In this episode of The Energy Code, Dr. Michael Belkowski recaps why minerals earned a spot in the mitochondrial matrix, then dives into fresh photobiomodulation (PBM/red light therapy) research. You’ll hear how whole-body PBM compares with targeted muscle pre-conditioning for exercise, why full-body exposure may still shine for sleep and HRV, and what systematic reviews suggest for fibromyalgia (pain, fatigue, function). He also covers a transcranial PBM protocol (810 nm on the forehead) that reduced anxiety, depression, and cravings in patients on methadone maintenance, plus new data and debate around age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and multi-wavelength PBM.
If you’re curious about practical takeaways—when to use localized higher-dose treatments (performance) vs whole-body lower, diffuse doses (sleep, autonomic balance), how dosage and cadence make or break results, and where minerals + light complement each other for mitochondrial health—this recap sets the stage. The full, time-stamped transcript follows.
00;00;32;27 - 00;00;34;14 What's going on, everybody?
00;00;34;14 - 00;00;37;10 Thanks for joining me on another episode
00;00;37;10 - 00;00;42;24 of The Energy Code. I just finished getting my morning sunrise in here.
00;00;42;24 - 00;00;52;12 It was a brisk yet, at the same time, warm, 32 degrees. But when the sun is shining, 32° can feel warm, believe me.
00;00;52;12 - 00;00;54;21 For the people that live more in the South, where it's warm
00;00;54;21 - 00;00;56;13 32 and the sun is warm.
00;00;56;13 - 00;01;09;23 Compare that to—even if it's 40, 45 degrees—and it's overcast, that can be pretty cool. So I got my morning sunrise in, ready to record this podcast for you guys. Got a lot of great information. Hope you enjoyed last week's,
00;01;09;28 - 00;01;27;25 deep dive into minerals and really the importance. It can be kind of a boring, bland topic, but when you really get down to the root-level, foundational aspect of health and the role that they play—trace minerals and minerals alike—they are, again, foundational.
00;01;27;25 - 00;01;51;28 So that's why they have been added to the mitochondrial matrix. So as it currently stands with the mitochondrial matrix—and again, anything included in the mitochondrial matrix is foundational, root-level strategies to improve your systemic mitochondrial function. Or, said another way, improve your redox potential, which is,
00;01;51;28 - 00;01;57;09 a measure, really, of your health and your potential for healthspan and longevity.
00;01;57;12 - 00;02;30;06 So you want your redox potential optimized. That inherently means your mitochondrial function is optimized. So right now, as it stands, the mitochondrial matrix consists of red light therapy, methylene blue, Carbon 60 (supplement form; it’s called C60—that's like the pharmaceutical-grade quality of Carbon 60), Urolithin A—remember, that's for increasing mitophagy, getting rid of the dysfunctional mitochondria, improving the ratio of functional to dysfunctional mitochondria.
00;02;30;08 - 00;02;33;03 And now we've added minerals,
00;02;33;03 - 00;02;37;07 the ones that have just been historically entrenched in various,
00;02;37;07 - 00;02;45;25 traditions in various civilizations, really, throughout the centuries. And that's most notably the fulvic acid,
00;02;45;25 - 00;02;49;05 Wu Jin San, which means “golden medicine,”
00;02;49;05 - 00;02;53;18 we have humic acids that, specifically,
00;02;53;18 - 00;03;15;25 with a BioMinerals supplement, we've utilized Shilajit, which is comprised of both fulvic and humic—but we're using the Shilajit as our source of high-quality humic acids. And humic acids are very valuable for improving your gut integrity, minimizing, mitigating, preventing, and reversing leaky gut.
00;03;15;28 - 00;03;31;26 And then we have Quinton seawater—or Quinton marine plasma; same thing. And essentially, it's a very bountiful and healthful part of the ocean. We discussed this in depth in the last episode.
00;03;31;26 - 00;03;39;12 But essentially, like if you were to ask Robert Slovak—he's the one that is responsible for bringing Quinton water to the United States,
00;03;39;12 - 00;03;41;05 decades ago at this point.
00;03;41;08 - 00;03;41;27 But,
00;03;41;27 - 00;03;43;15 he would say that
00;03;43;15 - 00;03;45;14 the Quinton seawater
00;03;45;16 - 00;03;51;10 has the exact same ratio of minerals that we find in our blood.
00;03;51;10 - 00;04;17;01 This ocean seawater is synonymous—it is analogous—with the attributes, the helpful attributes, of our blood. So wherever there may be deficiencies, Quinton water—if you're using this as a supplement or taking it on a regular basis—is going to buffer in and mitigate any potential deficits in those trace minerals, thus keeping your cells and your physiology operating as it should.
00;04;17;03 - 00;04;54;24 And so when you combine all three of these together—which I've never seen before until BioMinerals—the high-quality fulvic acid, the humic acid derived from high-quality Shilajit extract, and then, of course, the unparalleled, unmatched Quinton seawater—this formulation, in a low dose and a consistent approach, meaning you're essentially putting this in every glass or every water bottle full of water that you're drinking, so that you're perpetually keeping your cells hydrated, you're keeping your gut terrain restored, and you are,
00;04;54;24 - 00;05;06;29 essentially giving your bodies and your cells the most comprehensive mineralization possible—again, on a consistent and perpetual basis—so that everything at the root-level, root cause, is operating as
00;05;06;29 - 00;05;34;20 it should. And of course, this includes the mitochondria. So before we jump into the main information for today's episode, I just want to make a quick reminder that, for the rest of October—so about the next week plus—you can get 20% off BioMinerals. And that includes with the subscription option, which, when this time passes, that will no longer be
00;05;34;20 - 00;05;39;12 available, meaning you cannot combine discounts with the subscription option.
