Using Red Light Therapy to Improve Your Health And Wellness With BioLight Founder Dr. Mike Belkowski

Biolight Transcript

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[00:00:41] Jeremy: Hello, and welcome to the fitness podcast. Thank you for making us part of your day and whatever it is you're doing right now. , we really do appreciate spending this time with you. And today we'll be talking about something that Zach and maybe you are already familiar with, but it's really going to be an education for me.

[00:01:31] We're talking about red light there.

[00:01:33] Zach: Our guest is Dr. Mike Bell Koski. He's the founder of bio light and host of the red light report podcast. He'll explain why red light has the ability to boost mitochondrial health and healed the body at a cellular level. 

[00:01:46] He'll offer 

[00:01:46] some simple at home steps. You can take, even if high-tech red light therapy tools are outside of your budget. 

[00:01:51] Jeremy: But first we want to, re-introduce a new, old segment on the show for a long time. We ended each episode with a weekly challenge, something we pushed each other to do, 

[00:02:00] to hold each other 

[00:02:00] accountable. We're bringing that back in the form of a monthly challenge where we can all hold each other accountable. We'll do so with updates on the show, but also in our new Facebook group. If you want in just follow us on Facebook and we'll open the gates and start letting listeners in soon, we'll provide resources and guidance and share our progress and setbacks so we can all grow together. 

[00:02:19] And 

[00:02:20] Zach, I'd like to start with our first challenge, uh, here on the show and in that Facebook group where my healing journey began, where our show began and where I think you need the most.

[00:02:30] NA: What the hell is wrong with.

[00:02:31] Jeremy: Meditation. We're going to be focusing on meditation for this first challenge. We're going to try and hold each other accountable to doing so, what three, four times a week is that, is that the benchmark you're comfortable with?

[00:02:43] Zach: Three to four times a week for, just five minute sessions, something nice and easy. , like you mentioned on a couple of shows ago, do what you can do. If you know, you're not going to be able to do something like, don't go, I don't want to go into this with 30 minute session because I know I won't do it.

[00:02:59] If it's just five minutes. I'm going to do it. So three to four times a week, five minutes, a piece

[00:03:04] Jeremy: And three to four times a week, five minutes, a piece that's three to four times a week, five minutes, a piece more than you're currently doing, right?

[00:03:11] Zach: from a pure meditation standpoint. again, whenever I do yoga, I am actively meditating during yoga, but it's, it's 

[00:03:18] fairly different.

[00:03:19] Jeremy: Yeah. I would like to encourage that as well. Don't go into this thinking that it is. That there's one way, there, there is no wrong way to meditate. Find a way that works for you. Commit to three to four times a week, five minutes. And in that Facebook group, we will hold each other accountable.

[00:03:36] We'll talk about, what's working. Talk about, what's not, we'll have a bunch of tools in there and we'll even have a 50% off code from Headspace, a really simple tool to use, to get into the habit of meditation that will be posted in the Facebook group. So follow us there, join the group and we will get that. Challenged started here for the month of October. 

[00:03:54] Zach: so Jeremy one place where I think I'm going to be able to practice some meditation is when I'm standing in front of some 

[00:04:02] red light.

[00:04:04] Jeremy: Really. So, yeah, you've done this before this red light therapy. 

[00:04:06] Zach: Yes, I have done it a few times, , with an infrared sauna and actually, uh, Dr. Polynese who was on our show a long time ago about NAD therapy has a full, wall of 

[00:04:18] infrared light.

[00:04:20] Jeremy: So it's not always necessarily a booth there. There's like you can do a panel and our guests, uh, Dr. Bill Caskey, we'll talk about the product specific to bio light to their product, but there's a number of ways you can do this. There are the saunas, there are panels, there are different things that you can use.

[00:04:35] Zach: Yeah. So if you're going into an infrared sauna, you'll notice that,, like up on the ceiling, it looks like LEDs or something like that. And

[00:04:43] Those are the lights that Dr. Bolkovsky will refer to in the interview, but there's also what he refers to as a wall of these lights.

[00:04:50] So you just stand in front of it. And I did that one a couple of weeks ago, and it was just a very cool experience and I use the word cool to play on it because you feel this.

[00:05:01] Jeremy: really.

[00:05:01] Zach: going through your body and you can reach back and touch the lamp and there's no heat on it.

[00:05:08] Jeremy: That's 

[00:05:08] Zach: not hot. those are the waves, like penetrating your body and heating you up.

