One of the most powerful ways to use color to optimize hormone health is colored light therapy. I love this type of therapy because it is so gentle, yet very effective in helping to bring women back into hormonal balance, especially when used in conjunction with my nutritional, diet, and other hormone-balancing programs that I discuss in this book.

Much like color therapy, the energy that your body takes in through light-emitting devices has a warming, contracting, drying, yangizing, and energizing effect when the red and orange part of the visible light spectrum is utilized. This can be very helpful for women with estrogen dominance. In contrast, the blue and violet part of the visible light spectrum is cooling, calming, relaxing, yin, and expansive to the body. This can be very useful for estrogen deficient-fast processors. Green is best to help promote balance between the two polarities.

I first became aware of the existence of colored light therapy as a third year medical student. At that time, I was doing my pediatric rotation, and I learned that colored light, specifically blue light therapy, was being used to treat jaundice in premature infants in order to protect them from brain damage.

The idea that such a gentle and non-invasive therapy could help save the lives of newborns was very intriguing to me. I decided to delve into the research and discover what other health conditions this amazing therapy could treat. I began to intensively study the medical research on colored light, along with a very good friend of mine who was a biophysicist at NASA and had a similar interest in this area. During the early 1980’s, I purchased one of the first colored light lasers available in the United States, and he and I performed research studies on plant growth and laser therapy. My interest developed into a passion for the healing benefits of colored light, which continues to this day.

I personally experienced the tremendous benefits of red light many years ago. At that time, I was going through a period of intense fatigue, very likely triggered by too much stress and hard work. (I had a thriving and very busy medical practice, was teaching at Stanford University Medical School, and was going through a period of personal stress). Luckily, I pulled out of it pretty quickly and was able to regain my normal state of high energy and vitality.

Besides putting myself on a very strong nutritional supplement program, I started to take red light "baths." This not only restored my energy, but also helped me maintain hormonal balance, as I was more of an estrogen dominant type during this period of time.

Even more wonderful is the fact that colored light therapy, when used properly, does not have any of the negative consequences and side effects that are often seen with conventional medical therapies, such as surgery and most medications.

The Early Research

Light therapy, particularly sunlight, has been in use since ancient times. In fact, in the early 1800’s, physicians throughout the world believed that sunlight could cure a wide range of conditions, including inflammation, tuberculosis, and even paralysis. During this time, some studies even found that colored light produced dramatic effects on the brain and the nervous system. However, it wasn’t until the 1870’s that researchers began to look in earnest at the possible therapeutic benefits of colored light.

One of the pioneers in colored light therapy was General Augustus J. Pleasanton. In 1876, General Pleasanton reported that the use of blue light—from the sun or from an artificial source—was effective in stimulating the endocrine glands and nervous systems, both of which have significant effects on your mood, level of energy, and sleep patterns.

One year later, prominent physician Dr. Seth Pancoast filtered sunlight through panes of red or blue glass and found that this could either increase or decrease the activity of the nervous system, and that by these opposing colors, he could create emotional as well as physical balance in the body. More than a decade later, Dr. Neils Finsen took the treatment one step further and used red light to treat smallpox lesions.

The Twentieth Century

All of these early pioneers paved the way for more intense research on colored light during the 20th century. In the early 1900’s, Dr. Harry Spitler began researching this type of therapy to treat patients. By the 1920’s, his research revealed that certain portions of the brain that directly control both the autonomic nervous system and the endocrine system are regulated, at least in part, by light. He also discovered that light may play a very significant role in altering behavior and physiological function. In other words, simply altering the color of light entering the eyes could disturb or restore balance within the autonomic nervous system. In this way, light can not only affect your emotional makeup (mood, energy, etc.), but it can also have an impact on several physical functions, including sleep.

This research focus progressed significantly in the 1950’s, when Russian scientist, S.V. Krakov discovered that the color red stimulated the sympathetic portion of the autonomic nervous system, while the color blue stimulated the parasympathetic portion. In 1958, Dr. Robert Gerard confirmed this finding.

In Gerard’s study, blue, red, and white lights of equal brightness were each projected separately for 10 minutes on a screen in front of 24 normal adult males. He found that red light stimulated the sympathetic nervous system, increasing the level of alertness, excitement, and tension in the subject, while the blue and white lights stimulated the parasympathetic nervous system and generated a sense of calm and relaxation.

