Cancer is a chronic disease that significantly affects patients’ lives. People diagnosed with cancer face several difficulties in their daily lives due to such conditions.
A wide range of treatments are available for cancer nowadays; however, they can significantly hamper the patient’s health. Thus, most cancer patients need to have a non-invasive yet effective treatment option in the long run.
Red light and NIR therapy can help patients significantly in this manner. This therapy utilizes natural light wavelengths to ensure wellness and help cancer patients with multiple hardships.
Here, in this article, we will discuss how red light therapy benefits cancer patients in detail. Read till the end to see if this therapy is effective for you or anyone closer to you.
Red Light Therapy Benefits for Cancer Patients
Uncontrollable cell growth in different body parts is considered cancer. Skin, blood, bones. and several other delicate body parts can be affected by this condition. Once a patient is diagnosed with cancer, they must undergo several treatments until the affected cells are completely removed or neutralized.
However, depending on the stages of cancer, these treatments can drastically impact a patient’s health. In this manner, red light therapy and near-infrared therapy have been a beacon of hope for cancer patients.
With the help of red light and near-infrared wavelengths, cancer cell growth can be controlled to help cancer patients reduce further risks. Additionally, using red light therapy can mitigate several side effects of cancer treatment.
When a cancer patient is administered red light therapy, the following things start to happen:
- Red light and near-infrared therapy penetrate deeper into the skin, reach muscle, bone, and blood cells, and energize the mitochondria of these cells.
- Energized mitochondria help affected cells to repair themselves and influence healthy replication.
- With the help of light energy, circulation in the body improves. It helps deliver oxygen and other necessary nutrients to impaired body cells. Also, better circulation can remove toxins from the body.
- Light wavelengths also heat up the body a bit to reduce soreness and joint pains.
- Near-infrared light wavelengths take the therapy benefits further by reducing inflammation and infections.
All these benefits help reduce complications in cancer treatment and recovery stages. Let’s take a look at them.
Mitigating Cancerous Cells
As mentioned, red light and near-infrared light wavelengths can help in body cell rejuvenation. However, some lab experiments showed significant promise in treating cancer with red light therapy.
In these experiments, a protein called antibody is identified to target a specific type of cancer cell. The antibody, combined with a light-sensitive compound, is administered in a controlled way to body cells.
As the marker is determined beforehand, the antibody mixture only attaches to cancerous cells and does not affect healthy cells. Now, when these cells are administered under bright light wavelengths, the light-sensitive particles are activated. As the drug is activated, they start to kill cancer cells to help patients get rid of cancer.
These light wavelengths can be administered either externally or internally. In the case of external applications, high-powered light panels with bright irradiance are used. For internal applications, fiber optic needles are used to deliver light wavelengths.
However, this treatment is still experimental. Researchers have found promising results when experimenting with red light therapy on Petri dishes and on rats. However, more research must be conducted before this treatment can safely be applied to the human body.
Cancer Recovery Treatment
Unlike treating cancer, red light therapy has proven benefits in the cancer recovery phase. Multiple post-cancer complications can be resolved with this therapy.
- After cancer treatment, patients often feel pain and fatigue due to strong medications, toxins, and radiation therapy. By applying red light therapy, patients can get rid of such pain quickly and effectively.
- Additionally, the toxins can be removed from the body effectively as red light therapy boosts circulation. Thus, cancer patients can get back to their usual life sooner.
- Red light and near-infrared light therapy also help in repairing the damaged body cells caused by aggressive cancer treatment. As the body cells get repaired, multiple post-cancer complications can be avoided effectively.
- Many cancer patients may suffer from depression, anxiety, and stress after cancer treatment. When administered under red light therapy, it helps the body release oxytocin and melatonin hormones. These hormones help exceptionally in reducing stress and anxiety while helping the patient to fall asleep.
Therefore, many healthcare specialists are now recommending red light therapy as post-cancer treatment. It has significantly helped many patients to get back to their usual selves after cancer treatment.
Possible Side Effects
Both red light and near-infrared red light therapy offer natural light energy to help treat health problems. Moreover, this therapy is non-invasive. Thus, it almost has no side effects.
However, if a person is too light sensitive or under medication that makes them light sensitive, they may experience temporary burns, redness, or itchiness. However, these conditions are easily treatable.
In case of those rare occurrences, light therapy can be used by reducing therapy length and light irradiance and keeping the therapy device further while having therapy. Some patients may suffer from headaches due to bright light. Using eye-protective goggles, this problem can be resolved.
Bottom Line
Red light therapy has shown significant potential in resolving many health problems, including some chronic diseases. Although there is a long way to go before red light therapy is established as a strong treatment for cancer, these days may not be too far. And this therapy is already a popular treatment for post-cancer care.
However, one should always consult a doctor before getting this therapy. It will help them determine the most effective treatment and the minimal risk of getting side effects.