Welcome to the world of Photobiomodulation

Photo = light

Bio = biological

Modulation = to change/influence

Photobiomodulation, or as it is more commonly known as Light Therapy, is perhaps The most profound and simple therapy you don’t yet know about. Till now!

Believe it or not, you are a photosynthesizing animal. This statement isn’t widely embraced by the standard anatomical model, but its true. Just think of how your body makes vitamin D. UV light hits calcitriol receptors in your skin and produces a compound that gets converted into a hormone we call vitamin D. Commercial vitamin D3 supplements are created by radiating sheep’s lanolin by passing it through UV light, which produces the same photosynthetic process as your body. We take for granted that we can take vitamin D orally, staving off any detrimental deficiencies, but if we didn’t have this invention we would be completely dependent on light. You absorb light and synthesize chemicals, just like plants do, only with different chemistry.

So light is an essential nutrient, like food, water, and air. Your body has a variety of photo-receptor biology that receives light energy (photons and non-ionized radiation) and metabolizes it, just like food. Chromophores, calcitriol receptors, cytochrome C oxidase, photolyases, and cryptochromes are all a part of creating a healthy body and are all activated by light, and just like these other essential elements, you can become deficient. This deficiency is called malillumination. Malillumination causes disease, and consuming more light brings your body into optimal health. But what kind of light are we talking about?

Heliotherapy, or Sun Medicine is a full-spectrum “whole food” light nourishment practice you should be indulging in regularly, weather permitting. Between 30 to 60 minutes a day of full-body exposure to mid day sun will take care of most people’s daily light-nutrient needs, but is difficult for most to achieve. We tend to gorge on a lot of sun in a short period of time, creating sunburns, which are massively oxidative and can cause skin cancers and other negative effects. Sunburns are detrimental to your health, not the sun itself . If you can’t get regular, nude access to mid day sun, LEDs are your best alternative.

LEDs have the advantage of being able to be used indoors, at your convenience, at low cost, and direct energy specifically to the tissues you want to heal without detrimental sunburning. LED Light Therapy can be administered through small, high-powered hand held devices, head-mounted devices, large full body panels, body wraps, and other methods to suit your lifestyle needs and typically offer the most researched spectrums of “bioactive” light frequencies - blue, red/infrared, and UVB.

Red/infrared Light

Red/infrared light has by far the most scientific research regarding therapeutic use with over 3000 published, peer-reviewed scientific papers demonstrating 29 categories of curative benefits. Though, red/infrared light can really be pointed at most any body tissue and will benefit that area’s health. It’s really the proverbial magic wand when it comes to it’s universality of application, though the following are it’s main categories of scientifically supported use.

If you would like to learn more in-depth specifically about red/infrared light therapy, read your free eBook.

Blue Light

Blue light has a spectrum of “good & bad” press regarding it’s effects on humans. On one side of the spectrum you have the miraculous healing of jaundiced babies cured from Jaundice and preventing Kernicterus (bilirubin induced brain injury) by being placed under blue lights. On the other side, you have research saying blue light causes eye damage and disrupts sleep quality. Both are true and require knowledge of what this light frequency is capable of in order to use it as a tool for healing.

Blue light has it’s own set of incredible healing powers including:

• Speeds healing of burns 

• Relieves fever 

• Reduces depression and SAD 

• Calms nerves 

• Adjusts our biological clock

• Boosts serotonin 

If you decide blue light is right for you, please use it only with proper eye protection such as quality sunglasses or blue-blocking glasses. Also, only use it around times when you won’t be going to bed, as it suppresses your sleep hormone - melatonin. This is why there is a ‘night shift’ function on most modern phone and tablet devices.

UVB Light

Ultraviolet light is similar to blue light in that the press is nuanced regarding it’s powers for good and evil, but that mostly has to do with with form of UV being discussed. There are 3 classes of UV light - A, B, & C and each have a different effect on human physiology.

UVA - The tanning frequency

UVA is the most “dangerous” vibration of light in that it is most associated with skin damage and thus skin cancer. UVA in moderate, non-sunburning doses is therapeutic and mood lifting, increasing neurotransmitter activity of β-endorphin, increases nitric oxide release (circulatory benefits), and feeds the chromophores and photolyases in your skin. Typically UVA isn’t used in light therapy, so go chase some sun!

UVB - The skin health and vitamin D frequency

UVB can be memorized as the ‘beneficial’ UV frequency mnemonically as UVBeneficial. The best time to obtain UVB light from the sun is at peak sun time, around noon where the total UVB light is at 5% of the total spectrum. When the sun is closer to the horizon, you receive more UVA to UVB ratio. UVB has been used medically for more than a decade to treat skin disorders such as psoriasis, eczema, and vitiligo. It’s also the frequency that creates the hormone vitamin D in our bodies, which is involved in 100’s of important metabolic pathways to optimize human health. UVB is also mood lifting, increasing neurotransmitter activity of β-endorphin, increases nitric oxide release (circulatory benefits), and feeds the chromophores and photolyases in your skin.

UVC - The sterilizing frequency

Most all sun-based UVC is deflected from reaching us through the earth’s electromagnetic fields, though it’s use as benefit to humanity comes indirectly. I know of very few devices available for UVC therapy, but it has an anti-bacterial effect and can treat more impossible-to-treat strains such as Staph and MRSA. Most commercially available UVC devices are used to purify water and air.

Different light frequencies means different levels of penetration

It’s not only important to pick the frequencies of light that best match your health condition, but also one that penetrates according to your organ-system needs.

Dosing guidelines

Figuring out proper dosing with LED Light Therapy devices can be quite complicated. There are a lot of equations and measuring devices to help with this process, but even they are insufficient. Though, I make them available here in this eBook for those who want to take the time to calculate. A lot of dependent factors come into play when it comes to dosing with light, such as: how much sun you absorbed that day, the quantity of chlorophyll-rich foods eaten, your existing energy levels, physical activity, and you get the picture.

I find the most effective means for dosing is to do the following:

1. Treat every other day or every 3 days. More altogether isn’t better.

2. Treat no more than 20 minutes per session for hand-helds (if using 2), and 10 - 15 minutes for larger, more high wattage units.

3. Move devices to other parts of the body as a ‘routine,’ hitting organ systems of interest for no more than 5 minutes each.

4. You can overdose on lights, leaving you feeling irritable, aggressive, over-energized, or with restless and insufficient sleep. If you feel this way, stop treatment for 5 to 7 days.

5. Using 2 hand-helds are preferable over 1, creating a symmetrical effect using both hands and reducing total treat time.

6. Red light can be used most anytime, but some are sensitive to it’s energy and have sleep disturbances. Blue light should only be used in the morning or day time and with proper eye protection.

If you do happen to overdose on lights, know that only a minimal amount of oxidative damage is created as the outcome, which if your dietary antioxidant levels are healthy, you have nothing to worry about. The negative effects of overdosing on lights is no different on a cellular level than over-exercising. This process is known as ‘hormesis’ or the bi-phasic response if you care to learn more.

Different devices for different applications

Depending on what you want to achieve with light therapy and what your’re lifestyle circumstances are, there are a multitude of different devices available to you. New things to try like photopuncture (acupuncture with lights), treating your pets, or hair-regrowth light caps await you in our store. Please know that I don’t personally sell all items in the store, but rather it seeks to offer you a resource that pulls from all the best that light therapy has to offer. If you would like to support my work, you will find light therapy products that I do sell that are imported from my lovely, reputable, high-quality Chinese manufacturing partners.

Thank you for taking the time to learn with me today!

Cory Lee Davis