Red light therapy harnesses the power of red and near-infrared light to influence cellular function.  Red and near-infrared light produces measurable biological effects, including anti-inflammatory signaling and improved mitochondrial function.  Benefits stemming from these biological effects include improved exercise recovery, benefits to hair and skin, improvements to sleep and relaxation, and many other things.

About nine thousand research articles on red light therapy have been published, and the volume of new research is increasing every year.  Most available research on it has been published in the last 20 years, but it has a longer history of use, in some ways as old as time. 

Want to learn more? Continue on to a special article written for CytoLED.com by Vladimir Heiskanen, who is well known in the red light therapy research community for compiling a regularly updated database of all the available research on the topic.

NUMBER OF RED LIGHT THERAPY RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS [1990-2025]

Melanopsin is a photopigment housed in photoreceptors in the human retina that respond to visible wavelengths of light. Melanopsin plays a vital role in regulating the circadian rhythm by activating in response to certain wavelengths of light, thereby facilitating a daytime signal to the brain. Wavelengths in this section will be represented by the color they correspond to.  Melanopsin is activated most potently by 480nm light, which has a cyan color (between blue and green). Above and below 480nm, the potency of activation decreases. However, it only start to get truly insignificant at much longer wavelengths of light. Above 550nm green, the potency of the effect starts to significantly decrease, but blocking in this range should still improve efficacy. By 600nm orange, the intensity of light required to cause meaningful activation is so high it is practically insignificant. Red light (620-780nm) causes practically no activation even at high intensity. White light (both artificial light and outdoor light) typically contains all of these wavelengths, both the ones that promote wakefulness, peaking at 480nm, as well as wavelengths that do not significantly affect wakefulness, like 660nm, which is pure red.

Wavelength in nm on the x-axis, melanopsin activation on the y-axis.

Source "Human melanopsin forms a pigment maximally sensitive to blue light ( max 479 nm) supporting activation of Gq/11 and Gi/o signalling cascades" (2013)

We have developed a lens that blocks virtually all light all the way up to 580nm, while letting through most light above 610nm. Not only that, our lenses have no significant spikes of transmission at shorter wavelengths. This allows for maximum efficacy, while still being able to see well. All competitor glasses we have tested do not match this performance, click the button below to visit our product page that features a comparison chart.

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