Red Light Therapy? Who’s That?
Hey hey, KJ here!
When Ris and Kellie brought up the idea of having Red Light Therapy at GLOW, I had never heard of it and somewhat mentally dismissed it as a little “woo woo.” BUT, knowing that our two fearless leaders were in support of this new (or what was new to me) and innovative technology with what supposedly has numerous health benefits… The little Ravenclaw in me decided to do one of the things that I do best, and learn a few facts for myself. With that being said, here is just a little bit of what I learned and why you can catch me under those lights when I’m not commanding everyone in the room to do push ups…
SKIN
As I said before, red light therapy may be new to me, but apparently dermatologists have been using it for over a decade! As someone well acquainted with various skin maladies over the years, this immediately caught my attention. The overall theory surrounding red light therapy is that it is targeting the mitochondria (the powerhouse!) of our cells which in turn, ends up giving our cells more energy so that they can reach their maximum productivity potential! All of that sounds very exciting… but if you weren’t prepared to rejoin a 7th grade science class while reading this, basically it helps the skin by both repairing and restoring your skin cells! It has been shown to have the potential to reduce fine lines and wrinkles, decrease inflammation, and stimulate collagen. Red light therapy also has shown to combat issues such as acne, hyperpigmentation, and psoriasis. As always, the key to seeing results is consistency so you want to try and do three to five sessions (8 minutes each) a week if possible.
MUSCLES
The next component that caught my eye when it came to studying red light therapy was the effectiveness that it can have on your muscles before AND after exercise. Incorporating red light therapy just 5 minutes before your workout can help to reduce fatigue, shorten your post-workout recovery time, and decrease oxidative stress. I even learned that there was a study done in Brazil that tested 48 male athletes over the course of 12 weeks where the group was split between athletes who underwent red light therapy and a control group. The group that received red light therapy saw significant improvements with both muscle growth and overall strength when compared to the control group! As far as after exercise is concerned, the benefits are numerous… it has been shown to improve muscle recovery and to help with inflammation after exercise. It can even help with speeding up healing time for certain injuries! So far, I’m seeing no negatives to any of this. It sounds like it can be just as important as taking your pre-workout, or foam rolling after a class! Why not take advantage of these benefits?
MOOD
As we are entering the winter months, we all know how the lack of sunshine can affect our general mental health and overall moodiness. With that being said, I really wanted to find the correlation of red light therapy on one’s mood. The first fact that I found really had me sold because red light therapy has been found to have positive effects on regulating cortisol levels! Cortisol is a stress related hormone that can have significant impact on mood regulation. Let’s also not forget that the magical mood boosting chemicals, serotonin and dopamine, are also increased when undergoing red light therapy! While increasing all of those lovely chemicals, it has been shown to decrease anxiety (the worst), heart rate, and overall pain. Essentially, if you catch me more cheery than normal, you know where it is coming from!
Overall, I am definitely a fan of this new addition to GLOW. I am so happy that we have chosen to offer such an incredible health benefit for our Passholders (included in unlimited memberships mind you!) and cannot wait to see the effects that it has on all of us! Also if you don’t believe me, please check out a few of my sources that deep dive a little further into all of the above facts, or you can even check out the book that we have in studio for you to read!
KJ, Barre & PowerGLOW Instructor
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