[00:05:12] But if you can't feel it, , physically touching the bulb. It's very cool.

[00:05:16] but I'm not the expert in any of this stuff. Dr. Mike Bell Koski, the founder of BioLite and host of the red layer report podcast is going to explain all of these 

[00:05:26] things to us. 

[00:05:27] And we started by just asking him simply, what is 

[00:05:30] red light therapy?

[00:05:33] Dr. Mike: So red light therapy is simply red light and. It also encompasses near infrared light. , so the reason why these two wavelengths are so special is because they positively influence or they positively affect the mitochondria. And, you know, just a quick dive into the mitochondria, because this is important when it comes to red light therapy, we have mitochondria in every single cell in our body, outside of red blood cells.

[00:06:04] , and not just one mitochondria. Hundreds, if not thousands and sometimes tens of thousands, depending on how much energy that tissue requires. So for example, the brain, the muscles and our heart are very mitochondrial dense. Again, the reason why. Red light therapy is so effective for so many different things.

[00:06:25] Cause there's a laundry list and sometimes it can sound like a snake oil pitch, but the reason why red light therapy can affect so many different things is because again, it positively affects the mitochondria, which is virtually everywhere. So provided you're using the correct wavelength of light and or the correct dosage.

[00:06:43] Then you should see some positive results if you are lacking in a certain area. , so to , Think of it in another way, if you're very healthy and you're doing quite well, you're not going to notice a ton with red light therapy, although you'll still be boosting your mitochondria, which is good for your.

[00:07:02] Being prophylactic or just mitigating any other potential health issues and it's going to potentially help your longevity. And so that's what a lot of people are starting to use. Red light therapy for is preventative, and then getting into that anti-aging longevity sector. And so, again, just to answer your question, , that's what red light therapy is.

[00:07:20] It's using the wavelengths of red and near infrared to optimize your mitochondria, which helps with a lot of different things. And so another rabbit hole is. The fact that in this modern world we're living in now, all three of us were in our houses were under our roofs. And we're nowhere near the full spectrum sunlight, which is full of a lot of healthy benefits.

[00:07:44] And it's full of, , let's call it nutrition for our body. And so in this modern. We spend a lot less time outside, which negatively affects and negatively impacts our mitochondria. So my point being really the only reason why this technology, this red light therapy technology is even necessary is because of what we've been doing to our mitochondria the past several decades or centuries, let's say ever since Thomas Edison invented the light bulb and, , Tesla helped, electrify the power grids. That was really the beginning of the end. If you want to put it that way from mitochondria is the lights allowed us to be indoors a lot later at night. So there's that timing factor where we're staying up later and we're in front of this blue lit technology. So we have screens which can be TVs or tablets or cell phones or, or what have you.

[00:08:36] And. So, those are bad enough, even in the middle of the day, but we like to use those, especially right before we go to bed, which then wrecks our circadian rhythm. And that is what alone is full of a laundry list of health, ailments, and maladies, , which also impacts your mitochondria negatively. , so. We're in this world where there's this term called mallow illumination. And so it has to do with a couple of things. A we're not getting the healthy life from full spectrum sunlight, which includes red and near infrared. And then B we're inundating ourselves with non-native lights, such as fluorescent lights.

[00:09:11] And then the blue lit, , technology, like I just talked about. And then the third variable is the timing, which we just talked about with Trex or circadian rhythm. So again, , there's a lot of different ways to look at it, but light is much more important than. I think most of us understand, and I didn't even understand it until several years ago, but ever since I started reading about it, learning about it, it's blown me away.

[00:09:32] , the impact of light or lack thereof, or just using, , being surrounded by improper light. , And really , the ramifications of our health. And again, light isn't just what we see light is also wifi and Bluetooth and 5g. , for example, near infrared is invisible light, but we know it can positively affect our mitochondria and conversely, all these other types of light that we can't see such as radio waves and the wifi, Bluetooth,, all this great stuff that helps with technology when we surround ourselves and our body , with those types of.

[00:10:05] , persistently that also has negative ramifications. So I know that was a lot of things at once, but I mean, there's just, as you can tell, there's, there's just a lot of different directions you can go and talking about a red light therapy and enlightened general. Yeah. 

[00:10:20] So I do want to dive in just a little bit more into. How the light works. So the light is actually penetrating your body, right? It's not just hitting your skin. It's not surface level. Is that right? And if that's right, , it's helping your mitochondria, can it repair your mitochondria or can it just enhance already healthy? My. 