00;05;39;12 - 00;06;04;05 So, for example, if you use this 20% discount and buy a single bottle of BioMinerals with subscribe-and-save, that will get you about 30% off BioMinerals, and you will maintain that discount for the lifetime that you keep that subscription active. If you choose a two-pack, that'll get you closer to 35 to 37% off. If you do a four-pack, then you're above 40% total.
00;06;04;07 - 00;06;07;10 So those are just some options to consider.
00;06;07;10 - 00;06;28;17 And again, that discount—that 20% plus subscription discount offer—will only last through October 31st. So if you're interested and you just want to give it a try, I would—I mean, this is the time to do it because this is literally the lowest price available, even including Black Friday.
00;06;28;17 - 00;07;00;03 Like, it's not going to be this low on Black Friday. So if you're wanting to try BioMinerals, this is your opportunity. Simply use discount code MINERALPODCAST—MINERALPODCAST, one word. That's the discount code. And again, you don't have to use the subscription option. But again, you can combine them if you want. So again, with that discount code MINERALPODCAST, you unlock 20% off your entire order no matter what, but you can also include it with your subscription option and then get 30 to 40% off,
00;07;00;03 - 00;07;05;07 bottle or bottles of BioMinerals for the longevity—or for the,
00;07;05;07 - 00;07;07;24 I should say, the lifetime—of that subscription.
00;07;07;26 - 00;07;08;20 So
00;07;08;20 - 00;07;18;11 we're going to dig into some research, and we're going to really go back to the root of The Energy Code, which was The Red Light Report. And we're going to
00;07;18;11 - 00;07;21;19 sift through some of the more interesting,
00;07;21;19 - 00;07;23;22 photobiomodulation research
00;07;23;22 - 00;07;27;18 that's been out there recently. So this first article
00;07;27;18 - 00;07;28;27 is from,
00;07;28;27 - 00;07;32;27 it's actually from the beginning of this year, January 30th, but it's an interesting one.
00;07;32;29 - 00;07;52;24 It's entitled “A Systematic Review on Whole-Body Photobiomodulation for Exercise Performance and Recovery.” And this comes out of Lasers in Medical Science. And again, this is a systematic review. So the snapshot of the study: they searched four databases.
00;07;52;24 - 00;08;04;27 And there were five human studies that met the criteria for what they were searching for. The total number was 105 active adults using whole-body photobiomodulation,
00;08;04;29 - 00;08;14;08 the combination of red and near-infrared, pre- and post-exercise. And unfortunately, I can't get the full
00;08;14;08 - 00;08;15;07 article
00;08;15;07 - 00;08;23;18 for the systematic review, but I would love to go and see which studies they utilized—did pre-
00;08;23;18 - 00;08;36;21 exercise photobiomodulation, which ones did post-exercise photobiomodulation, and if any of them did a combination. Because when we get to the findings here, it gets a little interesting, because this is what they found with their systematic review.
00;08;36;24 - 00;08;41;15 And this may surprise some of you, but we'll kind of explain why it is what it is.
00;08;41;15 - 00;09;02;07 They found no improvements on fatigue biomarkers or exercise performance across the five studies. And again, that's why I said before— which ones did pre, which ones did post, which ones potentially did pre and post. But another key finding was a possible sleep benefit in two of the studies.
00;09;02;14 - 00;09;05;24 And they found this with increased serum
00;09;05;24 - 00;09;06;24 melatonin,
00;09;06;24 - 00;09;07;18 decreased
00;09;07;18 - 00;09;16;00 nocturnal heart rate—your heart rate does go down when you sleep—and overall better sleep scores. And again, what is the sleep score? I mean, are they using like a WHOOP or
00;09;16;00 - 00;09;21;28 an Oura Ring, or what are they determining as better sleep scores? But regardless, so let's just attack this first one.
00;09;21;28 - 00;09;23;11 No improvements
00;09;23;11 - 00;09;23;28 on fatigue
00;09;23;28 - 00;09;27;24 biomarkers or exercise performance across the five studies. This one
00;09;27;24 - 00;09;42;12 when you read it—especially when you hear it—is confounding. And this is where I want to go with this conversation: there's plenty of other studies that show statistically significant benefits,
00;09;42;12 - 00;09;47;07 particularly when you do red light therapy pre-exercise.
00;09;47;09 - 00;09;58;22 And as we all know at this point in time, it comes down to dosage. If your dosage is incorrect—whether it's too low or too high—of course that's going to lead to,
00;09;58;22 - 00;10;05;07 from the scientific lens, no improvement on the fatigue or exercise performance biomarkers.
00;10;05;07 - 00;13;41;05
00;13;41;05 - 00;13;43;09 So that's why I want to know—
00;13;43;09 - 00;13;50;16 and again, I can't get my hands on this full study yet—but was it pre, was it post, was it a combo?
