March 4, 2025 • 27 mins
Take the Health Type Quiz here
Does red light therapy actually work? Can morning sun improve your health? Do blue light blocking glasses really help with sleep? In this episode, Dr. Bobby takes a deep dive into the science behind light therapy—what’s backed by evidence and what’s just hype.
Dr. Bobby shares personal experiences, from childhood eczema treated with sunlight to his daughter’s improved sleep from morning walks, and unpacks the latest research on red, white, and blue light exposure. With thousands of red light therapy devices on the market and endless claims about their benefits, it’s time to separate fact from fiction.
Starting with the strongest evidence, Dr. Bobby explores how light affects skin conditions, depression, and sleep. While white light (and UV) therapy has long been used for conditions like psoriasis and seasonal affective disorder (SAD) 【AAD guidelines】, red light therapy is a mixed bag. Studies suggest it can improve wound healing 【Study】, aid hair regrowth 【RCT Review】, and even reduce wrinkles—but much of the research is small-scale and often funded by device manufacturers.
Deeper effects of red light therapy, such as pain relief for arthritis and fibromyalgia, remain controversial. Some studies show moderate pain reduction 【Meta-analysis on osteoarthritis】, while others suggest a placebo effect. And when it comes to weight loss or cognitive enhancement, the evidence is weak at best.
Finally, Dr. Bobby revisits the hype around blue light blocking glasses. While early studies suggested blue light exposure/protection might affect sleep, newer research, and expert opinion indicates that it’s not the light itself but rather the mental stimulation from screens that affects sleep 【Study】. The best solution? Reduce screen exposure and engage in relaxing activities before bed.
Takeaways:
- Sunlight/UV exposure has well-documented benefits for skin conditions, depression, and sleep regulation. Morning light can help set your biological clock and improve sleep quality 【Study】.
- Red light therapy shows some promise for surface-level treatments like wound healing, hair growth, and wrinkles, but claims about deeper effects, like pain relief or cognitive improvement, lack strong evidence.
- Blue light blocking glasses may not be the key to better sleep—instead, reducing screen time and mental stimulation before bed is more effective.
Is light therapy worth the investment? Maybe. If you are thinking of spending hundreds of dollars, consider trying an N-of-1 experiment—track your own results and see if it actually makes a difference. And, as always, focus on evidence-based approaches to living long and well.
Until next time, get outside, soak up some sun, and take the Health Type Quiz to better understand your health type!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hi, I'm Dr Bobby DuBois and welcome to Live Long
and Well, a podcast where wewill talk about what you can do
to live as long as possible andwith as much energy and vigor
that you wish.
(00:25):
Together, we will explore whatpractical and evidence-supported
steps you can take.
Come join me on this veryimportant journey and I hope
that you feel empowered alongthe way.
I'm a physician, ironman,triathlete and have published
several hundred scientificstudies.
(00:47):
I'm honored to be your guide.
Welcome everyone to episodenumber 31,.
Red, white and Blue LightHealing or Hype.
Well, does red light therapywork?
Is the morning sun good for you?
(01:09):
Do blue light blocking glasseshelp your sleep?
What do we know based upon realevidence, and what works and
what doesn't?
That is today's episode, sojoin me.
Well, why am I wanting to talkabout this topic?
Well, when I was a child a bitago, I had atopic dermatitis or
(01:35):
at the time we often called iteczema, and my feet would have
real problems Cracked, skin,itchy.
It was a mess, went on for anumber of years and I remember
going to the dermatologist andhim saying to me well, go out in
the sun and stick your feet uptowards the sky, and that may
(01:56):
help your symptoms and in factit really did help.
So I remember that my daughterrecently has been going out for
early morning walks and gettingsun in the morning and she's
finding benefit for her in allsorts of ways, especially her
sleep.
My wife, my dear wife Gail,wears blue light blocking
(02:18):
glasses at night before bed tohelp her fall asleep.
And almost everywhere you turnthere are advertisements for red
light therapy boxes with claimsabout all sorts of things they
can solve.
So why not talk about light andlight therapy?
(02:39):
Let's go down the rabbit holetogether and learn about white
light as therapy, red light astherapy and whether blue light
is bad for you.
Now the timing is really reallygood because we recently talked
about placebo.
That was episode number 28.
(02:59):
And many of the benefits thatpeople might claim from a red
light therapy frankly may be theplacebo effect.
And if you want to re-listen tothat episode to remind yourself
about all the ways that placebocan be powerful, feel free to
do so.
And the end of one approach,which was episode 27,.
(03:22):
And we're going to end today'sepisode with how you might test
out these approaches foryourself.
Keep in mind that, whether youget excited about red light
therapy or these other therapies, whether you get confused by
the information, whether youthink it's just the perfect way
to dial in your health.
That may depend a lot on yourhealth type.
(03:45):
And remember, we've got thatquiz, the health type quiz,
where it will tell you whichtype person you are and send you
information about that.
Feel free, if you haven't doneit already, or do it again if
you wish, go to my website,drbobbylivelongandwellcom.
All right, my approach for today.