[00:10:44] Yeah, that's a good question.

[00:10:45] So yes and no for does it penetrate, so red light does not go any deeper than your skin. So with that being said, if you're dealing with, , like some sort of wound healing, if a bumper, a scraper, diabetic ulcers or stuff like that, or boon or burn wounds, or even sunburns,, And then on the other side of the spectrum, anti-aging skin a treatment.

[00:11:06] So a lot of ladies like to do, , get rid of the wrinkles naturally, or just have their skin more plump because, , red light therapy has pro college and pro fibroblasts. , pro elastin. So it helps with all that type of stuff. So you'd use red light only for those treatments in this, and then treating anything deeper than the skin you want to integrate near infrared light near infrared is a longer wavelength than red, meaning it's gonna penetrate deeper and along the same line of thought, infrared sauna.

[00:11:42] Usually C are composed of mid infrared and far infrared, which are longer wavelengths than near infrared, which is, which means that mid and far penetrate deeper than even near, which is why you get this deep sweat in this detoxification with mid and far infrared, without being said, mid and far, infrared of infrared saunas, dude.

[00:12:06] , directly affect the mitochondria, whereas red and near infrared do so. A question I get a lot is, , which ones should I use? Infrared saunas or red light therapy. And that's like apples and oranges in a perfect world. Do you want to use both consistently? And it also just depends on what you're going for.

[00:12:23] , but they're completely different, , health treatments. And so to answer the other part of your question about the mitochondria, yes, it can help repair. , dysfunctional mitochondria. It can help with, , my , which is a natural process of just like a toffee, , that cellular cleanup, well, you don't want dysfunctional mitochondria hanging around because then they're going to replicate and you're going to be replicating, dysfunctional mitochondria.

[00:12:48] And if you. Read or listen to the top mitochondrial researcher in the world, Dr. Doug Wallace, he's gone on record as saying that upwards of 80% of modern diseases are due to mitochondrial dysfunction, meaning that leaves around twentyish percent due to other factors, including genetic factors, which should be liberating to people because that means we can.

[00:13:17] A lot of our health is in our hands because modern diseases we're talking about diabetes, metabolic syndrome, obesity, , and stuff like that, which when we look at it, it's all tied to dysfunctional mitochondria. , so yes, the red and near infrared light helps, , boost mitochondrial health and can reverse mitochondrial dysfunction.

[00:13:38] And then, , the red is for surface treatments and near infrared is for treating anything deeper. , muscles, bones, joints, the brain organs, stuff like that.

[00:13:47] Jeremy: You have had some really smart answers. And so I warned you about this. I'm going to ask you a really dumb question and it is, I have to believe the answer is no. Otherwise you wouldn't be in business. I hear red light therapy and the dumb guy in me thinks, oh, I can run up to Lowe's and get some red light bulbs, plug them into my lamps, put it in my bedroom and boom, red light therapy who needs these fancy saunas.

[00:14:11] What's the difference. First of all, I'm assuming that's wrong. So tell me why that's not the same thing as what BioLite and other red light therapy offers.

[00:14:20] Dr. Mike: Yeah. So there's a time and place for these red light bulbs. So for example, like you're saying a red light bulb at night. Is not going to inhibit your melatonin production, and it's not going to Jack up your cortisol production, which has to do with your circadian rhythm. Cause at night, typically you want your cortisol to be naturally going down and your, , melatonin going up because each one inhibits the other.

[00:14:41] So that's the reason why blue light technology is so bad is because that blue light signals to your eyes and brain that it's the middle of the day. So it's going to increase your cortisol production, which again, inherent. Decreases your melatonin, which makes it difficult to fall asleep or get into the deep sleep, which has a lot of ramifications for your repair and growth and all that stuff.

[00:15:00] At night. The point being those red light bulbs are not going to inhibit your melatonin production, and it's not going to spike your cortisol levels. So for example, if you want to read at night or if you just want to have some lighting, , and I even do this in my own house instead of turning on. , I use Amber lights.

[00:15:17] I don't even use wider blue lights, but instead of having even those on, you can flick on , some red lights and that's going to be much easier on your eyes and on your brain. And again, it's going to help you still see what's in your house, but without, , messing with your circadian rhythm.

[00:15:31] So there is a time and place for those, but for people looking for therapeutic, , treatments, like, , Skin health, hair, health, energy levels, anxiety, depression, sleep, thyroid health, , athletic performance, and the list goes on and on and on. If you're looking for those types of treatments, you do need something that's putting out a higher light or radians, which is a fancy term for light power.

