Healthy Living Blog: Is Red Light Therapy Real or Just Hype? What 6,000 Studies (and Your Circadian Rhythm) Reveal with Ari Whitten

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If you’ve been scrolling through wellness spaces lately, you’ve probably seen red light therapy panels and infrared saunas popping up everywhere. But here’s what most people miss: red light therapy isn’t a trendy wellness gimmick. It’s a decades-old technology backed by over 6,000 peer-reviewed studies. The real question isn’t whether it works. It’s whether you’re using it correctly.

For midlife women juggling everything from hormonal shifts to accelerated aging, understanding how light actually impacts your biology might be the missing piece you’ve been searching for. Because while you’ve been told that sunlight damages your skin, the real story is far more nuanced. It’s also far more empowering.

I recently sat down with Ari Whitten, one of the world’s leading experts on photobiomodulation (the scientific term for how light affects our cells). What he shared completely reframed how I think about light therapy, energy, and aging. After nearly two decades of friendship and collaboration, I can tell you this conversation is essential for anyone serious about looking and feeling younger longer.

Understanding Light as a Nutrient: Why Your Body Needs Red Light Like It Needs Magnesium

Most of us think of light in one of two ways: it lets us see things, or it damages our skin through UV exposure. But that’s an incredibly limited view of what light actually does to your biology.

Here’s the paradigm shift you need: light isn’t just something we see with our eyes. Photons of light penetrate into our body and interact with our cells in ways that directly affect our health, energy, and aging process. This isn’t fringe science. This is foundational biology that’s been studied for decades through laser research before LED technology made red light therapy accessible for home use.

The way to think about red light therapy is the same way you think about any other essential nutrient. Just as your body requires B vitamins or magnesium to function optimally, your biology has evolved to require specific wavelengths of light from the sun to perform critical functions. When you don’t get adequate light exposure, or when you get the wrong type of light at the wrong times, your entire physiology suffers.

This explains why so many women find that simply changing their light exposure patterns creates dramatic improvements in their health. This happens even before they add red light devices. When Ari works with clients, he notices that most midlife women aren’t getting adequate natural light exposure. They’re fighting their circadian rhythm constantly. These women use bright artificial lights late into the evening. They spend all day under fluorescent office lighting. They get minimal time in actual sunlight. These women then wonder why everything feels broken: their hormones, their sleep, their energy, their metabolism.

The Circadian Rhythm: Your 24-Hour Biological Master Clock That Controls Everything

Before we talk about red light specifically, you need to understand circadian rhythm science. This is the foundation of everything else.

Your body isn’t a static machine. You’re wired to experience rhythmic changes every 24 hours, tied to the rise and fall of the sun. This isn’t a small detail. Your circadian rhythm is literally controlling a central biological clock in your brain that manages hundreds of metabolic and hormonal processes throughout your entire body.

Think about this: every single night, without any conscious effort, you enter a completely different state of consciousness and fall asleep for approximately eight hours. How does that happen? Your circadian rhythm. The fact that you wake up and are alert and energetic during the day? Circadian rhythm. The reason you naturally feel sleepy when the sun sets? Circadian rhythm.

But here’s where it gets crucial for your health: thyroid hormone, testosterone, cortisol, growth hormone, and melatonin all follow a precise 24-hour rhythm. They rise and fall in specific patterns tied to light and darkness cycles. When your circadian rhythm is properly aligned with natural light-dark cycles, these hormones are secreted in the exact amounts at the exact times that your body needs them. When your circadian rhythm is disrupted, all of these hormones fall out of sync.

And it’s not just these five or six hormones. Research on peripheral clocks (biological clocks that exist in every tissue and organ system throughout your body) shows that your skin, heart, intestines, liver, muscles, and bones are all responsive to your central circadian clock. When your circadian rhythm is disrupted, every system in your body is operating in dysfunction.

This is why Ari says that when he works with women whose health is completely out of whack, the first thing he looks at isn’t necessarily hormone replacement or supplements. It’s light exposure. When everything from hormones to cortisol to sleep to metabolism is broken, light is often the culprit. Most of these women are getting inadequate natural light. They’re using too many bright artificial lights in the evenings. They’re constantly fighting their biological clock. One simple change, getting better light exposure, has transformed countless women’s health.

Why Blue Light at Night Is Sabotaging Your Sleep, Hormones, and Metabolism

The circadian rhythm science naturally leads to the conversation about artificial light at night and blue light exposure.

Your circadian clock uses blue wavelengths of light entering your eyes as a major signal for what time of day it is. When blue light hits your eyes in the morning, your brain receives the message: “It’s daytime. Be awake, alert, and active.” This triggers the appropriate hormonal cascades. Cortisol rises. You feel energized. Your metabolism shifts into activity mode.