00;13;50;18 - 00;14;08;16 And if they were doing just one—meaning, was it just pre, just post—what were those dosages? If they were doing pre and post, what were those combined dosages? Because then we have to consider the biphasic dose response. We have to consider, again, bio-individuality. How big are these individuals compared to smaller individuals
00;14;08;16 - 00;14;15;12 that led to this null effect of red light therapy on athletic or exercise performance?
00;14;15;17 - 00;14;17;12 This doesn't tell me
00;14;17;12 - 00;14;45;29 that red light therapy doesn't work for exercise—just because I know, based on other research, there's plenty more research. And again, this research was specifically whole-body photobiomodulation. So let's remember that: they're doing systemic, full-body red light therapy. Whereas with the articles I'm alluding to, they will do red light therapy just to the quads, or just to the hamstrings, or just to the calves, or just to the chest, depending on what exercise
00;14;45;29 - 00;14;46;24 they're doing,
00;14;46;24 - 00;14;47;26 for that research.
00;14;47;26 - 00;15;03;16 And when they do precondition the muscles that are going to be intensely exercised, there is a statistically significant increase in strength, in power, in endurance, and in recovery.
00;15;03;16 - 00;15;21;04 I guess that's another way of looking at this study: okay, whole-body for exercise may not be as beneficial—clearly, based on this review, not as beneficial—compared to isolating the muscles that will be, again, most intensely exercised for whatever exercise or game or
00;15;21;04 - 00;15;23;06 activity you're doing.
00;15;23;09 - 00;15;29;02 And again, I still think we need to get a little deeper into the weeds with these individual studies
00;15;29;02 - 00;15;33;08 these authors are looking at and figure out what were the dosages,
00;15;33;08 - 00;15;40;03 were they high enough? Because surely when you're doing full-body, you're going to be irradiating the muscles that will be exercised.
00;15;40;03 - 00;15;42;14 What was the exercise being tested?
00;15;42;16 - 00;15;45;02 And then we'll get to a little bit more of that below here. But
00;15;45;02 - 00;15;54;15 let's get to the second key finding now, which was a possible sleep benefit. And again, this is whole-body red light therapy. And this makes sense because, as we've discussed in the past,
00;15;54;15 - 00;15;58;06 whereas we were led to believe that the pineal gland
00;15;58;06 - 00;16;02;01 was the one responsible for most of the melatonin
00;16;02;01 - 00;16;03;29 secretion and production,
00;16;04;06 - 00;16;09;07 we have found,
00;16;09;07 - 00;16;26;15 over the recent years and decades, that actually the vast majority of your melatonin production is extra-pineal, meaning coming outside of just the pineal gland. And that's because the mitochondria produce,
00;16;26;15 - 00;16;32;02 in accumulation—meaning, in totality—systemically, they produce the vast majority
00;16;32;02 - 00;16;34;11 of the melatonin in your body.
00;16;34;13 - 00;16;45;19 And remember, again, the mitochondria are environmental sensors. So if you're surrounded by blue light or just bright light when the sun goes down, your mitochondria are
00;16;45;19 - 00;16;47;02 being exposed to this.
00;16;47;02 - 00;16;57;26 They're sensing it. They decrease their melatonin production, and you don't fall asleep as well as you should. So that's one prime example of how the mitochondria are environmental sensors.
00;16;57;28 - 00;17;00;07 And also, that's a perfect description or
00;17;00;07 - 00;17;16;02 example of what I'm saying—what is your relationship with light? Because light is going to influence you for better or for worse. And in that example—just to demonstrate how when exposed to light, especially the wrong frequencies of light when
00;17;16;02 - 00;17;20;24 the sun goes down—inhibiting melatonin production, that will impact your sleep.
00;17;20;27 - 00;17;32;15 Back to the study here. So when exposed to full-body red light therapy, that seemed to lead to increased melatonin in the serum. And again, if you're exposing your skin,
00;17;32;15 - 00;17;42;20 your gut, your eyes, different tissues, your brain, to red light—again, that's going to ramp up melatonin production systemically. So there's the potential to improve sleep,
00;17;42;20 - 00;17;44;18 decrease in nocturnal heart rate.
00;17;44;18 - 00;17;52;08 That's an interesting one for me. And again, I think that just more lends itself to normalizing your circadian rhythm.
00;17;52;08 - 00;18;09;08 When you first wake up, your cortisol goes up. Throughout the day, your heart rate is elevated relative to when you go to bed. It, as it normally should, decreases during the nighttime. When you're resting and digesting and regenerating, your heart rate should be going down.
00;18;09;10 - 00;18;14;24 And remember, this actually isn't too dissimilar from the study BioLight did,
00;18;14;24 - 00;18;31;00 three or four summers ago at this point with Biostrap Labs. We took our Restore panel and we did full-body sessions—once in the morning, once in the evening—and each session was comprised of five minutes front of the body, five minutes back of the body,
00;18;31;00 - 00;18;36;16 about 6 to 12 inches away from the panel for those treatments.
00;18;36;19 - 00;18;44;12 And over the course of the study, all of the numbers were trending toward improved sleep metrics.
00;18;44;12 - 00;18;45;23 We didn't take serum, of course.
