The Truth About Red Light Therapy

Written by Marios Karras, founder of LYSTRA — a Swedish wellness company handcrafting near-infrared light tools for natural recovery, nervous system reset, and cellular healing. Inspired by ancestral methods and grounded in modern science.

Looking for the Best Red Light Therapy? Start Here.

If you’re exploring red light therapy to support recovery, reduce inflammation, or reconnect with your nervous system, you’re not alone. But most red light products today — from panels to masks to wands — fail to deliver on their promises. The science is real. The products often aren’t.

Cheap LEDs, flickering light, narrow-band spectra, and plastic housings dominate the market. But true healing light isn’t just about wavelength peaks. It’s about coherent, full-spectrum energy, gentle radiant heat, and natural delivery your body understands.

In this guide, we explore the real science behind red and near-infrared light. We reveal why LED-based devices often fall short, and why LYSTRA’s full-spectrum incandescent glow is a radically different experience.

This is light therapy, redefined: full-spectrum, hand-built, and grounded in both cellular biology and ancestral wisdom.

What You’ll Learn in This Guide:

• A Glow Older Than Science: The ancient roots of light as medicine
• What Photobiomodulation (PBM) Really Does
• Biophotons and the Body’s Internal Light
• Why LED Red Light Therapy Often Fails
• Introducing the LYSTRA Difference: Full-Spectrum Incandescent Recovery
• Light + Heat = Synergy: Why Thermal Energy Matters
• A Tool for the Modern Nervous System
• Reclaiming Real Healing Light

A Glow Older Than Science: Light as Medicine

Long before wellness trends and tech startups, people healed with light. Ancient Egyptians practiced heliotherapy. Greeks built solariums. Firelight warmed, calmed, and soothed the nervous system.

This instinct isn’t just poetic. It’s biological. Human evolution is intimately tied to the rhythms of natural light: morning sun, golden hour, and the glow of fire. Our cells are literally built to respond to it.

Modern science caught up in the 20th century. Niels Ryberg Finsen won the Nobel Prize for using concentrated light to treat skin tuberculosis. NASA later developed near-infrared (NIR) therapy to accelerate healing in space. Hundreds of studies have since confirmed what our ancestors intuited: light heals [1].

What Photobiomodulation Actually Does

Photobiomodulation (PBM) is the process by which light enhances biological function. Specific wavelengths of red (600–700nm) and NIR (750–1000nm) are absorbed by mitochondrial enzymes — especially cytochrome c oxidase — boosting ATP (cellular energy) and setting off repair cascades.

Key effects of PBM:

• Increased ATP production [1]
• Mitochondrial biogenesis (healthier energy systems)
• Enhanced collagen synthesis and wound healing [2, 3]
• Reduced oxidative stress and inflammation
• Neuroprotection, including BDNF activation for brain repair [3]

Red and NIR light don’t just stimulate — they synchronize. PBM supports mood, circadian rhythm, sleep, immune balance, and tissue regeneration. It’s an evolution-aligned reset at the cellular level.

Biophotons and the Body’s Internal Light Field

Your body doesn’t just respond to light — it emits it. Every cell produces biophotons: ultra-weak, coherent light pulses that may carry biological information. Think of it as your body’s electromagnetic whisper network [4].

Biophotons:

• Are coherent like laser light
• Seem to vary with health and circadian rhythm [5]
• May guide gene expression and cellular repair

Studies suggest meditation can enhance biophoton coherence. But harsh flickering light — like many LEDs — may disrupt this subtle signaling.

Full-spectrum, incandescent NIR light, like LYSTRA’s, mirrors this natural coherence. It doesn’t interfere. It harmonizes.

Why Most LED Red Light Devices Don’t Deliver

Most red light therapy products on the market today use LEDs. And while some do emit red or NIR wavelengths, they fall short in delivery, coherence, and biological compatibility.

