How I Used Red Light Therapy to Reset My Circadian Rhythm

Portions of this article originally appeared in Biohacking Routine for Creative Energy

by Kayley Sexton

 Guest post by Kayley Sexton of Nouveau Elan

If you feel as though you’re lacking energy, brain function, creativity, focus, or immunity, you may benefit from the routine I’ve created to enhance my body’s natural ability to heal. My routine incorporates several supplements and lifestyle practices, including red light therapy using my TheraBulb near infrared light bulb. This therapy is one thing that I am certain to do each day. My husband and I have suffered from chronic fatigue for a multitude of reasons such as extensive travel, demands of parenting, chemical exposure, childhood injury, and damage from past eating practices. Symptoms of chronic fatigue have led to insomnia and sleep disorders for both me and my husband. Using red light, we have been able to reset our circadian rhythms, our which are body’s natural clocks that regulate levels of melatonin, the sleep hormone released when the moon is out. These same circadian rhythms also cause our bodies to release adrenaline when the sun is out. When the circadian rhythm is out of balance, you experience inability or difficulty falling asleep, insomnia, night wakings, and waking too early. Thanks to red light therapy we can fall asleep easily and at an earlier time. Our natural hormonal rhythm is restored, helping us wake up earlier and signaling to our bodies in the evening that it is time to reset, restore, relax, and rest.

“Thanks to red light therapy we are able to fall asleep easily and at an earlier time. Our natural hormonal rhythm is restored, helping us wake up earlier and signaling to our bodies in the evening that it is time to reset, restore, relax, and rest.”

Red light therapy is a powerful tool that mimics a natural process. Red light is what we get when we sit by a warm fire, look at the sunset or sunrise. It is also the warmth we feel from the sun during the day. The daytime sun also emits blue light, which stimulates our body and mind, a process that is helpful during the day, when we want to be awake, but can interfere with the nighttime process of falling asleep. For this reason, I spend my early evenings limiting blue light on my screens, such as turning on the “night mode” or “blue light filter” on my phone. Blocking blue light on computer and phone screens as well as on tv screens can help to maintain the body’s natural evening release of melatonin. We use TheraBulb red lights in our own home to mitigate all the extra artificial blue light during the day that we get from computers, phones, and TV screens. We don’t always have the opportunity to set our body’s circadian clock by watching the sunrise and sunset, so TheraBulb red lights come in handy, giving us our daily dose of red light no matter what.

In addition to appreciating the positive effects on circadian rhythm from red light, I love the effect that red light therapy has on my skin appearance. It stimulates the production of cells that make our skin supple and “bounce back,” like such elastin-promoting cells as fibroblasts and collagen. It also stimulates circulation by increasing nitric oxide production, which aids in wound healing and lessens chronic pain. It balances hormones by inducing melatonin production (conversely, blue light has the opposite effect, limiting melatonin production, which is thought to be partly responsible for the rising depression and insomnia in the modern day). Red light induces mitochondrial activation, stimulating the production of cellular energy and making your body more efficient at converting fuel such as food into energy. “Infrared light helps our bodies perform multiple important functions. It aids in cell repair and regeneration. It can increase blood circulation, which has shown to promote collagen production, faster healing, and reduce symptoms of chronic pain.” From the book, Infrared Light Therapy for Recovery, Fitness, Skin Care and Total-Body Wellness.

These modalities of natural wellness have been game changers for our overall health. Check out my link here for a 15% off discount your first order from TheraBulb.

Instagram: @NouveauElan

Facebook: @NouveauElanHolistic

Website: https://nouveauelan.com/

Kayley Sexton is a recent graduate of the two-year Holistic Nutrition Wellness Practitioner program at SWIHA. Her life has completely changed because of holistic wellness. Kayley has a passion for healing others through mind-body wellness, spiritual help, herbalism, fitness, self-help, sustainability and nutrition. Kayley also has a love for coaching people to transform their lives and is the proud business owner of her new venture Nouveau Elan where she also sells handmade organic herbal products on her shop at NouveauElan.com.