00;18;45;23 - 00;18;49;16 But we were using Biostraps, so we had all of those biometrics being
00;18;49;16 - 00;19;13;06 accumulated by those Biostrap straps. And all of the metrics were trending toward improved sleep metrics. And also, what we found as an interesting byproduct that we weren't necessarily looking for was a significant decrease in your stress—meaning there was a significant increase in your HRV, your heart rate variability.
00;19;13;13 - 00;19;34;08 So as your HRV goes up, that's a sign that you're tapping into your parasympathetic—your rest-and-digest—aspect of your nervous system. So again, I'm a huge fan of doing red light therapy—specifically full-body red light therapy—for that benefit alone, because anyone and everyone these days is dealing with some type of
00;19;34;08 - 00;19;45;00 stress. So if red light therapy can legitimately help you tap into your parasympathetic within a 10-minute red light therapy session, then who couldn't benefit from that?
00;19;45;02 - 00;19;46;20 So I think that's an interesting
00;19;46;20 - 00;19;57;15 correlation between these two studies—or this one is a systematic review—but with the study we did with Biostraps, this perfectly aligns with the improvement in sleep metrics as well.
00;19;57;15 - 00;19;59;20 So, back to this article.
00;19;59;20 - 00;20;09;17 Whole-body photobiomodulation delivers a low and diffused dose to muscle. Because remember, we're doing a whole body dose to get a certain dosage,
00;20;09;17 - 00;20;23;09 and if it was too high, it would be relatively easy to “overdose.” So when we're looking at exercise performance and trying to do whole-body, it's tough to get enough
00;20;23;09 - 00;20;28;12 dosage of red light therapy to the muscle—because let's say you're trying to do your,
00;20;28;12 - 00;20;32;14 you're doing like a leg workout or some type of leg-intensive
00;20;32;14 - 00;20;33;27 exercise or a sport.
00;20;33;29 - 00;20;46;24 Well, if you're doing a whole-body, then you're not going to be able to get the dosage high enough that your quads would require. Because if you did that dosage for your quads but did it to your whole body,
00;20;46;24 - 00;20;54;06 that would be too much overall, right? So when we're doing a whole-body, it's more of a low and diffuse, excuse me, treatment.
00;20;54;09 - 00;21;16;01 And so the energy density at the target tissue—for example, the quads—you're going to miss that biphasic dose response; you're going to miss that therapeutic window, because a whole-body treatment is delivering too low of a dosage relative to what the quads, the quadriceps, would need to get their, let's say, preconditioning for that exercise to have a legitimate effect.
00;21;16;03 - 00;21;42;03 The sleep effects could stem from some of the autonomic shifts going on—improved vagal tone. And when, again, when you improve vagal tone—near your vagus nerve stimulation—that's another way of also tapping into your parasympathetic rest-and-digest, increasing your V aspect of your nervous system. So with red light therapy, there's a potential you're tapping into some vagal tone,
00;21;42;05 - 00;21;47;28 again, you're normalizing some circadian cues, and you're getting a systemic
00;21;47;28 - 00;22;02;06 signal in from the mitochondria, which, again, they're going to be producing the vast majority of the melatonin in your body anyway. So with sleep, you're tapping into the vagus nerve, normalizing circadian, and then optimizing mitochondrial production of melatonin.
00;22;02;06 - 00;22;04;22 So the bottom line from this article:
00;22;04;22 - 00;22;08;15 localized photobiomodulation—or, like,
00;22;08;15 - 00;22;21;09 spot treatment with red light therapy for the specific muscles you're going to be working on. So if you're doing a leg day, target those quads, target the calves, target the hamstrings, target the glutes. If you're doing an upper-body day,
00;22;21;09 - 00;22;23;20 then irradiate those muscles appropriately.
00;22;23;23 - 00;22;48;27 But whole-body red light therapy—so apparatuses like these beds or blankets or pads, whatever you want to call them—specific to athletic or exercise performance, are not going to move the needle on performance or recovery, but they will likely help with sleep. So if you're an athlete, you want to be using a higher-power device and then treating locally.
00;22;48;29 - 00;23;08;18 But if you're looking just to normalize your overall health and wellness, improve circadian rhythm, improve your sleep quality, then these whole-body treatments are really an optimal choice. This second article is looking at pain, and one of the most finicky
00;23;08;18 - 00;23;16;10 diagnoses as it relates to pain—and that's fibromyalgia. So this article is from April. It's another systematic review.
00;23;16;10 - 00;23;24;19 It's entitled “Photobiomodulation for Fibromyalgia: Signal Across Pain, Fatigue, Function.”
00;23;24;19 - 00;23;27;22 So, similar to the first article,
00;23;27;22 - 00;23;46;15 being that they're both systematic reviews—this one, the authors were looking at localized versus whole-body photobiomodulation in fibromyalgia. And the outcomes they were looking for were pain, function, sleep, quality of life, and fatigue. So that's what they were searching with their resources.
