Healthy shopping: Light up your life

Joanna Evans scouts out full-spectrum lighting and red light therapy devices

In Light Lessons: How to Brighten Up Your Health, Dr Damien Downing discusses the problem of mal-illumination—how most of us are getting too little full-spectrum daylight and too much artificial limited-spectrum indoor light. Getting outside as much as possible is the best way to counter this, he says, but there are also two types of specialized lighting products that can help:

Full-spectrum lighting is artificial lighting designed to closely mimic the spectrum of natural daylight. It can improve your indoor environment and reduce the negative effects of blue light from screens, standard LED lights and other sources, says Downing, especially if it incorporates near-infrared (NIR) and ultraviolet (UV) light.

Red/infrared light therapy devices will give you a dose of NIR light, which supports the body’s natural repair and energy systems. NIR light penetrates farther into the body than visible light, so it can reach important organs and have a beneficial effect on them, Downing explains. These devices are often used to treat pain and inflammation, to improve skin health and even to aid recovery from traumatic brain injuries.

Here are some good options for both and where to buy them.

Full-spectrum lighting

Many companies claim to offer “full-spectrum” lighting, but only a handful of manufacturers include an NIR component. And we could find only one that also incorporates UV light.

The products below all offer worldwide shipping, and all score high on the color rendering index (CRI), a scale from 0 to 100 that tells you how accurately a light source shows colors compared to natural daylight.

SOLshine Photo Nutrition™
bioBulbs and PhotoVites
solshine.org

Developed by research and development nonprofit Science of Light (SOL), an organization dedicated to raising awareness of mal-illumination, SOLshine Photo Nutrition™ products include the bioBulb for general all-day lighting anywhere (from $147/£109) and the best-selling PhotoVites light therapy lamp ($447/£330), which is designed for use in shorter sessions.

All the lights are “universal voltage” (although UK customers will need a plug adapter), have a CRI score of 98 and emit “a balanced spectral diet” that includes a trace of UVA and a broad band of NIR light—unlike any other indoor light.

YUJILEDS®
SunWave+™ LED Lights
store.yujiintl.com

SunWave+™ is the fourth generation of full-spectrum technology developed by Yuji Lighting. For the first time, the company has integrated NIR light into the visible light spectrum, “creating a more even, comfortable, and biologically beneficial light.”

Prices range from $102 (£74.79) for two A19/A60 bulbs to $439 (£321.91) for a desk lamp that automatically adjusts brightness based on your surroundings. The lights are all flicker-free with a CRI score of 98+ and come in two voltage options (US: 120 V and EU: 230 V).

BioSpectral
BioLux 1.0 Full-Spectrum Bulb and Full-Spectrum + Infrared Light Panel
biospectralsystems.com

As well as melanin-infused glasses designed to block harmful blue light, BioSpectral offers the BioLux Full-Spectrum Bulb ($28/£23), which has a spectrum that’s 50 percent red and near-infrared (NIR) light, mirroring the healing wavelengths found in natural sunlight.

The company also sells the Full-Spectrum + Infrared Light Panel ($419.95/£334) for more targeted therapeutic use. It has a CRI score of 99 and, like the bulb, combines full-spectrum visible light with broad-range NIR wavelengths. At the time of writing, both products are out of stock and suitable for US voltage only, but more stock is in production, along with versions for the UK, the EU and Australia.

Red/NIR light therapy devices

When searching for a red/NIR light therapy device, choose one that includes invisible NIR light, not just visible red, and clearly lists therapeutic wavelengths—630–660 nm for red and 810–850 nm for NIR. Check the irradiance (light energy reaching your body, in mW/cm²), as higher irradiance usually works faster.

Safety is key, so pick a reputable company that provides clear usage guidance. Finally, select a device that suits the area you want to treat and aligns with your goals.

Here’s a small selection of some of the many red/NIR light therapy devices currently on the market. All are available in the US and UK.

Bon Charge
Red Light Therapy Blanket, $1,999/£1,595
US: boncharge.com; UK: uk.boncharge.com

Supplied as two separate mats that you can zip together to form a sleeping bag-like blanket, this device is designed to deliver high-powered red light therapy to your whole body. It uses 660 nm red light and 850 nm NIR light—a widely studied and clinically used combination—and has an irradiance level of over 170 mW/cm². A red light face mask, cap and toothbrush and various-sized therapy panels are also available from Bon Charge.

Solis
Spectrum Solo Panel 2.0, $424.15/£359
US: us.solistherapy.com; UK: solistherapy.com

Intended for therapy targeting specific body areas, like the face, neck, shoulders or localized pain points, this compact panel (13.5″ × 9″ × 3.75″ / 34.5 cm × 23 cm × 9.5 cm) features 60 high-powered 5 W LEDs and five different wavelengths: 630 nm and 660 nm red light and 810 nm, 830 nm and 850 nm NIR light. It has an irradiance level of 180 mW/cm² at 6 inches, is FDA/CE-approved and comes with a 90-day money-back guarantee. It’s also available in larger sizes.

BlockBlueLight
Red Light Therapy PowerPanel, Tabletop, $599.95/£495.95
US: blockbluelight.com; UK: blockbluelight.co.uk

This cutting-edge red light therapy panel, similar in size to the Solis Solo Panel 2.0, blends amber (590 nm), red (630 nm and 660 nm) and NIR (810 nm, 830 nm, 850 nm and 1060 nm) wavelengths to support a variety of wellness applications. You can adjust the intensity of each wavelength individually to customize your treatment, and there’s also a pulsing mode said to offer additional benefits. With an irradiance level of up to 140 mW/cm² at 6 inches, it’s a powerful tabletop model, although larger panels with higher irradiance are also available from the company.

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