Red light therapy or RLT is a rapidly growing practice for many athletes around the world. The innovative therapy has been found to help stimulate cell regeneration in humans, which can shorten muscle recovery times after workouts and help athletes get back in the gym faster. However, it’s been theorized that this isn’t the only application of red light therapy and that it can be used to reduce the size of or eliminate fat cells altogether. However, how does this work?
Red Light Therapy and Its Effects on Fat Cells
When we’re discussing red light therapy in terms of its ability to remove fat cells, it’s referred to as a form of body sculpting. Body sculpting is a quickly growing field of different kinds of non-invasive weight loss procedures. That means no surgery is required, which is a major bonus to many. There are a few examples of body sculpting procedures that have been shown to be practical and effective, including radiofrequency lipolysis, which uses concentrated radio waves to trick the body into thinking it’s exercising. This in turn causes muscles to become more toned and fat cells to be melted away.
So, how does red light therapy work then? Well, the clinical research so far shows that red light therapy breaks down certain parts of the fat cell membrane, which causes them to shrink in size. The excess fat is then removed through your body’s normal process of removing waste.
Have People Tried Red Light Therapy for Weight Loss?
So far, there have been some positive studies for red light therapy and its weight-loss efficacy. A randomized study of 60 people from 2019 found that after six weeks of low-level red light therapy applications, there was a noticeable reduction in waist size for the study participants. All in all, the average reduction in size was about two inches. While it doesn’t sound like much, this is pretty impressive for a therapy that requires its participants to engage in no exercise and take the therapy while sitting or lying down.
Plus, this isn’t the only study that’s been conducted. And at this point in time, it’s been effectively proven that red light therapy kills fat cells dead in their tracks. Participants that have tried red light therapy for weight loss have reported largely positive results, and it’s only expected that the therapy will become more popular over time.
