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Light Therapy Could Cure Cancer!

Cancer is quite possibly the worst thing to happen to this world. It breaks hearts, destroys lives, weakens everyone involved, and there is no cure at the moment. But how would you feel if we told you there’s a light at the end of the tunnel? Literally. A light.

What Is Cancer?

Cancer is a disease that occurs when abnormal cells divide uncontrollably. These cells destroy body tissue, killing the body of it’s victim. The most common forms of cancer are…

  • Breast cancer: forms in cells of the breasts
  • Prostate cancer: in a man’s prostate which is a small gland shaped like a walnut. This gland produces seminal fluid.
  • Basal cell cancer: skin cancer that begins in basal cells
  • Melanoma: skin cancer. The most dangerous form.
  • Colon cancer: in the color or rectum, in the digestive tract’s lower end.
  • Lung cancer: in the lungs. Most common in smokers.
  • Leukemia: attacks the blood forming tissues. Lowers ability to fight infection.
  • Lymphoma: in the lymphatic system.

The Symptoms…

Because there are so many different forms of cancer, the symptoms vary from case to case. Depending on the part of the body that is affected, the symptoms can greatly vary. However, there are some general signs that are associated with cancer. We have borrowed a list of symptoms/signs from MayoClinic, a credible medical website. They are:

  • Fatigue
  • Lump or area of thickening that can be felt under the skin
  • Weight changes, including unintended loss or gain
  • Skin changes, such as yellowing, darkening or redness of the skin, sores that won’t heal, or changes to existing moles
  • Changes in bowel or bladder habits
  • Persistent cough or trouble breathing
  • Difficulty swallowing
  • Hoarseness
  • Persistent indigestion or discomfort after eating
  • Persistent, unexplained muscle or joint pain
  • Persistent, unexplained fevers or night sweats
  • Unexplained bleeding or bruising

(mayoclinic.org)

If you have any of these symptoms or know someone that does, do not jump to conclusions, but it is smart  consult with a doctor if any of these symptoms are persistent.

The Cause…

Cancer is brought about by mutations/changes to the DNA inside of cells. Here’s how it works. The DNA within a cell is packaged into a large number of separate genes. Each of these genes has a set of instructions that lets the cell know which functions it has to perform. It also instructs it on how to grow and divide. When there are errors in these instructions cells can stop their normal functions. This can cause the cells to become cancerous.

MayoClinic explains that there are three things a gene mutation can do. They can grow, stop growing, or make mistakes. To explain these three common mutations, MayoClinic writes that a gene mutation can instruct a healthy cell to…

  • Allow rapid growth. A gene mutation can tell a cell to grow and divide more rapidly. This creates many new cells that all have that same mutation.
  • Fail to stop uncontrolled cell growth. Normal cells know when to stop growing so that you have just the right number of each type of cell. Cancer cells lose the controls (tumor suppressor genes) that tell them when to stop growing. A mutation in a tumor suppressor gene allows cancer cells to continue growing and accumulating.
  • Make mistakes when repairing DNA errors. DNA repair genes look for errors in a cell’s DNA and make corrections. A mutation in a DNA repair gene may mean that other errors aren’t corrected, leading cells to become cancerous.

These mutations are the most common ones found in cancer. But many other gene mutations can contribute to causing cancer. (mayoclinic.org)

There are many reasons why gene mutations/changes can happen. They occur quite often during normal cell growth. While our cells are equipped with a mechanism that can detect when a mistake happens and it can fix it, some mistakes are missed. This is when they can become cancerous.

Gene mutations can occur for a few different reasons. You can be born with them. You can inherit a gene mutation from your parents. This is a small percentage rate. Most mutations are not inherited and occur after birth. Smoking, radiation, viruses, carcinogens (cancer causing chemicals), obesity, hormones, chronic inflammation, and a lack of exercise can all cause cancer.

Light Therapy & Cancer…

Scientists at Tufts University in Boston have recently been breaking ground with their light therapy cancer research study. Michael Levin is a biologist and head of the Tufts Center for Regenerative and Development Biology and he is quoted as saying, “we call this whole research program cracking the biological code.” Levin and his team have successfully used optogenics, a new form of light therapy, to prevent and reverse tumors in frog embryos..

The Experiments…

During optogenics, a substance is injected into the subject of the experiment. The goal is to bring the subject back to the healthy subject it was before it was injected.

