6 Red Light Therapy Mistakes

Things you should not do

In this blog we are going to talk about some possible red light therapy mistakes you might be making.

• Introduction
• 6 Mistakes You Should Avoid
• Conclusion

Introduction

Red light therapy is known for being a safe, non-invasive and zero touch form of therapy. 

Not long ago, if you wanted to enjoy red light therapy, you would have had to go to a spa, recovery center or clinic, luckily, nowadays you can enjoy a great red light therapy session from the comfort of your home.

Even though a red light therapy device is pretty easy and straightforward to use, there are a couple errors we have identified that our customers make, and we think are worth mentioning.

Fortunately, they are very easy to fix!

6 Mistakes you should avoid

1. Wearing clothes, creams, makeup or sunscreen

Clothes protect the skin from the intense UV light, but they also protect skin from red and near-infrared light exposure.

Ideally you want to have as much bare skin as possible while doing your red light therapy treatment. Definitely no clothing in the area you are going to treat. 

When it comes to creams, and specifically sunscreen, the main purpose of them is, just like clothes, to block UV light so, once again you will also prevent the red or near-infrared light from your device from penetrating your skin.

Finally, for people who usually wear makeup, you want to make sure that your foundation does not contain SPR, because if it does, it will act just like sunscreen, blocking the light from reaching your skin.

We encourage people to do their treatments in the morning before applying any cream or makeup, and in the evening, once the skin is clean and ready for bed. 

2. Incorrect distance

We design our FREE guides specifically to avoid these types of mistakes. 

The basic rule you have to keep in mind is: 

• The deeper in the body the area you want to treat is, (e.g. organs, muscles, tendons) the closer you want the light to be.
• The more superficial in the body the area you want to treat is,(e.g. skin, eyes, hair) the further you want the light to be.

There are a few exceptions and you also have to consider the type of light you are using.

For example:

– The testicles are an organ, but they only need red light and not that close to the body.

In case of doubt, always take a look at our guides to make sure you are following the right protocol.

3. Incorrect session time

That is the other mistake we try to help our customers avoid with our FREE guides.

Usually a red light therapy session should not exceed 20 minutes. Unless you are only using a small light and targeting different areas of the body (e.g. 5min right arm, 5min left arm, 5min right leg, 5min left leg, 5min back, 5min torso, etc). 

3 to 5 minutes per area is usually enough, especially if you are using our Advantage series lights, then you might gravitate more towards 3 minutes.

Although exceeding the recommended time is not gonna harm you, it can delay the benefits as you are overexposing your cells and the amount of light they can absorb is limited. If you want to know more about session times check out our FAQ sections: How Often Should You Do Red Light Therapy?

4. Inconsistency

To see results, especially when it comes to chronic conditions or organs (including the skin), it takes time for the cells to adapt and for the benefits to show.

The great advantage of buying your own device is that you can literally do red light therapy on a daily basis without any extra costs that a clinic or spa would require. If you are not following the treatment at least 3-5 days a week, you are minimizing your investment and delaying the results. 

If you would want to lose weight, you would eat healthy every day or at least 3-5 times a week right? No point eating healthy only once a week really… You might see results, but it will take quite a while compared to consistently healthy eating.

*In some cases, like with eye health, it is totally fine to do 1-2 sessions a week. The eyes are quite sensitive and you don’t need that much consistency. Once again, always follow the guidelines to make sure you are on the right track.

5. Wrong device / light

As you probably know at that stage, red light therapy devices usually have red light only, near-infrared light only, or both lights combined.

It is important for you to make sure which type of light your condition requires.

Once again, here a general rule is:

• The deeper in the body the area you want to treat is,(e.g. organs, muscles, tendons) the more you may require near-infrared light.
• The more superficial in the body the area you want to treat is, (e.g. skin, eyes, hair) the more useful red light may be.

Most of the time combining red and near infrared light to treat deep conditions is totally fine as red light will not add extra intensity, but if you want to treat superficial areas, in most cases, red only us sufficient.

6. Dehydration

It is commonly known that you need to drink water throughout the day to keep your body hydrated and healthy. Well, when it comes to red light therapy there is evidence that staying hydrated supports the effectiveness of red light therapy treatments.

Some researchers have pointed out that red light therapy works better on hydrated cells, as they usually have more energy available. While these claims are still not conclusive, we encourage anyone to drink water regardless of red light therapy and, if it eventually turns out that hydration supports the treatment, you would have been maximizing your benefits all this time.

Conclusion 

To conclude, we encourage you to fix these mistakes, if you think you might be making them and by doing it, you will not only maximize your red light therapy device potential, but possibly see faster results.

As always, if you have any question, please email us at: info@redlightrising.co.uk