You're Using Red Light Therapy Wrong (Dose, Distance & Timing)

If you're standing a few feet back from your red light panel scrolling on your phone, you're not getting the benefits you think you're getting. And if you've gone the other way and are spending like 45 minutes in front of the red light panel because more should be better, right? That's not where it's at either and actually might be working against you. This is what I often hear about how other people are using the red light panels, and it's usually one of the main reasons why they end up deciding that it didn't work. You see, there are 3 main things that decide whether red light is going to do anything for you at all: dose, Distance, and timing. So in this video, I'm going to break down all 3 so that you can get the most out of your red light device. The first thing that is so important to nail down is the appropriate dose. A lot of people don't think of red light as something that has a dose at all. They just think of it as like a light bulb. And the thing about doses is that they typically don't work in a straight line. They tend to follow something called a biphasic curve, essentially an upside-down U. Too little does nothing at all, and then there's an optimal window in the middle where things work, And then past that window, your benefits start to diminish. And this isn't like an exotic concept in health and fitness. Training load works that way. So does sodium and most supplements for that matter. The difference is that nobody tends to think about light as something that falls in this category because it doesn't really feel like something you could overdo, but you actually can push the dose too far and you can actually suppress the healing mechanisms that you're trying to get activated in the process of using something like red light. Thankfully, with something like red light, even if you surpass that window and end up on the far side of the curve, you're not necessarily going to hurt yourself. You're just going to not get the benefits that you want to be getting. The unit that matters most when we're considering dose with something like a red light device is joules per square centimeter, essentially the energy being delivered per area of tissue being treated. Most of the research that's showing benefit for superficial level stuff like your skin and other superficial tissue lands somewhere between 3 and 15 joules per centimeter squared. If you're trying to go after something deeper like a muscle, joint, or tendon, You need more considerably on the skin because a lot of it isn't actually reaching to that depth. So to clarify, joules per square centimeter is a per-area measurement. A bigger panel doesn't deliver more to any one spot, but it delivers the same amount to more of you at once. So panel size changes how much of your body you're actually treating. Panel intensity changes how long it actually takes to get there. So the intensity component is something that's important for you to look up on your panel's Specifications, and that will help to indicate your ideal session length for the dosing of that particular panel, which is why your manufacturer's recommendations are very important to follow. They've already done the translation for that specific piece of hardware. My panel is actually a great example of this. The Pro G4 actually has presets baked into it, and they're not arbitrary. Skin is 10 minutes on 4 wavelengths at 80%. Muscle recovery and joint pain are 20 minutes, all 8 wavelengths, so full output. Again, bigger dose for a deeper target. Their manual also says to not exceed 20 minutes of treatment within 6 hours. And they do say that overusing the device can wipe out the benefits just as much as underusing it. So usually the best recommendations to find the ideal dose that's going to work for you is start with knowing your manufacturer's recommendations for your specific panel and then start on the low end of that range. Rouge, who is the manufacturer of my Pro G4 panel, actually suggests like starting with a minute or 2 just to make sure that you are reacting appropriately to the red light, because anytime you introduce something new, you're going to want to make sure you just test it out first and then eventually working your way up to those therapeutic ranges for what you're trying to treat. Now, there is some variance person to person that's important to consider. Skin tone can change absorption. So does your tissue density and how inflamed your body is. So while there are general recommendations per manufacturer, there's no universal target number that's going to work for everybody the exact same way. If you get it roughly right most of the time, you're still getting the benefits. All right. So the second thing that a lot of people get wrong when they're using red light is the distance in which you are positioning yourself from the panel. Most people assume that standing farther back means that you are getting dramatically less. But again, that's more so how a light bulb works. But a panel isn't necessarily a singular light bulb. My panel puts out about 81 milliwatts per square centimeter at 6 inches. Again, that's intensity, a.k.a. how hard the light is hitting you at any given moment, as opposed to joules, which is what you accumulate over the course of a session. Back up about 2 feet and the intensity drops to about 65. 