In the optogenics experiments at Tufts University, researchers injected frog embryos with two types of genes. One gene was meant to predispose them to cancer and one was meant to produce light-sensitive ion channels in tumor cells. Ion channels are passageways. They go in and out of a cell and open when responding to specific signals. When these passageways are open, the movement of ions in or out of a cell creates an electrical signal, which is what the researchers were aiming to create. Michael Levin, the head of the experiment, explained that “The idea is much like the brain, when neuroscientists try to figure out the semantics of electrical states in the brain. We try to figure out how patterns are encoded in electrical states in the body.”

The researchers exposed the embryos to light in order to activate the ion channels on the tumor cells. When these channels were activated and the electrical signals in the cells were adjusted, the researchers report that they were successful at preventing and reversing tumor formation in 30% of the embryos. One of the researchers explained that when they blinked the blue light at the tumor for 24 hours the tumor went away.

Why Is This So Important?

Being able to locate and understand the electrical patterns in our cells opens up an entirely new world in cancer research and light therapy. It is now possible to control the speed at which cells divide as well as the information they share with the cells surrounding them. Levin explains that “The electrical communication amongst cells is really important for tumor suppression. The bigger picture is to understand how these voltages are passed among cells and how they control the transfer of chemical signals among cells.”

It is still not known whether or not optogenics can be used to treat cancer in people, but experiments will begin soon on mammals. The important thing to note here is how far science has come and how crucial light therapy may be in the treatment of cancer.

Light to treat cancer! We’ll keep you with more news on these incredible experiments.

Posted on June 28, 2016 In Blue Light Therapy, Light Therapy
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Light Therapy, Chronic Pain, & Mice

What Is Chronic Pain?

Chronic pain is classified as persistent pain that can last for weeks to years. It’s usually self diagnosable and there is no known cure quite yet, although there are forms of treatment that can help. There are more than 3 million U.S. cases each year, making this a common condition.

Chronic pain is more than physical. It’s also mental and it can quickly take over your life. Constant physical pain can decrease energy and mood levels, leaving victims feeling low and even depressed. The most common form of treatment for chronic pain is medication. Acupuncture, surgery, electrical stimulation, and cognitive behavioral therapy are also forms of treatment. But with medication being the most common treatment for chronic pain, it’s obvious that another option needs to be found. Medicine is not a permanent fix and while it can help you mentally because you are feeling less pain, it’s also harmful in the sense that it is addictive. Solving one mental issue by adding another, addiction, is not a proactive form of treatment. This is why we are going to discuss light therapy.

The Symptoms…

The symptoms for chronic pain do not take rocket science to understand. Acute pain is a painful sensation that typically lets us know of an injury, or a bigger problem. Chronic pain, however, lasts for far too long. If the pain in the patient’s body lasts for more than 12 weeks, it is classified as chronic pain. The primary symptom of chronic pain is constant and persistent pain.

According to WebMD, a credible website dedicated to all things medical, chronic pain has other symptoms, aside from just pain. These symptoms are thought to arise due to the link between the mental state and the physical state during chronic pain. WebMD writes:

The symptoms of chronic pain include:

  • Mild to severe pain that does not go away
  • Pain that may be described as shooting, burning, aching, or electrical
  • Feeling of discomfort, soreness, tightness, or stiffness

Pain is not a symptom that exists alone. Other problems associated with pain can include:

  • Fatigue
  • Sleeplessness
  • Withdrawal from activity and increased need to rest
  • Weakened immune system
  • Changes in mood including hopelessness, fear, depression, irritability, anxiety, and stress
  • Disability

(WebMD.com)

Common pain areas are in the back, joints, mouth, face, muscles, bones, and neck. The sensory perception of this pain can be classified as pins and needles as well as sensitivity to pain. There are many different types of pain and these can be caused by psychological factors. Each patient has a unique form of chronic pain.

The Cause…

It is common for chronic pain to arise due to an injury. For example a back sprain or a car accident. It can also come from illness. And for others, there is no clear cut cause. This might be the most difficult “cause” to deal with.

No matter what caused the chronic pain to arise, it remains a part of the patient’s body due to either inflammation or dysfunctional nerves. The goal of treatment for chronic pain is to reduce the pain and improve functions so that the patient can live a normal life again.

Covering up the pain with medications (opiates) or using more holistic forms of treatment and not seeing results can ultimately make the situation worse. This is why we are promoting light therapy. This is why everyone should be pushing for light therapy!