00;23;46;17 - 00;24;28;01 And they ended up with 17 studies with a total of 857 participants. And just cutting to the chase here with the key findings: they found consistent pain reduction and functional gains, and improvements in fatigue, sleep, and quality of life. So the authors suggest whole-body photobiomodulation may deliver more sustained benefits—potential autonomic and central-sensitization effects. And some potential mechanisms as to why photobiomodulation may work with the fibromyalgia
00;24;28;04 - 00;24;32;24 population is that it down-regulates tumor necrosis
00;24;32;24 - 00;24;53;22 factor-alpha, interleukin-6, interleukin-1β, and it supports mitochondrial function and nociceptive pathway modulation—aligning with the central-sensitization model of fibromyalgia. And just speaking from my professional experience, when I was a physical therapist treating
00;24;53;22 - 00;25;02;10 these types of patients, I would do anything and everything to decrease systemic inflammation.
00;25;02;12 - 00;25;10;02 And again, dry needling was one of the best ways to do so, if they could tolerate it. Because, again, these types of
00;25;10;02 - 00;25;13;12 diagnoses—the fibromyalgias, the
00;25;13;12 - 00;25;14;16 chronic
00;25;14;16 - 00;25;40;01 pain syndromes—these types of diagnoses are difficult to deal with because the inflammation makes these individuals hypersensitive neurologically. So what do I mean by that? Well, when you initially have inflammation—whether it is you rolled your ankle or it's some type of
00;25;40;01 - 00;25;57;29 systemic inflammatory situation—if your body does not properly process and get rid of it in the normal amount of time, and the inflammation is allowed to linger around, then it's continuously having the nerves that are being bathed in these inflammatory
00;25;57;29 - 00;25;59;23 markers.
00;25;59;23 - 00;26;04;18 In this article, they highlighted TNF-alpha, IL-6, IL-
00;26;04;18 - 00;26;17;25 1β. So, all different types of cytokines and inflammatory markers. And if those inflammatory markers are surrounding the nerves and bathing the nerves, that's going to be telling the nerves to send a pain signal to the brain.
00;26;17;25 - 00;26;19;23 So as long as those
00;26;19;23 - 00;26;22;26 stimuli are there, pain signals will be sent.
00;26;23;19 - 00;26;31;16 So, in a normal situation, those cytokines would be chaperoned out; the nerves would be desensitized—meaning,
00;26;31;16 - 00;26;51;21 it would take the normal amount of stimulus to send a pain signal to your brain—whereas when you're sensitized, it takes a lower stimulus to send a pain signal to your brain. So, for example, I like to use is someone will punch you in your shoulder—that'll send a pain signal to your brain with normal nerve sensitivity.
00;26;51;23 - 00;27;21;09 But when your nerves are sensitized secondary to inflammation, it can be so sensitive that it just takes the touch of your shirt on your skin, and that can send a pain signal to your brain. That's how sensitive nerves can get. So, again, if those cytokines, inflammatory markers, are allowed to hang around long enough—and we're talking like three to six months—then that pain signal is essentially mapped in your brain.
00;27;21;14 - 00;27;24;08 Meaning, even when the inflammation
00;27;24;08 - 00;27;41;02 eventually leaves—the cytokines and inflammatory markers—even when they leave, you're still left with the pain, because it's been mapped in your brain; it's been mapped in your nervous system. So that's why chronic inflammation can be extremely difficult
00;27;41;02 - 00;27;47;14 to deal with, because sometimes the inflammation has been chronic; it has legitimately lingered for months and months and months.
00;27;47;16 - 00;28;02;28 But then it can leave, but the body's still left with the sensitivity—as if the inflammation is there. So that's why chronic pain syndrome, fibromyalgia, can be so finicky to work with, because some of these people have been dealing with
00;28;02;28 - 00;28;12;22 “chronic inflammation” or systemic inflammation for years, if not longer—and they don't even have any inflammation in the body.
00;28;12;22 - 00;28;13;21 So it's,
00;28;13;21 - 00;28;20;04 anything that can move them in the right direction—anything that can move the needle for them, pun intended—
00;28;20;04 - 00;28;28;20 is really a godsend to these types of individuals. And so I would—if they could tolerate it—utilize a certain
00;28;28;20 - 00;28;38;03 systemic treatment of dry needling to resolve and reduce sensitivity. Another option was cupping. Another option was
00;28;38;03 - 00;28;38;22 hyperbaric,
00;28;38;22 - 00;29;05;26 if they could tolerate it. And, of course, eventually later in my career, at that point, I implemented red light therapy. And out of all of the tools I utilized, red light therapy was the most effective for multiple reasons: A) it's hands-off, because—keep in mind—these people are very sensitive, so even the needles, the cupping, even the pressure from a hyperbaric chamber—not very delightful, shall we say.
00;29;05;29 - 00;29;28;13 Whereas with red light therapy, you simply lay down, you relax; you can even teach them some breathing techniques, some stress-reducing techniques—all the while they're being bathed in the red and near-infrared light, hopefully reducing and resolving inflammatory issues, improving mitochondrial function, and just kind of restoring that balance and, in a sense, improving the redox potential. So I agree with this
00;29;28;13 - 00;29;30;23 research article where
00;29;30;23 - 00;30;05;22 full-body red light therapy—or, they're calling it whole-body photobiomodulation—can offer sustained benefits related to autonomic—again, probably tapping into some vagal tone, improving their vagus nerve stimulation—and otherwise. And the authors go on to say: for chronic centralized pain states such as fibromyalgia, photobiomodulation has realistic potential as an adjunct to multidisciplinary care, especially when protocols are course-based—meaning multiple sessions, and not one-offs.
