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Near-infrared light therapy, also known as photobiomodulation therapy (PBM), is a non-invasive and painless treatment that uses near-infrared (NIR) light to stimulate cellular functions and improve brain health. NIR light can penetrate deep into the brain tissue and activate complex IV of the mitochondrial respiratory chain (cytochrome c oxidase), which increases ATP synthesis and reduces oxidative stress. This in turn enhances neuronal survival, neurogenesis, synaptic plasticity, and neuroprotection.
NIR light therapy has been shown to have beneficial effects on various brain conditions, such as traumatic brain injury, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, depression, anxiety, and cognitive impairment.
Numerous research studies have demonstrated the acute and chronic effects of NIR light therapy on brain state, such as cognitive function, reaction time, memory, mood, etc.
For example,
a study by Barrett et al. (2016) found that a single session of NIR light therapy applied to the forehead improved P300 amplitude (a measure of attention) and reaction time in healthy adults.
Another study by Saltmarche et al. (2017) reported that 12 weeks of NIR light therapy delivered via an intranasal device improved cognitive function and memory in patients with mild cognitive impairment.
Moreover,
a meta-analysis by Hamblin et al. (2018) concluded that NIR light therapy had significant antidepressant and anxiolytic effects in both animal models and human trials.
Some of the mechanisms by which NIR light therapy affects the brain are:
NIR light therapy is a promising technique for improving brain state and function. It has multiple advantages over conventional therapies, such as being safe, non-invasive, painless, cost-effective, and easy to administer. However, more research is needed to optimize the parameters of NIR light therapy (such as wavelength, intensity, duration, and frequency), identify the mechanisms of action at molecular and cellular levels, and evaluate the long-term outcomes and potential side effects.
While many people associate winter with hot chocolate and cozy evenings by the fireplace, more and more people are experiencing the winter blues. In fact, approximately 1 in 20 people in the northern half of the U.S. live through short, dark days during winter, leaving them exposed to Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). With this many people affected by SAD, it's important to understand what the disorder is, what symptoms to look out for, and how to treat (and prevent) the effects of SAD.
Seasonal Affective Disorder is a form of depression that affects people during the winter season. SAD is also known as "winter depression" since the symptoms are more prevalent during the winter months. However, those who experience SAD during the winter may have similar feelings during the summer as well.
SAD is linked to a biochemical imbalance in the brain due to shorter daylight hours and less sunlight. This shift in the circadian rhythm can cause a disconnect resulting in SAD.
While some people may experience mild winter blues, those with SAD experience more severe symptoms affecting everyday life. Symptoms of SAD include:
For people with SAD, the hardest periods tend to be January and February; however, these symptoms can last for the better half of a year. The symptoms listed above show how distressing SAD symptoms can be in a person’s life. However, it can be treated non-pharmaceutically with the help of red light therapy.
Does light therapy actually work for SAD?
The short answer, yes: light therapy is effective in treating seasonal affective disorder. During the winter season, it’s extremely challenging to get the natural light your body needs since the days are shorter and darker. In addition, the average American spends 90% of their time indoors, furthering the problem. This is where red light therapy comes into play.
Red light therapy is a natural light treatment that sends red and near-infrared wavelengths deep into body tissues, positively affecting the mitochondria. Stimulating the cells increases ATP energy production, decreases inflammation, improves neuroplasticity, and boosts cerebral metabolism.
Two meta-analyses of randomized, controlled trials indicated that light therapy was effective in treating SAD. Another study found that over four weeks, 61% out of the 33 patients who underwent light therapy saw their symptoms vanish, in comparison to the 32 percent who received a placebo.
However, beyond the direct treatment of depression, light therapy helps with sleep disorders. Natural light treatment, like red light therapy, helps improve sleep as it increases the body’s natural production of melatonin.
Red light therapy doesn’t simply treat symptoms, but it helps treat the root problem, which is a lack of natural light. The dark winter months are challenging for millions of Americans suffering from SAD. But, by receiving more natural light during the short and dark winter days, you can eliminate your symptoms, heal the problem, and feel like yourself again.
Luckily, Kaiyan Medical produces MDSAP-certified and FDA-approved light therapy products and devices for your own at-home treatment or even for your patients. We've worked hard to provide solutions for both patients and healthcare practitioners, catering to various needs. Whether you're looking to private label your own light therapy devices or for home use, contact our team, as we would love to help you through your light therapy journey.