Light Therapy & Chronic Pain

Red light therapy has been used to treat pain for awhile now. It can relieve sore muscles, heal wounds, relieve joint pain, and so much more. Infrared red light therapy is changing people’s lives every day. And while most red light therapy products are being advertised for treating chronic pain, the research needs to continue. While hand held devices from Amazon may work for some people, each chronic pain case is different. Some are far more intense than others. This is why light therapy is constantly being experimented with in regards to pain. If a cure for chronic pain is on the horizon, we cannot stop searching.

This is why researchers at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital of McGill University are taking their experiments so seriously. These researchers have been able to see pain relief in mice using optogenics, a new, extremely specific, non-invasive form of light therapy. During optogenics, a substance is injected into mice that induce them into a certain condition. For this experiment, they were subjected to chronic pain. The goal of optogenics is to treat the mice of this condition.

Tech Times has an April 2016 article about this light therapy experiment. The author, Catherine Cabral-Isabedra, explains:

“Once neurons were subjected to yellow light, the pain response to light and heat was inhibited. The researchers said that pain relief was seen to last for more than 24 hours in mice with 1 hour of inhibition.

Once neurons were subjected to yellow light, the pain response to light and heat was inhibited. The researchers said that pain relief was seen to last for more than 24 hours in mice with 1 hour of inhibition.

Senior author and professor of neurology and neurosurgery at McGill University Philippe Seguela explained that the opsins, which respond to light, can only be expressed if Cre recombinase is present.

“When we transfer these to neurons, we can control their responses simply by illuminating the skin with innocuous yellow light,” said Seguela.

“Opsins can be packaged in viruses and viral expression can be genetically restricted to specific neuronal populations allowing a higher cellular selectivity,” says Seguela. “This will allow chronic pain patients to benefit from a non-invasive and highly precise analgesic method to modulate their pain.”

The study aims to understand the physiology of chronic pain and provide groundwork for alternative pain management.”

(techtimes.com)

Why This Is So Important…

Given that medications, mainly opiates, are the main form of treatment for chronic pain, this recent discovery is groundbreaking. President Barack Obama has recently proposed new rules to manage the growing opioid use in our country. In United States alone, more than 2 million people are dependent upon painkillers. When painkillers are prescribed for chronic pain, the individuals suffering from pain develop a tolerance to the drug. Eventually they take more, and unfortunately for some, they take far too much and end up overdosing. Pain killers kill more than 40 people each day in the U.S. If chronic pain can be one less condition that is prescribed pain killers, we might be able to see an end in sight for this pain killer cemetery.

Optogenics offers great hope as an alternative to traditional painkilling medications. Because of it’s high temporal and spatial control on neuron activity, light therapy might actually win this battle.

Are You Sold?

Tendilite World’s Top Red LED Light Therapy Joint Pain Relief
Amazon for $194.93 (on sale!)

Optogenics light therapy is currently not being used on humans, but that doesn’t mean you can’t join the game. Red light therapy is being proven effective for treating a wide array of conditions, including pain. For some individuals, red light therapy has been successful in treating chronic pain, depending on what has caused the condition.

The Tendilite Joint Pain Home Therapy treatment package is FDA cleared, drug free and harm free. It is also highly reviewed and a fair price for the results it offers. The treatment sessions are fast and pain free. Patients simply hold, or have someone else hold, a small red light therapy device up to where the pain is for up to one minute at a time. The light should be shined directly at the joint or disc that is causing pain.

This Tendilite device can reduce pain, promote muscle relaxation, increase blood circulation, reduce swelling and stiffness and activate necessary collagen that is used to rebuild connective tissue.

This device is a small step towards big results. While it may not be what was used in the experiments in Montreal, it is still highly effective for lower grade pain. Give it a shot! And keep your eyes peeled for new light therapy research!

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Posted on June 27, 2016 In Light Therapy, Mental Health, Pain, Red Light Therapy
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New Light Therapy Mask Is Treating Jet Lag!

What Is Jetlag?

Jet lag, also referred to as desynchronosis or flight fatigue, is a major downside to traveling. When flying to a location with a time zone difference of 3 hours or more, passengers often find themselves feeling all sorts of weird once they land. They’re tired, irritable, confused, and often have trouble sleeping.