[00:15:55] Cause those bulbs, while they are producing light, they're extremely low compared to what you need for the treatments I just kind of talked about, are those,, health maladies, There are a couple of things you could use those bolts for, I mean, skin treatments take a very low dosage compared to everything else.

[00:16:12] , but that also backends the fact that, , or the question that, , are those bulbs producing any near infrared or infrared light, because I think they're just red. Correct. So if that's the case, then again, you're treating just the skin, nothing deeper. So, I don't know if that answers your

[00:16:27] question. 

[00:16:28] Jeremy: Because in my mind I was thinking those are, they're just pretty right. I want to do something different in my room and make it read, like my kids. We bought these, these bulbs that change colors, and it can be all sorts of different. And I just thought it's just, it just makes it look a certain way.

[00:16:41] But the fact that there is any benefit, I think, , that's, that's remarkable. I, I had no idea.

[00:16:46] Dr. Mike: Yeah. 

[00:16:47] Zach: So I do want to ask about, infrared saunas, and I've heard that,, there are different qualities. Have a sauna. And I think that you spoke to it about the near infrared and the far infrared, I think you said, . Is that what I'm hearing around? Like be careful, what song are you by?

[00:17:05] Because you might not actually be getting the benefit that you're looking for. And I've heard it mentioned as some songs are bad quality. Is that what it's referring to is the, different type of infrared light that they produce? 

[00:17:17] Dr. Mike: I believe what you're alluding to is. Some sun has produced a lot of EMS.

[00:17:25] , and so there's some saunas that tout that they have extremely low EMS. And that's what,, byline. We tout that we have very low EMF panels because that is important. As we, as I discussed earlier in the podcast here, , EMF emission, when you surround yourself with it constantly, it's not good for yourselves.

[00:17:40] I mean, it does degrade your cells. There's going to be some sort of, , cost benefit by surrounding yourself. By these negative wavelengths. And so to your question with the sun is, , some do produce a lot of EMS. Some are very. Quote unquote, clean with their EMS, meaning you're not going to go inside the sauna and kind of cook yourself with EMS at the same time as you're, , getting the beneficial infrared wavelengths.

[00:18:06] And so it's like, you're probably taking two or three steps forward and , one or half steps back. If you're in a sauna that has a lot of EMS, the pros probably outweigh the cons, but again, Y inundate or, or cook yourself with EMS, that's not the point at all. So I think that's what you're referring to.

[00:18:23] I also know that some saunas might tout that they have, , like full spectrum infrared, which would encompass near mid and far infrared. But again, I'd want to see specifically what ratio they're using because they could be using like 1% near and for it. And then,, the rest 99%. That mid and far infrared, which is typical for infrared saunas, but if they were somehow doing a third and a third and a third, then you could argue, you're probably getting a little bit of mitochondrial benefit.

[00:18:52] Whereas again, with mid and far, that's more for the detox. That's more for the cardiovascular, the heat shock, protein synthesis, stuff like that. So, , those are just a couple of my thoughts you want to check out with the EMF emission is, or get an EMF meter . This is kind of a scary tool, but it's really wakes you up to what's cooking you around your house.

[00:19:12] You'd be surprised what your microwave, your fridge, and just other random electrical appliances can be super high EMF. So again, if you have an infrared sauna, turn this on, take it in there. You might be surprised how high it actually is. , so use an EMF meter and that's, that's about a hundred bucks, 110 bucks, but it's worth its weight in gold because it weaponizes you with, the knowledge and information of what around your house is high EMF.

[00:19:36] Because again, that's one of, one of the things you want to minimize as much as.

[00:19:42] Jeremy: That was just random tangent. I saw a video the other day, somebody was using one of those on Bluetooth headsets and show it like the number was, I can't remember what the cellular damage number was, but it was like 24 or something. And when he held that up to the earbuds, it was just like off the charts.

[00:19:55] And I literally have not used my Bluetooth air since then.

[00:19:59] Dr. Mike: Well, like 

[00:20:00] the apple AirPods or whatever they're called. Right. I mean, they're cool. They're Bluetooth, but man, the right in your ear canal right next to your brain. I mean, that's tantamount to just putting the cell phone up to your brain for however long you listen to music. It's just, it's not good. It's not worth it.

[00:20:15] , as you can see, I'm always using corded earphones. When possible, I'm trying to be directly like my laptop directly connected via ENS. I'm not using, , wifi. Of course. , can't do that all the time, but I'm just, that's one of my main tactics around my house, especially is how can I minimize EMS?

