Red light therapy has become incredibly popular over the last few years. We now see red light panels in homes, gyms, recovery centres and health clinics everywhere, but I think many people are using them without really understanding what the light is actually doing.
The science behind it is called photobiomodulation, or PBM, and once you understand the basic physiology, it becomes much easier to understand why we have incorporated a whole-body red light bed at Breathe.
It all starts with light and the cell
We generally think about light as something that allows us to see, warms us or gives us sunlight exposure. But certain wavelengths of light can actually interact with our cells.
Red and near-infrared wavelengths are particularly interesting because they penetrate biological tissue to different depths. Red light tends to have more superficial effects, while near-infrared light can penetrate deeper into tissue.
Once these photons enter the tissue, they interact with cellular structures and can trigger a cascade of biological responses. One of the most important places this appears to occur is within our mitochondria.
Why the Mitochondria are so important
Anyone who has followed what we do at Breathe. Studios will have heard us talk about mitochondria before. They are effectively the energy-producing structures within our cells, creating ATP, which is the energy our cells require to function.
Inside the mitochondrial respiratory chain is an important enzyme called cytochrome c oxidase. One of the leading mechanisms proposed for photobiomodulation is that red and near-infrared light interact with this enzyme and other mitochondrial processes, influencing electron transport, nitric oxide signalling, mitochondrial membrane potential and ATP production.
So, we are not simply shining a nice warm red light onto the body. We are delivering specific wavelengths of light that the body can respond to biologically.
Research: Proposed Mechanisms of Photobiomodulation — PubMed
What Happens After the Light Reaches the Cell?
This is where the science becomes particularly interesting because the benefits of photobiomodulation are not limited to energy production.
Research suggests that red and near-infrared light can influence mitochondrial function, nitric oxide signalling and circulation, inflammatory pathways, oxidative stress signalling and our own antioxidant defence systems. It has also been investigated for its effects on collagen production, tissue repair, muscle recovery and pain.
I think one of the best ways of understanding this is to stop thinking about reactive oxygen species as always being bad. A controlled amount of oxidative signalling is actually one of the ways the body receives a message to adapt and strengthen its own protective mechanisms.
It is very similar to exercise. Exercise temporarily stresses the body, but that stimulus creates an adaptation.
Photobiomodulation appears to work through some of these same basic biological principles: provide an appropriate stimulus and allow the body to respond.
Research: Mechanisms and Mitochondrial Redox Signalling in Photobiomodulation — PubMed
Red light and near-infrared light are slightly different
Although we often group them together, red and near-infrared light aren't exactly the same.
Red light
Red light is visible and tends to interact more with superficial tissues, which is one reason it has attracted so much interest for skin health.
Near-infrared
Near-infrared light is invisible to the human eye and generally penetrates further into the body, making it interesting for deeper tissues, muscles and joints.
This is why good photobiomodulation systems often incorporate both. The objective isn't simply to make the room glow red. It is to deliver useful wavelengths of light across different tissue depths.
Are Red Light Panels Good?
Absolutely.
A good-quality red light panel used consistently can be a fantastic addition to somebody's health and recovery routine.
The limitation isn't necessarily the quality of the light. It is coverage.
If you stand in front of a panel, you're predominantly exposing the front of your body. You then need to turn around for your back, change your position for your legs and potentially adjust the height or distance depending upon what you're trying to achieve.
If you're targeting one knee, shoulder or another specific area, this may not matter at all. But if your objective is general recovery, health and longevity, I think it makes sense to look at the body as a whole.
This is where the red light bed at Breathe Studios becomes particularly interesting.
The advantage of whole-body red light
With a whole-body bed, you simply lie down and allow a much larger surface area of the body to receive red and near-infrared light at the same time.
For me, this is the major advantage. It isn't that a bed somehow produces a completely different type of red light from a quality panel. It is the ability to expose the body more comprehensively and consistently without spending your session continually turning around and changing positions.
This also fits much better with the way we think about health at Breathe. We aren't necessarily waiting until somebody has a sore knee before thinking about cellular health. We are interested in supporting the entire system — energy production, recovery, circulation, muscle health, nervous-system function and ultimately healthy ageing.
Whole-body photobiomodulation is now beginning to attract specific research interest. A 2025 systematic review examined whole-body PBM in physically active people and found some promising findings around recovery and sleep, although the authors also made it clear that this remains a developing area of research.
Research: Whole-Body Photobiomodulation for Exercise Performance and Recovery — PubMed
More light doesn't necessarily mean better results
Another important part of understanding red light therapy is recognising that there is a dose.
Wavelength matters. Intensity matters. Distance matters. Exposure time matters. Frequency matters.
Photobiomodulation appears to demonstrate what is known as a biphasic dose response, which basically means that too little stimulation may not produce much of a response, while continually increasing the dose doesn't necessarily produce increasingly better results either.
This is another reason we prefer to think of red light as a physiological stimulus rather than simply "more light is better."
Research: Biphasic Dose Response in Light Therapy — PMC
Why It Makes Sense at Breathe. Studios
Red light therapy fits very naturally into what we're trying to achieve at Breathe Studios because many of our modalities are really working on the same fundamental principle: give the body an appropriate stimulus and support its ability to adapt.
With mild hyperbaric oxygen therapy we're using oxygen and pressure.
With sauna we're using heat.
With cold exposure we're using temperature.
Exercise creates mechanical and metabolic stimulus.
Red and near-infrared therapy introduces light.
They are very different modalities, but they all ultimately interact with our physiology.
And this is what I find so fascinating about red light therapy. Something as simple as lying comfortably in a whole-body red light bed can initiate a surprisingly complex conversation at the cellular level.
For someone interested in recovery, performance, energy and longevity, that makes photobiomodulation a very interesting tool.
At Breathe. Studios, the objective isn't to chase one magical therapy that supposedly fixes everything. It is to understand the different ways we can support the body's own ability to function, recover and adapt.
Red light is simply another very powerful piece of that puzzle.
Written by Jason, Medical Director at Breathe. Studios.