But here’s the problem: modern life has flooded our evenings with blue light. LED bulbs, phone screens, computer monitors, and bright artificial lighting in our homes and workplaces emit wavelengths that trick your brain into thinking it’s still daytime. At 10 PM, your brain is receiving the same “it’s daytime” signal that it should only receive at 8 AM.

When your brain doesn’t get the signal that it’s nighttime, melatonin production is suppressed. Your body doesn’t know it’s time to wind down. Sleep quality suffers. Your parasympathetic nervous system (the part of your nervous system responsible for rest, digestion, and recovery) never fully activates. You’re essentially keeping yourself in a state of low-level fight-or-flight mode all night long.

Over weeks and months, this disruption cascades through every system in your body. Your hormones fall out of sync. Your metabolism struggles. Your immune system weakens. Your inflammation increases. This is why night shift workers experience massive increases in risk for heart disease, dementia, Alzheimer’s, cancer, and metabolic disease. It’s all circadian rhythm disruption.

The solution seems simple: reduce blue light in the evenings. Switch from bright white LED bulbs to amber or red lighting after sunset. Use blue light blockers if you must use screens in the evening. But the deeper point is this: your biology evolved for millions of years in a world where the sun provided your only light source. When darkness fell, there was darkness. This allowed your circadian rhythm to function exactly as it’s designed to function.

Red Light Therapy: Beyond the Anti-Aging Hype

Now let’s talk about red light specifically. This is where the real science gets exciting, and where most people completely misunderstand how to use it.

Red light and near-infrared light are parts of the electromagnetic spectrum that sit just beyond what we can see with our eyes. Unlike blue light or ultraviolet light, which can be oxidative and potentially damaging to skin cells, red and near-infrared wavelengths actually do the opposite. They have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory effects at the cellular level.

Here’s why this matters: the sun produces a complete spectrum of light. Within that spectrum, ultraviolet and blue wavelengths can be pro-aging and pro-collagen breakdown in your skin. But red and near-infrared wavelengths have the opposite effect. They stimulate collagen production, reduce inflammation, and create anti-aging effects at the cellular level.

This is crucial for women worried about sun damage. The way many of us think about sun exposure is binary: sun is either good for vitamin D or it’s damaging your skin. But the reality is far more sophisticated. The sun’s effect on your skin depends on multiple factors. Red light is actually a protective mechanism built into sunlight itself.

One of the most important factors determining how your skin responds to sun exposure is your diet. Phytochemicals (the powerful compounds found in colorful vegetables, berries, and plants) accumulate in your skin and act as internal sunscreens. They directly prevent skin damage and DNA damage from ultraviolet light exposure. If you eat a standard American diet lacking in phytonutrients, your skin is far more prone to breakdown from sun exposure. If you eat a diet rich in deeply colored vegetables, berries, and antioxidant-rich foods, your skin responds very differently. It’s far less susceptible to sun damage.

This is why Ari is clear that diet matters enormously for how your skin ages. The argument that you should avoid colorful vegetables because you’re following some restrictive diet is essentially an argument that you should age your skin faster. The science is incredibly clear: richly colored vegetables and fruits prevent damage from sun exposure. They support skin health. They’re beneficial to every system in your body.

The Real Science Behind Red Light Therapy’s Anti-Aging Effects

So what exactly happens when red and near-infrared light penetrate your skin?

These wavelengths bypass your visual system entirely and interact directly with your cells. Specifically, they interact with mitochondria (the energy-producing powerhouses of your cells). Red and near-infrared light enhances the function of cytochrome c oxidase, an enzyme critical to mitochondrial energy production. More efficient mitochondrial function means more cellular energy (ATP) production. This means your cells can perform repair and regeneration more effectively.

This is why the research on red light therapy is so extensive: it’s not a random benefit. It’s a fundamental biological mechanism that affects energy production at the cellular level. When your cells have more energy, they can do what they’re designed to do. They heal, repair, regenerate, and function optimally.

The research documents benefits across virtually every system of the body:

For skin health and anti-aging: Red light therapy promotes collagen production, combats wrinkles, reduces inflammation, and creates measurable improvements in skin texture and appearance. All without the sun damage risk.

For athletic performance and recovery: Enhanced mitochondrial function means better oxygen utilization, faster muscle recovery, reduced exercise-induced inflammation, and improved adaptations to training.

For healing and injury recovery: Bone healing, muscle healing, tendon healing, skin healing, and wound healing all accelerate with red light therapy. This extends to serious conditions. Red light has been shown to help combat diabetic ulcers, diabetic neuropathy, and the side effects of chemotherapy (particularly oral mucositis, which is inflammation of the mouth and throat).