Research Today

One of the best-known and widely respected modern-day researchers of colored light is Dr. Norman Shealy, a neurosurgeon by training and a prominent practitioner of complementary medicine. He has taken the research on colored light therapy’s effect on the brain one step further by actually incorporating light therapy into his practice, using flashing bright light and colored light to treat depression and pain. Dr. Shealy has found that stimulating colors like red and relaxing colors like blue and violet has an effect on many neurochemicals, neurotransmitters, and even hormones, including sex hormones.

In one research study that he conducted, he found colored light therapy had dramatic effects on female sex hormones, the precursor hormones such as DHEA, and the neurochemicals and neurotransmitters that regulate hormones. In this study, he found that red light increased the level of 14 out of the 40 neurochemicals and hormones measured, while green light affected 20, and violet light affected 15. This study and others like it have led to a fascinating field of research called syntonic optometry. One of the key areas of research in this field includes the effect of colored light on neurochemicals that regulate female hormone production.

Thanks to all of this research, color therapy is currently used by practitioners such as psychologists and acupuncturists to help restore and enhance healthy hormone function, as well as emotional and physical well-being. On the “hot” end of the visible light spectrum, deep and bright red and orange lights have been shown to create energy, stimulate sex drive, regulate menstruation, ease migraines, and alleviate depression. Conversely, the “cool” end of the visible light spectrum (namely blue and violet) is very relaxing. In addition to improving sleep quality, these colors can help to lower blood pressure, heal tissue damage, alleviate seasonal affect disorder (SAD), and even treat acne! Green is the color in the middle of the visible light spectrum, and is often used to provide balance to the body.

How Colored Light Works

Colored light is absorbed into your body through your eyes or skin. When taken in through the eyes, colored light is converted into electrical impulses through the action of millions of cells that are sensitive to light and color. The electrical impulses move along the optical nerve to the hypothalamus gland in the brain, which regulates a variety of body functions including breathing, digestion, temperature, blood pressure, mood, and sexual function. The resultant stimulatory effect that light has on the hypothalamus can affect the hypothalamus’s action on the pituitary gland. The pituitary controls the secretion of many hormones, including luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), both involved with the menstrual cycle. The pineal gland, located in the brain, also receives light waves through the eye, which are then transformed into nerve impulses capable of affecting hormones. The hypothalamus, through the pineal gland, also controls the body’s internal clock, the circadian rhythms that pace and synchronize biological events.

When taken in through the skin, colored light can penetrate up to one inch in the soft tissue. By traveling energetic pathways, light therapy has a therapeutic effect on the endocrine glands and other organ systems.

Now, let’s take a more detailed look at the two types of therapeutic light therapy colors that are the most helpful for female hormonal balance and overall health and well-being.

Healing Benefits of Red Light

As I mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, red light greatly boosts energy, and is very useful for estrogen dominance, due to its heating and contracting effects on the body. Russian biophysicist Tiina Karu, Ph.D., of the Laser Technology Center in Moscow, studied these and other effects of red light therapy. She is one of the most renowned researchers on red light in the world, and I first learned of her impressive and tremendously compelling body of research on red light back in the mid-1980’s.

Dr. Karu and other researchers made a landmark discovery in the way red light affects our bodies at the cellular level. Various wavelengths of red light easily penetrate the skin and stimulate energy production within the mitochondria, the energy-producing powerhouses of the cells. They enable the energy from food to be released and trapped as high-energy bonds called adenosine triphosphate (ATP). ATP is found in all of our cells and releases energy needed to fuel nearly all chemical reactions in our bodies. Thus, red light therapy helps your body create energy, vitality, and stamina, so every tissue and organ system can run more efficiently.

In general, red light is profoundly anti-aging and promotes health, strength, and vitality for virtually every organ in the body. It helps ease hormone-related conditions such as PMS, irregular menstrual cycles, menstrual cramps, bloating, lack of libido, energy, stamina, and poor mental acuity in postmenopausal women with excellent yin reserves, but who suffer from symptoms of yang deficiency. Since these women tend to have slower metabolisms, red light therapy helps them to lose weight by speeding up their metabolism through the sympathetic nervous system. It has also been found to have a stimulatory effect on the pituitary and immune systems.