Brain waves are oscillating electrical voltages in the brain, measuring just a few millionths of a volt. At the root of all our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors are the communication between neurons within our brains. Brainwaves are produced by synchronized electrical pulses from masses of neurons communicating with each other.
Brainwaves are detected using sensors placed on the scalp. They are divided into bandwidths to describe their functions but are the best thought of as a continuous spectrum of consciousness, from slow, loud, and functional — to fast, subtle, and complex.
It is a handy analogy to think of brainwaves as musical notes — the low-frequency waves are like a deeply penetrating drum beat, while the higher frequency brainwaves are more like a subtle high pitched flute. Like a symphony, the higher and lower frequencies link and cohere with each other through harmonics.
Our brainwaves change according to what we’re doing and feeling. When slower brainwaves are dominant, we can feel tired, slow, sluggish, or dreamy. The higher frequencies are dominant when we feel wired or hyper-alert.
The descriptions that follow are only broad descriptions — in practice, things are far more complex, and brainwaves reflect different aspects of different locations in the brain.
Brainwave speed is measured in Hertz (cycles per second), and they are divided into bands delineating slow, moderate, and fast waves.
Infra-Low brainwaves (also known as Slow Cortical Potentials) are thought to be the basic cortical rhythms that underlie our higher brain functions. Very little is known about infra-low brainwaves. Their slow nature makes them difficult to detect and accurately measure, so few studies have been done. They appear to play a major role in brain timing and network function.
Delta brainwaves are slow, loud brainwaves (low frequency and deeply penetrating, like a drumbeat). They are generated in deepest meditation and dreamless sleep. Delta waves suspend external awareness and are the source of empathy. Healing and regeneration are stimulated in this state, and that is why deep restorative sleep is so essential to the healing process.
Theta brainwaves occur most often in sleep but are also dominant in deep meditation. Theta is our gateway to learning, memory, and intuition. In theta, our senses are withdrawn from the external world and focused on signals originating from within. Twilight states that we normally only experience fleetingly as we wake or drift off to sleep. In theta, we dream; vivid imagery, intuition, and information beyond our normal conscious awareness. It’s where we hold our ‘stuff,’ our fears, troubled history, and nightmares.
Alpha brainwaves are dominant during quietly flowing thoughts and in some meditative states. Alpha is ‘the power of now,’ being here, in the present. Alpha is the resting state of the brain. Alpha waves aid overall mental coordination, calmness, alertness, mind/body integration, and learning.
Beta brainwaves dominate our normal waking state of consciousness when attention is directed towards cognitive tasks and the outside world. Beta is a ‘fast’ activity, present when alert, attentive, engaged in problem-solving, judgment, decision making, or focused mental activity.
Beta brainwaves are further divided into three bands; Lo-Beta (Beta1, 12–15Hz) can be thought of as a ‘fast idle’ or musing. Beta (Beta2, 15–22Hz) is the high engagement or actively figuring something out. Hi-Beta (Beta3, 22–38Hz) is a highly complex thought, integrating new experiences, high anxiety, or excitement. Continual high-frequency processing is not a very efficient way to run the brain, as it takes a tremendous amount of energy.
Gamma brainwaves are the fastest brain waves (high frequency, like a flute) and relate to the simultaneous processing of information from different brain areas. Gamma brainwaves pass information rapidly and quietly. The most subtle of the brainwave frequencies, the mind has to be quiet to access gamma.
Gamma was dismissed as ‘spare brain noise’ until researchers discovered it was highly active in states of universal love, altruism, and the ‘higher virtues.’ Gamma is also above the frequency of neuronal firing, so how it is generated remains a mystery. It is speculated that gamma rhythms modulate perception and consciousness and that a greater presence of gamma relates to expanded consciousness and spiritual emergence.
With a new $1.8 million grant from the Part the Cloud-Gates Partnership Grant Program of the Alzheimer’s Association, researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Massachusetts General Hospital are launching a new clinical trial to test whether stimulating a key frequency of brain waves with light and sound can prevent the advance of Alzheimer’s disease pathology even before volunteers experience symptoms such as memory impairment.
“Because Alzheimer’s disease leads to neurodegeneration and cognitive decline, the best time for intervention may be before those symptoms even begin,” said Dr. Li-Huei Tsai, Picower Professor of Neuroscience and director of The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT. “We are hopeful that our safe, non-invasive approach of sensory stimulation of 40Hz gamma brain rhythms can have a preventative benefit for patients. We are very grateful to Part the Cloud-Gates Partnership Grant Program for their support in funding rigorous research to test this exciting possibility.”