For general health and longevity: The systemic effects of improved mitochondrial function cascade through your entire body. You get improved immune function, reduced inflammation, better sleep quality, enhanced cognitive function, and better overall energy.

Over 6,000 peer-reviewed studies document these effects. This is no longer fringe science. It’s mainstream, and yet most women have never heard of it or don’t understand how to use it effectively.

The Sun vs. Red Light Therapy: How They Work Together (Not as Competitors)

Here’s the question most people ask: if the sun provides red light naturally, why do I need red light panels or infrared saunas?

The answer is nuanced. There’s almost no direct research comparing 20 minutes in the sun versus 20 minutes with a red light device and how they affect your body differently. But here’s the big picture understanding:

Natural sunlight provides a complete spectrum of light. It includes blue wavelengths (for circadian rhythm regulation), ultraviolet wavelengths (for vitamin D production), red wavelengths, near-infrared wavelengths, and more. You can’t just get the red and near-infrared benefits from the sun without also getting the blue light and UV exposure that come with it.

With red light therapy devices, you can isolate specific wavelengths for specific purposes. You can use a device on your face for skin anti-aging benefits without the UV exposure. You can use a high-powered device on a joint or injury for localized healing without needing to expose your whole body to sun. You can target your brain or specific tissues with wavelengths optimized for your goal.

Additionally, the dose of red light you get from the sun varies dramatically depending on time of day, cloud cover, latitude, season, and how much time you actually spend outside. Most people spend far too much time indoors under artificial lighting. They spend far too little time in natural light. When you do get outside, you’re often wearing sunscreen or sunglasses (both of which filter out certain wavelengths). Red light therapy devices allow you to control the dose and ensure you’re getting adequate exposure.

That said, sunlight is still crucial. Natural sunlight provides blue light exposure that regulates your circadian rhythm. This is something no red light device can replicate. It provides vitamin D production. It provides psychological benefits. Getting outside in natural light is non-negotiable for health.

The real strategy is synergistic: get adequate natural light exposure during the day (especially morning light to set your circadian rhythm properly). Avoid artificial light in the evenings (to keep your circadian rhythm aligned). Then use red light therapy devices strategically for specific health goals.

Red Light Therapy Device Types: Which One Do You Actually Need?

Here’s where people get confused and waste money: not all red light therapy devices are created equal, and different devices serve different purposes.

If your goal is general wellness and whole-body systemic benefits (improved energy, better sleep, reduced inflammation, general anti-aging), you want to maximize the total dose of light delivered across the largest body surface area possible. This is where larger red light panels make sense. Sitting in front of a large panel or between multiple panels exposes a significant portion of your body to therapeutic wavelengths. This delivers a substantial total dose.

But if your goal is specific (like facial skin anti-aging), the device type, light intensity, and how it conforms to your body part matter tremendously.

For facial skin anti-aging specifically, you actually want a lower light intensity. This is around 10 to 50 millawatts per square centimeter. This is counterintuitive to many people (higher must be better, right?). But it’s not. Very high-intensity light on delicate facial skin can actually be ineffective or even harmful. A device like a facial mask that conforms to the contours of your face delivers the right light intensity. It maintains the optimal angle of light penetration (called perpendicularity, a principle from 1800s physics known as Fresnel’s equations). It will be far more effective than a flat panel held in front of your face.

The reason conformance matters: when light hits your face at different angles, some penetrates into the skin and gets absorbed (which is what you want), and some reflects off the surface (which is wasted). A flat panel hitting the center of your forehead at a perpendicular angle will deliver light effectively there. But the sides of your face, your cheeks, and areas where your face curves will receive light at oblique angles. This causes more reflection and less absorption. A mask that curves to match your facial contours maintains that perpendicularity across the entire treatment area.

For localized issues (like a joint with arthritis, a specific injury, or hair loss), you’d want a different device entirely. High-powered, focused devices with smaller treatment areas deliver intense light to penetrate deeply into specific tissues.

So the practical approach many women take is actually the right strategy. Having both panels for whole-body wellness and facial masks for anti-aging means you’re not overdoing it. You’re using each device for what it’s optimized for.

The Preconditioning Effect: Red Light Before Sun Exposure

Here’s something most people don’t know: red light therapy has a preconditioning effect on your skin.

Research shows that using red and near-infrared light on your skin before sun exposure reduces the damage and potential for sunburn. Essentially, it conditions your skin so that it becomes much less prone to being damaged by subsequent ultraviolet light exposure. This means if you’re planning a vacation where you’ll be in significant sun exposure, using red light therapy on your skin beforehand can actually protect you.