More specifically, red light has been used to heal bone conditions such as osteoarthritis and fractures. It also helps to relieve pain and inflammation in joints, muscles, and tendons, and stimulates the healthy circulation of blood to tissues. Red light also helps to heal repetitive stress syndrome such as carpal tunnel syndrome, and skin conditions such as varicose vein ulcers and diabetic wounds. Plus, it improves blood flow to the heart in individuals with coronary artery disease, eases migraine headaches, improves energy levels in women with chronic fatigue, and helps reduce chronic lymph-related edema in women who have undergone mastectomy for breast cancer.

A number of studies have also found that when certain photosensitive chemicals are injected into cancerous tissue, the chemicals selectively accumulate in cancer cells. The tissue is then exposed to red light, which activates the chemicals and destroys the cancerous tissue.

Rose’s Story

“Rose” had suffered from a terrible pain in her neck for several years. It was so bad that she had to hold the back of her neck just to look up.

She had seen every type of health practitioner under the sun—conventional doctors, chiropractor, massage therapist, acupuncturist, and on and on. Nothing worked. In time, they all told her the same thing—she would have to learn to live with the pain.

During this time, Rose attended a conference on natural and alternative health therapies. One of the exhibitors had a red light laser device and gave Rose a demonstration. He used the laser on her neck for three minutes and the pain went away. More miraculous was that the pain never came back!

Rose borrowed one of these lasers for 30 days. She used it every day and felt amazing. All of her aches and pains disappeared and her mood was great. However, within a week of sending the laser back to the manufacturer, she began to feel terrible. She was depressed and found herself crying all the time for no reason.

When Rose told me about her experience, it was obvious to me that she had a very significant red light deficiency that would require on-going light exposure. Rose and I discussed this, and she immediately purchased an LED red light blanket for home use. She started using it every other day for 15 minutes at a time. She now enjoys a pain-free life, fantastic mood, and very positive outlook on life.

Red Light and Hormone Health

Red light triggers sympathetic nervous system function, which causes your heart and pulse rate to speed up, your muscles to tense, and your body to get rid of excess fluids through increased urination. Plus, more calories are burned up and utilized for energy.

You may benefit from red light therapy if you are estrogen dominant or an estrogen deficient-slow processor. Many women with excess estrogen suffer from a slower, more sluggish metabolism, excess weight that can be difficult to lose, constipation, fluid retention, PMS, fluid-filled cysts in the breasts and ovaries, fibroid tumors, and irregular periods. If this sounds like you, red light can be helpful.

Red Light and Migraines

I’ve been aware of the use of red light therapy to treat migraines for years, and have even seen my own mother benefit from using it for her headaches (see sidebar for her story). Unfortunately, this information has never been reported by the mainstream media, until a study conducted at San Jacinto Methodist Hospital in Baytown, TX, was reported a few years ago in Family Practice News.

In the study, researchers gave dark red contacts to 33 patients, predominantly female, with a history of light-sensitive headaches. They found that 31 patients enjoyed pain relief within 90 minutes, and 26 reported a complete absence of pain. Of those who had total pain relief, most patients experienced relief within five minutes, and approximately 50 percent relief was obtained within 20 minutes. And five lucky participants felt relief within 10 seconds after putting in the second lens. Researchers concluded that “red-tinted contact lenses provided rapid, safe relief to most patients with acute migraine pain.”

I believe that one of the reasons red light works so well to treat migraines is that it reduces inflammation and stimulates the healthy circulation of blood to tissues—both of which are critical factors when treating migraine headaches.

If you are interested in trying red contact lenses, work with an ophthalmologist or optometrist to ensure the proper fit. For an ophthalmologist in your area, log on to www.aao.org; to find an optometrist, visit www.aoa.org.

My Family History

My grandmother, my mother, and my daughter (at puberty when she was entering her teenage years) all suffered with migraines. I can still remember my Grandma Rose hiding in her darkened bedroom until her migraine pain and sensitivity to light went away.

My mother, also a physician, suffered terribly from migraines. I can remember my father, a doctor himself, throwing up his arms in frustration since no known medication effectively prevented or stopped her painful and debilitating chronic migraines. Even my daughter Rebecca wasn’t free from this family legacy, enduring the pain of migraines when she reached puberty. Don't ask me why, but my sister and I are the fortunate ones: in the last four generations of women in my family, we're the only ones who have never had a migraine. And believe me, I appreciate that blessing!

Fortunately, my mother and daughter were able to overcome their migraines with a program that included a diet that eliminated headache triggers, a regimen of nutritional supplements that corrects underlying imbalances, and light therapy. In fact, my mother completely prevented any recurrence of her migraines for many years by using red light therapy.