00;30;05;25 - 00;30;22;29 And, really, that goes for all types of treatments, right? Like, you can't expect everything to be resolved with one treatment. And they go on to say: stronger evidence base than many alternative modalities in the space—but standardization is needed. And I couldn't agree more.
00;30;22;29 - 00;30;37;28 So, in essence, for fibromyalgia, red light therapy may calm an over-sensitized nervous system—leading to less flame and less pain.
00;30;38;01 - 00;31;10;00 And now, moving along to the third article—this one comes from February of this year. It is entitled “Transcranial Photobiomodulation in Methadone Patients: A Randomized Controlled Trial with Durable Effects.” And just a brief background: methadone is a synthetic analgesic drug that is similar to morphine in its effects but longer acting, and it's used as a substitute drug in the treatment of morphine and heroin addiction.
00;31;10;03 - 00;31;45;11 So that's what this article—surrounding transcranial photobiomodulation in methadone patients. So this study had 70 participants on methadone maintenance treatment, and they randomized transcranial photobiomodulation versus sham. And the device parameters—which they gave in the study, thank goodness—the LEDs were 810 nanometers. And keep that in mind for transcranial; they're using LEDs here, not lasers—just as a friendly reminder that lasers are not necessary.
00;31;45;14 - 00;32;02;21 So again, they're using near-infrared at 810 nanometers. And they're saying that the device was putting out 250,000,000 W/cm². And again, I would love to see if that device is third-party tested, because 250 is really high. The dosage was 60
00;32;02;21 - 00;32;14;28 joules per centimeter squared, four minutes per side, bilateral forehead. So we're not doing a whole helmet here where we're trying to go through the hair and the temporal
00;32;14;28 - 00;32;18;29 side of the head, or the occipital lobe in the back of your head.
00;32;19;01 - 00;32;26;15 In this study, they're just attacking the most traditional location, which is the forehead—going through the skull and getting those frontal lobes.
00;32;26;15 - 00;32;38;13 And again, as a reminder, we're not using red light here because red light cannot penetrate the skull. Red light is a shorter wavelength. So we need a longer wavelength because longer wavelengths penetrate deeper into the body,
00;32;38;15 - 00;32;53;17 hence they're using near-infrared at 810 nanometers. And the outcomes they were looking for were anxiety, depression, opioid craving—and this is at post, one month, and three months.
00;32;53;17 - 00;32;54;09 So
00;32;54;09 - 00;33;12;12 key findings for this article: groups matched at baseline, and then transcranial photobiomodulation significantly reduced anxiety, depression, and craving versus sham—and these benefits were sustained to three months.
00;33;12;14 - 00;33;44;24 And the effect sizes reported as large on depression across time points. So there was a statistically significant effect on methadone maintenance treatment simply using near-infrared through the forehead, and you saw the aforementioned findings. So the mechanisms that were hypothesized by the authors were that the prefrontal near-infrared penetration led to increased mitochondrial respiration and energy production,
00;33;44;24 - 00;33;50;26 and the shifts in neurotransmission and cerebral hemodynamics—meaning,
00;33;50;26 - 00;33;52;17 fancy words for improving
00;33;52;17 - 00;33;56;21 the conductivity of the nerves, improving, probably, oxygen and
00;33;56;21 - 00;33;58;18 blood flow to the brain.
00;33;58;20 - 00;34;19;11 So you're getting energy in, you're getting the waste out, and all of this may stabilize networks implicated in mood and craving—because a lot of that occurs in the frontal lobe. So some of the protocols, again, that we can pick up from this article: again, they're using 810-nanometer near-infrared light,
00;34;19;11 - 00;34;21;22 around 60 joules per centimeter squared.
00;34;21;22 - 00;34;49;04 So if you're using that dosage calculator on the BioLight website, you would type in the light irradiance of your device—again, hopefully it's third-party tested—and then you'd put in, for the desired dosage, “60,” and then the calculator would spit out the duration that you would need to have the same dosage seen in this study, based on the device that you are utilizing—whether that's a handheld device, a panel, a full-body panel, what have you.
00;34;49;06 - 00;35;12;13 So those are the metrics you would want to know. So again, near-infrared light and the dosage of 60—that's six-zero—joules per centimeter squared are within the sweet spot frequently used in cognitive and mood, transcranial photobiomodulation literature. And so anyone dealing with anxiety, stress, depression,
00;35;12;13 - 00;35;17;26 cravings—this is a protocol you could try implementing safely.
00;35;17;29 - 00;35;22;13 I would also add, if the circumstances are good and you don't have any
00;35;22;13 - 00;35;43;11 contraindications, implementing methylene blue, I think, would enhance this treatment. And you can actually decrease the dosage by about 10 to 20%. Because most of the methylene blue you consume goes to your brain, the methylene blue alone will improve energy production, improve oxygenation—so it's just going to be compatible and synergistic with this protocol
00;35;43;11 - 00;35;46;24 with red light therapy. So that's just something to consider as well.
00;35;46;24 - 00;36;05;08 So the bottom line from this article: for addiction clinics and behavioral health settings, transcranial photobiomodulation looks like a viable adjunct for methadone maintenance treatment for mood and craving. It's non-pharmacologic, so
00;36;05;08 - 00;36;09;00 short sessions, excuse me, and measurable effects.