[00:20:31] And so again, with firelight in our products, we've minimized EMF as much as possible because when you, again, when you're investing in a health and wellness product, , it doesn't make sense. Further inundate your body with EMS. If you don't have to.

[00:20:44] Jeremy: I'm curious about your products. Let's talk a little bit about what you guys offer at BioLite. What, what can I get from you to help me, , in this.

[00:20:52] Dr. Mike: Sure. So just like a lot of, , companies on the market, we have different types of panels, like different sized panels. , we have a handheld one, and then you have. , the size of this, like a tabletop when it's full body. And then one that's like a really big time full body.

[00:21:06] So it just depends on what you're trying to go for meaning. And what are you trying to treat? Because the handheld one can be extremely versatile. If you're trying to treat, let's say your brain or some wound feeling, or you can take it on the go, or sometimes I've had to treat , my little puppy. So it's nice to have something that's handheld versus this big panel.

[00:21:22] That's kind of cumbersome to tree smaller areas, but then again, , if you're going for this just overall health and wellness, mitochondrial benefits, , anti-inflammatory cause that's one of the main benefits of red light therapy than investing in a larger panel. It's not a full-sized panels going to be the best bang for your buck, but it just depends again, what you're trying to treat.

[00:21:43] What you can afford. So those are some options or those panels. , and then also, as you can see behind me, we've recently released a mouth guard, which is obviously red and near infrared light specifically for your mouth. So that's kind of a new product to the market. , I have. Personally developed a red light therapy protocol ebook, which, , gives you specific treatment protocols for different things.

[00:22:06] You're trying to treat, because for example, if you're trying to treat the skin again, that's a very low dosage, meaning short period of time. And it's red light only compared to trying to treat your brain for, , anxiety, depression, or sleep you want to use near infrared only. , that's closer to 8, 9, 10 minute treatment, whereas the skin is one, two or three minute treatment.

[00:22:26] So unless you're really digging through the research and looking at the stuff, , specifically like I am, then you're going to be buying these products and not really knowing how to use her, like how much time or which lights am I supposed to use. , no one else has anything like that on the market. , and I've actually just, I update that protocol ebook , every six to 12 months, because as more research comes out, the protocols become more specific or I can add, , more protocols, for example, in this edition, which is the third edition I've added, , protocols for pet health, , , women's health, a concept called preconditioning, where for example, you can treat your body.

[00:23:02] Or treat something prior to an event to prepare it for that event. So for example, exercise or athletic performance, you can do a red light therapy on certain muscles prior to an activity. And you're going to have more, , power strength, endurance, and you're going to recover faster. Likewise, with sun exposure, you can do a red light therapy treat.

[00:23:23] , to your skin prior to going outside, which is going to allow you to be exposed to sun for longer, without, , being damaged by those, , UV wavelengths. , cause for example, the mammals out in the wild or even us before, we became, , living in cities and whatnot. Wake up in the morning and you get exposed by that initial sunrise, , which is predominantly near infrared and red that preconditions your skin and your body for the UV wavelengths, which are so strong from like 11 noon, one, two.

[00:23:59] So if you don't get that exposure in the morning, then you're more likely to get the sunburn in the afternoon. So that was nature's way of protecting our skin way before when, , so again, having those type of specific protocols, I think helps people out a lot. And so that's just another thing I've developed over the years. 

[00:24:17] Zach: Can you say more about the mouth guard? ? , what specific area of the body is that focusing in on? , is it teeth? Does it the head, , how does that work? It seems it's very intriguing. 

[00:24:25] Dr. Mike: So it's specifically for mouth health, just like everywhere else in your body. There's mitochondria. And every time you use a red light therapy, you're going to help reduce inflammation, improve circulation, and again, boost mitochondrial health.

[00:24:38] So those three things alone leads to a lot of improvements for a lot of different things across the body, including the mouth and. , interestingly enough, there's a lot of research on oral health. red light therapy or photo biomodulation, which is the scientific term. So you can use it for general health.

[00:24:55] You can use it for people who have sensitive teeth. You can decrease to decreased tooth sensitivity for people to have a fragile gums or gums that bleed a lot. You can help strengthen those and decrease that then anything orthodontic related, you can use it preoperatively to, to make your tissues as strong as possible.

[00:25:13] Then of course, postoperatively to help accelerate the healing process.