Red Light and Pain

Red light has been used to treat pain and stiffness for several decades with great results. In one study, 100 patients with chronic neck and shoulder pain due to osteoarthritis, muscle spasms, or a sprain were divided into two groups. In the first group, participants were exposed to a red light laser for up to 90 seconds, while the second group was exposed to a “fake” laser. Sixty-five percent of the group who received the red light therapy enjoyed a 30 percent reduction in their pain, while less than 12 percent of the people in the “fake” laser group saw this level of relief.

A separate study, also with 100 participants, had similar results. In this study, people who received red light laser therapy noticed significant pain reduction after just one treatment, and the pain continued to be eased or even diminished after 24 hours.

Red Light and Lymphodema

Several years ago, a report on the use of red light therapy in the treatment of post-mastectomy secondary lymphodema was published in the journal Lymphology, and the results were promising. Women treated with red light therapy once or twice a week for 10 weeks showed measurably less arm swelling, edema volume, and tissue pressure, and marked improvement in subjective complaints, including “aches/pains, tightness, heaviness, cramps, pins/needles, and mobility of the arm,” with even greater improvement in the hand and forearm.

The women in the study also showed gradual softening of the skin and tissues, as well as improved skin integrity. Over a three-year period, some of the improvement in their symptoms gradually decreased, but their arm swelling, pressure, and hardness all continued to show improvement.

In a more recent, double-blind, placebo-controlled Australian study published in Cancer, 61 women with post-mastectomy lymphodema received 16 red light treatments twice a week for six weeks, then once a week for four weeks, for approximately 10 minutes each session. At the end of the 10 weeks, 31 percent of the women enjoyed a measurable decrease in swelling, volume of edema, and hardening of the upper arm. Plus, they enjoyed these benefits for an amazing six months after the red light treatments were discontinued.

Red light has also been shown to help activate the local immune system by stimulating the specific types of white blood cells that kill, consume, and/or carry away pathogens. This creates a more sanitary cellular environment, thereby reducing the risk of skin infections—a significant problem for women with lymphodema.

Finally, red light is reported to enhance the activity of phagocytes, cells that are thought to help reduce tissue swelling by breaking down protein-based debris in the damaged area, including excess scar tissue. The overall effect in the treatment of secondary lymphodema appears to be the creation of a healthier tissue environment, with faster regeneration of damaged vessels and enhanced circulation.

Red Light and Circulation

Several studies have shown that red light therapy enhances circulation. One study in particular illustrates this point in the case of peripheral neuropathy (PN). In a double-blind study from the Journal of Diabetes Complications, 2,239 patients with PN found that infrared light therapy relieved numbness and neuropathic pain by 66 and 67 percent, respectively.

In a separate study from Acta Diabetologica, an eight-week course of infrared therapy in 22 patients with long-standing, profound PN brought reversal of symptoms. Scientists believe the therapy stimulates nitric oxide production, which improves circulation and nerve function.


Jackie’s Story

“Jackie” is a dear friend and colleague of mine. Early in May 2003, her husband “John” developed flu-like symptoms. While they rarely sought conventional medical help, he felt so awful that they made an appointment with a doctor.

After a brief examination, the doctor told John that he had “swimmer’s ear.” However, after a few days, John’s condition became even worse. Jackie noticed that the right side of his mouth was drooping and his eye looked strange. They went back to the doctor, who acknowledged that he had misdiagnosed John. This time, he said that John had Bell’s palsy.

Jackie was skeptical of this new diagnosis, and rightly so. Within a couple of days, John’s health deteriorated quite rapidly. He could no longer eat, drink water, or eliminate. Eventually, he became so ill that at about 2:00 in the morning, John fell and Jackie couldn’t get him up. Still unclear where she found the strength, she was able to get him down the stairs and to the emergency room.

Once there, the doctors tried to tell her that he was simply constipated. It took her 15 hours, but she was eventually able to convince them that they needed to admit him. At that point, the doctors went into high gear. They did an MRI and discovered that John had suffered a stroke.

While John was recuperating in the hospital, Jackie was scheduled to host a personal empowerment conference. Nearly 80 percent of the attendees also happened to be in the healing arts. During the conference, Jackie told the participants about John’s condition. Afterwards, a woman named Sandy approached her about a cold, red light laser that she used. She told Jackie that her aunt had also had a stroke and that the doctors had written her off. Sandy used the laser on her aunt, and soon after the treatment, the aunt was up and walking around, asking for something to eat. Sandy offered to treat John with the laser.