00;36;09;00 - 00;36;13;11 So four minutes—and, again, this is with the power they had.
00;36;13;11 - 00;36;21;17 Again, they were using 250 mg/cm²—I don't think you're really going to find that legitimately on the market unless it's a laser.
00;36;21;17 - 00;36;29;11 But they said they were using LEDs. But again, in these articles, sometimes they say LEDs and mean lasers; sometimes they say lasers and mean LEDs—so that's where the research gets a little
00;36;29;11 - 00;36;31;26 murky and frustrating.
00;36;31;29 - 00;36;47;16 But at the end of the day, with this article, they're doing four minutes of near-infrared light over the forehead for mood and craving—and these effects lasted for months. So again, non-pharmacologic, leading to these results. Red light therapy for the win.
00;36;47;16 - 00;36;51;13 And let's finish up today's episode with this last article.
00;36;51;13 - 00;37;01;11 So we've gone from exercise performance to chronic pain in fibromyalgia to transcranial photobiomodulation.
00;37;01;14 - 00;37;18;15 Now let's wrap things up with the eye. And this one has to do specifically with dry age-related macular degeneration—from randomized controlled trial signal to FDA authorization amid mixed meta-analyses.
00;37;18;15 - 00;37;26;16 So this article—this randomized controlled trial, which was a 13-month analysis,
00;37;26;16 - 00;37;34;01 which utilized 100 patients and 148 eyes in totality. So do the math on that.
00;37;34;01 - 00;38;02;06 One hundred patients, 148 eyes—with intermediate dry age-related macular degeneration. They utilized multi-wavelength photobiomodulation, including 590 nanometers—which technically was like amber/orange—660 nanometers, and 850 nanometers. So essentially, they're using like a far-orange, a mid-red, and then a near-infrared
00;38;02;06 - 00;38;09;17 spectrum of—again, their multi-wavelength photobiomodulation—and they did this versus sham.
00;38;09;20 - 00;38;17;07 They did nine sessions over three to five weeks, repeated every four months. And
00;38;17;07 - 00;38;34;06 the regulatory milestone: on November 4th, 2024, the FDA authorized marketing of this device called Valeda—it's V-A-L-E-D-A—for non-neovascular, dry
00;38;34;06 - 00;38;43;09 age-related macular degeneration. But a 2025 meta-analysis—and this is out of
00;38;43;09 - 00;38;54;04 Ophthalmology and Therapy—concludes no significant clinical benefit across pooled trials for age-related macular degeneration outcomes.
00;38;54;04 - 00;39;02;26 So how is this reconciled? So the trial versus the aggregate uncertainty. So
00;39;02;26 - 00;39;09;08 the randomized controlled trial is called LIGHTSITE (League City),
00;39;09;08 - 00;39;24;04 and then this was, again, compared to that 2025 meta-analysis coming out from Ophthalmology and Therapy—they were showing no clinical benefit. So the differences between these two—the randomized controlled trial and the meta-analysis—
00;39;24;04 - 00;39;31;17 the differences in these two outcomes may reflect the patient stage—some people earlier versus intermediate;
00;39;31;19 - 00;40;00;15 some—this could be secondary to protocol fidelity, meaning multi-wavelength dosing, cadence versus retreatment cycles. I mean, there's a lot of variables to consider here. And then the outcome windows—short-term functional gains versus disease-modifying endpoints. So the LIGHTSITE regimen and cyclical dosing may matter compared to what this meta-analysis was able to pull from their research.
00;40;00;17 - 00;40;17;06 So let's go back to the protocol from LIGHTSITE. Again, they're using 590/660/850 nanometers. They're doing a series of nine treatments over three to five weeks, and this was repeated quarterly for 24 months—so, once every three months for 24 months.
00;40;17;06 - 00;40;48;19 And this cadence is a concrete template for clinicians. Whereas, again, the Ophthalmology and Therapy 2025 meta-analysis—if they're looking at the rest of the studies that are looking at red light therapy for age-related macular degeneration—a lot of these studies are going to be using just red or just near-infrared, or their treatment windows and cadences, to the point of this article, are going to be varied and different—let
00;40;48;19 - 00;40;52;27 alone the bio-individuality of what each patient is dealing with.
00;40;52;27 - 00;40;56;18 So this article kind of brings
00;40;56;18 - 00;41;08;03 to the forefront how differences of opinion both can be right—but also, like, why are there differences? This randomized controlled trial by LIGHTSITE—very nuanced,
00;41;08;03 - 00;41;22;15 and a longer study, you know, over 24 months. Whereas this meta-analysis, we would need to really dig into: what articles were they looking at? What metrics were they utilizing, or what specs were they utilizing for their treatments?
