I remember how I used to come home with a bruise or cut every day after playing basketball in my childhood. Cuts and bruises were a part of the game, but my mother never took them lightly.
They may not seem like a tiny problem, but sometimes even a small wound can affect critical ways. It can lead to an infection as the cut exposes your body to external bacteria. This is why it important not to neglect the wounds.
Do you know what exactly happens when we get a cut?
In a small cut, the skin gets punctured, and the regular blood vessels get damaged. The effect is on the dermis layer. Whereas in the case of a deep cut, the impact is majorly on the tissues and the blood vessels break down completely results bleeding.
When you get a cut, the body gets help from cells like neutrophils and immune cells. The section starts clotting the blood and reduces the blood flow. Antibodies, proteins clean up the site and eat the dead skin cells and other wastes.
Once the cut is free from germs, the skin growth gets started, and your body starts to rebuild the lost tissues and fix the broken blood vessels with the new ones. This repair work is done by cells called fibroblasts. In the last stage of wound healing, a lot of remodeling done to make the vessels and tissue functional again.
(Image source: https://askabiologist.asu.edu/)
No wonder science and technology have covered a long way to make human life easier. Now wounds can be treated with light therapy.
Yes, light therapy!!
That sounds out of the ordinary. But light therapy can heal your wounds by 200%!!
Since wounds are of different types, wounds can be open or closed wounds. According to reports, LED light therapy can treat non-healing wounds, i.e., that doesn’t heal after 4 weeks. People with the following types of wounds can be healed from LED light therapy:
• Diabetic ulcers
• Venous ulcers
• Pressure ulcers
• Non-healing surgical wounds
• Serious burns
• Oral sores from chemotherapy/radiation
• Metabolic-disease-related wounds
• Wounds that repeatedly break down
Light therapy a broad range of light having different wavelengths. Red light (620 nm — 680 nm) is visible red light, whereas Near-Infrared light (700nm — 1100nm) is invisible. Many studies reported that biologists have found that treating the cells with near-infrared light can grow 150% to 200% faster than cells not stimulated by light.
Biologically the Near-Infrared light boosts microcirculation and formation of new capillaries at the wound section.
Infrared light rays increase cellular energy that speeds up any healing process and penetrates deeper into the skin. As a result, the wound section receives more oxygen and nutrients to naturally help with the wound's healing process.
The light nurtures the lymph system activity. This assists with the detoxification process of the wound without overtaxing the lymph system and prevents lymphedema. The near-infrared rays also clean up the dead or damaged cells, making a clear blood circulation path.
Another benefit of Infrared therapy is that it helps release ATP (raw cellular energy), which gives energy to the damaged cells in the wound to heal better and faster (study).
Not only this, the studies have shown that the wound size also decreased by up to 36%.
Source: www.slideshare.net/amintalebi1/light-and-wound-healing
So, next time you encounter a wound, put a light on it!!
Let your cut heal through LIGHT THERAPY!
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25363448/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25654197/
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1054-660X/24/8/083001
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4126803/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24155549/
Written by the best, for the best.
Biohacking is the practice of changing our chemistry and our physiology through science and self-experimentation to energize and enhance the body. It’s a broad definition, but that’s also because the concept is constantly evolving. It includes implementing lifestyle and dietary changes that improve the functioning of your body, as well as wearable technology to help you monitor and regulate physiological data. It can even run to extremes such as using implant technology and genetic engineering.
The possibilities are endless, but they are all rooted in the idea that we can change our bodies and our brains, and that by doing so we can ultimately become smarter, faster, and better as human beings.
Start biohacking your body by using wearables like the FitBit or the Apple Watch to track the way you operate. You could also start experimenting with the power of music in your everyday life and adopting a sustainable healthy diet. But if you’re ready for something new, and something different, consider one of these non-invasive methods from our biohacking guide:
Have you ever spent a lot of time indoors and begun to feel… off? Our bodies and brains need light to function at their best. Not only does the sun give us an important dose of vitamin D, but it helps us in a number of other physiological and emotional ways. Let’s look a little closer – specifically at the light wavelengths between 600 and 900 nanometers (nm). How does this range of light waves impact us and how can we use it to biohack the body?