The key issues with LED red light:

• Flicker: Even imperceptible, rapid pulsing can disrupt the nervous system, increase stress hormones, and worsen migraines [6]
• Narrow-band light: Isolated wavelength spikes don’t match the body’s evolved response to full-spectrum exposure
• No heat: Most LED systems run cool, missing out on thermotherapeutic benefits like lymph activation and heat shock protein (HSP) expression [8]
• Shallow penetration: Without heat and spectrum breadth, deeper tissues receive little effect
• Biological mismatch: Our bodies evolved under sunlight and firelight — not cold, blue-shifted LED pulses

As PBM pioneer Dr. Michael Hamblin notes: "Photobiomodulation is dose-dependent, time-dependent, and spectrum-dependent. Incorrect delivery can negate benefits or even cause harm." [6]

Introducing the LYSTRA Difference

LYSTRA devices are built around 250W incandescent infrared bulbs — not LED arrays. Why?

Because incandescent NIR light offers:

• A smooth spectral curve, not sharp spikes
• Full-spectrum wavelengths (600–1000nm)
• Radiant heat, penetrating up to 9 inches into tissue [7]
• No flicker, no EMF, no blue light
• Instant activation — no warmup or intensity buildup

It’s light your body recognizes. Analog, not digital. Coherent, not fragmented. Warm, not clinical.

And every LYSTRA unit is handmade in Sweden. That matters. Because healing tools should feel human.

Light + Heat = True Regeneration

Red and NIR light activate mitochondria. Radiant heat activates detox, vasodilation, and immune repair. Together, they create a bioenergetic synergy.

The result?

• Increased circulation and oxygenation
• Heavy metal detoxification through gentle sweating
• Parasympathetic activation (rest and digest mode)
• Heat Shock Protein (HSP) expression [8]
• Mitochondrial repair + nervous system calm

This is not just light therapy. It’s cellular reprogramming with warmth.

A Tool for the Modern Nervous System

We live in a cold, screen-heavy, fluorescent world. Most people are stuck in sympathetic overdrive: fight-or-flight, stress, poor sleep, and slow healing.

LYSTRA is an antidote.

By combining:

• Deep-tissue light
• Nervous system regulation
• Gentle, focused sweating

LYSTRA helps the body detoxify without force, restore calm, and regenerate naturally.

It’s especially powerful when combined with movement, breathwork, or other self-regulation tools. And unlike exercise, which activates stress physiology, infrared therapy allows deep repair without sympathetic arousal.

Reclaim Your Light. Reclaim Your Healing.

If you’ve tried LED panels, red light gadgets, or countless biohacks and still feel something’s missing — you’re not alone. Most products deliver promises, not biology. At LYSTRA, we’ve returned to what your body actually understands: full-spectrum, incandescent near-infrared light.

LYSTRA is more than a product. It’s a tool for natural recovery — analog, silent, elemental. Handcrafted in Sweden. Rooted in ancestral light. Powered by science.

Whether you’re dealing with stress, inflammation, injury, or just seeking deeper regeneration, this is the reset your nervous system has been waiting for.

Light is not a luxury. It’s biology. Let your body remember.

→ Explore LYSTRA ELDSTAD — Your path back to radiant recovery starts here.

References

[1] Hamblin MR. Photobiomodulation or low-level laser therapy. J Biophotonics. 2016;9(11-12):1122-1124. doi:10.1002/jbio.201670113.
[2] Lim L. Traumatic Brain Injury Recovery with Photobiomodulation. Cells. 2024;13(5):385. doi:10.3390/cells13050385.
[3] Swain M et al. BDNF and Mitochondria. J Neurochem. 2023;167(1):104-125. doi:10.1111/jnc.15945.
[4] Popp FA et al. Biophoton emission: DNA as source. Cell Biophys. 1984;6(1):33-52. doi:10.1007/BF02788579.
[5] Kobayashi M et al. Photon emissions and brain metabolism. Neurosci Res. 1999;34(2):103-13. doi:10.1016/s0168-0102(99)00040-1.
[6] Hamblin MR. Flicker and PBM caution. Photomed Laser Surg. 2018;36(8):395-396. doi:10.1089/pho.2018.29011.mrh.
[7] Whelan HT et al. NASA LED irradiation study. J Clin Laser Med Surg. 2003;21(2):67-74. doi:10.1089/104454703765035484.
[8] Chakravorty A et al. Heat shock proteins and cellular aging. Front Aging Neurosci. 2019;11:311. doi:10.3389/fnagi.2019.00311.