(04:07):
I'm going to begin where theevidence is strongest, where we
see that in fact, it's beentested, it's been tested quite
rigorously and we can believethe results, and then we're
going to work our way towardsareas that, frankly, frankly,
the evidence is much more scantyand I'm not convinced by it.
(04:29):
When we think about lighttherapy and we think about where
it might benefit us, if it'sthe skin that we're trying to
deal with, whether it's a skindisease or cosmetic issues,
there is some evidence to saythat light therapy works.
However, if we're starting tosay that light therapy can cure
(04:53):
headaches and reduce your riskof dementia and solve pain all
across your body, that's issuesthat are deep inside you body.
That's issues that are deepinside you and light really
doesn't penetrate very far.
So here I'm much more skepticalof the evidence.
So we'll talk about that Allright.
The first area where, in fact,there's some pretty darn good
(05:17):
evidence that light therapyworks.
In this case we're going tobegin with white light or
sunlight, and sometimes thatactually are light bulbs that
are ultraviolet, but it's allabout kind of the white light
total light spectrum.
Now I mentioned earlier thatfor me it seemed to help for my
(05:39):
atopic dermatitis or eczema as achild.
Well, nowadays, obviously, theyuse more powerful lights than
just the sun, and before therewere these new psoriasis drugs
and wonderful atopic dermatitisand other drugs, light therapy
was really the mainstay.
It goes back 100 years forpsoriasis, where they put a
(05:59):
tar-like substance on you andexpose you to light.
So it's well recognized, hasbeen used for a very, very long
time, and the American Academyof Dermatology guidelines
support light therapy for thesekinds of things.
And, as I mentioned, nowadayswe use ultraviolet light for
(06:21):
some of these skin disorders.
Also, if you have acne, theselight therapies, white light
therapy, ultraviolet therapy canbe very effective.
But now here's the wrinkle, andit's going to be a lot of
wrinkles that we're going totalk about today.
Yes, light therapy can helpyour acne, but it's no better
than benzoyl peroxide and,frankly, sitting under a light
(06:43):
for quite a while is a burden.
Now, you may not want benzoylperoxide and, frankly, sitting
under a light for quite a whileis a burden.
Now, you may not want benzoylperoxide on your skin, but it
works and it's a quicker way todeal with it on a daily basis.
So just keep that in mind.
So when we think about lighttherapies, yes, it's important
to say compared to placebo, doesit work better?
(07:04):
Okay, but there's anotherquestion, which is are there
alternative therapies that arejust as good, if not better?
So light therapy may not be thepanacea.
Now, in one area there's almostno alternative to good light
therapy and that's for a type ofdepression called seasonal
(07:28):
affective disorders.
Now, this has actually onlybeen recognized back in the
1980s.
I would have thought this hadbeen known about for a century
or more.
But people who live in cloudyenvironments think of the
Seattle area or Sweden orsomeplace where maybe it doesn't
have a lot of sun, especiallyduring the winter months.
(07:51):
Folks get depression, folks whoare sensitive to this issue.
So the sunlight, or the lack ofsunlight, brings on their
depression symptoms.
And lo and behold, if you lookat a summary of 10 randomized
controlled trials, being exposedto light therapy for two hours
(08:15):
really improved their depression, not just for those with
seasonal affective disorder, butgenerally depression as well.
Now, I said earlier we should beskeptical when we're trying to
have an impact deep in our body,and obviously depression is
something that's going on in ourbrain.
And how could this sunlight orwhite light therapy penetrate
(08:38):
deep into the brain?
Well, we're not asking it to dothat, because what happens is
the light goes in your eyes.
Your eyes are connected to yourbrain, and that stimulation
appears to be the way that itimproves your depression.
So keep that in mind.
So keep that in mind.
(09:07):
Now, as I mentioned with mydaughter, going out in the
morning and exposing to sunlighthas helped her sleep, and it's
not just an anecdote.
In the morning helps to setyour circadian rhythms and set
you up for a day of feeling welland a night of good sleep.
Now, getting light in themorning is one of 12 things that
(09:30):
I've talked about in episodethree to improve your sleep.
So there's 11 more.
If you're having troubles withsleep, by all means listen to
that episode or go to my websiteand read the blog and it will
list all of them and try themall that you wish.
It's felt that the light in themorning helps our biologic
(09:52):
clocks, as I mentioned, and ithas an impact on our melatonin
levels.
Now more about melatonin levelsin a little bit when we talk
about blue light glasses.
And finally, being out in thesun improves vitamin D
production.
So there are many areas thatlight sunlight, ultraviolet
(10:16):
light help us and the evidenceis really pretty good.
But all the things I've talkedabout were because they were
focused on improvements in theskin, which is very, very not
deep in our bodies or it wentthrough the eyes.
Now we're going to move intored light therapy, where the
(10:38):
evidence is much more uncertain.
Now I went on Amazon to seewell, are there a lot of red
light therapy boxes or optionsout there?
Amazon has over 2,000.
So everybody's trying to sellyou a red light therapy, red
light box, red light contraptionthat will help improve all
(11:02):
sorts of different things andit's been touted for hair growth
, skin problems, pain relief,arthritis, cognitive function
and many more.