Jet lag occurs because our circadian rhythms, or biological clocks, are easily disturbed. Circadian rhythm is our body’s internal clock which controls the amount of melatonin and serotonin our brains release. Our circadian rhythm relies on the amount of light our brain senses each day as well as the timing of that light. When taking a long flight to the other side of the country at 12 o’clock in the afternoon, passengers could awake from their plane nap at 10 o’clock at night. Then they’re left wired and all out of sorts. Our bodies don’t understand what time it is, our brain isnwide awake, and there is usually only a slim chance of falling asleep. This is why jet lag occurs. Once our circadian rhythm is disturbed, it’s hard to get back on track.

Aside from feeling fatigue and suffering from insomnia, there are some other physical and emotional symptoms that passengers often face. These include…

  • Anxiety
  • Constipation
  • Dehydration
  • Confusion
  • Diarrhea
  • Headaches
  • Nausea
  • Irritability
  • Difficulty with concentrating
  • Indigestion issues
  • Sweating
  • Dizziness
  • Problems with coordination
  • Sleepiness during the day
  • The feeling of malaise
  • Memory loss
  • Heartbeat irregularities
  • Weak immune system

Anyone can suffer from jet lag – adults, children, babies. While it is not common to need to seek medical attention for jet lag symptoms, the symptoms can leave you out of commission. The recovery process from jet lag depends on the number of time zones crossed during traveling. Typically, passengers tend to recover from jet lag at a rate of one or two time zones per day. To put this into perspective – if you travel through 8 time zones, your body will typically need  5 to 7 days to recover.

The Neuroon Mask…

Traveling is supposed to be fun but it’s hard to have fun when suffering from jet lag. This is where the Neuroon Mask saves the day! A Polish start up company designed the groundbreaking sleep mask with travelers in mind. The mask is meant to shift your body’s internal clock in preparation for long trips.

How It Works…

The Neuroon Mask works by exposing the person wearing the mask to short bursts of light while they are asleep. The company claims that the mask helps reduce the effects of jet lag after traveling to a destination with a time difference of 3 hours or more.

The company decided to create the mask after research from Stanford University in California found that levels of melatonin, a sleep hormone, were greatly altered when patients were exposed to short flashes of light during their sleep. The researchers found that this discovery could be used to alter a person’s sleep schedule and keep their circadian rhythm, or biological clock, in check.

There are biometric sensors built into the Neuroon Mask that can measure the wearer’s heart rate and brainwaves. This records their sleep analytics, sleep architecture, phases of deep/light sleep, REM, and waking. All of these recordings can then be viewed on a smartphone application created specifically for the mask.

Jetlag Blocker…

Perhaps the most interesting and innovative part of the Neuron Mask is it’s “Jetlag Blocker” feature. You can actually enter your destination and the mask will adjust it’s settings and light therapy process to prepare your body’s internal clock for it’s new time zone location. The company recommends starting the light therapy process a few days before traveling. This will increase the chances of beating jet lag.

Why It’s So Important…

Most people brush things such as jet lag aside. They just assume it’s bound to happen. In this case, they either take sleeping medicines, get sick from exhaustion, or just get used to their generally low moods while traveling. This is not the way it should be!

Making light spectrum therapy easy to use is the best way to continually introduce the therapy to the world.

Neuroon Sleep Mask
Available for $299.00
Neuroon.com

The Neuron Sleep Mask is currently available on the company’s website for a pretty fair price if you tend to put your health first. The price includes the Lucid Dreaming cellular app which works for both Android and IOS. Do you travel a lot for work or just love to take off? Is your body extremely sensitive to time zone changes? Are you ready to try the world’s new innovative discovery? The Neuroon Mask is for you! Let us know how you like it.

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Posted on June 26, 2016 In Insomnia, Jetlag, Light Therapy, Mental Health, Products
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Light Therapy & The Earth

What Is Light Therapy?

Light Therapy is the process of using different forms of light to help reduce and/or treat a wide array of conditions and disorders. Dermatologists, doctors, and psychiatrists have been using light therapy on their patients for some time. And now, thanks to the convenience of new light therapy products, you can also use the treatment at home. Light therapy has been safely and effectively changing the medical world one patient at a time.

How It Works…

Depending on the condition and the patient’s state of health, light therapy treatments can vary. For skin conditions and disorders, red, blue, and green light therapy devices are used. The treatments can be applied in many different forms including body wraps, handheld wands, tanning style beds, and masks. These methods are used for chronic pain, acne, wrinkles, cellulite, rosacea, psoriasis, and more. For mental conditions, such as seasonal affective disorder or depression, light therapy lamps and boxes are typically recommended. The high powered LED lights mimic outdoor sunlight to boost energy levels, maintain regular sleep cycles, treat depression, and more. There are also more extensive and intense products being used in doctors’ offices. For example, intravenous light therapy can be used post surgery to reduce inflammation and swelling. And light that is shown on the skin after certain ointments are applied to affected areas can treat many forms of skin cancer.