[00:25:17] Jeremy: You've mentioned a couple of times the application for anxiety and depression. Those are two things near and dear to my heart and to Zach's heart. , tell us a little bit about, I mean, you've, you've mentioned inflammation, I assume it's the same thing. Improving inflammation, circulation to the areas of the brain affected by those mental health issues.

[00:25:34] Is that, is that.

[00:25:36] Dr. Mike: Absolutely. And so again, whenever there's a health issue, more often than not, again, upwards of 80% of the time, there's. Dysfunctional mitochondria related to that. And that's certainly the case with anxiety, depression. And like you spoke to a poor circulation specifically to the frontal lobes, , where we have a lot of executive function and, , our personality comes from that.

[00:26:04] So if those areas are being vasoconstrictive or they're not getting enough circulation, then yeah, there's going to be, it's not going to be operating that. As fully as it should. And so I guess we need a backpedal just a little bit because of the mitochondria. The mitochondria. Produce 95% of the energy in our body. So again, with anxiety, depression, if we're not having enough circulation there for mitochondrial dysfunctional, so we're not getting enough energy production in these areas. , that's where you can see a lot of issues with mental status, whether it's anxiety, stress, depression, , but also there's been some interesting research the past, , six to 12 months where.

[00:26:50] They've done red light therapy on the gut because we have the gut-brain access and they've literally done it just on the gut. And they've seen improvements in emotions and anxiety and stress. So that's another interesting avenue. , but it makes total sense because again with the gut brain access and a lot of our serotonin and dopamine is actually produced in our gut.

[00:27:10] So not only do we need to look at the brain when thinking about, , anxiety, stress, depression, Whether it's red light therapy or not, but also assessing the gut and making sure that is healthy as possible because, , it's a two way highway and actually speaking with multiple biological dentists, they pointed out to me.

[00:27:30] The impact that your oral health has not just systemically, , but on your gut. So if your oral health isn't up to snuff or your oral microbiome is dysbiotic meaning there's a higher ratio of quote unquote bad bacteria versus good bacteria. If it's, dysbiotic, that's going to negatively impact your gut microbiome.

[00:27:52] And just like we talked about, if your gut microbiome isn't up to. That could negatively impact your mental status. So one could argue that your oral health could affect your mental status via the gut health. So there's that veer, that triangle interplay. So that's another reason why I was super excited and really wants to bring out something like the guardian is because not only does it help with oral health, but oral health really has an impact systemically, including mental.

[00:28:22] Jeremy: Interesting.

[00:28:23] Zach: That's awesome. That's, I'm actually quite blown away by that. I'm now crazy. , now making plans on how I can spend more money on these things and 

[00:28:33] get that by my wife, 

[00:28:35] Dr. Mike: but it's not only, , the fact that red light therapy has this potential impact. I think the cherry on top is it's. Non-invasive, it's extremely sick.

[00:28:47] And the upside or the benefits , are awesome. They're crazy. Ridiculous. And it's like, you might buy a red light therapy product to help with your anti-aging skin, but then you can also use it for pain. You can also use it for skin health. You can also use it to help normalize your circuit. I mean, it's a Swiss army knife.

[00:29:03] , and again, it's stupid proof in the sense that even if you quote unquote overdose on red light, there are no negative side effects other than. You might, , get a little lethargic or you might have some nausea , or headaches or whatnot, but those are like detox symptoms. , or it's just a sign that you inundated your mitochondria in cells with too much light.

[00:29:21] But otherwise the only negative side effects of doing too much light is you're just not going to get the benefits you look for. So this is a pretty good point when discussing red light therapy is this concept. Of a BI phasic dose-response so , it's like a bell curve where on the left side of the curve, if your dosage is too low, meaning your not exposing your body to enough red or near infrared light, you're not going to get the results you're looking for.

[00:29:48] And on the flip side, on the right side of that bell curve is where your dosage is too high. And I think that's where most people are, , for people that aren't seeing, the results that looking for is they're doing too much. We're in this mentality, that more is better. , if I do 10 minutes and I get these results, , maybe I need to do 20 minutes.

[00:30:04] And instead of one treatment a day, maybe I need to do two or three treatments a day, but actually it's a law of diminishing results where if you do too much, you're not going to get the results you're looking for, which was another reason why I developed that protocol ebook is to hone in a specific dosages for specific treatments.

[00:30:20] So people have a better idea. There are treatments can be a more effective, but more efficient as well, because more is not always better.

