{This article is written in partnership with Bon Charge —they believe wellness devices, like Red Light Therapy, should be simple, effective, and accessible to all—and we’re honored to work with them. ~ ed.}

 

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Red Light Therapy, or RLT, is a novel wellness treatment that’s quickly gaining serious momentum.

You may even have some skepticism towards it, like I had before I dug into the science and tried it myself. It’s been hammered into our heads our whole lives to protect our skin from light, from outside or a computer. Your girl here wears sunscreen every day, even during winter months, and wears blue light glasses.

Recently though, I tried out the Demi Red Light Therapy Device from Bon Charge for a couple of weeks and simultaneously went down an enlightening RLT research rabbit hole.

The amount of benefits I learned about with this extraordinary medical-grade wellness treatment—that’s merely the size of a box of cereal—and all the research studies currently being conducted on RLT, is a bit overwhelming. I can’t possibly cover all of them in one article, so I’m going to expand upon why I am now choosing to incorporate RLT into my wellness practice.

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In a nutshell, red light therapy takes light energy and converts it into biological activity, painlessly.

If your cells were wallflowers at a party, when red light wavelengths hit ’em, they would move to the dance floor, get their groove on, and start doing a jig like the punch was spiked; that’s the oxygen that the red light is releasing into your cells.

Think of red and near infrared wavelengths as jumper cables for your cells. When light penetrates the skin and reaches the mitochondria (the energy-producing powerhouses of your cells) it helps stimulate the production of adenosine triphosphate ATP. ATP is the cellular energy currency that powers everything from muscle repair to strengthening collagen and elastin production.

And RLT can go as deep as penetrating internal organs. RLT studies examine its effects on hormones, optometry, dementia, sex organ function, and even oncology. Can red light kill cancer cells? Only time will tell.

After trying out RLT for a short period, I have noticed improvements in muscle pain, mood, sleep, and my skin.

Muscles:

My chosen cardio this summer has been swimming. As a result, my shoulder and upper back muscles have been sore.

What I love about the Demi Red Light Therapy device from Bon Charge is that I can easily treat various spots on my body by just changing my sitting position. My rectangle device sits on a flexible easel for angling it higher or lower. If my right trap feels sore, I angle it directly on the spot.  A little hack I discovered is if you place your palms down on your back, you can get the top of your hands as well.

My muscles seem to ache less after a treatment and I love that “RLT” is the first thing that comes to mind now when I ache, instead of reaching for a pill or cream.

Skin:

After just a couple weeks, my skin is glowing and feels more supple.

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I have one small age spot on my cheek which has been lightening up with daily use. It’s not very dark to begin with but it seems to be changing to lighter colors.

My most fine wrinkle lines haven’t changed much but my research yielded that in three months you can see a significant difference in fine lines with daily treatment. I’m actually flabbergasted at how much red light therapy reduced and erased so many fine wrinkles that give the appearance of crepe skin on consumers that had been using RLT three months to one year.

I think we have to be realistic and not assume this technology is going to erase every wrinkle, especially the deep ones that look like they stay put in the before/after photos. However, it’s pretty amazing that it’s smoothing the many shallow, fine wrinkles. But, not everything is strictly about looks.

Remember, look vs. feel matters—and I confess that I like how dewy my skin is feeling from using RLT daily. It feels much less dry, something I have battled my whole life, as if my skin was too small and tight on me!

Sleep:

My sleep has improved from RLT.

I took before and after photos prior to starting my Red Light Therapy treatment and I definitely look more rested in my after photo. This year has been a shocking news cycle for the causes closest to my heart and I have definitely lost sleep, dang it!

When my sleep cycle gets disturbed from stress or schedule disturbances, I rely on hot showers and melatonin pills to get my sleep rhythm back to normal. However, something very cool about red and infrared light is that it assists in helping the body produce melatonin naturally to support circadian rhythm—that’s a pretty dope bonus!

My mom even tried my device a couple of times and yawned several times while I was asking her how she felt post-treatment. She said, more than once, that she felt really calm afterwards.

RLT before bed can be a stellar addition to your bedtime routine.

Mood:

As someone who deals with the occasional anxiety, I enjoy a treatment in the morning to set a calmer mood for the day. I very much like how it makes me feel. I’m not a fan of caffeine jitters and prefer a relaxed but focused pace, not a high-energy one. Where’s the fire? Not in my office!

How exactly does a Red Light Therapy Device work on mood?

It increases brain function by increasing blood flow to the brain. Pretty wild, right? It’s blood flow to the brain that can help reduce anxiety and depression. I honestly practically fell off my chair this month when I learned that various forms of light can penetrate all the way into the skull and bones, that’s pretty remarkable.

Volume, Depth & Power:

Red light (around 630-660 nanometers) primarily targets the skin’s surface and upper tissue layers. It supports collagen production, reduces fine lines and wrinkles, and promotes wound healing. This makes red light especially useful in dermatology and cosmetic anti-aging practices.

NIR: near-infrared light (around 810-850 nanometers) penetrates deeper into muscles, joints, and even bone tissue. It plays a role in reducing inflammation, easing pain, and accelerating muscle recovery. Athletes have been utilizing NIR therapy to shorten downtime between training sessions. Wait, will RLT create Super-Athletes?

My Bon Charge Demi RLT device has two separate buttons 1) RED (660nm) and 2) NIR (850 nm) which can be utilized separately or together.

I am so smitten.

I’m using Bon Charge’s RLT Device daily now and don’t see that changing anytime soon based on what I am seeing and now know.

Sometimes I use it 2-3 times a day as I am treating different spots on my body. It is recommended to use the Demi device no less than four times a week and especially up to three times a day if you’re healing an injury. The bulbs are larger on my device than other devices, so I do ten minute sessions at a time and at a distance of three inches to one foot away from the device.

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I have new RLT habits too. Sometimes I can’t just sit still and do yoga around my RLT device while doing a therapy session. I plank above it, or stretch or change positions three or four times in one session. My long-time yoga goal is to hit the mat daily, and RLT gives one even more incentive to achieve that much needed daily grounding.

The ability to sit on my heels without pain seems to be my ultimate, “have I become too tight?” test. RLT gets me on my heels regularly and I am super duper grateful for that.

The amount of various fields of study that are experimenting with RLT definitely blows my mind. I think we are just kicking the tire on what RED and NIR therapy can actually do. I look forward to seeing what other creative ways Bon Charge is going to bring medical and spa treatments straight into my living room and/or bedroom.

This is a very exciting time to be a human being—I could have been a cave woman dodging predators with sharp fangs or a lady stuck in a corset dodging the plague, but I get to be here in 2025 obsessing over wellness miracles like this one…..how lucky!