Studies have shown that your body responds particularly well to red and near-infrared wavelengths, which range from 600 to 900 nm. This particular range of light waves is absorbed by the skin to a depth of about 8 to 10 millimeters, at which point your mitochondrial chromophores absorb the photons. This activates a number of the nervous system and metabolic processes.
In plainer terms, red light therapy has become an increasingly popular form of biohacking used to treat a number of conditions. It has been proven to relieve pain, reduce inflammation, and restore mood. And because it is a non-invasive and non-chemical treatment, it’s not as intimidating as other forms of biohacking.
With over 100 billion neurons that are constantly using electricity to talk to each other, your brain is like Grand Central Station. If everyone is chattering loudly at the same time, it can be tough to concentrate on what you need to get done. That’s where music biohacking comes in. Brain activity can be measured in a wave-like pattern and determines if you feel alert, sleepy, relaxed, or stressed. Things that can affect your brainwaves include the activity you are currently performing, how much restorative rest you’ve had, and what you’ve just eaten or drank.
One of the most reliable ways to change your brainwaves is through a consistent sound wave. Audio entrainment, a form of music biohacking, uses binaural beats and tones to synchronize with your brain waves and induce a meditative, relaxed state. You can access programs developed specifically for your own brain and the activities you want to accomplish at Brain.fm. If you’re not ready to go that far, you can still change your mood and mindset by queuing up your favorite playlist and listening while you work out, cook breakfast, or commute to work.
We talk a lot about cardiac health. After all, heart disease is the #1 killer of women in the United States. Everyone needs to be aware of cardiovascular diseases and how to protect themselves as best they can. As a culture, we also talk a lot about skin health – slathering on sunscreen as part of our daily routine and supplementing our diets with collagen-boosting foods. Weight loss, inflammation, memory, GI health, and how an unhealthy diet and lack of exercise can prematurely age you – these are all at the forefront of our minds. But how often do we think about the health of our bones?
A decrease in bone health creeps up on you and most people are unaware of how bone density changes over time. Roughly up until the age of 30, men and women actually build more bone than they lose, so we are constantly strengthening our bones and working on bone density. But when we hit our mid-30s, things change. And if you’ve passed that benchmark, you may have felt that shift.
After reaching their mid-30s, women lose about 2% of bone density every year, and that continues for a few years following menopause. This leaves women with a high likelihood of experiencing osteoporosis.
So what do you do? Consider trying OsteoStrong, a non-pharmaceutical way of improving bone density, strength, and balance as one of your biohacking techniques.
According to OsteoStrong’s website, research indicates that the stimulus required to activate the growth of healthy bone tissue is 4.2 multiples of body weight. However, this level of force would be exceptionally difficult to achieve on your own. That’s why OsteoStrong utilizes the Spectrum System, which is part of a new category of devices called the Robotic Musculoskeletal Development System (RDMS).
How we view life has a huge effect on our moods, how we treat others, and our general levels of fulfillment. When you have an abundance mindset, you’re consistently grateful for everything that comes your way and is always focused on the positive. Have a hard time adopting this type of perspective? Changing your mindset is really about nothing more than practice. You need to consistently refocus your brain to see the positive in every situation until it becomes second nature. These biohacking techniques and tools can help:
Exercising, eating right, and developing the right mindset are important steps to unlocking an extraordinary life. Biohacking helps you take this to the next level by incorporating supplements that improve focus, increase energy, and help your body benefit from the most bioavailable forms of nutrients available.
We often don’t get all the vitamins and minerals we need to keep us at peak performance. High-quality supplements in the form of pills, shakes, bars, or drinks can fill the nutritional gap and help boost performance, detoxify our systems, and achieve daily energy.
Tony has created a variety of health supplements, drinks, and bars that help you feel your best every day and make biohacking the body easy.
