45 minDoes Red Light Therapy Work? Sleep, Skin and Hair Benefits
With Scott Chaverri
Guest on the show
Scott Chaverri
Scott Chaverri is the founder and CEO of Mito Red Light, a company he started in 2019 after red light therapy helped him through caregiver exhaustion during his young son's cancer treatment.
Episodes with Scott Chaverri
45 minWhat Scott talks about
Ep. 329: Does Red Light Therapy Work? Sleep, Skin and Hair Benefits
Red light therapy is everywhere right now, and it is hard to tell what is real. In this episode, Nikkiey Stott sits down with Scott Chaverri, founder and CEO of Mito Red Light, to break it down. Scott explains that red and near-infrared light, roughly 600 to 1,000 nanometers, can get into the body and help your mitochondria make more cellular energy. He says skin health, hair growth and wound healing are the best-studied uses, and better sleep is the feedback his customers report most. Nikkiey shares that sitting in front of her light for 10 minutes a day helped her thinning hair get stronger and her skin get clearer.
Scott also gets practical about light at night. He beat years of insomnia with blue-blocking glasses and dimmed lights after sunset, and he explains why the white LEDs in most homes are a poor match for our biology. He walks through the leading theory on how daytime red light may support melatonin, gives his everyday dose of about 10 minutes with one day off a week, and shares what customers have reported about thyroid and testosterone, framing those as anecdotes rather than medical claims.
If you are thinking about buying a device, Scott's advice is to choose a company with a track record, ask for independent lab data on light output, and look for a panel with active cooling. And if you never buy a light, he says getting outside more is still a smart move.
- Dim the lights and wear blue-blocking glasses after sunset; Scott says that simple change solved his years of insomnia.
- Lowering the intensity of your evening light matters as much as removing blue, and placing lamps low to the ground instead of overhead takes it a step further.
- Use screen tools like f.lux or Iris to shift the color of your screen light depending on the time of day.
- For daily maintenance, Scott suggests about 10 minutes with a panel like Mito's, roughly 30 joules, plus one strategic day off each week.
- Look for a manufacturer that can show independent lab data on fluence, and aim for a dose between about 6 and 60 joules per square centimeter depending on the goal.
In Scott's words
Common questions
How does red light therapy work?
Scott explains that red and near-infrared light in a window of roughly 600 to 1,000 nanometers can penetrate the body without turning into heat and acts on the mitochondria. The light is absorbed by an enzyme called cytochrome c oxidase, which helps the mitochondria finish making ATP, the energy your cells use to do their jobs.
What are the proven benefits of red light therapy?
According to Scott, skin health, hair growth and wound healing are the most well-studied uses, going back to the earliest research. Anecdotally, better sleep is the number one piece of feedback Mito Red Light gets from customers.
How long should you use red light therapy each day?
Scott says that for daily maintenance with a device like his, about 10 minutes, or roughly 30 joules, is probably pretty good, with one day off each week. Lower doses of a minute or two are used for the eyes, and longer sessions of up to about 20 minutes are for deep tissue or an acute injury.
Can red light therapy help you sleep better?
Scott points to a study in elite Chinese female basketball players who got 30 minutes of red light in the early evening, where subjective sleep scores went up and melatonin rose 67 percent. The leading theory he describes is that red and near-infrared light during the day helps cells build a reservoir of melatonin, sparing the melatonin your body makes at night.
Does red light therapy help with hormones like thyroid or testosterone?
Scott says hormones are complicated, he is not an endocrinologist, and he cannot make medical claims. He shares customer anecdotes about thyroid health and low testosterone improving, and notes the research suggests the thyroid seems sensitive to red and near-infrared light.
What should you look for in a red light therapy device?
Scott recommends a company with a track record, independent lab data on the device's fluence, and a well-built panel. He also says to be skeptical of panels without active cooling such as heat sinks and fans, because non-cooled devices are generally too low powered.