So a high level questions to askyourself.
High-level questions to askyourself Is it biologically
(11:23):
plausible that a red lighttherapy box could be helpful to
you, and we'll talk in a momentabout how deep the light goes
and can it work.
Also, keep in mind that many ofthese studies were done in
dermatologists or others officesand they're not using a simple
red light therapy box fromAmazon.
(11:44):
They're using lasers.
Now, lasers are a lot moreintense, a lot more focused, and
benefits that are seen from astudy in a dermatologist office
are not the same as what youmight do at home, where those
devices are broader spectrum,not as focused and certainly
(12:04):
nowhere near as intense.
Okay, so if you use one of thesort of home devices, the red
light that comes out of themgoes in maybe a millimeter to
three millimeters goes in maybea millimeter to three
(12:24):
millimeters, so a really tinyamount.
So that should then raise thequestion could it really affect
us deep in our bodies?
Yeah, maybe it affects our skin, but how about deep in our
bodies?
Now, if can go in one to threecentimeters, so maybe an inch or
(12:45):
so, so that might be moreeffective, but it's not going to
go deep inside your body, sokeep that in mind.
Okay, in the lab and, as mylisteners know, I'm not real
excited about lab data.
I want to see what happens inpeople, but we'll begin, at
least for the moment, about thelab.
(13:07):
So if you take cells and youput them in a lab, and put them
in a petri dish or a test tubeand you blast them with light,
what happens?
Well, you can show that themitochondria, those little
energy powerhouses in our cells,become more active and they
produce more energy, atpproduction.
(13:29):
And you can show that if youtake cells and you expose them
to light, yeah, some collagen isproduced and collagen can sort
of make the skin more lifeyoung-like.
So that makes some sense.
But again, this is in the labwhere you're blasting these poor
(13:52):
little skin cells.
But what about in people?
As I've alluded to a couple oftimes, the data in general is
better about impact on the skin.
So red light therapy has beenshown to improve wound healing.
So chronic wounds that are notgetting better for one reason or
(14:15):
another, there's data tosuggest that red light therapy
works.
But again, this is that lowlight laser therapy not
something you get off of Amazonand it does seem to work.
The other area, and this one,actually can use some of the
things you could buy over thecounter, and that's hair
(14:37):
regrowth, and there's been aboutseven randomized controlled
trials that showed some benefit.
Now, these are very smallstudies and many of them, as you
wouldn't be surprised, havebeen done or funded for by the
companies that make them, butthere is some suggestion that it
improves hair density.
(14:59):
So here's an example of justone.
So there were 60 patients in arandomized control trial and
they wore this red light helmet,so something that goes over
your head, and people had to dothis for 16 weeks.
So it's a big investment oftime and money as well.
Now, on your head, the way theytell how your hair is doing is
(15:23):
they count the number of hairfollicles in a centimeter
squared, so a small area of yourhead and normal is about 200
hair follicles in that smallspace.
Obviously, as you lose hair andbecome bald, that number 200
falls.
So in this study they looked atpeople that had about 42 hairs
(15:46):
in that square centimeter andthat was their baseline.
After the 12 weeks of using thehelmet, that increased to 110.
So in this one study it didn'ttake people back to normal hair,
but it took them in a verypositive direction.
Is this going to be true foryou?
Who knows?
(16:07):
Are there alternatives that youcould do that might be just as
effective?
Sure, but this is one modalitythat might have some benefit,
and we'll talk at the end aboutend-of-one trials and how you
can test out some of theseconcepts yourself.
Well, what about the skin itselfWrinkles?
(16:28):
Now, there have been somestudies about whether red light
therapy improves wrinkles, andthese have typically been really
small studies 10 people, 20people and they're typically
done again by the companies thatmake the devices.
But in one study they looked at20 women and they looked at how
(16:52):
deep the crow's feet were, thewrinkles around their eyes, and
they looked at skin firmness andthe elasticity and smoothness
and they did show someimprovements.
But, as I mentioned here, oneof the authors was from Parfum,
christian Dior.
They're in the business offocus on wrinkles, so you have
(17:14):
to again take that carefully.
Another study a bunch ofpatients in a randomized
controlled trial.
They took photographs and theyasked people to analyze the
before and after photographs,and again, it was done by folks
that make the device, but theydid show some benefits.
(17:37):
All right.
So for skin, there is somesuggestion that red light
therapy can help.
Now let's go deeper in the body,and this is where the evidence
gets trickier.
How about arthritis paindisorders?
Can it work?
Can it work better than theusual things we would do?
(17:59):
So there was a study, ameta-analysis, of 22 randomized
controlled trials forosteoarthritis that's the
typical arthritis of aging andthey tested red light therapy
for a week, five weeks, up to 12weeks.
Some of them were done and theydid show pain improvement.
(18:19):
Okay so, dr Bobby, it couldwork for osteoarthritis.
Well, there was anothermeta-analysis of five studies
for rheumatoid arthritis, a verydifferent type of arthritis,
and it too showed someimprovements in pain and morning
stiffness and some flexibilityimprovements in the hand.