Sound Therapy believes that our bodies contain ‘energy frequencies’ and those sonic frequencies can be used to reattune these energies when they go off-key. Some proponents also believe it can relieve certain ailments, including anxiety and insomnia. Sound healers (often called “sounders”) say that it works by lowering blood pressure, improving circulation, and reducing respiratory rates. Science says, well, not a lot. While there are plenty of studies on the benefits of music and meditation on well-being, few large-scale clinical studies have looked at sound healing in particular.
Sound has been a tool for promoting the physical and emotional health of the body for as long as history can account for, deeply rooted in ancient cultures and civilizations. The ancient Egyptians used vowel sound chants in healing because they believed vowels were sacred. Tibetan monks take advantage of singing bowls, which they believe to be “a symbol of the unknowable” whose “vibrations have been described as the sound of the universe manifesting.”. Also When some American Indian medicine men and women were called upon to heal an ailing tribes member, they would fast in order to receive a song in dream or vision instructing them in how to carry out the treatment of their patient.
Psychoacoustics is the scientific study of the perception of sound, and it has fueled researchers' paths to better understand how it can be used as medicine. To understand the fundamentals of sound in healing, we must first understand our brain waves. The nucleus of our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors, is the communication between neurons. Brain waves are generated by way of electrical pulses working in unison from masses of neurons interacting with one another. Brain waves are divided into five different bandwidths that are thought to form a spectrum of human consciousness. The slowest of the waves are delta waves (.5 to 3 Hz), which are the slowest brain waves and occur mostly during our deepest state of sleep. The fastest of the waves are gamma waves (25 to 100 Hz), which are associated with higher states of conscious perception. Alpha waves (8 to 12 Hz) occur when the brain is daydreaming or consciously practicing mindfulness or meditation.
According to Dr. Suzanne Evans Morris, Ph.D., a speech-language pathologist:
Research shows that different frequencies presented to each ear through stereo headphones… create a difference tone (or binaural beat) as the brain puts together the two tones it actually hears. Through EEG monitoring the difference tone is identified by a change in the electrical pattern produced by the brain. For example, frequencies of 200 Hz and 210 Hz produce a binaural beat frequency of 10 Hz (The difference in 210 Hz and 200 Hz is 10 Hz). Monitoring of the brain’s electricity (EEG) shows that the brain produces increased 10 Hz activity with equal frequency and amplitude of the wave form in both hemispheres of the brain (left and right hemisphere).
A series of experiments conducted by neuro-electric therapy engineer Dr. Margaret Patterson and Dr. Ifor Capel, revealed how alpha brainwaves boosted the production of serotonin. Dr. Capel explained:
As far as we can tell, each brain center generates impulses at a specific frequency based on the predominant neurotransmitter it secretes. In other words, the brain’s internal communication system — its language, is based on frequency… Presumably, when we send in waves of electrical energy at, say, 10 Hz, certain cells in the lower brain stem will respond because they normally fire within that frequency range.
A steel tongue drum can be made from an empty (often 20 lb) propane tank. The tank is flipped over, the base cut/knocked off; and seven to ten tongues are cut radially into the bottom of the tank, forming the top of the instrument. Steel tongue drum can also be made from new unused tank heads. The tongues can be tuned by the maker by varying the length of the cuts, or by adding weights, often neodymium magnets to the tongues. The steel tongue drum is often tuned to pentatonic scales but can be tuned to the diatonic scale, the chromatic scale, or any set of notes the maker chooses. The instrument is played with the fingers or with mallets. The tone is bell-like.
Light Therapy is based on the fact that light moves at varying speeds to create light wave frequencies, otherwise known as color. While light enters the body primarily through the eyes, it also enters through the skin and chakras. Read the whole explanation about light therapy here
Today’s energy medicine practitioners use the latest cutting-edge light and sound therapies to help their clients achieve greater health and a sense of well-being. In Kaiyan we create for our customers multiple light therapy devices to release blockages, correct emotional, physical, psychological, and spiritual imbalances, and restore a state of harmony.
Even if we are not a trained “healer”, we can simply use our instincts to find our own personal kind of music therapy for ourselves. Enjoying some light therapy with the magical vibrating steel tongues can be a deeply spiritual experience, even for individuals playing alone.
