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Is Blue Light Good for Your Skin, like Reducing Acne and Wrinkles?

by Pain Doc | May 6, 2023 | Aesthetics, Blue Light therapy

Blue light is a type of electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength of approximately 400-490 nanometers (nm, one billionth of a meter) on the visible light spectrum. It is used in various applications, including medical treatments and disinfection procedures. Recent studies have shown that blue light in the 460-470nm range can be an effective tool in killing bacteria.

Light is he visible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum.

There are about 30,000 known species of bacteria. Some are pathogenic (cause disease) while some are “friendly” and play an important role in microbiomes such as in the gut and on the skin. For example, Lactobacillus and Bifidobacteria and Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron help you digest food in the gut, and on the skin S. epidermidis helps protect the skin from water loss and damage. The presence of these friendly bacterial strains helps guard against colonization of harmful bacteria like E. coli in the gut and Staph aureus on the skin.

As we know, bacteria are abundant everywhere, especially where there are high concentrations of humans: hospitals, clinics, schools, offices and homes. And obviously, anything that is meant to be touched (handles, doorknobs, keyboards, childrens toys, etc.) has a much higher bacterial count.

The spread of bacteria can be controlled by using antibiotics and disinfectants. However, the overuse of antibiotics has led to the development of antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria, making it more challenging to treat infections. In addition, some disinfectants are harmful to humans and the environment. Fortunately, there are other means to fight harmful bacteria.

Blue light therapy has emerged as an alternative to traditional methods of bacterial control. Research has shown that blue light in the 470nm range can effectively kill bacteria, including some antibiotic-resistant strains, without causing harm to human cells or the environment.

How does blue light kill bacteria?

Blue light at a wavelength of 470nm has been found to be effective in killing bacteria due to its ability to penetrate the bacterial cell membrane and cause damage to the bacterial DNA. Bacteria contain a molecule called porphyrin, which is sensitive to light. When blue light at a wavelength of 470nm is applied to the bacteria, the porphyrin molecule (the photosensitizer in the image below) absorbs the light energy and produces reactive oxygen species (ROS).

ROS are highly reactive molecules that can cause damage to bacterial DNA, proteins, and cell membranes. ROS can also interfere with bacterial metabolism, leading to the destruction of the bacterial cell. The production of ROS by the porphyrin molecule in response to blue light is known as photodynamic inactivation (PDI).

from Antimicrobial Blue Light versus Pathogenic Bacteria: Mechanism, Application in the Food Industry, Hurdle Technologies and Potential Resistance. Joshua Hadi, Shuyan Wu, and Gale Brightwell. Foods. 2020 Dec; 9(12): 1895.

PDI using blue light at 470nm has been shown to be effective in killing a wide range of bacteria, including Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli (E.coli), and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In addition, studies have shown that blue light at this wavelength can kill some antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria, such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE).

Applications of blue light therapy for bacterial control

Blue light therapy has a wide range of applications for bacterial control. It can be used in hospitals and clinics to disinfect surfaces, medical equipment, and patient rooms. Blue light therapy can also be used in the food industry to disinfect food products and equipment.

In dentistry, blue light therapy has been used to kill bacteria associated with dental caries and periodontal disease. It has also been shown to be effective in reducing the bacterial load in root canals.

Blue light therapy has also been used in the treatment of acne. Acne is a skin condition that is caused by the overgrowth of Propionibacterium acnes, a type of bacteria that is found on the skin. Blue light therapy at a wavelength of 470nm has been shown to be effective in killing P. acnes bacteria, reducing inflammation, and improving acne symptoms. Cellulitis, impetigo, and folliculitis are other skin conditions involving pathogenic bacteria that can also be treated with blue light.

Blue light therapy has been used to treat infected wounds. Infected wounds can be difficult to treat, and antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria can make the treatment even more challenging. Blue light therapy has been shown to be effective in reducing the bacterial load in infected wounds, promoting wound healing, and reducing the need for antibiotics. If you have an open wound, it would probably best to use a combination of a topical antiseptic and blue light. Apply the blue light directly over the wound for 10 minutes, 3x/day for four days, as a guideline. If your injury involved contact with something dirty/unsanitary, then a course of antibiotics would be prudent, as well.

Advantages of blue light therapy for bacterial control

One of the main advantages of blue light therapy for bacterial control is that it is a non-invasive and non-toxic method of disinfection. Unlike traditional disinfectants, blue light therapy does not produce harmful by-products or residues. It is also safe for use around humans.

Now that it is becoming known that blue light can potentially improve acne-causing bacteria, we are starting to see it in consumer health products. There are handheld devices that emit blue light, along with therapeutic red and infrared light. These devices are great for small areas, as they focus the light intensely, bathing the pathological bacteria with the blue wavelength and causing those reactive oxygen species to damage them and kill them.