(18:41):
But this is where these studiesstart to get tricky.
In that rheumatoid arthritisstudy, where they showed benefit
, they showed benefit not onlyin the hand that had the laser
light or the red light, but inthe other hand as well.
(19:03):
How could that possibly be?
We know that it only penetratesa small amount.
We could potentially see how itcould help the hand that you
were receiving the therapy with,but the other hand?
So that begins to raisequestions like placebo.
Is that really what's going on?
(19:24):
And there was anotherrheumatoid arthritis
meta-analysis which showed nobenefit.
And finally, what aboutfibromyalgia?
This is a disorder oftenrelated to poor sleep.
They're connected where youhave a lot of aches and pains
and what are called triggerpoints, and so this study looked
(19:47):
at nine randomized controltrials and about 300 people, and
they did show improvements withred light therapy, but in this
case this was the laser light,so again, something you would
need to do in a doctor's offices.
But what they found was, yes,there was some improvement in
(20:08):
discomfort, but it was really nobetter than exercise.
So, yes, there's somesuggestive evidence of light
therapy helping.
But when you look more carefully, you find there are problems
with these studies.
There are those that tout thatred light therapy can help body
contouring and weight loss, andin one interesting study, they
(20:34):
took photographs of theirabdomen and one side they gave
the low light laser therapy.
Again, this is the thing youwould have to do in a doctor's
office and the other sidenothing.
And they took pictures of eachside and then, in a blinded way,
doctors looked at them.
Guess what?
There were no differencebetween either side.
(20:55):
There's, finally, some thoughtsthat maybe it could help your
cognitive function.
These are again tiny studiesconducted by the device
manufacturers and I'm notimpressed with them or the
results.
So, as we think about red lighttherapy, do we believe the
evidence?
(21:15):
Well, some of it, yeah, makessense if it's in the skin areas.
As we go deeper in, I'm notsure I believe the evidence.
Secondly, are the home unitseven strong enough?
Because, again, many of thesestudies were done with the low
light laser therapy in doctor'soffices and there's so much
(21:35):
confusion about, well, what'sthe right intensity of light and
how long and what wavelength.
And then, finally, of course,is the issue of safety, and you
would want to cover your andprotect your eyes, and there is
always possibility of you know,sort of sunburn of your skin.
All right, let's turn to thelast topic, which is blue light
(21:58):
and whether blue light glassesthat block the blue light are
helpful in your sleep.
Now here's the theory.
The theory is that your body,over the course of the evening,
builds up levels of melatoninwhich tells us it's sleepy time
and it's time to go to sleep.
(22:19):
And it's time to go to sleep.
Well, darkness promotesmelatonin production.
So blue light also appears thatpotentially it interferes with
that production.
So we want the melatonin to goup.
Darkness gets us there, butblue light might interfere with
that.
(22:39):
So there was this whole focus onthese blue light glasses, and
there were some studies thatshow that reading a book is
better than your iPad, and ifyou wore blue light glasses,
maybe that would help.
And so there was an excitementaround blue light glasses.
But recent looking at theevidence, and even experts like
(23:02):
Matt Walker, have changed theirview, and now what it appears is
it's not the blue light per se,it's that blue light comes in
your phone and your iPad.
So people who are on theiriPhone and their iPad are being
exposed to blue light.
Yes, but really the issue isthe agitation, the excitement of
(23:26):
looking at your social media,looking at videos, looking at
your email.
So when you're ready to go tobed, you've been agitated for
hours and you're not able tofall asleep.
So it likely isn't the bluelight blocking glasses or the
blue light, but rather theagitation that's associated with
(23:48):
that.
Okay, lots of information, butwhere do we go from here?
Where do I net out?
We all want to live long andwell, and, of course, me too.
Is light therapy the answer?
Well, if you're talking aboutwhite light, ultraviolet light,
for known skin problems ordepression, or getting a better
(24:10):
night's sleep, the evidence ispretty darn good and I think
it's supportive.
Red light therapy I don't knowFor hair regrowth.
The data is pretty good.
Not the only way to solve theproblem, but that's a possible
thing to consider.
But as we go deeper and hopethat it'll do things deep in our
(24:31):
bodies, that's where I'm notconvinced about the evidence.
And finally, blue light glasses.
Again, focus on being quietbefore you go to bed, reading a
book, not having anythingstimulating.
That's the secret.
Probably not blocking the bluelight For me.
I also would ask the question isit worth the cost?
(24:54):
As I reviewed for some of thestudies, there are alternatives.
For acne, you can, of course,use benzoyl peroxide or other
kinds of things.
For fibromyalgia, you can doexercise.
Is it worth spending hundredsor thousands of dollars on red
light boxes or the laser lighttherapies?
You'll have to decide.
(25:16):
And always, is it better thanother approaches?
Yes, it might provide somebenefit, but other approaches
may be just as good or perhapsbetter.
So what do you do with this?
Well, if you are intrigued andyou want to try this, by all
means do so.
