Light Therapy: What Is It And How Can It Spice Up Your Beauty Routine?
If you’re up-to-date with the latest news, you’re probably familiar with the term light therapy. It’s been all the rage lately, especially in the health sector. It’s one of the very few treatment plans proven to positively affect people suffering from depression, specifically, seasonal affective disorder (SAD).
Recently, there was a discovery concerning light therapy. According to recent studies, the treatment might have an effect that boosts skin health. And like any other treatment that’s shown similar results in the past, the public is interested if it’s effective in improving one’s beauty routine.
Since you’re here, you probably are interested in light therapy’s potential as an addition to your beauty routine. Fortunately, this article will answer your concerns by discussing several things about this treatment and how it may boost your beauty routine. However, before that, it might be best to start with an overview.
A Brief Overview Of Light Therapy
Light therapy is a treatment plan typically used to treat SAD. If you don’t know, SAD is a specific type of depression that occurs from early fall until winter. While it’s known as a treatment for SAD, it may also positively affect other conditions, especially those that have something to do with sunlight exposure.
During the therapy, you must stay near a light therapy box to expose yourself to the light it generates. A lightbox is a device that produces light with similar properties as that of natural light.
The logic behind the treatment is that exposing yourself to such light will trigger a reaction in your brain that you’d only experience when exposed to outdoor light. If you plan on pushing through with the therapy, here’s a great post to read on what devices you can use as a medium.
What Is It Normally Used For?
As stated earlier, people undergo light therapy mainly as a treatment plan for SAD. But it may also help with other issues, so you can also use it if you need or want the following:
- Treat your jet lag, dementia, or sleep disorder.
- Undergo a treatment plan that’s relatively safe and with minimal side effects.
- Maximize the impact of antidepressant medications.
- Use it in conjunction with mental health therapy like psychotherapy.
- Choose this treatment as an alternative to medicine, especially if you’re pregnant.
- Lower your antidepressant medication doses.
Light Therapy As A Skincare Procedure
Studies show that light therapy may also come in handy for your skincare routine and various things. It’s now known that light therapy can benefit one’s beauty routine because of its potential effects on a person’s skin, especially if did the things you shouldn’t do to achieve a clear skin.
As you may already know, light therapy consists of several types based on the color of light used. Here’s a closer look at their effects:
- Blue Light: Blue light has shown that it can potentially reduce the activity within your sebaceous glands. This reduction of activity causes the glands to generate less oil, resulting in a lower possibility of acne and similar skin conditions.
- Red Light: A study on red light shows that it directly impacts fibroblasts—a skin cell responsible for producing collagen. Collagen plays a vital role in skin healing. Hence, with the proper amount of red light, you can considerably minimize signs of aging, such as wrinkles.
- Green Light: Studies on green light have shown that its main effect is pain relief. For that reason, unlike the two other types, this type of light therapy isn’t fit as a skincare procedure.
Light Therapy As A Treatment For Skin Conditions
Apart from improving skin health, light therapy can also repair skin cells, which means you can essentially treat all sorts of skin conditions if you undergo it. Examples of these conditions include, but aren’t limited to:
- Dermatitis
- Eczema
- Psoriasis
- Rosacea
- Sunburns
- Wounds
If you’re suffering from any of these issues, light therapy can prove to be extremely helpful for your beauty routine. After all, apart from improving your appearance, it can also fix problems that have bugged you for so long. But
make sure that if you start the treatment, you must stick to it by performing light therapy sessions regularly for several weeks or months.
Conclusion
As eager as you may be in trying out light therapy, you must consult your doctor first. Not only can they provide you with tips on how to integrate this treatment into your beauty routine, but they may also provide cautionary tips. If you’re suffering from a particular condition, they may also inform you if it can lead to complications. Either way, there’s no harm in inferring to your doctor before trying the treatment, be it for medical purposes or beauty care.