5 LED handheld device using blue light to treat ear infection

Using blue light to treat middle ear infection.

There are also LED wraps that emit blue light that can be used for treating facial acne and other dermatological conditions related to harmful bacteria.

Using a 200 LED wrap for blue light treatment

Using an LED wrap for blue light therapy to treat facial acne

Blue light can improve acne and red blemishes due to staph infection

According to Cedars-Sinai, large, painful bumps that look like acne can sometimes be caused by Staphylococcus aureus, which lives on our skin, in our noses, and on surfaces everywhere. Inflamed/ reddish skin blemishes are a sign of staph infection and should be treated before they have a chance to spread.

The LED wrap shown above emits blue light, which can be used for treating acne and staph-related skin blemishes. It can also emit red light, which happens to have the opposite effect. It stimulates collagen and elastin production and reduces fine wrinkles, and basically increases cell energy and metabolism.

In the video below, I go into more detail on the therapeutic benefits of blue light.

How I Used Red Light to Speed Healing of a Bad Knife Cut

by Pain Doc | Mar 29, 2022 | Red light therapy

Recently I had been careless in the kitchen while cutting food and sustained two, pretty severe cuts on my left hand in separate incidents.

The first one occurred shortly after last Thanksgiving when I was using a very sharp carving knife to shave off the last bits of spiral cut ham off the bone. I held the knife with my right hand and gripped the ham bone with my left hand. The knife slipped and cut deep into the side of the base of my left index finger. The knife was so sharp that it left a surgical-quality incision; deep but very clean edges (not jagged). I could see the layers of epidermis and dermis with the distinctive, yellowish subcutaneous fat as the flesh separated, and seconds before the blood started to flow. The wound went down to the muscle and probably cut a few muscle fibers as well.

The image below shows the layers of skin, and the black arrow represents how deep the cut went. Below the muscle layer is bone (not illustrated):

Layers of the skin

The second, more recent one occurred while I was cutting an onion (NOTE: never cut an onion on the convex side, because not only is it uneven it is slippery and presents a high risk of knife slippage, especially if your knife is not very sharp). This time, the knife slipped and I again suffered a deep cut this time to the lateral, distal middle finger at the level of the base of the nail. This also cut past the dermis and was stopped by the hardness of the nail.

In both of these laceration wounds, there was profuse bleeding. I went through many Kleenex tissues and kitchen paper towels to stop the bleeding. Facial tissues and kitchen paper towels are good for such cuts because not only are they highly absorbent, they shed tiny fibers into the cut, which are used by the fibroblast reparative cells for scaffolding as they lay down collagen fibers to fill in and close the wound, as well as scaffolding for clotted blood that stops the bleeding. These fibers become part of the scab that eventually disappears, so no need to worry.

The main stages of wound healing. Credit to © Guniita | Dreamstime.com

When the bleeding stopped, I gently cleaned around it and put a bandage on, with firm but not too tight pressure. Then I used my red light therapy torch device to accelerate the wound healing. I took off the bandage and applied the light to the cut 2-3 times a day, for about 6-8 minutes each time. I placed the torch directly over the cut, so there was light contact. Long story short, the wounds healed completely in little over two weeks!

Mind you, these were NOT scrapes, abrasions, or superficial paper cuts. These were deep lacerations. The first one on the base of the index finger, which I should have gotten stitches or surgical glue in retrospect due to its severity, I estimated to be 1.8 cm long and 4-5 mm deep. Here’s what it looks like today:

Cut index finger healed scar

The second one was about 6 mm long and 3 mm deep, which would have been deeper if the hard nail bed wasn’t there to stop the knife, as I was putting a lot of force into cutting the onion.

For the second cut, I decided to take pictures to document the healing,

Images of my deep finger cut, treated with Red Light Therapy over 14 days

Picture taken 30 minutes after sustaining cut

1st red light treatment

Day 2 of cut finger

Day 3

Day 6

Day 6 rlt treatment

Note, I actually applied red light to the wound almost daily and include only pictures of two treatments here.

Day 8

Day 10

Day 15

You can see the dramatic changes in the way the cut healed in such a shorter period of time. The inflammation and swelling lessened; the space between the skin closed just after a few days, and the redness decreased until just the dead cut skin remained as a remnant of the cut. I’ve had these kinds of cuts before where I did not have red light therapy available, and they took about 50% more time to completely heal. So, that’s my best estimate of the benefits of using red light therapy to heal injuries—for small wounds such as these, it can shorten the healing rate by about 50%; meaning, red light therapy can accelerate healing a flesh wound to completion in 2 weeks, that would normally take 3 weeks to fully heal.

How Does Red Light Therapy Work?

