Red light therapy has been shown to be effective for a long - and growing - list of issues. One area in which the treatment is getting a lot of attention is health and fitness. In fact, red light therapy has been clinically proven to be effective for losing weight, combating obesity, and even for body contouring. It’s also been shown to improve athletic endurance, performance, and muscle gain, all of which contribute to achieving and maintaining a healthy weight.
The key to successful weight loss is that every little bit counts. While this means that the more effort you put in the more successful you’ll be, it also means that you can make small changes that don’t impact your life much on the whole, but that can affect your weight loss results in a big way. Examples include parking your car at the back of the lot rather than next to the door, or replacing white rice with more protein-rich whole grain or quinoa.
From a Rouge customer: I started using the light after my workouts and have noticed that I bounce back from my hard workouts more quickly and have more energy. Additionally, my waist and thigh measurements have gotten smaller since I began using the light after my workouts. Overall, you really can't go wrong with this light
When it comes to red light therapy, there are little, easy things you can do to help compound the effects of the treatment and help you lose more weight, faster. Here are 5 simple red light therapy weight loss hacks to help you optimize your efforts.
1. Do light exercises during your red light therapy sessions
You’re likely already incorporating fitness into your weight loss regimen. If not, to avoid injury, talk to your doctor about what exercises might be right for you at this point in your journey.
Regardless of what your workout routine looks like, your red light therapy sessions present a good opportunity to incorporate easy exercises or stretches that, added up over time, can go a long way to helping you shed unwanted fat and build muscle. It’s a great time-saver, too, if you’re going to be doing those reps anyway. Try calf raises, plank, or wall sits.
2. Use red light therapy to improve sleep
Many people use red light therapy to spot treat problem areas on their body, or to increase muscle mass. This means that the light is generally concentrated on the body and the head might not get as much exposure. One of the benefits of applying red light therapy to your head is improved sleep. And we all know what poor sleep can do to one’s weight loss efforts: workouts are skipped, and we reach for food that is high in fat, sugar, and carbs as our bodies try to source energy by artificial means. The connection between sleep and weight management has long been established by sleep scientists and health experts, as well.
Pro tip: By using red light therapy on your face, not only will you get the sleep benefits, you might even see improvements in your skin, as well. See how red light therapy can help firm and tighten loose skin here.
3. Use your session time to learn about losing weight the healthy way
The red lights in your red light therapy device are bright with a capital B, so much that goggles are provided and recommended if you’re using it on your face. Some people like to take double advantage of their sessions by listening to podcasts or audiobooks. You might consider taking the opportunity to expand your knowledge on healthy weight loss, or to motivate yourself to keep at it. The Nutrition Diva, for instance, offers tips and tricks on how to optimize your health through nutrition in short 10-minute episodes - the perfect pairing with red light therapy. We also like the Fat Burning Man Show not only for its realistic approach to weight loss, but for its refreshing critical take on the health industry.
4. Set a hydration goal for your sessions
You probably already know that increasing your water intake can help you lose weight more effectively. You may not know, however, that it might also help with the effectiveness of your red light therapy treatments. Specifically, red light therapy may target hydrated cells over less-hydrated ones.
People often also report feeling dehydrated after a red light therapy session, so we recommend drinking a glass of water both before and after each session.
5. Upgrade your red light therapy device
This one is not so little, but it’s the most impactful. You may have started off small with your red light therapy device because you wanted to minimize your investment while making sure it was effective for you. And while smaller devices offer the same power and effectiveness per LED than larger devices, they simply cover a smaller area.
Usually weight loss efforts target the whole body, and muscle building involves entire muscle groups. By using a smaller device, you may need to increase the number of sessions in order to adequately cover each area you seek to improve.
With a larger device, you can get ahalf-body treatment in a fraction of the time, both increasing the potential for results, and leaving you with more time for meal prep, working out, sleeping, and any of the thousand other small gestures that add up to big results.
Whether you’re new to the red light therapy weight loss game or looking to kick your health and fitness into a higher gear with an upgrade, we’ve got you covered. Check out the Rouge family of red light therapy devices here, and take another big step toward your health and fitness goals.
Looking for more tips on how to use red light therapy more effectively? Find this and more on our blog!
