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What’s the Best Red Light Therapy Device?

Written by

Katarina Mirkovic Arsic

The correct answer to the question “what’s the best red light therapy device?” depends on:

  • what you need it for
  • how you plan on using it

This may not be the short and straightforward answer you were hoping for, but it is the correct one. The long answer requires us to go into more details about types of red light therapy devices, their characteristics, and differences.

Let’s start with the basics – why would you consider introducing red light sessions into your life, in the first place? Then we’ll consider different types of red light devices and what to look for when buying a device.

What Is Red Light Therapy Good For?

Let’s list some of the amazing red light therapy benefits:

  • Boosts your immunity
  • Helps repair damaged nerves
  • Promotes healing of muscles, bones, tendons, and even wounds
  • Enhances hair growth and health
  • Rejuvenates skin
  • Helps alleviate different types of pain

In simple words, red light therapy helps our bodies maintain optimal levels of energy, necessary for all healing processes.

Our body works like a battery, and as such, it is positively and negatively charged on all levels. The level that’s the most important for the healing processes is the mitochondria in the cells. 

These cell organelles generate amazing quantities of energy. That’s why they are often called the powerhouse of the cell. For them to generate so much energy, they have to get it from somewhere. 

One of the best ways to charge your mitochondria is to deliver red light to them which they, consequently turn into energy your body uses for many different processes.

Mitochondria have proteins in their membranes and are excellent light receptors. Therefore, when the red light from your device reaches those proteins, you are charging the mitochondria and they are distributing that energy where it’s needed.

What Types of Red Light Therapy Devices Are There?

Depending on how they are constructed and what their goal is, we can crudely classify red light therapy devices into several groups. 

Cosmetic Red Light Therapy Devices

You may have seen different face masks, pens, and bulbs that are used to treat facial skin. In most cases, these devices are used for skin rejuvenation. Some of them are even designed to be carried around with you.

Cosmetic red light therapy devices usually treat acne, fine lines and wrinkles, different blemishes, and even blackheads.

Red Light Therapy Wraps

These types of red light therapy devices usually consist of a fabric material in which very small red light LEDs are attached. The fabric, resembling neoprene can be wrapped around your body or specific body parts.

The main goal of such devices is to relieve the pain of injury, neuropathy, arthritis, heavy exercise, and similar. This type of red light therapy is somewhat outdated with the advancement of new, more powerful, and more effective devices.

Red Light Therapy Panels

Many companies create red light therapy panels in different sizes. They can range from a size of a book to a large, full-body mirror. You can definitely get amazing benefits from using them. However, even if your red light panel has great energy output, your body cannot use all that energy in the most adequate way. Some of it is wasted.

A lot of the energy from red light is lost while traveling to your body if you are not pressed against the panel. The effectiveness of red light weakens as you move away from the light. 

Additionally, even if you press against a panel, what about the curves of your body? Or your joints and other hard to reach-into places? They will not receive the same amount of red light. That’s why more recent types of red light therapy devices attempt to solve this issue by becoming more ergonomic.

Portable Red Light Therapy Devices

The FlexBeam belongs to this group. It is a portable device that has excellent power output and adequate irradiance. The part is – it is easy to use, it’s portable and you can target the parts of your body that you want.

In this way, you make the most of your device and its energy and light output. That is one of the many reasons why it works better than a red light panel. Since it’s targeted, it is also more effective than any portable panel.

What about infrared saunas? This type of treatment is often mistaken for red light therapy. Infrared saunas emit red light, but also emit heat. While red light therapy doesn’t have any known side effects, heat from infrared saunas can be a health issue for some people. 

What to Look for in a Red Light Therapy Device?

Now that you know what are the benefits of red light therapy and you understand different types of devices, let’s see what you should keep in mind when shopping for a red light therapy device:

Mind the Wavelengths

If your red light therapy device description doesn’t explicitly claim which light wavelengths that device produces, drop it. Also, devices that offer 700-770nm are the least effective.

Wavelength is probably the most important factor when choosing the RLT device. Science says that you can achieve the healing effects with light that ranges from 600 to 1020nm.

In our extensive research, both practical and by exploring the experiment and research done by others, we conclude that the best range for red light is between 610 and 650nm. That’s the red spectrum FlexBeam operates in. 

For infrared, you get the best health benefits of the near-infrared light spectrum if it’s between 800 and 850nm. You will find many scientific articles about the demonstrated benefits of near-infrared light in this wavelength range.

This is one of the presets that the FlexBeam operates in. Rather than sticking to one specific frequency, it has been designed to sweep the spectrum of 800-850 nm for optimal exposure.

Good Energy Density

When checking the energy density, look for the J/cm2 mark. With the FlexBeam, you will get a steady stream of energy with up to 89.5 J/cm2 density – depending on your presets.

The FlexBeam is optimized for the best energy density and that’s what allows its applications to be short and effective. 

These are our calculated estimates, but not precisely measured quantities.

flexbeam-power-density-and-dose

Effective Irradiance Zone

Red light and near-infrared light devices are proven to be most effective when they are within the range of 20-200 mW/cm2 (for your reference, the FlexBeam has irradiance of 110 mW/cm2). 

Many cheap red lamps that you can find on the market today either don’t have good energy density and irradiance or they don’t list this data for you to see. Avoid devices that don’t reveal this crucial information. Wrong wavelengths, energy density, and irradiance can make a device totally ineffective.

Targeted Delivery of Red Light

When you move away from the red light source, its effects are drastically reduced. That’s one of the reasons why panels aren’t ideal. You can only stand as close to a panel as you can. On the other hand, you can wrap your FlexBeam directly to the area you need to be exposed to NIR/red light.

Low nnEMF Emissions

nnEMF is short for non-native electromagnetic fields. These happen when a device is plugged into the main electricity supply. nnEMF is shown to have many negative effects and is a major health concern for many people who are knowledgeable about reducing harmful exposures to their bodies.

These health effects are serious enough to cancel out many of the benefits of red light therapy. That is why you should choose devices that can be powered by batteries because this drastically cuts exposure to these emissions.

Last, but not least, the prime advantage of a targeted, portable red light therapy device, like the FlexBeam, is the convenience of use.

  • You can carry it with you wherever you go.
  • You don’t have to stand naked in front of a panel to get your dose of red light.
  • You can wrap it around the area of your choice while you work, cook, or just go through your day.

As long as it’s directly on your skin, it will do its thing.

The best red light therapy device is the one that gives you the best energy density, irradiance, and physiological effects that you need. 

But the most effective device is also the one you will use the most. So versatility and portability are part of what makes the FlexBeam the most effective red light therapy device on the market.

For most needs and uses, you will find that FlexBeam is just the thing.