I’ve written about how red light therapy works several times on this blog, and made some videos on YouTube explaining red light therapy. Basically, red light uses photonic (light) energy to modulate (control; affect) certain biological activities that occur following injury.

Photons, the smallest units of light, are packets of energy and are received by parts of cells called chromophores. Chromophores are found in DNA, hemoglobin, proteins and most importantly, the mitochondria—the components in all cells whose function is to generate energy for the cell in the form of molecules called adenosine triphosphate, better known as ATP.

Photons from red light (wavelength of 620-750 nm, or billionths of a meter) tend to upregulate (enhance; trigger) some of the metabolic pathways involved in wound healing; notably collagen synthesis, reparative cell migration to the wound area, ATP production in the mitochondria; and downregulate the inflammatory and pain-producing pathways (it helps reduce swelling and redness).

What the Resarch Says About Red Light Therapy

If you wish to read less biased, more scientifically-based information on health and therapy-related topics, which you should as the internet is full of unreliable and often downright false information, go to Pub Med. This site is basically an index of medical research produced by those directly involved in treating medical conditions (medical researchers, doctors) and evaluating certain therapeutic interventions for those conditions. Pub Med is free to the public (other medical databases require a subscription).

A quick search on Pub Med on the efficacy of red light therapy (also referred to as phototherapy and LED-Low Level Light therapy) produced a study, among many others, in the medical journal Laser Therapy

Here’s a snippet from the abstract:

“…Among the clinical applications, non-healing wounds can be healed through restoring the collagenesis/ collagenase imbalance in such examples, and ‘normal’ wounds heal faster and better. Pain, including postoperative pain, postoperative edema and many types of inflammation can be significantly reduced.”

Kim, W. Is light-emitting diode phototherapy (LED-LLLT) really effective?2011;20(3):205-15.

And as I like to mention whenever explaining the therapeutic effects of red light, it is actually common knowledge that light has beneficial effects on living tissue. Three, well-known examples are: how light catalyzes photosynthesis in plants, enabling them to synthesize sugars for their energy needs; how UVB light starts Vitamin D production in the skin; and how animals rely on the diurnal cycle of sunrise and sunset to regulate their biorhythms, the patterns of physiological activity involved in the functioning of all living organisms.

A fourth example that suggests the connection between light and health that isn’t quite fully understood by science is Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), a mood disorder characterized by depression that occurs at the same time every year in regions where there is less sunlight at certain times of the year.

In summary, therapeutic red light can speed up wound healing by accelerating the metabolic pathways involved in tissue repair. It is therefore logical to conclude that red light can also help with other types of tissue healing such as bone fractures, tendinitis, muscle bruises, gum and tooth pain, vascular pain, and nerve pain. There are even red light devices to help relieve sinus pressure and improve certain gynecological conditions.

As far as red light therapy devices go, the most common types are the handheld red light torch as I mentioned in this article, which resembles a small flashlight and are ideal for focused treatment on small wounds/injuries; and the multi-LED wraps, which can be used for larger areas such as for low back (lumbar) pain and which can be wrapped around an extremity such as the knee, elbow, or shoulder. Some people even use red light LED wraps to reduce fine facial wrinkles. You can also place your feet on an LED wrap placed flat on the floor to treat plantar fasciitis or general foot aches and pain.

Finally, there are the more expensive, “industrial strength” red light panels which are popular in medi-spas for whole body red light therapy skin treatment.

Bottom Line: Red light therapy devices make a great addition to your home therapy kit and are a great investment in your health because they are relatively affordable; are safe to use; are easy to operate and portable (take to office or travel); and most importantly, are known to provide good results for tissue repair and pain reduction, and have published medical research to back their efficacy in this regard.

What is Red Light Therapy, and Can it Help Arthritis?

by Pain Doc | Feb 13, 2022 | Arthritis, Red light therapy

Red light therapy (RLT) is a type of treatment provided in clinical and cosmetic settings that incorporates red light to improve the skin’s appearance, such as reducing fine wrinkles, scars, redness and acne. It is also used in the medical setting to help reduce pain and increase healing in the joints, such as tendinitis, sprains/strains, and arthritis.

Red Light Therapy is also known as:

Phototherapy
Photodynamic therapy
Photobiomodulation
Low-level laser light therapy*
Low-power laser therapy*
Cold laser therapy*
Biostimulation
Photonic stimulation

*this is a misnomer, because red light therapy does not use laser energy.

Interest in red light therapy emerged decades ago when NASA conducted experiments on growing plants in space and healing injuries to astronauts. Results of this research pointed to a connection between red light and positive, biological effects on human tissues. This ability of light (photons) to alter biological activity in living cells is called photobiomodulation and is the means by which RLT achieves therapeutic benefit.

What is Light?

Understanding this requires some basic knowledge of how the eye works, and physics.