The same is true in reverse: red light can be used after sun exposure to help heal and repair any photodamage. So red light therapy and sun exposure work synergistically. They’re not competitive.

The Circadian Rhythm Controversy: Addressing the Skeptics

When Ari shared circadian rhythm science on social media recently, someone with a PhD chimed in claiming that circadian rhythm isn’t real. They said blue light doesn’t actually affect cortisol or sleep. This is absurd, but it’s also revealing about how science gets distorted in public spaces.

Here’s what’s true: the existence of circadian rhythm and the impact of light wavelengths on circadian function are not controversial in the scientific community. The mechanisms are well-established through thousands of studies. Yes, someone could argue about specific nuances. They could debate the exact degree to which light at a specific time of day affects a specific hormone. But the foundational science isn’t debated by serious scientists.

What often happens is that one person (sometimes with credentials to sound authoritative) takes a contrary position. The public assumes this represents legitimate scientific debate. It doesn’t. The body of evidence on circadian rhythm is overwhelming and consistent. Night shift workers experiencing massive increases in disease risk is circadian rhythm disruption in action. The fact that your body naturally wants to sleep when it’s dark and be awake when it’s light is circadian rhythm in action.

Don’t let outlier opinions distract you from the robust science. Your biology is fundamentally tied to light and darkness cycles. This is as established as nutrition science gets.

Ari’s New Book: The Definitive Guide to Red Light Therapy

For years, Ari self-published what became the world’s number one best-selling book on red light therapy. Last year, recognizing that red light therapy has gone mainstream, Penguin Random House reached out. They asked to republish an updated version with cutting-edge science.

What makes this book remarkable is that Ari didn’t just update his self-published work. He partnered with Michael Hamblin, a Harvard-trained scientist who is the most prolific researcher in the world on red light therapy. Hamblin has published over 1,400 papers on the subject. Hamblin reviewed every page to ensure accuracy. He even became Ari’s co-author.

The result is essentially the Bible of red light therapy. It’s a comprehensive resource that covers both the deep science and the practical application. It’s not a novel you read cover-to-cover. It’s more like a sophisticated textbook that you can navigate based on your specific interests and questions. Want to understand the quantum biology of how photons become cellular benefits? It’s there. Want to know exactly which device to buy for your specific goal and how to use it? That’s there too.

For midlife women serious about understanding light’s role in health, anti-aging, energy, and longevity, this book is an invaluable resource.

The Missing Piece in Your Health Strategy

Here’s what keeps coming back to me from this conversation with Ari: most midlife women are addressing their health with incomplete information. They’re buying supplements, trying different diets, starting new exercise programs. But they’re completely overlooking one of the most fundamental inputs to human health: light.

Your circadian rhythm isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s not an optimization strategy for overachievers. It’s foundational. When your circadian rhythm is disrupted, every other health intervention becomes less effective. When your circadian rhythm is properly aligned (when you’re getting the right light at the right times), your body’s natural healing, repair, and regeneration mechanisms work optimally.

And then, on top of that foundation, strategically using red light therapy for specific goals (whether that’s anti-aging skin, injury recovery, energy enhancement, or general wellness) amplifies the benefits of everything else you’re doing.

This isn’t about buying the fanciest red light device. It’s about understanding how light works as a nutrient and strategically providing your body with the light inputs it’s evolved to require.

For women who feel like they’re doing everything right but still don’t feel right, this might be the missing piece.

 

Key Takeaways: Red Light Therapy and Your Health

• Light is bioactive: Photons of light directly interact with your cells and affect your biology in ways most people never consider
• Your circadian rhythm controls everything: The central biological clock in your brain regulates hormones, metabolism, immune function, and virtually every physiological system
• Blue light at night is sabotaging you: Modern artificial lighting tricks your brain into thinking it’s daytime when it’s nighttime, disrupting sleep and hormone balance
• Red and near-infrared light have opposite effects from UV and blue light: They’re antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and stimulate collagen production
• The sun and red light therapy work together: Natural sunlight provides circadian regulation and vitamin D, while red light devices allow you to isolate wavelengths for specific goals
• Device type matters: Different devices optimize for different purposes (whole-body panels vs. facial masks vs. targeted high-power devices)
• Your diet affects sun sensitivity: Phytonutrient-rich foods act as internal sunscreen and are crucial for healthy skin aging
• This is mainstream science: Over 6,000 peer-reviewed studies document the effects of red light therapy across virtually every body system

Get a copy of Ari’s new book HERE

 

 

 

 

The contents of the Midlife Conversations podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult with a qualified healthcare provider. Some episodes of Midlife Conversations may be sponsored by products or services discussed during the show. The host may receive compensation for such advertisements or if you purchase products through affiliate links mentioned on this podcast.

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