Mental health disorders, such as depression, anxiety, or seasonal affective disorders, affect everyone differently. As such, there are many different treatment methods that people may try to alleviate the symptoms of these disorders. One potential treatment that helps support mood, energy, and other factors associated with mental health is red light therapy. See why whole-body red light treatment can support better physical, emotional, and mental well-being with this overview of the positive effects of red light therapy on mental health.
Balanced Sleep, Balanced Mood
A balanced sleep schedule is crucial to good mental health. Inadequate sleep causes exhaustion, difficulty concentrating, irritation, worry, anxiety, and other issues. These problems all exacerbate mood disorders and other mental health challenges. A healthy and consistent sleep schedule helps reduce stress, improve your mood, and optimize your body’s energy to reduce feelings of exhaustion.
How does red light therapy help? Exposure to red light stimulates the hypothalamus, which is the part of the brain that regulates your circadian rhythm. Red light therapy also boosts energy production in your cells. Feeling more energized during the day makes it easier to fall asleep at night. This optimized energy cycle helps you maintain a consistent and balanced sleep schedule, which helps regulate your mood and lessen symptoms of depression, anxiety, and other mental health disorders.
Healthy Regulation of Neurotransmitters
Another benefit of red light therapy for mental health is its role in the production and regulation of neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters are essential chemical components that carry messages between neurons and cells. Two examples of neurotransmitters are serotonin, which affects happiness, focus, and calmness, and dopamine, which affects rewards and motivation. Both serotonin and dopamine influence mood and behavior. This means they play a key role in many mental health disorders.
Red light therapy enhances the natural processes of the mitochondria—including neural mitochondria, which are responsible for producing neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine. By supporting and boosting neurotransmitter production, red light therapy helps stabilize and improve your mood.
Supporting Better Brain Metabolism
Red light therapy supports whole-body wellness in many ways, but one of the most important factors is its effect on metabolism. Generally speaking, metabolism is the process of turning food into the energy your body needs to carry out tasks. Because energy production also occurs in the mitochondria, red light therapy can play a valuable role in stimulating energy production and optimizing metabolism.
How does this affect mental health? Many symptoms and issues associated with mental health stem from metabolic dysfunction in brain cells. Red light therapy helps improve metabolism and energy production throughout the entire body, correcting metabolic dysfunction and soothing symptoms of depression, anxiety, and other disorders.
Using a whole-body red light therapy system supports better sleep, energy production, and so much more. Discover how the holistic treatment of red light therapy can improve overall mental and emotional well-being when you work with the experts at Prism Light Pod today.