First of all, vision is possible only in the presence of light. This means light must bounce off objects in your visual field and enter your eye, which then “translates” the bounced light into an image that is perceived by your brain.

But how do we perceive color? White light is actually made up of wave energy that propagates in multiple wavelengths. It is this difference in wavelengths, the molecular properties of all objects, and the design of the human eye’s retina that creates the perception of color. Objects that appear a certain color reflect the wavelength of just that color into your eye and absorb all other wavelengths. For example, a red shirt reflects the red wavelengths and absorbs the blue, orange and yellow wavelengths. Altogether, these component wavelengths of white light is called the visible spectrum of the electromagnetic spectrum, which is shown here:

Electromagnetic energy exists as an electrical field with a magnetic field 90 degrees to its axis and propagates at the speed of light. The electromagnetic spectrum is the range, in wavelengths, of electromagnetic energy existing in nature, from the very tiny wavelength gamma ray (.0001 billionth of a meter) to the very long wavelength of AM radio (100 meters). Light is in between these extremes and is the only EM waves humans can see, between the wavelengths of about 380 to 700 nanometers (nm, billionths of a meter).

When light passes through a crystal prism, it bends. Since light is made up of different wavelengths, the component EM waves of white light behave differently (bend at different angles and speeds) as they enter the prism and can now be visually distinguished from one another as separate colors in a band: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. Similarly, rainbows form when suspended rain droplets bend the sun’s light and separate it into its component colors.

RED light is the longest wavelength of visible light, while VIOLET is the shortest. As the electromagnetic wavelength increases, the frequency (the number of times the wavelength passes a fixed point, measured in hertz – Hz) decreases, and so does the amount of energy it carries. So, the very small wavelength/high frequency gamma and x-rays carry a lot of energy and are dangerous to tissues. You may have heard that ultraviolet (UV) light can cause skin cancer. This is because much of its energy is absorbed by the skin, where it does damage to cells. Red light, being the longest wavelength of light, doesn’t have the energy level of UV and therefore does not pose danger to tissue; in fact, as we will discuss later, it has beneficial effects to tissues.

How Does Red Light Therapy Work?

Red light therapy is used to:

Improve wound healing
Reduce pain in joints
Treat tendonitis
Reduce headaches
Reduce stretch marks
Reduce wrinkles, fine lines and age spots
Improve psoriasis, rosacea and eczema.
Improve appearance of recent scars
Improve hair growth in people
Improve acne

It’s well established that light can initiate biological change in living organisms. Perhaps the most well-known is photosynthesis, the series of biochemical reactions where sunlight energy catalyzes the formation of sugar (glucose molecules) in plants. Photons from light get absorbed by tiny structures in a plant called chloroplasts, which provide the biological machinery to synthesize glucose (basically, stored energy) from inorganic carbon dioxide and water.

Another example of light effecting change in living tissue is vitamin D formation, where the pre-cursor of vitamin D is created when UVB light strikes 7-dehydrocholesterol molecules in the skin

Sunlight catalyzes Vitamin D synthesis in skin

With red light, the pathway is likely similar. Many research studies have been conducted over the years to uncover the mechanism behind red light photobiomodulation; i.e. the nature of its therapeutic effects. What is definitely known is that the red light wavelength (in the 660-700 nm wavelength range) tends to get absorbed in the nucleus and mitochondria of cells, in locations called chromophores. Mitochondria (image below) are the structures where energy is generated for the cell, much like the previously mentioned chloroplasts in plant cells. The nucleus contains the DNA, which is the template for protein synthesis.

We also know that photons can “excite” electrons – the tiny charges that orbit atomic nuclei. Cells and all their parts including the mitochondria are of course made up atoms. An “excited” electron means a movement of an electron to a higher energy orbit (further from/ less attracted to the nucleus).

In short, red light stimulation increases the energy state of electrons in sick tissues, enabling faster/enhanced reaction between adjacent molecules, as electron interactions between atoms are the basis of all biochemical reactions. This may translate into the cell “speeding up” its activities, particularly respiration (ATP formation from glucose via the Krebs cycle, i.e. energy production) as well as waste elimination and gas exchange. Redox signaling is the term used to describe this activity, and is the leading hypothesis for the mechanism of red light photobiomodulation.

With enhanced cellular signaling:

If the cell is a fibroblast, it could lead to faster wound healing, as fibroblasts migrate to the injury/damaged site to synthesize and lay down collagen fibers.
If the cell is a stem cell (undifferentiated cell), it could enhance the transformation of stem cells to fibroblasts or chondrocytes, which make collagen and cartilage, respectively.
If the cell is an epidermal cell, it could mean faster cell turnover to clear out abnormal cells in skin conditions such as eczema and psoriasis.