We recommend them for people seeking some kind of personal awakening. Play alone as though no one is listening. Play out your soul to the universe — let it sing. Play with others on a similar wavelength. Just play, in your own personal, special way — and let the magic flow.
Sound Healing can improve many ailments including:
Sound Healing can also bring about:
Saunas and red light therapy devices are clinically-proven treatments that complement each other wonderfully, even if they depend on distinct biological mechanisms to yield various natural health and aesthetic benefits.
In this article, we’ll focus on how things work for red light therapy and the distinctions of traditional saunas, and what you can actually gain by availing of either of them.
Saunas can make your body’s core temperature hotter by supplying sufficient heat throughout your body. It has been a part of traditional medicine for various centuries, as the old century folks realized the health benefits of sweating. Although there are multiple types of saunas, two of them are the most popular:
When you think of saunas, this is the first scenario that comes to mind: hot and steamy. This type of sauna requires more energy as it delivers heat to the atmosphere, warming the air inside the sauna, and distributes heat in the body. Traditional convection saunas can maintain air temperatures between 170–200°F and are an ideal type of sauna for general use. It is important to comprehend the different temperatures required for specific health concerns since being exposed to heat more than what has required triggers a warning for unsubstantiated claims.
The latest trend in saunas is the infrared saunas. Inside, instead of warming the air, this kind of sauna heats actual objects. Such objects include those with emitting surfaces, charcoal, and carbon fiber. Infrared saunas' effectivity is directly attributed to the temperature, humidity, and length of time your body is exposed to heat, even though many saunas claim to provide “full-spectrum” infrared wavelengths.
The farther the wavelengths are in the infrared spectrum, the more they are considered efficient and effective in heat production. This will be thoroughly discussed later, but the general gist is that heat supplementation is the primary purpose of saunas, convection, and infrared.
On the other hand, near-infrared wavelengths in near-infrared saunas generate very little heat. Most of the high-quality standard saunas use more effective heats from the far-infrared spectrum or IR-C wavelengths.
Inducing thermal stress on the body is the primary function of every sauna, but what does it really mean?
One of many biological responses from sauna usage is increased heart rate as well as perspiration. The essential body processes protein metabolism and is also affected by enough heat. Heat shock proteins are a special kind of protein that responds specifically to cellular stress from heat. Heat stress induction leads to natural health benefits like those we gain doing physical activities.
One experiment had participants sat in a sauna treatment for 30 minutes at 194°F for 3 weeks, totaling 13 work sessions. The results showed that the participants improved 32% in performance tests versus those who underwent sauna treatments.
Besides improving your cardiovascular functions, using saunas can help reap benefits such as detoxication, decreased depression, and lesser chronic fatigue.
What differentiates saunas from red light therapy devices is their mechanism of action. While saunas utilize heat for biological effects, red light therapy devices supply healthy light wavelengths directly to the skin and cells. Even when producing almost no heat, red light therapy devices help with cellular function improvement and support bodily balance. Simply put, red light therapy helps energize the body with light, while saunas heat your body.
Mitochondria, the powerhouse of our cells, is wonderfully affected by certain wavelengths of natural light. This helps in producing energy within the cells of our body, feeding photons to our cells from natural light via red light therapy.
We feel warm when exposed to sunlight and other heat sources such as fire and hot coals because most of the wavelengths, including ultraviolet (UV), are rapidly absorbed by the outer layers of the skin tissue as heat.
However, unknown to many, some wavelengths have the unique capability of boosting your cellular functions and energy. These are those few wavelengths that can penetrate human tissues more effectively, having photons power-up your “cellular batteries.”
One of the first few things you need to look for in saunas is the temperature it produces. You need to consider some other factors, including the type of wood, the heating unit (Is it conventional or infrared? Is it near far or full-spectrum?), finishes and stains, price, and more.
On the other hand, some of the factors you need to consider when choosing a red light therapy device are the device’s light energy output, light color or frequency range in terms of nanometers, warranty, body or treatment coverage area, the price, and the credibility of the company provider.