[00:30:28] Jeremy: I'm sure some of these are available in the book, but let's talk about just some simple things I can do at home. If I don't have necessarily a budget to invest in, in the technology you mentioned earlier, just not being outside is, is a big, uh, a big downer.

[00:30:41] What can we do to, to improve our, our exposure to red light therapy at home? Just some real simple two or three things we can do today.

[00:30:46] Dr. Mike: So I do this personally and I tell everyone else who's interested in red light therapy or just health and wellness is to get outside in the morning when the sun is rising and do sun gazing. Cause again, that's when there's a highest proportion of red and near infrared light. And so you can do that with the sunsetting as well, but I would argue if you had to choose one or the other, watch the sunrise because not only is that free red light therapy, but there is a multitude of.

[00:31:13] Of, , internal physiological benefits. There's the cascade of events that happens when your eyes are exposed to that red and near infrared light in the morning. So that's super important, but also it's free.

[00:31:24] Jeremy: And is that quickly like it, like just before 10:00 AM, like what's a general rule of thumb to get , that

[00:31:29] Dr. Mike: Well, if you could literally watch the sun rise or shortly thereafter. So I always, , and of course different people around, uh, or different locations around the country in different times of the year between daylight savings and whatnot. , that's gonna fluctuate massively. , so if you can at least watch the sunrise or be there within the first 30 minutes or so now you have to do is be out there for, you know, five or 10 minutes.

[00:31:52] , and I, I couple that with rounding. So I do that with my bare feet on the ground, and then I'm integrating some sort of breath exercise because there's, , crazy amounts of, , benefits to breathing, which I didn't realize until the past couple months. And I recently interviewed, , Patrick McCowen.

[00:32:10] Who's considered. Top breathing the experts in the world. And man, , it's amazing the health ramifications of improper breathing. , so thus, , breathing properly leads to a lot of, lot of great things. So again, that's what I coupled with my morning routine is the grounding sun gazing or the sunrise gazing and then, , breathing.

[00:32:31] But as far as other red light therapy things, , around the house, I mean, like you said, with the lighting, that's certainly something you can do getting the bold to you specifically at night or early, early in the morning. If you get up before the sun rise so that you're not messing with your circadian rhythm, , you might not necessarily be getting the therapeutic dosage for, , things you would need, , for the panels or from the near infrared specifically.

[00:32:56] But. , lighting wise, like lighting environment, replacing the bright white or the bright blue fluorescent lights and getting some incandescent or some Amber tone lights all around your house, including your bathroom, your bedroom, your kitchen, because that is going to help your eyes and your brain, , simply by changing your lighting environment, even if it's not specifically red light.

[00:33:17] those would be my main ones, because if you're truly wanting to get into red light therapy, That does necessitate other technology, , but the free one outside in the morning, and then just perfecting or optimizing the lighting around your house, , can have a massive. I've 

[00:33:32] Zach: never been so excited to, uh, wake up before the sun.

[00:33:35] I'm going to try that tomorrow. Right. Um, all right, so , where can we learn more about you and bio light? 

[00:33:43] Dr. Mike: Yeah. So the website for BioLite is www.biolite.shop. That's S H O P a. That's the same. Thing for, , Instagram is biolite.shop. Oh, we're on Facebook, Twitter. , you can find me on LinkedIn at my name, Mike Bell Koski.

[00:34:00] , I'm pretty interactive. So if you're, if you have any questions, , DM through Instagram, , email us info@biolite.shop. , we have a YouTube channel also, so I have a lot of educational videos that I put on. They're on different red light therapy topics. And then I also have recently started my own podcast, the red light report, which has been out for about six months or so.

[00:34:22] So there's various ways where you can learn about red light therapy or, , interact or engage with me. , personally,

[00:34:29] Jeremy: That all sounds great. We will have all the links to that on the show notes for this episode, and . , thanks so much for taking the time. This has been fascinating.

[00:34:35] Dr. Mike: my pleasure. Thanks for having me on.

[00:34:37] Jeremy: Our thanks to Dr. Mike Bell Koski, founder of BioLite and host of the red light report podcast. Lots of fascinating stuff here, again, brand new information for me, for the most part. And I was mostly kidding when I asked about the red light bulbs and whether or not you can just go to the hardware store and screw in a red light bulb and have some effect.

[00:34:54] I thought, what a stupid question. There's no way that's going to have any benefit, but as it turns out that actually helps.