But maybe think about doing itin the context of an end-of-one
(25:39):
trial, meaning you're going tomeasure something at baseline.
Doesn't have to necessarily bethe counting of hair follicles
in a centimeter, but think aboutsomething you're hoping will
get better.
Then try the therapy.
If you wish, measure it againto give yourself some belief
that it is real and that maybeyou then stop the therapy.
(26:02):
See if the problem comes back,restart it.
That will help you figure outhow much of this might be the
placebo effect and how muchmight be real.
As always, until next time.
If you like this podcast, pleaseshare it with your friends or
write a review on Spotify, appleor elsewhere.
(26:24):
Take the quiz, if you haven't,and figure out your health type.
And if you want to work moredirectly with me in all these
cases, just go to my website andyou'll find information that
might be useful.
So take care, and until nexttime.
So take care, and until nexttime.
Thanks so much for listening toLive Long and Well with Dr
(26:47):
Bobby.
If you liked this episode,please provide a review on Apple
or Spotify or wherever youlisten.
If you want to continue thisjourney or want to receive my
newsletter on practical andscientific ways to improve your
health and longevity, pleasevisit me at
drbobbilivelongandwellcom.
(27:10):
That's, Dr, as in D-R Bobby.
Live long and wellcom.
Hi, I'm Dr Bobby DuBois and welcome to Live Long
and Well, a podcast where wewill talk about what you can do
to live as long as possible andwith as much energy and vigor
that you wish.
(00:25):
Together, we will explore whatpractical and evidence-supported
steps you can take.
Come join me on this veryimportant journey and I hope
that you feel empowered alongthe way.
I'm a physician, ironman,triathlete and have published
several hundred scientificstudies.
(00:47):
I'm honored to be your guide.
Welcome everyone to episodenumber 31,.
Red, white and Blue LightHealing or Hype.
Well, does red light therapywork?
Is the morning sun good for you?
(01:09):
Do blue light blocking glasseshelp your sleep?
What do we know based upon realevidence, and what works and
what doesn't?
That is today's episode, sojoin me.
Well, why am I wanting to talkabout this topic?
Well, when I was a child a bitago, I had atopic dermatitis or
(01:35):
at the time we often called iteczema, and my feet would have
real problems Cracked, skin,itchy.
It was a mess, went on for anumber of years and I remember
going to the dermatologist andhim saying to me well, go out in
the sun and stick your feet uptowards the sky, and that may
(01:56):
help your symptoms and in factit really did help.
So I remember that my daughterrecently has been going out for
early morning walks and gettingsun in the morning and she's
finding benefit for her in allsorts of ways, especially her
sleep.
My wife, my dear wife Gail,wears blue light blocking
(02:18):
glasses at night before bed tohelp her fall asleep.
And almost everywhere you turnthere are advertisements for red
light therapy boxes with claimsabout all sorts of things they
can solve.
So why not talk about light andlight therapy?
(02:39):
Let's go down the rabbit holetogether and learn about white
light as therapy, red light astherapy and whether blue light
is bad for you.
Now the timing is really reallygood because we recently talked
about placebo.
That was episode number 28.
(02:59):
And many of the benefits thatpeople might claim from a red
light therapy frankly may be theplacebo effect.
And if you want to re-listen tothat episode to remind yourself
about all the ways that placebocan be powerful, feel free to
do so.
And the end of one approach,which was episode 27,.
(03:22):
And we're going to end today'sepisode with how you might test
out these approaches foryourself.
Keep in mind that, whether youget excited about red light
therapy or these other therapies, whether you get confused by
the information, whether youthink it's just the perfect way
to dial in your health.
That may depend a lot on yourhealth type.
(03:45):
And remember, we've got thatquiz, the health type quiz,
where it will tell you whichtype person you are and send you
information about that.
Feel free, if you haven't doneit already, or do it again if
you wish, go to my website,drbobbylivelongandwellcom.
All right, my approach for today.
(04:07):
I'm going to begin where theevidence is strongest, where we
see that in fact, it's beentested, it's been tested quite
rigorously and we can believethe results, and then we're
going to work our way towardsareas that, frankly, frankly,
the evidence is much more scantyand I'm not convinced by it.
(04:29):
When we think about lighttherapy and we think about where
it might benefit us, if it'sthe skin that we're trying to
deal with, whether it's a skindisease or cosmetic issues,
there is some evidence to saythat light therapy works.
However, if we're starting tosay that light therapy can cure
(04:53):
headaches and reduce your riskof dementia and solve pain all
across your body, that's issuesthat are deep inside you body.
That's issues that are deepinside you and light really
doesn't penetrate very far.
So here I'm much more skepticalof the evidence.
So we'll talk about that Allright.
The first area where, in fact,there's some pretty darn good
(05:17):
evidence that light therapyworks.
In this case we're going tobegin with white light or
sunlight, and sometimes thatactually are light bulbs that
are ultraviolet, but it's allabout kind of the white light
total light spectrum.
Now I mentioned earlier thatfor me it seemed to help for my
(05:39):
atopic dermatitis or eczema as achild.
