Louise Saldanha · In the past few days I've seen several posts on FB on Light Therapy! I wrote this article for those that don't understand how Light Therapy can be used for Healing! Shine A Light On Your Health How does Light Therapy help the immune system? Believed to work in several ways: Activation of cells that target bacteria. Activation of cells that digest microbes. Activation of cells that attack viruses and tumours. The immune system consists of specialized cells and organs that protect the human body against attacks by ‘invaders’ from outside the body. These invaders, also called microbes (or ‘germs’), include bacteria, viruses, parasites and fungi. The immune system also monitors cells inside the human body and removes any that are damaged (e.g. infected cells, cancer cells, etc.). There are many different types of immune cell; the cells are divided into groups and each group has a slightly different function. The immune cells ‘talk’ to each other by releasing special chemicals that can activate other immune cells and direct them to where they are needed. When invading microbes enter the body, such as particles of influenza virus inhaled into the throat, they meet special types of immune cells that ‘patrol’ the tissues. These cells identify the invading microbes as being ‘foreign’ (or ‘non-self’) and destroy as many as they can. Meanwhile, another type of immune cell ‘reports’ what is happening and ‘recruits’ other groups of immune cells to come and fight the invading microbes. Eventually, the microbes are destroyed and their remains are removed. If the immune system did not react in this way, the microbes would cause a massive infection which would be fatal within a few days. Immune cells can recognize and remember millions of different microbes; a particular group of immune cells (called B-cells) produces special proteins (called antibodies) that target known microbes. Each antibody is specific to one type of microbe (e.g. common cold virus). Many immune cells are made in an organ in the neck called the thymus. The thymus is most active in babies and children, and starts to degenerate after puberty. Other important sites of immune cell production are the bone marrow, lymph nodes and the spleen. What is light therapy? Light is a form of energy and has ‘wave-like’ properties; the difference between the various colours of light is determined by their wavelength. Light has been used as a healing tool since ancient times. Scientists now have a better understanding of which components of natural light are useful in the stimulation of healing. This has led to the development of optical devices to produce various types of ‘medically useful’ light. What effect does light therapy have on the human body? Light Therapy devices emit light containing a range of wavelengths that correspond to visible light plus infrared radiation, both of which have been reported to stimulate biological reactions. Importantly, no harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation is present in LT. When the LT device is held over the skin surface, energy from the emitted light penetrates the underlying tissues. This produces a biological response, called photo-biostimulation, causing various reactions within these tissues that may result in the promotion of healing. Louise Saldanha, RHN Medical Consultant for Light Therapy (2015) I've been using this Modality for many Health Issues in my Practice for several years