Jackie told John about the device, but he declined. Seeing as he was still in the hospital, he didn’t think it would be appropriate. However, a week later, once John had been released and was resting at home, he agreed to let Sandy treat him.

Jackie watched as Sandy used the device on John. Sandy placed the laser on the base of his neck, where the stroke had occurred. Jackie watched in amazement as the distortion in his face completely disappeared and his face returned to normal. Afterwards, John regained his speech, his balance, and most everything.

While John still has some diminished range of motion in his right shoulder, he and Jackie are both convinced that the red light laser was responsible for giving him back his life and dignity.

Red Light and Cancer

With the use of a technique known as photodynamic therapy, researchers have been able to use red light to selectively kill cancer cells for more than 30 years. In photodynamic therapy, a physician injects the patient with a dye that is selectively taken up by cancer cells. When activated by ultraviolet light, the cells actually show up as bright red. This not only allows the physician to make a diagnosis of cancer, but she can also use the UV light to mark where the cancer is located.

Once the cancer is identified, the physician uses a red light laser to target the cancer cells. Within hours of the treatment, the cancer cells begin to die, leaving the surrounding, healthy tissue unharmed.

Photodynamic therapy has been used successfully to treat more than 3,000 cancer patients with a wide variety of malignant tumors all over the world. In fact, when used in combination with surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, and/or immunotherapy, photodynamic therapy successfully reduces the size and occurrence of tumors 70–80 percent of the time. Photodynamic therapy is most commonly used to treat gynecological, colo-rectal, and metastatic breast cancers, as well as cancers of the bladder, lung, and esophagus. In addition to photodynamic therapy, protocols are currently available to treat a variety of cancers with red light laser therapy alone.

Exciting New Device

There is an exciting product gaining interest in the realm of light therapy and cancer—a hand-held imaging device called iFind. This machine is about the size of a deck of cards and uses infrared light, which is just outside of the range of visible light, right next to the red side of the spectrum. The device is primarily used to detect breast cancer by monitoring the differences in blood oxygen ratios in normal tissues versus growing cancers. Plus, the infrared light measures blood flow in different areas of the breasts. Since tumors require large amounts of blood to grow, those areas of your breasts that indicate greater blood flow may indicate an abnormality.

Early research studies have found that iFind has an extremely high success rate in detecting cancerous growths. It takes just five minutes to use, and if atypical blood flow is detected, the device beeps out a warning.

Red Light for Macular Degeneration

Red light is currently being used in a revolutionary new way—to treat age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Charles McGee, M.D., an innovative researcher in the field of colored light therapy and the developer of the “X Light,” shared several case histories with me regarding individuals who used red light therapy to successfully treat AMD, including one 80-year-old woman with intermediate AMD. After using a red LED (light emitting diode) in each eye for 10 minutes each day for several months, her vision improved perceptibly.

While the exact mechanism of why red light therapy may specifically benefit AMD is not yet known, I suspect that red light works, in part, by improving the production of ATP within the cells of the eyes, thereby promoting the healing process. Still, I would love to see more research done in the area of colored light therapy for eye disease, since it holds so much promise.

In the meantime, if you are interested in the use of red light therapy to treat AMD, I suggest you seek a physician who has experience with colored light therapies, rather than try to treat AMD with colored light on your own.

America is Behind the Times

While red light therapy has been widely used throughout the world, it is only in limited use here in the U.S. Why? The FDA does not recognize it as a viable treatment, even though NASA has used it to treat astronauts for years, particularly for wound healing. As a result, most conventional physicians don’t offer it.

This is unfortunate, as many well-designed, double-blind, placebo-controlled studies have been conducted with red light therapy in Canada, England, Australia, Norway, Turkey, Austria, Greece, Brazil, and Ireland. They have looked at red light’s ability to treat a variety of conditions, including osteoarthritis, infected wounds, burn scars, ankle sprains, bone implants, bone defects, and surgical incisions—all with significantly positive results.

Hopefully, with more education and patient demand, the U.S. will catch up with the rest of the world.

Healing Benefits of Blue Light

Researchers have only recently begun to delve into the rich, healing benefits of blue light. And they are finding some pretty amazing results. As I indicated earlier, blue light is highly successful for treating infants with jaundice. But other studies have shown it has more far-reaching potential.