All of these discoveries and new insights into the world of medicine are groundbreaking and even life changing for some patients. The best part of it all, there’s still so much to learn! We have barely begun to crack the surface of what light therapy can do for us.

Saving The Earth…

Just as light therapy is changing the medical field, it’s also saving the earth. Saving lives and saving the earth! Does it get any better than that?

Light Therapy Options (LTO) is a Connecticut-based company that provides light therapy products to treat and heal a wide array of skin conditions and disorders. This company stands out from the rest due to it’s pride in being eco-friendly.

Light Therapy Options’ products are high powered LED lights that are meant to be applied to affected areas of the skin in specific, accurate wavelengths. The devices themselves aren’t necessarily what makes this company stand out from the pack. There are many similar products on the market that can effectively treat and heal light therapy relying conditions. However, most of the products on the market are made of non-recyclable plastics and have a limited lifespan, along with some other features that can harm our environment.

How It Works…

Light Therapy Options stands out from the crowd for many reasons. The company aims to be as environmentally friendly as possible which is why they created these features for their products…

High Power LED: These use less electricity and reduce treatment times. Other treatments are between 10 and 30 minutes. LTO treatments are between 30 seconds and 3 minutes.

No Replacement Parts: The devices are extremely durable and have been designed to hold up through home use, travel, spa use, and more. They have a 50,000 hour lifespan. To simplify, if you use a device for 3 minutes at a time, it will last for many lifetimes.

Non-Disposable: Because of the insanely long lifespan, these products are non-disposable. LTO claims that you will never need to buy a new device.

Recyclable: Even though these products are made to be non-disposable, accidents can happen or you could run out of uses for the products. In this scenario, the products are recyclable.

No Toxic Gases: Many compact fluorescent bulbs and other light products contain toxic gases. LTO products do not.

Not Battery Operated: LTO devices are powered through a wall socket. No need to throw out batteries!

Combined Product Uses: LTO  makes some devices that work for many different conditions so you to only have to purchase one device, instead of many different ones for all of your conditions.

Why Is This So Important?

It seems that many of us get so caught up in what the earth can do for us, that we forget what we can do for the earth. We only get one earth and we need to treat it like that is the case. Every step we take towards ensuring an environmentally friendly world is a step in the right direction. While Light Therapy Options is the only company currently making eco-friendly light therapy products at such a high level, it’s important to see what we can strive for. If one company can do this, why can’t they all? If you are considering buying a light therapy product, make sure you check and see if Light Therapy Options has what you are looking for!

Are You Sold?

Light Therapy Options has more than 10 products on their site. We have chosen to share a couple of those devices with you to explain in further detail just how wonderful we think this company is!

The Peak 415 Blue Light HP LED Powerhead
$259.00 (on sale!)
LightTherapyOptions.com

The Peak 415 is one of the most popular products on the website. It is available in either 120 volt or 220 volt and includes standard safety goggles to protect your eyes. Different goggle options are available to purchase as well for just a few dollars. The Peak 415 is made with a high power LED power head that is used with your own fixture (stand). It contains 48 HP LED chips and has a peak wavelength of 415 nanometers. It can be used for both personal and professional use and has been rated highly effective for treating acne. The website claims that the 415 nanometer wavelength has been identified as the most effective wavelength against acne causing bacteria without entering the UV range. It is the strongest acne light in their product line!


The Genesis DH Red Light / Near Infrared HP LED Powerhead
$299.00 (on sale!)
LightTherapyOptions.com

The Genesis DH is made with a high power LED head with 120 volt power and includes standard safety goggles. It has a standard sized bulb which means that you can use it with any open faced fixture you choose. The Genesis DH is specifically designed for pain relief, wound care, anti-aging, and much more. The device combines red and near infrared light therapy into one small unit which provides you with the benefits of both light therapy forms for every one of your treatment sessions. The website states that it is most commonly used as a handheld device for pain relief but it has also been proven effective while being used hands free for collagen production, anti-aging, and more. Why not give the 90 day trial period and lifetime warranty a try?

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Posted on June 25, 2016 In Acne, Light Therapy, Pain, Products, Psoriasis, Red Light Therapy, Skin Treatments, Uncategorized
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