Aging is a natural process that brings about various changes in our bodies, often accompanied by discomfort and pain.

In this blog, we are taking a closer look at:

1) What is driving the aging processes in our bodies?

2) What are the symptoms of aging?

3) Why has deep healing red light therapy been praised as one of the most effective anti-aging treatments of this decade?

The two biggest changes we experience as we age are wrinkles / sagging skin and muscle weakness / body pain:

The reason for wrinkles and sagging skin are our collagen and elastin levels. Collagen and elastin are two proteins that are crucial to youthful skin. Both are naturally produced by our bodies.

There is not much that can be done do about the genetic factors, despite supplementing to the amount of collagen and elastin your body produces. Regarding environmental factors, however, there are different lifestyle choices that can be optimized.

1) Excessive sun exposure, smoking or alcohol consumption can reduce your collagen and elastin production.

2) Regular exercise, sleep patterns and low stress levels can improve your collagen and elastin production.

3) Skincare practices can help to protect the skin from damage and maintain its health and youthful appearance. They do, however, not treat the underlying cause of the aging process.

The second most prominent symptom of aging is muscle weakness, joint pain, and decreased bone density. Some of the main reasons for that are tissue damage, inflammation as well as wear and tear of bone cartilage.

We experience this as lower physical performance, and we gradually have to reduce or stop the activities we loved to do because they become too exhausting. Two other processes add to this problem and make matters even worse

1) With lower muscle strength, the wear and tear on the cartilage between our bones increases, leading to joint pain, stiffness and reduced range of motion.

2) Bone density decreases because of hormonal changes, which makes us more prone to injury.

While it’s not possible to stop the weakening of muscles, or the decrease of bone density, there are ways to slow down these changes in our body. First and foremost, physical activity and weight bearing exercises place stress on our bones and have a bone-stimulating effect. They also slow down the decrease of muscle mass, which puts less force on the cartilage between our bones.

Just like our body is able to use sunlight to produce Vitamin D, it is able to turn red light photons into cellular energy. With more cellular energy, normal mitochondrial functioning can be restored, supercharging our body’s natural healing processes.

From nerve regeneration in neuropathy, to tissue repair in joint pain, our body is much better able to heal and regenerate itself. This is further supported by increased blood circulation, because more oxygen and nutrients can be delivered to damaged joint tissues, facilitating the healing process.

Another benefit of deep healing red light therapy is its anti-inflammatory effects. Fewer physical activity among elderly is often due to inflammation. The therapy thus not only reduces swelling, redness and discomfort but also allows for more physical activity to strengthen muscles and bone density.

Lastly, red light therapy regulates the release of neurotransmitters involved in pain perception, such as substance P, resulting in localized pain reduction.

While deep healing red light therapy does not help to build muscles, it does help to keep your body’s natural healing processes working effectively that ultimately slow down the weakening of muscles. Clinical trials have shown that daily, deep healing red light therapy is effective in the relief of pain in knees, back, shoulder, kneck, hands, feet and hips.

It is estimated that deep healing red light therapy may reduce aging by ~15%, which makes it one of the most effective, non-invasive anti-aging treatments of this decade.