Well, nowadays, obviously, theyuse more powerful lights than
just the sun, and before therewere these new psoriasis drugs
and wonderful atopic dermatitisand other drugs, light therapy
was really the mainstay.
It goes back 100 years forpsoriasis, where they put a
(05:59):
tar-like substance on you andexpose you to light.
So it's well recognized, hasbeen used for a very, very long
time, and the American Academyof Dermatology guidelines
support light therapy for thesekinds of things.
And, as I mentioned, nowadayswe use ultraviolet light for
(06:21):
some of these skin disorders.
Also, if you have acne, theselight therapies, white light
therapy, ultraviolet therapy canbe very effective.
But now here's the wrinkle, andit's going to be a lot of
wrinkles that we're going totalk about today.
Yes, light therapy can helpyour acne, but it's no better
than benzoyl peroxide and,frankly, sitting under a light
(06:43):
for quite a while is a burden.
Now, you may not want benzoylperoxide and, frankly, sitting
under a light for quite a whileis a burden.
Now, you may not want benzoylperoxide on your skin, but it
works and it's a quicker way todeal with it on a daily basis.
So just keep that in mind.
So when we think about lighttherapies, yes, it's important
to say compared to placebo, doesit work better?
(07:04):
Okay, but there's anotherquestion, which is are there
alternative therapies that arejust as good, if not better?
So light therapy may not be thepanacea.
Now, in one area there's almostno alternative to good light
therapy and that's for a type ofdepression called seasonal
(07:28):
affective disorders.
Now, this has actually onlybeen recognized back in the
1980s.
I would have thought this hadbeen known about for a century
or more.
But people who live in cloudyenvironments think of the
Seattle area or Sweden orsomeplace where maybe it doesn't
have a lot of sun, especiallyduring the winter months.
(07:51):
Folks get depression, folks whoare sensitive to this issue.
So the sunlight, or the lack ofsunlight, brings on their
depression symptoms.
And lo and behold, if you lookat a summary of 10 randomized
controlled trials, being exposedto light therapy for two hours
(08:15):
really improved their depression, not just for those with
seasonal affective disorder, butgenerally depression as well.
Now, I said earlier we should beskeptical when we're trying to
have an impact deep in our body,and obviously depression is
something that's going on in ourbrain.
And how could this sunlight orwhite light therapy penetrate
(08:38):
deep into the brain?
Well, we're not asking it to dothat, because what happens is
the light goes in your eyes.
Your eyes are connected to yourbrain, and that stimulation
appears to be the way that itimproves your depression.
So keep that in mind.
So keep that in mind.
(09:07):
Now, as I mentioned with mydaughter, going out in the
morning and exposing to sunlighthas helped her sleep, and it's
not just an anecdote.
In the morning helps to setyour circadian rhythms and set
you up for a day of feeling welland a night of good sleep.
Now, getting light in themorning is one of 12 things that
(09:30):
I've talked about in episodethree to improve your sleep.
So there's 11 more.
If you're having troubles withsleep, by all means listen to
that episode or go to my websiteand read the blog and it will
list all of them and try themall that you wish.
It's felt that the light in themorning helps our biologic
(09:52):
clocks, as I mentioned, and ithas an impact on our melatonin
levels.
Now more about melatonin levelsin a little bit when we talk
about blue light glasses.
And finally, being out in thesun improves vitamin D
production.
So there are many areas thatlight sunlight, ultraviolet
(10:16):
light help us and the evidenceis really pretty good.
But all the things I've talkedabout were because they were
focused on improvements in theskin, which is very, very not
deep in our bodies or it wentthrough the eyes.
Now we're going to move intored light therapy, where the
(10:38):
evidence is much more uncertain.
Now I went on Amazon to seewell, are there a lot of red
light therapy boxes or optionsout there?
Amazon has over 2,000.
So everybody's trying to sellyou a red light therapy, red
light box, red light contraptionthat will help improve all
(11:02):
sorts of different things andit's been touted for hair growth
, skin problems, pain relief,arthritis, cognitive function
and many more.
So a high level questions to askyourself.
High-level questions to askyourself Is it biologically
(11:23):
plausible that a red lighttherapy box could be helpful to
you, and we'll talk in a momentabout how deep the light goes
and can it work.
Also, keep in mind that many ofthese studies were done in
dermatologists or others officesand they're not using a simple
red light therapy box fromAmazon.
(11:44):
They're using lasers.
Now, lasers are a lot moreintense, a lot more focused, and
benefits that are seen from astudy in a dermatologist office
are not the same as what youmight do at home, where those
devices are broader spectrum,not as focused and certainly
(12:04):
nowhere near as intense.
Okay, so if you use one of thesort of home devices, the red
light that comes out of themgoes in maybe a millimeter to
three millimeters goes in maybea millimeter to three
(12:24):
millimeters, so a really tinyamount.
So that should then raise thequestion could it really affect
us deep in our bodies?
Yeah, maybe it affects our skin, but how about deep in our
bodies?
Now, if can go in one to threecentimeters, so maybe an inch or
(12:45):
so, so that might be moreeffective, but it's not going to
go deep inside your body, sokeep that in mind.
