it's other things that, as far as wellness goes, uh, as far as, you know, just sitting with yourself for 10 minutes by yourself and meditate or read or just do something for yourself, just start.

Mm-hmm.

And then go from there, you know. Um, That's kind of what I did. You know, I, I, you can't just, you know, go big or go home. You just got to start small and slow. Um, but as long as you start, then that's, that's the positive thing.

Absolutely. And that's great advice. It is about small steps because when we take the big leaps is when we usually don't sustain the change or what we're doing. So even with your products, you know, if you're skeptical, if you're unsure, take the small step and maybe just buy the belt or buy the little handheld red light therapy for— I guess that one was for the skin. That's no bigger than a mobile phone. Start there, see if you get the results, and then move on, you know, to another product. But like you say, as long as you start.

Absolutely. I mean, that's all we can do, you know. I mean, it's just start.

Yeah, absolutely. Tammy, it has been amazing having you on, and I've really enjoyed learning about this therapy because, you know, I really do think it's going to be one of those that is just going to skyrocket in a few years' time when people understand the therapeutic benefits they're getting from something so non-invasive. You know, it's just gonna— I think it's gonna take the world by storm, and I congratulate you for getting on top of these products and sharing them with people. Thank you so much. And for our listeners who have enjoyed this and think that they would like to try out these products, please contact Tammy. Her details are in the show notes with everything you'll need. I think it's going to be fabulous. Thank you so much, Tammy.

Thank you so much for having me. It was so fun to be here.

It was.

Thank you.

I would love to know what was the biggest insight or aha moment you got from this interview so you can now speak up, take action, and make informed decisions for your health. And if you like this episode, get instant access to your free ebook, Alternative Wisdom: Taking Back control of your health at life-onus.com.