Cells are programmed to respond to specific extracellular signal molecules for development, tissue repair, immunity, and homeostasis. Errors in signaling interactions may lead to diseases such as cancer, autoimmunity (such as rheumatoid arthritis), and diabetes. Given this, it is feasible to assume that if red light therapy can enhance cell signaling, it can benefit these cellular functions and support tissue healing and pain reduction.

Red Light Therapy is Shown to Reduce Inflammation

Many studies found that red light reduced inflammation in tissues. Inflammation is the body’s response to injury or some kind of irritant and is characterized by redness, swelling, and pain. It involves a complex series of steps involving multiple protein clotting factors in the blood and tissues.

Inflammation also involves several types of cells involved in the reparative process, including macrophages (“cleaner” cells that remove debris), basophils (a type of white blood cell that secretes histamine and heparin to make blood vessels more leaky and manage clotting), and fibroblasts. It also involves cytokines—chemical signaling molecules that cells use to communicate and coordinate activities within themselves and with each other.

Inflammation often gets out of hand at the injury/ damaged tissue site and contributes to the problem by increasing pain and delaying healing. In fact, diseases like arthritis, irritable bowel syndrome, vascular disease, diabetes, and even Alzheimer’s disease involve chronic (ongoing) inflammation. This is the basis for the utilization of anti-inflammatory medications such as steroids and non-steroidal medications (NSAIDs) like Tylenol and Ibuprofen for inflammation.

The inflammation-reducing ability of red light therapy is likely due to its ability to enhance cell signaling and molecular flow in the cell. One study notes that overall reduction in inflammation is one of the most reproducible effects of photobiomodulation [from red light]. This is particularly important for inflammatory diseases affecting joints; acute trauma, lung disorders, and brain injuries resulting in inflammation.

Another proposed model to explain how light therapy works is photon-mediated ion channels in cell membranes (image below). Basically, ion channels are the passageways in membranes (think tiny gated doors) where ions flow through, which require energy to open. An electrical gradient is formed as the ion concentration differs on either side of the membrane, and this gradient can be used to drive movement of molecules into and out of the cell, very much like voltage. In fact, this is how neurons produce nerve impulses. Red light photons may be able to activate these ion channels, thereby boosting efficiency of ion flow and helping the cell maintain equilibrium.

Ion channels create energy potential in cell membranes

Should You Try Red Light Therapy for Arthritis?

Given its photobiomodulation ability, red light can be a useful, self-administered treatment for skin conditions and tissue injury/pain. It has powerful effects of improving cellular function to diseased/ injured tissues, which can improve recovery and healing. Being lower frequency, it is not harmful to the body, unlike UV light.

However, red light therapy should not be considered a “magic bullet” for “curing” things. Every person is different, and if you have complicating factors in your health and/or your condition is advanced, it may not work as well. While the human body has remarkable regenerative and healing abilities, there are limitations.

For example, in the case of advanced degenerative osteoarthritis of the knee or hip, much of the cartilage has worn away, and there are multiple areas of exposed bone. Normal, healthy cartilage that lines joint surfaces is smooth and resilient to pressure. Unlike the epidermis (skin), it does not regenerate very well, so if you lose quite a bit of it or tear it, it cannot regrow back to normal.

Osteoarthritis of the knee

But, if you are at the very early stages of osteoarthritis, red light therapy can be very helpful in arresting its progression. Arthritis usually appears mid-age, but if you engaged in heavy contact or heavy impact sports such as football and gymnastics, it may start earlier. What happens is tiny disruptions in the cartilage start to gradually separate, much like how a tiny crack in your windshield “grows” in length as your car absorbs shock from the road each time you drive. These tiny separations then form pits in the cartilage, which widen. Bone is exposed, inflammation sets in, and you’re on your way to an eventual knee or hip replacement some years later. But if you apply red light therapy to the tiny disruptions as they form, there is a much better chance of arresting their progression by stimulating cartilage growth. The red light will energize chondrocytes, the dormant cells embedded in the cartilage matrix tasked with maintaining it, and can stimulate the proliferation of chondroblasts, the cells that secrete collagen matrix.

You can still apply red light to an advanced osteoarthritic knee for palliative purposes, since red light can suppress inflammation and therefore provide some degree of pain relief. If doing so allows you to stay on your feet a couple more hours in a day, then that is definitely a positive benefit to your quality of life.

A good solution for applying red light therapy to the knee is the 120 LED wrap. It is a flexible pad containing 120 light emitting diodes (LEDs) with each diode containing one (1) 660 nm red light emitter and two (2) 850 nm infrared emitters. You wrap it around your knee and hold it in place with an elastic band that comes with it, and press a button.