4 times the distance and you lose only around 20%. Here's how this works. A singular bulb throws out light from one tiny point, so that collapses pretty fast. A panel like the one I have is like 3 feet of light. Stand 6 inches from it and you're not just near a point source, you're standing in front of a wall. So if you back up a foot, you're still within that wall. So if distance isn't really entirely about being a strength dial, then what is it about? Well, it's more of a targeting dial. What changes as you move isn't so much how much light you're getting, it's where it's reaching. Essentially how much of you that light is covering. Standing closer in, you're concentrating on a smaller area and going deeper into that tissue— muscle, joints, tendons. Further back and you're covering much more of yourself and working a little bit more closer to the surface. And again, that makes sense if you look at the dose. Skin only needs a few joules per centimeter, so you'll clear that standing 20 inches back and you'll still get coverage across the whole body. Deep tissue needs a lot more light directed at the surface. So standing close isn't necessarily about the light getting stronger per se. It's more about concentrating that amount of light going into a certain point, basically concentrating that dose into a smaller area. So again, the recommendations on my panel are be about 6 inches within the panel if you're going for something deep, 10 to 12 inches as a general purpose distance, and 18 to 20 inches back if you're mainly after the skin benefits. Past that and you start to drift out of the useful range altogether. So think of closer as deeper and farther back as broader. But one thing I will say, whatever you're trying to treat, try to stay consistent with how you're treating it and the distance you're staying away and, you know, how you're positioning the panel. Now I have the cool roller stand for my G4 panel, but one thing that is really cool that I have my eyes on I'm getting is that they have a stand that allows you to lie underneath the panel, which makes holding a consistent distance all that much easier. All right, so the third thing that a lot of people tend to get wrong about using red light panels is the timing. A lot of people ask, should I use it in the morning? Should I use it at night? Does it matter pre or post-workout? And the honest answer is that nobody really knows because nobody's really tested it. I went looking for a study that directly compares morning, afternoon, and evening red light exposure to see which wins, and I couldn't find one. What we have is a handful of trials that picked a certain window, replicated that window as However, the thing that they were actually testing was not the timing of the day. They were targeting something different in the study. But what we can glean from that are a couple of things. One controlled trial ran mid-morning sessions, and people generally reported better mood and less drowsiness, but it's hard to differentiate the timing of that from the actual red light effects on its own, especially since this was done in the wintertime. So usually getting more light and warmth feels good anyway. Another one of these trials ran before bed, and people did report falling asleep faster and feeling like they slept better. But when researchers actually measured their sleep, there was actually no difference. So morning red light use may help your mood, and evening red light use might help your sleep, but it is not entirely clear because those weren't tested against each other. So focusing on the timing itself is actually kind of a distraction and the thing that people get wrong. The variable that should really be considered here is frequency. Researchers have found how many sessions you do and how they are spaced out tend to matter more than the exact timing of those sessions. So essentially what I'm saying is a few sessions a week over the course of weeks is gonna beat a few sporadic sessions that are perfectly timed. So at the end of the day, the ideal timing is the timing that you will be able to keep as a habit, with one real exception here. These panels are very bright, and bright light can be alerting and alarming to our nervous system despite the color. Now, red light doesn't suppress melatonin the same way like blue light or a screen does, but if you are staring into an intense light source right before bed, the brightness alone can still disrupt your sleep. So make sure you're wearing goggles. Don't look directly into it, especially if you're using it late at night. And pay attention to if using it in the evening is improving your sleep or hurting it. Some people seem fine using it right before bed, and some people it's not the case. So it's a little bit more individualized. And if you've heard that red light is going to help set your circadian rhythm to get deeper sleep, that's not the case either. Your body clock is set by receptors in the eyes that detect blue light, not red light. Red light sits outside of what those receptors can actually detect. So red light isn't necessarily doing anything magical for your circadian rhythm. Now, as great as red light therapy is, And again, I'm a huge fan. I use it all the time. There's a few caveats and things that I have to mention that it will not fix for you. It's not going to heal a complete tear and it's not going to replace surgery. It's not going to reverse structural joint degeneration. It might take the edge off some of the pain by way of reducing some inflammation, but it's not going to rebuild cartilage and it is not going to fix a mechanical problem. Meaning if a joint hurts because of the patterns in which you're loading that joint, the light is just going to be a Band-Aid. It's not going to fix that mechanical problem. So again, concluding this video, some things that are important when you're considering using red light and making sure that you're using it to the best of its abilities. The dose— making sure you're checking your manufacturer's standards for the appropriate dose. More isn't always better, and start low and build up to a recommended range. 2 is distance. For the most part, distance is not a strength dial, it's more of a coverage dial. Stand closer for targeting deeper tissues and farther away if you want more broader surface level coverage. And the 3rd is timing. There's no magical time to use it, but really it's the time that you can set in the day where it's going to be the most habitual and most frequent that you dedicate to using it consistently. Just don't stare into the red light before bed. Again, the panel that I'm using in this video is the Rouge Pro G4. Link is down below in the description if you want to check it out. And as always, guys, if you found this video helpful, please give it a thumbs up, subscribe to the channel. I greatly appreciate each and every one of you guys, and I'll see you on the next one. Bye!