Okay, in the lab and, as mylisteners know, I'm not real
excited about lab data.
I want to see what happens inpeople, but we'll begin, at
least for the moment, about thelab.
(13:07):
So if you take cells and youput them in a lab, and put them
in a petri dish or a test tubeand you blast them with light,
what happens?
Well, you can show that themitochondria, those little
energy powerhouses in our cells,become more active and they
produce more energy, atpproduction.
(13:29):
And you can show that if youtake cells and you expose them
to light, yeah, some collagen isproduced and collagen can sort
of make the skin more lifeyoung-like.
So that makes some sense.
But again, this is in the labwhere you're blasting these poor
(13:52):
little skin cells.
But what about in people?
As I've alluded to a couple oftimes, the data in general is
better about impact on the skin.
So red light therapy has beenshown to improve wound healing.
So chronic wounds that are notgetting better for one reason or
(14:15):
another, there's data tosuggest that red light therapy
works.
But again, this is that lowlight laser therapy not
something you get off of Amazonand it does seem to work.
The other area, and this one,actually can use some of the
things you could buy over thecounter, and that's hair
(14:37):
regrowth, and there's been aboutseven randomized controlled
trials that showed some benefit.
Now, these are very smallstudies and many of them, as you
wouldn't be surprised, havebeen done or funded for by the
companies that make them, butthere is some suggestion that it
improves hair density.
(14:59):
So here's an example of justone.
So there were 60 patients in arandomized control trial and
they wore this red light helmet,so something that goes over
your head, and people had to dothis for 16 weeks.
So it's a big investment oftime and money as well.
Now, on your head, the way theytell how your hair is doing is
(15:23):
they count the number of hairfollicles in a centimeter
squared, so a small area of yourhead and normal is about 200
hair follicles in that smallspace.
Obviously, as you lose hair andbecome bald, that number 200
falls.
So in this study they looked atpeople that had about 42 hairs
(15:46):
in that square centimeter andthat was their baseline.
After the 12 weeks of using thehelmet, that increased to 110.
So in this one study it didn'ttake people back to normal hair,
but it took them in a verypositive direction.
Is this going to be true foryou?
Who knows?
(16:07):
Are there alternatives that youcould do that might be just as
effective?
Sure, but this is one modalitythat might have some benefit,
and we'll talk at the end aboutend-of-one trials and how you
can test out some of theseconcepts yourself.
Well, what about the skin itselfWrinkles?
(16:28):
Now, there have been somestudies about whether red light
therapy improves wrinkles, andthese have typically been really
small studies 10 people, 20people and they're typically
done again by the companies thatmake the devices.
But in one study they looked at20 women and they looked at how
(16:52):
deep the crow's feet were, thewrinkles around their eyes, and
they looked at skin firmness andthe elasticity and smoothness
and they did show someimprovements.
But, as I mentioned here, oneof the authors was from Parfum,
christian Dior.
They're in the business offocus on wrinkles, so you have
(17:14):
to again take that carefully.
Another study a bunch ofpatients in a randomized
controlled trial.
They took photographs and theyasked people to analyze the
before and after photographs,and again, it was done by folks
that make the device, but theydid show some benefits.
(17:37):
All right.
So for skin, there is somesuggestion that red light
therapy can help.
Now let's go deeper in the body,and this is where the evidence
gets trickier.
How about arthritis paindisorders?
Can it work?
Can it work better than theusual things we would do?
(17:59):
So there was a study, ameta-analysis, of 22 randomized
controlled trials forosteoarthritis that's the
typical arthritis of aging andthey tested red light therapy
for a week, five weeks, up to 12weeks.
Some of them were done and theydid show pain improvement.
(18:19):
Okay so, dr Bobby, it couldwork for osteoarthritis.
Well, there was anothermeta-analysis of five studies
for rheumatoid arthritis, a verydifferent type of arthritis,
and it too showed someimprovements in pain and morning
stiffness and some flexibilityimprovements in the hand.
(18:41):
But this is where these studiesstart to get tricky.
In that rheumatoid arthritisstudy, where they showed benefit
, they showed benefit not onlyin the hand that had the laser
light or the red light, but inthe other hand as well.
(19:03):
How could that possibly be?
We know that it only penetratesa small amount.
We could potentially see how itcould help the hand that you
were receiving the therapy with,but the other hand?
So that begins to raisequestions like placebo.
Is that really what's going on?
(19:24):
And there was anotherrheumatoid arthritis
meta-analysis which showed nobenefit.
And finally, what aboutfibromyalgia?
This is a disorder oftenrelated to poor sleep.
They're connected where youhave a lot of aches and pains
and what are called triggerpoints, and so this study looked
(19:47):
at nine randomized controltrials and about 300 people, and
they did show improvements withred light therapy, but in this
case this was the laser light,so again, something you would
need to do in a doctor's offices.
But what they found was, yes,there was some improvement in
(20:08):
discomfort, but it was really nobetter than exercise.
So, yes, there's somesuggestive evidence of light
therapy helping.
But when you look more carefully, you find there are problems
with these studies.