Alternatively, if you are patient, you can use a red light torch device. This requires you to hold it in place for a couple of minutes. The good thing about the torch is that you can target small areas. For example, if you know you have a cartilage tear on the inside of your knee joint, you can press the torch over it and concentrate the light on that one spot. The torch is also good for small joints; i.e. knuckles.

As always, when you self-treat conditions use a multi-pronged approach: improve your diet, get enough rest, drink enough water every day (sometimes not easy to remember!), avoid ingesting toxins as best you can (nix smoking, alcohol, processed food, excessive pollution); get fresh, clean air by walking where there are lots of trees; exercise/ move often to strengthen your muscles and heart, and avoid negative thinking, which elevates stress hormones. Do all these things consistently and you can rest assured that you are giving your body its best chances for recovering from disease and pain.

The Two Essentials for a Long, Quality Life

by Pain Doc | Jan 9, 2022 | Lifestyle Modification, Low Back Pain Exercises, Nutrition

As I transition out of mid-life, I face the inevitable things that happen at this stage of one’s life: parents, aunts and uncles aging and dying; birth of grand-nieces and nephews; and subtle changes in my body and physical ability. As someone with a professional background in healthcare, I can’t help but to analyze the health aspects of these mortal events.

The first I shall mention involves my mother and aunts (her sisters). In the gene department, I’d say they acquired good ones for longevity—mom is 88, and her sisters are in their mid-90s. However, their health status is starkly different. Yes, mom is a few years younger, but in terms of physical ability and vitality it’s as if she’s 20 years younger. One dear aunt has just weeks to live. She is barely ambulatory, and she is fading. Her body is frail, and her mind is diminishing. There were beginning signs of organ system failure during the past year – wounds not healing well; constipation, and swelling in the lower limbs.

The other aunt suffered several falls in the past year, breaking her leg each time, and is experiencing symptoms of congestive heart failure—fluid in the lungs and difficulty breathing. Both aunts require 24/7 assisted living at the time of this writing.

And mom? She still drives, speaks loudly and coherently (although her hearing is declining but not terribly); is able to vacuum and clean her home where she lives alone (dad passed in 2016), and even work in the back yard raking leaves, pulling weeds, and watering plants. She watches a lot of TV in the afternoons and, after chores and dinner, late into the night, yet is able to do all these things. She shows no signs of slowing down.

All three women fortunately did not develop dementia in their advanced age. Mom shows no signs of it at all, and I am hoping and praying I have those genes!

My dad, on the other hand, developed dementia during his last five years alive, and it played a role in his passing from an unfortunate hospital accident.

I attribute my mom’s stronger vitality, compared to her older sisters, to two things:

Give to Others. Stay Socially Connected. Avoid Isolation

She sends birthday cards to all her children (four, including me) every year, ever since we moved out of the house to go to college–without fail; on-time, every time.

For me, it’s birthday card every year for the past forty years. She does the same for her grandsons (3) and granddaughter, and now great-grandson. She’s very giving and considerate of others.

If you read authors in the Self-Improvement field, such as Brendan Burchard and Steven Covey, one of the common themes is giving. Something good happens when you give. The gesture is basically about giving out love. But to be able to give love, you must first be at peace with yourself, and have abundant love for yourself and your life. It’s like money – you can’t give others money unless you have money yourself to begin with; enough to spare.

When you love yourself, you aren’t sad; you aren’t depressed and most of all you value yourself so you take care of yourself. You don’t do things that will hurt yourself in any way and as a result, you achieve mental health, which promotes physical health. So believe me when I tell you that doing something as simple as sending someone a birthday card for 40 straight years carries a lot more meaning that it appears. It’s all about your attitude and outlook in life, which drives your actions. I do believe in the power of love. It’s one of the mysteries of being human.

My aunts, however, spent most of their lives isolated. Their spouses passed away when they were relatively still young and they never remarried. They sort of grew into living mostly solitary lives, over decades. I suspect that even with losing their spouses early on, that their isolated life was mostly due to their personality—their nature, which developed in accordance with their mindset. They are not as outgoing as my mom, and appeared to not mind being alone; at least that’s what they thought.

Do Whatever it Takes to Stay Physically Active, As Long as You are Able

The second thing that separates my mom from her sisters: she was consistently physically active all her life, and still is to this day. She is purposeful about it: she plans out her day the day before and has a set agenda– visit a friend, get some groceries, buy household things, go the bank; work in the yard, clean the house, and so on. She often mentions to me how she sweats in the back yard after doing some chores (she lives in Florida where the humidity and heat can be quite uncomfortable in the summer). She delivers food to friends who live nearby, out of the kindness of her heart. And, she goes to church regularly, where she gets most of her social interaction. Bottom line: my mother likes to stay busy and enjoys doing physical work at her age.