Saunas and red light therapy devices offer a wide range of natural health benefits, which surprisingly go well with each other. They both support balance and health to improve your fitness and function but do not overlap with each other’s effects because of energy supplementation in distinct forms and wavelengths. What a great combination of complementary natural therapies!
Here at Kaiyan Medical, we provide different types of red light therapy devices for various medical, wellness, and aesthetic uses. To see our list of products, click here.
According to the World Federation of Music Therapy, this term refers to the use of music and / or its elements (sound, rhythm, melody, harmony) with a patient or group of patients, in a process created to facilitate, promote communication , relationships, learning, movement, expression, organization, and other relevant therapeutic goals to meet physical, emotional, mental, social, and cognitive needs.
Music therapy aims to develop potential and / or restore the functions of the individual in such a way that he can achieve a better intra and / or interpersonal integration and consequently a better quality of life through prevention, rehabilitation and treatment.
Learn also more about sound healing and light therapy.
It was the Taipei Medical University that has developed a study that has given the following conclusion: listening to music at home reduces the severity of symptoms, the intensity of pain and the fatigue experienced by patients with breast cancer .
For the study, published in the “European Journal of Cancer Care,” 60 participants listened to music in five 30-minute sessions per week. After 6, 12 and 24 weeks, music therapy reduced the severity of symptoms, as well as the intensity of pain and fatigue. Furthermore, it instantly reduced physical and mental fatigue.
“The use of music can help the physical and psychological well-being of patients,” explained the study’s lead author, Kuei-Ru Chou. He has also recommended that home music interventions be given to breast cancer patients to reduce their negative thoughts associated with the disease.
From Medina Reeds we send a message of support to all patients who suffer from this disease and we invite everyone, patients and non-patients to apply music therapy on a day-to-day basis for all the wonderful benefits that music brings us.
References
Ref.“Hamburg, 1996, Clinical Practice Committee of the World Federation of Music Therapy”. nineteen ninety six.
Lack of sleep is a villain in America and Europe. Light intake is a big part of the problem. Over 65% of adults say they don’t get enough good sleep every week. Most people also don’t get nearly enough natural light for optimal health: the average American spends over 90% of their time indoors.
In addition to not getting enough natural light, people today are surrounded by artificial blue light from screens and overhead lighting. An overload of artificial blue light can cause headaches and make it harder to get to sleep and stay asleep. When we take in all that bright blue light from laptops, TVs, and phones, especially before we go to bed, our bodies get the signal that it's time to be awake, even if we're tired.
Melatonin is the naturally-occurring hormone that regulates sleep and wakefulness. Emerging research is showing that red light therapy treatments can help people produce more of their own, natural melatonin than exposure to other light sources like blue light. Red light therapy is natural light. It’s much less bright than blue light, with a lower color temperature than daytime sun, as the image above shows. Research has shown that red light doesn’t upset your sleep cycle like bright blue light. Red light therapy is showing great clinical results for people with insomnia and sleep disorders.
The light therapy is a simple, non-invasive treatment that delivers concentrated natural light to your skin and cells. Clinical research is showing that red light therapy can improve sleep quality and duration, and help people produce more of their own melatonin.
Light plays a major role in your sleep cycle. The body’s circadian clock interprets light as a sign of when to sleep and when to be awake. Artificial blue light from phones, computers, and other screens is extremely bright and can knock your circadian rhythm out of whack. Red light has the opposite effect: it’s ideal for evenings because it has a low color temperature—far lower than blue light and much closer to the natural sunset.
Red light therapy treatments are quick and simple: you just sit or stand in natural light for 5 to 15 minutes, ideally every day. This stimulates your mitochondria and gives your cells the natural light they need to make energy.
Natural light is a key ingredient for a healthy circadian rhythm and restful sleep. If you struggle to sleep, your light intake could be a big factor. Red light therapy delivers natural light like you’d get from the sun, but without UV rays, excess heat, or the need for sunny weather.
Red light therapy treatments supercharge your cells with the natural light they need to make more core ATP (adenosine triphosphate) energy. This helps your body run more efficiently, heal faster, and has shown great results for producing more natural melatonin and improving sleep disorders like insomnia.