00;41;22;15 - 00;41;51;20 What were the treatment windows? What was the treatment cadence like—how many times per week, how many times per month? And so this really highlights how nuanced light therapy can be, and how different protocols, different specs within the devices being utilized, really dictate the outcomes. So—and that's where red light therapy can get a little frustrating or can get a little murky in the sense that it's a seemingly easy treatment to apply,
00;41;51;23 - 00;41;55;05 but to apply it correctly for a given
00;41;55;05 - 00;42;03;23 condition or diagnosis—that's where the nuance really comes in. And so that's why I've been really, for the last couple of years, have been
00;42;03;23 - 00;42;27;02 fervent about finding the easiest and most efficient way to allow people—whether it's you, the consumer, or you, the practitioner, or someone in between—to take what the research is telling us, know what the specs of the device you're utilizing are, and then easily develop a protocol as accurately as possible with the current information we have.
00;42;27;04 - 00;42;30;11 I.e., that's why I developed that
00;42;30;11 - 00;42;37;11 treatment protocol calculator that's free to use—it's on the BioLight website; just go to BioLight.shop and then
00;42;37;11 - 00;42;56;11 utilize the dosage calculator. And that'll give you your best opportunity to have a given treatment within that biphasic dose response—or within that therapeutic window—to give yourself, to give your patient, to give your friends and family, the most efficacious treatment possible relative
00;42;56;11 - 00;43;00;07 to what you're trying to achieve with red light therapy.
00;43;00;09 - 00;43;04;12 So this article wasn't looking at just one specific
00;43;04;12 - 00;43;33;00 study; it was looking at this tug-and-pull of one randomized controlled trial showing very promising effects, and then, subsequent to that, there's a meta-analysis that's completed that shows, well, actually, there's no significant clinical benefit. So then you, as a listener, have to really think about: okay, what is this randomized controlled trial trying to say? Okay, what is this meta-analysis trying to uncover?
00;43;33;03 - 00;43;36;11 You could argue that there's financial conflicts with
00;43;36;11 - 00;43;46;01 the randomized controlled trial because they're trying to promote their device. You have to consider the different effect sizes of the study. Of course, you would have to dive into each individual
00;43;46;01 - 00;43;51;23 study that they looked at in the meta-analysis to see, okay, what specs were they using? What dosage were they utilizing?
00;43;51;25 - 00;44;01;29 Does it really resonate with other studies that have successful red light therapy treatments relative to the eye, even if it's not age-related macular degeneration specifically?
00;44;01;29 - 00;44;04;11 What device were they using? Yada, yada, yada. So,
00;44;04;11 - 00;44;17;21 this is where red light therapy can get a little frustrating. There's a long way to go in the research. But again, guys, at the end of the day, even with just what we've covered in today's episode, there's endless potential
00;44;17;21 - 00;44;34;00 and benefit—with the caveat of when red light is utilized properly, when you're able to get the dosage within the therapeutic window. And again, if you're going just for general health and wellness, red light therapy becomes very simple;
00;44;34;00 - 00;44;42;14 when you're trying to be a little more nuanced—like treat for your brain health, like improve your athletic performance, like
00;44;42;14 - 00;44;44;01 reduce your pain—
00;44;44;04 - 00;44;47;05 yeah, things have to be a little more nuanced. Which,
00;44;47;05 - 00;44;53;28 again, the research is demonstrating—but it can be better. And just remember, with my
00;44;53;28 - 00;45;16;25 handful of episodes with Dr. Praveen Arany—the photobiomodulation researcher and expert out of the University at Buffalo—that's one thing that he is trying to really move forward in the research space, specifically for photobiomodulation: get more systematic parameters so that every study coming out clearly delineates all of the specs.
00;45;16;25 - 00;45;32;12 What is the device? What is the dosage? What is the… like, everything can be systematically spelled out, so then we can really start comparing different studies apples to apples. Whereas right now, it is kind of apples to oranges because not everyone's reporting the same
00;45;32;12 - 00;46;02;01 specs or metrics. So with all of that being said from this last article on age-related macular degeneration, the bottom line for this article is that AMD is where photobiomodulation has made real regulatory inroads—meaning, the first U.S. market authorization, which is rare in photobiomodulation. Patients with intermediate dry AMD may benefit—particularly under structured, repeated protocols.
00;46;02;03 - 00;46;22;10 Yet evidence synthesis remains mixed. So expect selective adoption, peer variability, and ongoing trials. So that wraps things up for this episode, everyone. I hope you enjoyed kind of getting back to the roots of The Energy Code—getting back to that red light therapy research. We looked at
00;46;22;10 - 00;46;28;06 whole-body red light therapy for exercise and recovery. We looked at red light therapy for fibromyalgia.
00;46;28;08 - 00;46;32;08 We looked at it for mental health and addiction with a methadone
00;46;32;08 - 00;46;53;20 treatment, and then ophthalmology with age-related macular degeneration. Hope you enjoyed the information. Hope it's applicable—kind of, again, continues to broaden everyone's horizon and just thought process as it relates to red light therapy and the different strategies—and, really, at the heart of it, just how darn versatile red light therapy is.
00;46;53;23 - 00;47;14;09 Again, wherever you can get the red and the near-infrared to shine and irradiate mitochondria, you're going to have positive results—and the mitochondria are in every single cell in your body outside of red blood cells. So if you can get red light therapy there, you're likely going to see positive results, as long as you can get it in that therapeutic window.
00;47;14;12 - 00;47;29;11 Hope you guys enjoy the rest of your week. If you still have sun shining where you live in late October, congratulations—I'm jealous. But, as always, go touch some grass, get some sunshine, and, as always, light up your health.