Compare this lifestyle to her sisters: neither was physically active, aside from going out to run errands when needed. They spent hours sitting on the couch and watching TV much of their day, for decades — a wholly passive behavior (I don’t want to say activity) both mentally and physically.

Neither of them worked a job: one aunt lived with her adult children, and the other was supported by her spouse’s death benefits. Neither toiled in their back yard. I doubt if they walked around the neighborhood for exercise, either. Neither had a hobby that kept them engaged in something. Today, their health is in steep decline.

The Lesson Here

So, based on this real-life study, if you desire to live a long, quality life (not a long life being infirm) learn from my mother: it starts with your mindset/attitude. Your mindset drives your actions. Your actions directly determine your mental and physical health – it’s that simple.

When you have love for yourself and your life, you naturally want it to last as long as possible and as a result, your subconscious mind guides you in doing things that maintain your health and extend your life—avoiding destructive thoughts (envy, hate, anger, resentment, regret); eating healthy, getting enough sleep, and exercising regularly.

When you don’t have love yourself and your life; OR you fail to take a moment to affirm it often, you take life for granted. You become undisciplined with your actions. You don’t have purpose. You take unhealthy, dangerous risks – spending too much time on the internet and social media; developing addictions; eating too much sweets and junk food and not enough whole, natural foods; consuming alcohol excessively, and avoiding exercise. Perhaps drugs and tobacco enter the picture, too. Then, this lifestyle becomes entrenched and harder to get out of because you become overweight, have low energy, and are in a negative mood. Exercise and socializing with others are the last thing on your mind, and you avoid both. You eat food that may taste good, but doesn’t nourish your body. These actions stress your body, and payback is imminent. Unless you have good longevity genes like my mother and aunts, you can expect your lifespan to be shorter than what it could be; and/or, you can expect to live with chronic illness, severely impacting your quality of life — not a great way to spend your golden years.

I will add to this that one can make change for the better at any age. Of course, the sooner in life, the better. As a person ages, it is more difficult to change adverse behavior, due to the thought patterns that take root in the mind, which are basically the habits and rituals that give one short-term satisfaction. But, it’s not impossible. It just requires digging in deep, and having that desire and determination to change. Loving life, and wanting to experience it for as long as you can. For many people, a wakeup call has to occur before they take action, like a friend dying unexpectedly from a heart attack. Don’t wait for that to happen, because if you do, it may very well be your sudden illness or death that shakes a friend into action.

Once you change your mindset, the next challenge before you is execution. Here are a few tips:

Make small, gradual changes that are easy to accomplish. This sends a positive signal to your subconsciousness, and lays the groundwork to build upon. Examples: buy healthy foods for the week every Sunday at 6:00 PM; walk 3x around your block Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays; etc.
If you slip and revert to an old, unhealthy habit don’t be too hard on yourself. Definitely do not throw in the towel. Get up, and keep trying. It’s all about consistency in effort.
Create simple health routines. Routines are things you do the same time of the day, every day. Stay on a routine long enough, and you won’t have to remember to do it; it will come naturally.
For your physical activity, schedule it on your calendar. Hold yourself accountable. Better yet, recruit a close friend to be your accountability partner. He or she will have the role of encouraging you to stay on track.
20 minutes of exercise a day is better than an intense, 2 hour exercise every other week. Consistency is more important than intensity.
There are exercise options for every age and ability. Exercise doesn’t necessarily require sweating gobs of sweat; getting out of breath, or pounding your joints. You need to learn what’s right for you. Stay tuned for lots of examples of physical exercise for those over 40; those who are not physically fit; are overweight; or have some form of physical disability.

I cannot stress enough the importance of staying physically active to living a long, quality life. Humans, like all animals, are designed by nature to move frequently. When you don’t move enough, muscles atrophy and support to your spine and joints weakens, inviting injury and joint degeneration. Your heart, being a muscle, becomes weak so oxygen and nutrient delivery to your cells, including your brain cells, becomes sub-optimal. Your blood sugar rises because it isn’t being burned at a fast enough rate, leading to obesity and diabetes, and even Alzheimer’s disease.

Lack of physical activity even promotes gut disease, including constipation. Digestion benefits from physical activity, since your intestines are muscles themselves that require oxygen and nutrients delivered by your heart.

Bottom line, use it or lose it—being sedentary; failing to engage in consistent, moderate physical activity for years will cause a decline in your health that will be difficult if not impossible to reverse. Make it a priority in your life.

To complicate things, technological advancements have reduced our need to be physically active, and if it weren’t for advances in medicine and sanitation, human lifespan would probably be in the 40s especially with the abundance of and easy access to high-calorie, low nutrient processed food.

That’s it for now. It’s a new year, a time when people contemplate their lives and their future. If you are someone who needs to make a change, now is the best time. Stay tuned for more advice on staying healthy, vibrant, and out of pain and extending the lifespan of your body.