[00:35:00] Zach: Yeah. Yeah. It actually 

[00:35:01] has a little bit of benefit. So I think I'd prefer the full infrared light. But yeah, I might actually replace a couple of lights in the bed. For going to sleep so that there's no blue 

[00:35:13] light in there.

[00:35:14] Jeremy: my 

[00:35:14] kids, uh, recently we got some re some bulbs that you can change the light, the color throughout the day. You can put them on party mode and they flash and all this stuff. So literally after we talked to him that night, I turned on the red bulbs in the kid cave. , just to have the experience I'm looking at that I can do it.

[00:35:28] Red lights, home therapy. How about that deal?

[00:35:30] Zach: did they 

[00:35:31] go to bed easier? 

[00:35:33] Yeah, I didn't think so. There's no amount of red light. That's going to help, , children go 

[00:35:37] to sleep.

[00:35:38] Jeremy: lost cause lost. Cause , I also really appreciated his perspective on, , just getting outside at sunrise. Not fun, not fun to get up that early, but it is something I'm doing these days because of, , getting the kids to school on time. Literally this morning I got up and did exactly what he suggested, went outside barefoot and just took in , some sunrise sunrays.

[00:35:59] Zach: Yeah, I wasn't barefoot, but I, I, I get up early anyway and it's, it's a good time right now because I get up and leave the house and it's still dark. But, , when I got to where I was going, The sun was just coming up. So I was like, man, I'm early. So I took a few minutes and just stood there in it. And I was like, okay.

[00:36:17] And then I went and got punished at the gym, but. 

[00:36:22] Jeremy: but.

[00:36:22] it's even, I mean, it's just an, if you happen to be up that early, I don't know that I would recommend, , setting an alarm to do this necessarily. But if you are up that early it's, it's a nice time to just say. And just, you know, ground yourself and, and set your intentions for the day, meditate perhaps for five minutes and soak in those, , early morning sunrise

[00:36:41] Zach: Only three to four days a week though.

[00:36:43] Jeremy: only three.

[00:36:43] Yeah, you don't need to do this every day. Let's keep it simple, stupid.

[00:36:46] Zach: yeah, yeah. So on the flip side of it though, I was,, wearing my, , my earbuds today, my Bluetooth earbuds today.

[00:36:53] And I was like, I was just like, oh man, what is this doing to my brain? And I actually have been really cognizant of that type of stuff. I actually have what's essentially a timer on my wifi at home. So every night at 11 o'clock, the wifi actually blinks out and by blinking out, I mean, the wireless access points shut down. So there's no wifi in the house anymore.

[00:37:16] Jeremy: Interesting. I didn't even know that was a thing you could do,

[00:37:19] Zach: Again, I work in it. I spend my weekends for fun building Amazon. Alexa is when I could just go buy one for 30 bucks. So for me, it's fairly easy to do because I have essentially a whole it closet in my basement , , with lots of programming code and stuff like that, that, that does some of the stuff.

[00:37:40] So for me, that's easy, but you can literally have your wifi router on one of those time switches.

[00:37:45] Jeremy: yeah.

[00:37:46] Zach: And just have it shut off at 11 o'clock. Turns off, turn it back on at seven o'clock and you're not sleeping in all of

[00:37:54] NA: For 

[00:37:54] Jeremy: no

[00:37:54] Zach: that you 

[00:37:54] normally do.

[00:37:55] Jeremy: Yeah. It's like eight to nine hours or you could be free of the toxins that are melting all of our brains.

[00:38:01] Zach: Some of the toxins. I mean, cell phone towers are still pumping you full.

[00:38:04] Jeremy: that's true. That's true. Great advice. I hadn't thought about that. Good idea.

[00:38:08] Zach: Yeah. There's my one good thing for the day. I'm going to go to 

[00:38:11] bed now.

[00:38:11] Jeremy: You call it. Yeah. Call it, call it quits. You've you've done your deed.

[00:38:15] Zach: I'm going to call it quits 

[00:38:15] while on the head.

[00:38:16] Jeremy: Speaking of, we should call it quits.

[00:38:18] I believe that's going to bring us to the end of this episode. Thank you so much for listening our guest again, Dr. Mike Bell, Koski, founder, and CEO of bio light. You can find links to him and his incredible products on the show notes for this episode@thefitness.com while you're there, please do hit that Facebook page and follow us there and join the group so that you can join our little accountability challenges and take advantage of that 50% off code at Headspace. If you're not already a user and we'll hope to see you in there. And we will hope to see you back here next Wednesday for a brand new episode of the fitness@thefitness.com. 

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