Red light therapy treatments have shown great sleep results in a range of peer-reviewed clinical studies. One study on the sleep of pro basketball players showed that a 2-week course of red light therapy in the evening improved players’ sleep quality in the short term. Based on the results, the researchers suggested red light therapy would be a good non-invasive, drug-free solution to sleep struggles.
Kaiyan's light therapy products are registered with the FDA as class II medical devices for the treatment of pain, strain, and inflammation. While the existing clinical research has been very positive for red light therapy and sleep, keep in mind that Kaiyan's devices are not cleared with the FDA for the treatment of various sleep disorders or melatonin.
Recent research on sleep disorders among people with migraine headaches has shown that red light therapy both decreased headache frequency, and was the only treatment that improved patients’ sleep disorders.
A 2014 study on cognitive function and traumatic brain injury (TBI) recorded that participants had significantly decreased episodes of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and improved sleep.
Analyzing patients’ electrical brain activity, a 2013 sleep study concluded that red light therapy was especially effective at helping people with sleep disorders fall asleep.
When I’m indoors training under the buzz of artificial lights, my body doesn’t get the natural light it needs. Add computers, cell phones, televisions, etc. and it’s easy to overload yourself with blue light. I used to have trouble sleeping after long training days, but since adding more natural light to my routine with red light therapy, I’ve been falling asleep as soon as I lie down, and I’ve been staying asleep all night.*
Sanne Wevers
Gold-Medal Winning Dutch Gymnast
Research is showing how closely mood and sleep disorders are interconnected. Parts of the brain that regulate sleep have also been found to closely affect mood. A 2013 review concluded that “nearly all people suffering from mood disorders have significant disruptions in circadian rhythms and the sleep/wake cycle.”
This Greatist post on natural light and serotonin gives good background on the connections between natural light intake, mental health, and sleep. It also mentions using Kaiyan's red light therapy devices to get more natural light, even when you can’t get more sunlight.
Trouble sleeping is one of the most common symptoms of seasonal affective disorder, a type of depression most common in the darker winter months. Some physicians treating patients with mental health disorders have said red light therapy both improves mood, and helps people with depression get better sleep.
Sources and References:
Morita T., Tokura H. “ Effects of lights of different color temperature on the nocturnal changes in core temperature and melatonin in humans” Journal of Physiological Anthropology. 1996, September
Lirong Z., Phyllis Z. “Circadian Rhythm Sleep Disorders” Neurologic Clinics. 2012, November.
Color Temperature
The State of Sleep Health in America.
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Gooley, J., Chamberlain, K., Smith, K., Khalsa, S., et al. “Exposure to Room Light before Bedtime Suppresses Melatonin Onset and Shortens Melatonin Duration in Humans” J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2011 Mar.
Hamblin M. “Mechanisms and applications of the anti-inflammatory effects of photobiomodulation”. AIMS Biophys. 2017.
Zhao J., Tian Y., Nie J., Xu J., Liu D. “Red light and the sleep quality and endurance performance of Chinese female basketball players” Journal of Athletic Training. 2012, November-December.
Loeb LM, Amorim RP, et al. “Botulinum toxin A (BT-A) versus low-level laser therapy (LLLT) in chronic migraine treatment: a comparison.” Arquivos de neuro-psiquiatria. 2018 Oct;76(10):663-667.
Naeser MA, Zafonte R, et al. “Significant improvements in cognitive performance post-transcranial, red/near-infrared light-emitting diode treatments in chronic, mild traumatic brain injury: open-protocol study.” Journal of Neurotrauma. 2014 Jun 1;31(11):1008-17.
Wu JH, Chang YC. Effect of low-level laser stimulation on EEG power in normal subjects with closed eyes. Evidence Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 2013; 2013:476565.
Vadnie C, and McClung C. Circadian Rhythm Disturbances in Mood Disorders: Insights into the Role of the Suprachiasmatic Nucleus. Neural Plasticity. 2017 November.
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Avci P, Gupta A, et al. Low-level laser (light) therapy (LLLT) in skin: stimulating, healing, restoring. Seminars in Cutaneous Medicine and Surgery. Mar 2013.