How Pulsed EMF and Red Light Can Help With Low Back Pain

by Pain Doc | Nov 29, 2021 | Low Back Pain

Low back pain affects nearly everyone at some point in their lives. Medical researchers have long known that most cases of low back pain self-resolve after a couple of days with rest and palliative measures such as application of hot packs and cold packs.

But for some, low back pain returns, and eventually becomes chronic. “Chronic” means that pain has reached a level where tissue healing has for the most part completed, but there is recurring pain. Chronic pain is usually characterized as dull, persistent pain; as opposed to the sharper acute pain, which is the type of pain associated with recent injury or major aggravation of a previous injury; characterized by heat, redness and swelling. Chronic pain is believed to be central nervous system driven; meaning that some of the pain signals are emanating from brain and spinal cord neurons as opposed to nociceptors, the special pain-sensing fibers found throughout your joints, tendons and muscles.

If you have acute low back pain– again, from a recent injury, or aggravation of a previous back injury resulting in swelling and pain, the standard protocol agreed to by most orthopedic specialists is rest, ice for the first two days, followed by an optional hot pack for the next 3-4 days. “Rest” doesn’t mean bed-ridden. When used in this context, rest means no heavy lifting, bending at the waist, or activities that place undue pressure on the spine such as running or jumping. However, you should move your body in ways you can; i.e. do not mentally “catastrophize” it because studies show that this mindset can actually lead to poorer outcomes, such as taking a much longer time for the pain to resolve, and atrophy of the back muscles which reduces support to the spine and therefore predisposes it to further injury.

If you have chronic low back pain, the goal is to manage it so that it has a minimal effect on your activities of daily living– standing, sitting, walking, bending, and other activities that require similar use of the spine. If your chronic pain is mostly central nervous system in origin, it would be worthwhile to practice mind-body techniques. This includes yoga, meditation, and practices of that nature. Having control of your thoughts can be helpful in controlling chronic pain. It’s not all about ignoring your pain, but rather, not amplifying it by mentally embracing and validating it. The best approach is to continue as best as you can with your regular life activities– the things you did before the injury event. Modify them to accommodate any physical limitation, if necessary. For example, if you used to run, try speed walking. It’s less jarring to the knees and low back, and you burn the same number of calories. What’s most important is getting out there and staying active; i.e. “move through the pain.”

You can of course try to alleviate acute or chronic low back pain by using certain modalities. The ones I recommend are red light therapy and pulsed electromagnetic field therapy. Red light (emitted by a light emitting diode, or LED) has a wavelength range of around 660 nanometers. It is electromagnetic energy at a wavelength that can influence biological activity in a positive way. Studies show that light at this wavelength gets absorbed by cell mitochondria, which respond by becoming more active. Mitochondria are the parts of a cell that extract energy from ATP, the molecule synthesized from glucose (sugar) in the diet. A recent study showed that applying red light to your eyes in the morning can even improve eyesight. If you have an injury and/or inflammation, red light therapy can be helpful in accelerating the healing rate.

If the original injury event was within a year, it is possible to eliminate your chronic pain and have it never come back again. You see, in some cases of ongoing pain, it could be that your injury still has the potential to completely heal but it just needs a boost on energy. Cells are dormant or at a low energy state and there is not much activity going on; i.e. protein (collagen) synthesis and cell division/ new cell creation. Here’s where Pulsed EMF can help. Pulsed EMF, known as “energy” medicine, is the only modality that works by increasing the action potential of cells. Like voltage that drives electrical current, a strong action potential across a cell membrane will enable the cell to improve its metabolic rate. Nutrients and oxygen will move across the membrane into the cell, while waste products and CO2 will efficiently exit the cell through the membrane. When the cells are more energized, their healing capacity increases.

To further enhance healing of an old injury, apply 30 minutes of Pulsed EMF twice a day, followed by ten minutes of red light therapy. What’s great is that you do not need to be a licensed doctor to acquire these modalities. They are safe enough to use at home and there are no studies that show a harmful or negative effect in the use of these machines. If you wish to get out of pain sooner and in the long run, you can’t go wrong with Pulsed EMF and Red Light therapy. When combined, they serve as a powerful treatment for injuries and pain.

Pulsed EMF and Red Light also can serve as maintenance therapy for those who have no health issues. Living in a modern society, our cells and tissues are constantly exposed to unnatural and even harmful electromagnetic fields from things like cell phone towers and powerful transformers in buildings (Pulsed EMF generates EM fields with the same frequency and wavelength profile as those naturally produced by the body itself, at higher amplitude). This saps our energy and weakens and drains cell energy. Applying pulsed EMF re-energizes the body very much like how you recharge your cell phone battery every day. Your body will feel the difference with the energy boost Pulsed EMF provides.