Blue light can be helpful for women with estrogen deficiency. It has also been shown to be effective in healing injured tissue and preventing scar tissue, treating several types of cancers and non-malignant tumors, skin and lung conditions, jet lag, and insomnia, as well as raising serotonin levels. Additionally, research from the American Association for the Advancement of Science has found that blue light is helpful for a myriad of psychological issues, including depression (particularly seasonal affect disorder), anxiety, anorexia, bulimia, and alcohol and drug addictions.

Blue Light and Hormonal Health

Cooling, calming, and relaxing blue and violet light therapy can be beneficial for women suffering from estrogen deficiency. As you know, women with this imbalance are more like to suffer from the uncomfortable symptoms of excess heat, hot flashes, insomnia, mood swings, anxiety, arthritis, muscle aches and pains, and vaginal and skin dryness.

Blue and violet light therapy can help to cool down, calm, and relax estrogen deficient-fast processors who are feeling too anxious and overstressed. Calming down the brain, nervous system, and metabolism can help to bring these types of estrogen deficient women back into better hormonal balance and restore their yin.

Blue Light Increases Serotonin Levels

Several very recent studies, most notably from the Thomas Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, have found that blue light is critical for the suppression of melatonin production. One study looked at the way nine different colors of light, ranging from indigo to orange, affected 72 healthy volunteers. The participants were examined at midnight, when melatonin levels are usually the highest. The volunteers’ pupils were artificially dilated. They were then blindfolded for two hours. Researchers took blood samples, exposed the participants to a randomly selected hue of colored light for 90 minutes, and then took another blood sample from the volunteers. They found that those participants who were exposed to blue light had the greatest changes in melatonin levels.

As you may know, melatonin is produced from serotonin. Therefore, the researchers concluded that when melatonin production is suppressed, the level of serotonin in your brain increases. This can have a whole range of physical and emotional benefits, including easing PMS symptoms, depression, and anxiety.

Blue Light and Rheumatoid Arthritis

A study from Dr. Sharon McDonald found that when rheumatoid arthritis (RA) sufferers were exposed to blue light, the majority enjoyed a significant degree of pain relief. Dr. McDonald had 60 women with RA place their hands into a specially-designed box while she shined blue light onto their hands for up to 15 minutes. Even with such a short exposure time, most of the participants experienced a significant amount of pain relief.

McDonald concluded that the reduction in pain was specifically due to the blue light, as well as the length of time participants were exposed to it. She found that the longer a patient was exposed to blue light, the greater their chance of reduced pain.

Blue Light and Acne

Researchers conducted studies at two different sites in the U.S., where they exposed more than 50 patients to blue light on one side of their face for 15 minutes twice a week. At the end of one month, half of the participants experienced a significant reduction in acne. This improvement continued for another month, and was maintained for three more months following the treatment.

A second study was performed on nearly 300 men and women in Mexico and Europe. In this study, researchers exposed the patients’ whole face to the light. They found that 74 percent of the participants had significant improvement, with only seven percent exhibiting no response. They also found that the blue light treatment had no negative side effects. I believe this because isolating only the blue portion of the visible light spectrum eliminates the potentially more dangerous invisible bands of ultraviolet light that have been linked to sun burns, skin aging, cataracts, and increased risk of skin cancer.

Based on these and other similar studies, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a new, physician-administered, high-intensity, narrow-band blue light device to treat moderate acne. The treatment works to destroy the bacteria that cause acne, thereby helping to heal the skin.

Using Colored Light

The goal of colored light therapy is to help create a balance within your body. If you are estrogen dominant, you need red light to help you contract and heat up. Conversely, if you are an estrogen deficient-fast processor, you’ll want to veer more towards blue light to soften and cool down.

Whichever color makes the most sense for you, I suggest that you start with the light of that color, and as your emotions and level of energy come back into balance, you can begin to work with both types of colored lights. Once you are in good emotional and energetic balance, you’ll want to use both colors to support and strengthen your brain, nervous, and hormonal systems.

Applying Colored Light to the Body

In addition to regular exposure to natural sunlight, you can use colored light in three different ways: lasers (which are mainly used for red light therapy), light-emitting diodes (LEDs), or a colored glass or gel filter. Unlike the light bulbs we use in our homes and offices that radiate light throughout the room and are made of many colors, lasers travel as a single beam in one direction and are made up of a single color. Traditionally, there have been red light lasers, though new lasers are now becoming available that utilize other parts of the color spectrum. For example, blue lasers are effective for mood and brain function, while violet is great for treating infection, including dental-related infectious issues such as gum infections, cavities, and root canal infections, as well as infectious diseases in general.

