The Complete Guide To Red Light Therapy – by Dr. Melanie Gray

Red light therapy (RLT) is one of those things that sounds like it should be an ineffectual new-age fad that doesn’t do anything, but in fact, there’s a lot of evidence to show that it confers many benefits.

In particular, and to oversimply rather because this is a book review and not a scientific article (though we have written about RLT before and linked to various studies there), RLT is most noted for rejuvenating skin, and enhancing the healing of same, where applicable.

Dr. Gray explains not just what it does, but also some of how it does it, involving the stimulation of mitochondria, DNA-and-telomere repair, and more. She also talks the difference between RLT and near-infrared therapy, which are often delivered by the same devices, just, we can see part of the spectrum and not the other part.

She covers practical matters too, such as optimizing the frequency for different purposes (helpful when choosing a device, or when adjusting the settings on a multi-setting device), as well as optimal treatment duration, and other factors that can affect dosage (including the intensity of the light, and your skintone).

The style is… a little mixed, and can read a little like AI was involved. But on the bright side, it’s a perfectly easy read (and a short one, at 104 pages), and the author’s input includes a lot of niche technical knowledge, which makes it worthwhile. The bibliography is 12 items long and only 5 of those are scholarly articles, but honestly, she could have padded it with a lot more hard-science evidence for RLT’s benefits and it wouldn’t have actually increased the practical value of the book, so we don’t think this is a terrible thing.

Bottom line: this will probably not become anyone’s favorite book, but it is actually useful, and can help you to get the most out of RLT.

Click here to check out The Complete Guide To Red Light Therapy, and enjoy a healthy glow!