Red Light Therapy

Biohacker Review: I'm photobiomodulated like a boss!

Having heard and read so much about the transformative power of infrared light, I was delighted when the Bulgarian customs office cleared my red light. Switching it on for the first time, I thought, wow that's beautifully brilliant red light! Check out this unboxing video...

I used it for the first time with my wife, we just laid down together in front of the light for about 20 minutes. I'm not sure if it affected my sleep, although I did wake up about an hour earlier than normal the next day.

I've been using it for six months now and it's become a cornerstone of my daily biohacking, here are my observations and how I'm using it...

 Waking up, heroically

Almost every day we use it a few times; first thing in the morning I get naked, sit in a comfy chair and blast my balls with red light for about 15 minutes while doing energetic breathing exercises with my Heartmath device, then I readjust the light so it shines on my face and body for about another 10 minutes while reviewing foreign language vocabulary (or whatever I'm learning) with the SuperMemo app.

The effect I noticed first was the libido enhancement, after about a week of blasting my balls with red light. One night I woke up feeling very horny with a raging boner, I woke up my wife and banged her righteously (which she appreciated!) I haven't had my testosterone levels tested but since I've been using the red light, I've been feeling more energized and motivated.

 Red light is a Nootropic

Red light does have a subtle Nootropic effect when you shine it directly on the crown of your head, I'll often do a mid-day session lying down on my bed with the light directly against my head while I meditate with the Heartmath Inner Balance sensor. I find the two to be synergistic biohacking technologies, the Heartmath device gives me something to do while I'm getting my brain blasted by red light. 15 minutes of infrared light on your head (especially in combination with meditation while listening to Brain.fm's Halosync-style tracks) unleashes a sublime state of enhanced cognition, creativity, and "coherence" lasting an hour or two. I hit my top HRV coherence score thanks to red light therapy.

I got the red light along with Heartmath'semWave and Inner Balance. Since I got the three biohacking devices I've been a lot more consistent with the habits in my Coach.me dashboard, this speaks to the motivational power of sunk cost - when you spend money on something, particularly a tool for empowering health and personal growth, you become just a lot more motivated to practice your healthy habits.

HeartMath emWave2

 

3.7

Category: Mind Hardware

HeartMath Inner Balance™

 

2.7

Category: Mind Hardware

 Lamp

The red light has a 50,000-hour lifetime, which is pretty impressive, this means that you could run it for about 12 hours a day for a decade! So we just use it as a lamp in the evenings, it is brilliant enough that pointing it at the ceiling bathes the whole room in a cool red glow. We just switch on the red light, not the infrared when we use it as a lamp. This pristine red light primes us for great sleep. If you want great, rejuvenating sleep it's important to avoid junk light for 2-3 hours before bedtime, the kinds of lights we all have in our homes expose us to blue light after sunset which disrupts the circadian rhythm and actually causes premature aging. 

 Sleep hack

I've experimented with a number of sleep hacks - Magnesium, CBD, C60, etc - and shining the red light on my body for 15-20 minutes has an equal effect, as far as I can tell. I'll set by the edge of the bed and shine it directly on my back while I cuddle with my wife. The red light assuages the bit of back and neck strain that I sometimes have after a long day of working on my computer. Often, I'll drift off to sleep this way, then I roll over, switch off the light, and get some awesome sleep.

 Pain relief?

Fortunately, I don't have any pain issues but my father-in-law had five herniated disks, he was in a lot of pain and had to undergo a difficult surgery. Then he began doing red light therapy daily. After two months he experienced great pain relief and restoration of mobility and canceled the second surgery that his doctors told him he would need. That's a major win!

How does it feel?

Sort of like sunbathing, the red light has a soothing, relaxing effect and the cooling fan produces a quiet hum.

Why red light therapy?

Ben Greenfield illuminates a few more of the benefits in his manifesto, Boundless...

Near-infrared radiation (NIR) exists within the spectrum of natural sunlight. In fact, about half of the total energy of the sun is NIR, which means that our bodies are already naturally adapted to use it for different processes like collagen and elastin stimulation (which tightens skin), combating cancerous cells, and improving circulation. (p.440)

I once wrote an article entitled, The only Biohacking device I’d buy about Heartmath's devices and I'll have to update that article because this red light certainly counts as a biohacking device and the more I use the Heartmath devices the more ambivalent I am about them! My red light was under $600 which might seem a little spendy compared to health supplements, but the more you read up on the science of photobiomodulation, the more you'll see that it's a pretty fantastic value. Quality supplements are going to run you $40-$70 and they'll be gone in a month or two whereas this red light will empower your health in a number of dimensions for years!

Recommended Reading: Red Light Therapy: Miracle Medicine by Mark Sloan

From the book...

How safe is red light therapy? Of the 50,000+ studies published on red light therapy to date, no adverse side effects have been reported. (p. 56)

The span of infrared light most applicable for healing is near-infrared, which ranges from 700nm to about 1400nm... near-infrared light penetrates more deeply into the body than red light, meaning its healing energy can reach cells that red light cannot. (p. 10)

Check out my deep-dive interview with the author; we discuss the cancer industry and the potential of red therapy as a transformative, risk-free medicine.

I'm pretty pleased with the durability of the device

After three years of use, it's never not worked right. We have "drop tested" it; we accidentally dropped it on the floor twice, and it hasn't broken or had any issues. The cord that came with the device did break after a few months, which was very cheap to replace. The second cord has now frayed a bit - these cheapo, made-in-china power cords, seem designed to fall apart in about 90 days, frustratingly!

Living in chilly Eastern Europe, I'm bereft of the sunlight we humans need for a few months out of the year, so I'm thankful to have this thing! I added Red Light Therapy as a daily goal in Coach.me.