In extensive testing in Tsai’s lab with multiple mouse models of Alzheimer’s, the light and sound stimulation technique, called Gamma ENtrainment Using Sensory Stimuli (GENUS), improved cognition and memory, prevented neurodegeneration, and reduced amyloid and tau protein buildups. The research showed that increasing 40Hz brain rhythm power and synchrony stimulated the brain’s immune cells and blood vessels to clear out the toxic proteins. Early results from human testing at MIT show that GENUS is well tolerated and increases 40Hz power and synchrony, just like in the mice.
The new study, conducted in collaboration with neurologist Dr. Keith Johnson at MGH, will enroll 50 volunteers aged 55 or older who show signs of amyloid protein plaque buildup in PET scans but remain cognitively normal. Experimental volunteers will receive an hour of GENUS light and sound stimulation in their homes daily for a year. At regular checkups, the team will monitor GENUS's effect on amyloid buildup via PET scans as well as other biomarkers such as tau and for changes in cognition, sleep, structural and functional MRI, and other indicators of brain function and health.
The trial will be double-blinded, randomized, and controlled, meaning that some volunteers will be exposed to non-GENUS light and sound during the trial to provide a non-treatment comparison group. To ensure that bias does not influence the results, neither the volunteers nor the experimenters will know which group's volunteers are.
https://brainworksneurotherapy.com/what-are-brainwaves
While most of us have heard of the ability to hack computers, smartphones, and emails, most aren’t as familiar with hacking the human body. Enter: biohacking.
While it may sound a little out-of-this-world, biohacking is essentially do-it-yourself biology. Biohackers make small changes in their diet or lifestyle to improve their overall well-being and health.
While you’ll find online people selling you different types of biohacking, there are only a few worth mentioning, one being red light therapy. Biohacking methods, like red light therapy, provide the body with more energy and strength, accelerating performance and speed.
What is biohacking?
Let’s dive a bit deeper on this topic.
Biohacking is the practice of changing the body’s chemistry through science and trial and error. In other words, what may work for one person will not work for another.
However, with biohacking, the concept is that we have the power to alter our bodies and brains to become the best versions of ourselves. Essentially, biohacking allows you to take control of your own biology.
Biohacking with light therapy: how light affects the body
You may be struggling with depression, mood swings, skin conditions, inflammation, muscle recovery, or sleep. Luckily, the practice of biohacking with red light therapy has been scientifically proven to affect the body on the cellular level positively. In layman's terms, instead of dealing with symptoms, red light therapy focuses on healing the root issue while improving one’s overall wellness.
A review in The Journal of Rheumatology found that the best treatment for people who have rheumatoid arthritis was via red light therapy treatment. Red light therapy helps the cells rejuvenate for muscle recovery, speeding up recovery time and stimulating muscle growth. One study from the European Journal of Applied Physiology found that muscle thickness and strength were significantly improved (over 50%) in participants who used red light therapy. For those who suffer from sleep disorders, red light and near-infrared light helps regulate the circadian rhythm and increases natural melatonin production for improved and deep sleep.
The studies show that the human body responds positively to red and near-infrared wavelengths, ranging from 600 to 900 nm. These wavelengths penetrate through the skin, stimulating ATP production in the cell’s mitochondria. As a result, damaged cells are rejuvenated, and new cells are produced, quickening the healing process the body goes through.
This is why red light therapy has become a staple in the biohacking community. Treatments do not focus on one issue; rather it provides the body with multiple healing properties.
Dave Asprey, one of the leaders of the biohacking movement, says, “Light is a massive signal for the brain, the skin, and every cell in your body. Red light, generally, is going to make you feel better and look better.”
If you’ve been wondering, “is red light therapy safe for my skin and eyes?” The answer is yes. Red light therapy is a non-pharmacological and non-invasive treatment that can be used on a routine basis without major side effects. That said, we always recommend that you consult your physician before doing anything.
Is biohacking the future of health?
More and more people are looking for non-invasive and non-pharmacological ways to attain better health and wellness. People want control over their bodies and are straying away from traditional methods such as prescription medication. While that’s happening, biohacking is continuing to develop and implement realistic and non-harmful ways to improve one’s well-being and overall health.
At Kaiyan, we’re one step ahead of the game as we focus on manufacturing MDA-certified and FDA-approved light therapy devices for a wide range of purposes, whether they’re for at-home or clinical use.
If you’re interested in creating a private label for professional use, we highly recommend you contact our team for more information on the process. We’d love to work with you and open up the possibilities of light therapy to people who want to change their lives for the better.