There are those that tout thatred light therapy can help body
contouring and weight loss, andin one interesting study, they
(20:34):
took photographs of theirabdomen and one side they gave
the low light laser therapy.
Again, this is the thing youwould have to do in a doctor's
office and the other sidenothing.
And they took pictures of eachside and then, in a blinded way,
doctors looked at them.
Guess what?
There were no differencebetween either side.
(20:55):
There's, finally, some thoughtsthat maybe it could help your
cognitive function.
These are again tiny studiesconducted by the device
manufacturers and I'm notimpressed with them or the
results.
So, as we think about red lighttherapy, do we believe the
evidence?
(21:15):
Well, some of it, yeah, makessense if it's in the skin areas.
As we go deeper in, I'm notsure I believe the evidence.
Secondly, are the home unitseven strong enough?
Because, again, many of thesestudies were done with the low
light laser therapy in doctor'soffices and there's so much
(21:35):
confusion about, well, what'sthe right intensity of light and
how long and what wavelength.
And then, finally, of course,is the issue of safety, and you
would want to cover your andprotect your eyes, and there is
always possibility of you know,sort of sunburn of your skin.
All right, let's turn to thelast topic, which is blue light
(21:58):
and whether blue light glassesthat block the blue light are
helpful in your sleep.
Now here's the theory.
The theory is that your body,over the course of the evening,
builds up levels of melatoninwhich tells us it's sleepy time
and it's time to go to sleep.
(22:19):
And it's time to go to sleep.
Well, darkness promotesmelatonin production.
So blue light also appears thatpotentially it interferes with
that production.
So we want the melatonin to goup.
Darkness gets us there, butblue light might interfere with
that.
(22:39):
So there was this whole focus onthese blue light glasses, and
there were some studies thatshow that reading a book is
better than your iPad, and ifyou wore blue light glasses,
maybe that would help.
And so there was an excitementaround blue light glasses.
But recent looking at theevidence, and even experts like
(23:02):
Matt Walker, have changed theirview, and now what it appears is
it's not the blue light per se,it's that blue light comes in
your phone and your iPad.
So people who are on theiriPhone and their iPad are being
exposed to blue light.
Yes, but really the issue isthe agitation, the excitement of
(23:26):
looking at your social media,looking at videos, looking at
your email.
So when you're ready to go tobed, you've been agitated for
hours and you're not able tofall asleep.
So it likely isn't the bluelight blocking glasses or the
blue light, but rather theagitation that's associated with
(23:48):
that.
Okay, lots of information, butwhere do we go from here?
Where do I net out?
We all want to live long andwell, and, of course, me too.
Is light therapy the answer?
Well, if you're talking aboutwhite light, ultraviolet light,
for known skin problems ordepression, or getting a better
(24:10):
night's sleep, the evidence ispretty darn good and I think
it's supportive.
Red light therapy I don't knowFor hair regrowth.
The data is pretty good.
Not the only way to solve theproblem, but that's a possible
thing to consider.
But as we go deeper and hopethat it'll do things deep in our
(24:31):
bodies, that's where I'm notconvinced about the evidence.
And finally, blue light glasses.
Again, focus on being quietbefore you go to bed, reading a
book, not having anythingstimulating.
That's the secret.
Probably not blocking the bluelight For me.
I also would ask the question isit worth the cost?
(24:54):
As I reviewed for some of thestudies, there are alternatives.
For acne, you can, of course,use benzoyl peroxide or other
kinds of things.
For fibromyalgia, you can doexercise.
Is it worth spending hundredsor thousands of dollars on red
light boxes or the laser lighttherapies?
You'll have to decide.
(25:16):
And always, is it better thanother approaches?
Yes, it might provide somebenefit, but other approaches
may be just as good or perhapsbetter.
So what do you do with this?
Well, if you are intrigued andyou want to try this, by all
means do so.
But maybe think about doing itin the context of an end-of-one
(25:39):
trial, meaning you're going tomeasure something at baseline.
Doesn't have to necessarily bethe counting of hair follicles
in a centimeter, but think aboutsomething you're hoping will
get better.
Then try the therapy.
If you wish, measure it againto give yourself some belief
that it is real and that maybeyou then stop the therapy.
(26:02):
See if the problem comes back,restart it.
That will help you figure outhow much of this might be the
placebo effect and how muchmight be real.
As always, until next time.
If you like this podcast, pleaseshare it with your friends or
write a review on Spotify, appleor elsewhere.
(26:24):
Take the quiz, if you haven't,and figure out your health type.
And if you want to work moredirectly with me in all these
cases, just go to my website andyou'll find information that
might be useful.
So take care, and until nexttime.
So take care, and until nexttime.
Thanks so much for listening toLive Long and Well with Dr
(26:47):
Bobby.
If you liked this episode,please provide a review on Apple
or Spotify or wherever youlisten.
If you want to continue thisjourney or want to receive my
newsletter on practical andscientific ways to improve your
health and longevity, pleasevisit me at
drbobbilivelongandwellcom.
(27:10):
That's, Dr, as in D-R Bobby.
Live long and wellcom.
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