Lasers comprise one of the fastest growing areas of energy medicine. They offer amazing versatility, and can be extremely beneficial for a wide range of conditions, including menstrual and hormonal issues, cancer, soft tissue injury, brain and neurological diseases, emotional imbalances, and macular degeneration.

Don’t confuse these types of lasers with the “hot” lasers used by surgeons to cut, cauterize, and destroy tissue. Light-therapy lasers have a powerful regenerative and healing effect upon many different types of sick or injured tissues. They use coherent energy, which is the same energy used by the cells in your body to communicate to one another. This is one of the reasons lasers are the most efficient energy your body can use to regenerate tissue and increase blood flow. Plus, research is showing that the coherent energy of lasers helps to stimulate the nervous system. This is an exciting area that we are learning more and more about every day.

While these types of lasers are generally safe, they have traditionally been used by health care professionals (although wonderful red lasers have now become available for self-care use at home and are tremendously helpful).

Light Creates Coherence

Several years ago, I was doing a research project and looking at tissue samples under a microscope. What impressed me the most were the visible differences between the tissues of children and the elderly.

The cells of healthy children were beautifully organized and neatly lined up in rows, with clear and clean-looking margins. These cells were such a pleasure to look at because they were so orderly and coherent.

In contrast, the cells and tissues of elderly people who suffered from a variety of health-related conditions were not nearly so lovely to look at. Their cells looked like they had truly suffered from the ravages of time. The cells were often irregular in shape, with overlapping and even messy-looking margins. Like a messy desk or closet, they had lost their sharp, clean edges and looked disorganized and incoherent.

One amazing benefit of colored light therapy is that its energizing and balancing effect on tissue helps to restore its coherence and structural and functional integrity, thereby helping to restore its health.

Specific wavelengths of light can also be transmitted through LEDs, which is an excellent method for women who want to use colored light therapy on a self-care basis. Each diode is very small; in fact, the red LEDs currently being used by NASA to promote wound healing of astronauts are no larger than a pinhead. But when linked together, these diodes form a flat panel of colored light that produces a beam that is broader than that of a laser. Unlike a laser, specific wavelengths of LEDs can be used simultaneously with other colored light bands to expand their therapeutic benefits.

The great thing about LEDs is that the light they emit is completely safe and can be used on such sensitive areas as the eyes. Plus, they are much safer to use than lasers, can be bought by anyone, and are readily available for purchase.

The third way colored light is transmitted is through a simple, filtered light. This form of light therapy was practiced in ancient times, and today involves placing a red glass or theatrical gel filter over a common light bulb or a full-spectrum fluorescent bulb, or even in glasses or a contact lens!

Self-Treating With Colored Light

Colored light can be placed on many different parts of your body. I prefer the area three finger-widths below the navel. You can also use your “third eye”—the point directly between your eyebrows, where the bridge of your nose meets your eyebrows—or the area in the center of your breastbone, at the level of your heart. However, you should avoid this area if you have a pacemaker or known heart disease.

Treatment sessions can last anywhere from just a few minutes to as long as 15 minutes (or even longer if appropriate), depending on what feels most comfortable to you. Not all women need or should use prolonged light therapy. Start out by using any light therapy device for shorter amounts of time (just a minute or two) in the beginning until you know how your body will respond.

If you find that you enjoy colored light therapy and want to use it as part of your regular health program, it is important to be aware that your emotions and level of energy will likely change as you move through different life stages. As this occurs, you may find that you need to modify your colored light program.

Choosing a Light Device

I have reviewed a wide variety of colored light therapy devices. If you are interested in using colored light at home, I recommend the following companies that produce high-quality light devices. (I’ve also included these companies in the Resource Guide.)

For an excellent red light laser that can be used on a self-care basis or for professional use, I recommend the Lazr Pulsar 4 from Next Generation Therapeutics (www.ngtlasers.com or 866-918-0399). This is the laser I personally use myself.
For a superb laser that uses probes with different wavelengths of colored light, including red, green, blue, and violet, as well as infrared, I highly recommend (and personally use) the new NGT I, also from Next Generation Therapeutics (www.ngtlasers.com or 866-918-0399). While the NGT I is targeted for the professional market, this versatile device can also be bought for home self-care.