The Skin-Credible Benefits of LED Light Therapy

In recent years, LED light therapy has gained popularity as a noninvasive and effective treatment for various skin conditions, like dry skin, hair loss, and acne, and other health issues. It works by exposing your skin to different wavelengths of light. The light penetrates your skin at varying depths, triggering different reactions.  From reducing inflammation and promoting collagen production (who doesn’t love that?), to improving overall skin health, LED light therapy offers a range of benefits that make it an exciting new treatment in the beauty and wellness industry. What Does LED Light Therapy Do? LED light therapy utilizes different light wavelengths to target specific skin concerns and other health issues. The most common wavelengths used in LED light therapy are red and blue light. Here’s what each therapy targets:  Red light therapy: Known for its ability to stimulate collagen production, reduce inflammation, and promote healing, making it an ideal choice for anti-aging and skin rejuvenation treatments.  Blue light therapy: Effective in killing acne-causing bacteria and reducing breakouts, making it a popular choice for treating acne and other skin blemishes. 4 Benefits of LED Light Therapy LED light therapy has wide-reaching benefits for our skin and inflammatory system. But most importantly, it’s convenient. Treatments typically last around 20 minutes—quick enough to fit into your lunch break! If you make an effort to incorporate this therapy into your daily routine, you may notice improvements in the following areas.  Skin Rejuvenation and Anti-Aging LED light therapy, particularly red light, has been shown to stimulate the production of collagen and elastin, which are essential for maintaining skin elasticity and firmness. This can result in reduced fine lines and wrinkles, leading to a more youthful and radiant complexion. Acne Treatment Dealing with the joys of adult acne? The antibacterial properties of blue light make it an effective treatment for breakouts. By targeting the bacteria that cause acne breakouts, blue light therapy can help reduce inflammation and improve overall skin clarity, making it a valuable option if typical over-the-counter creams aren’t working. Wound Healing and Inflammation Reduction The use of LED light therapy has been found to promote faster healing of wounds and reduce inflammation, making it helpful for folks recovering from injuries or surgery. Because LED light therapy accelerates the body’s natural healing processes, it can significantly improve recovery times. Pain Management Beyond skincare, LED light therapy has also been utilized for pain management. Studies have shown that certain wavelengths of light can help alleviate pain and discomfort associated with conditions such as arthritis, muscle soreness, and joint pain, offering a non-invasive and drug-free alternative for pain relief. LED light therapy offers a spectrum of benefits that extend beyond traditional skincare, making it a valuable addition to any wellness routine. Whether you’re looking for radiant, youthful skin or are dealing with health issues like psoriasis or eczema, the benefits (and convenience!) of LED light therapy make it worth adding to your routine. (Image: Unsplash) Watch Episode 3 of Living a Nutritious Life Podcast with Keri Glassman: Brain Workouts and LED Light Therapy: Sharpen Your Mind with Dr. Patrick Porter

The Biggest Wellness Trends of the Last Decade

By April Dupee Wellness became mainstream over the last ten years. Thanks to increasing rates of chronic diseases and mental health conditions, Americans are turning to the health and wellness industry to address these issues like never before. We want more transparency in our food system, cleaner ingredients in our beauty products, and more efficient ways to cook healthy and exercise harder. RELATED: The 5-Minute Workout You Can Do Anywhere We know this because we live it. Founded by Keri Glassman, RD, and backed by countless other experts across health disciplines, Nutritious Life has led the wellness conversation for almost two decades. Let’s take a look at the biggest trends of the last ten years, plus what we can expect of wellness in the years to come. 2011: Fast-Casual Dining Takes Off Whether you’re headed out on your lunch break or grabbing dinner on your way home from work, there’s a good chance you’ll be stopping at one of the many fast-casual restaurants now lining city streets and shopping centers. Sweetgreen, Chipotle, Cava, Dig Inn—these convenient fast-casual eateries meet the needs of a busy yet health-conscious nation. According to market research provider Euromonitor International, sales for fast-casual restaurants grew between 10 and 11 percent annually from 2011 to 2016, making it the fastest-growing food-service segment worldwide. With quick, inexpensive and innovative meals, fast-casual dining has transformed the way Americans eat by making healthy eating accessible and attainable. (Photo: Shutterstock) 2012: All Hail Kale (And Other Hero Ingredients) Bon Appetite named 2012 ‘The Year of Kale’ and Time Magazine listed kale as one of the top 10 food trends of the year. Beyoncé, one of the biggest figures in pop culture, would even wear a ‘Kale’ sweatshirt in her music video a couple of years later. Kale’s popularity hailed a new era in which veggies can be cool and hero ingredients are touted for their ability to boost health. Cauliflower can now be found in pizza and chips, and images of avocados cover our social media feeds and apparel. From ancient grains like quinoa to spices like turmeric, consumers have thrust nutrient-dense foods into the limelight and on to restaurant menus, food blogs, and food product labels. (Photo: Shutterstock) 2013: The Boutique Fitness Boom While boutique fitness studios like SoulCycle and Barry’s Bootcamp have been around since the early 2000s, it wasn’t until 2013 that community-centered exercise was brought to the masses with the launch of ClassPass. The app helped people discover new classes, with boutique fitness membership increasing by 70 percent from 2012 to 2017, according to International Health, Racquet, and Sportsclub Association. From here, workouts changed from a to-do to a lifestyle, complete with the athleisure to match. (Photo: Shutterstock) 2014: Keep it Clean Clean labeling went from a niche trend to a standard across the food industry in 2014, thanks to consumers demanding simple ingredient lists and fewer artificial ingredients. According to Innova Market Insights, an increasing number of companies began using natural sweeteners, colors, and thickeners in their products, with 20 percent of US products leveraging a clean label in 2014. This was also the same year the FDA announced it would revamp the requirements for the nutrition facts label, including added sugars. This desire for more transparency and healthier ingredients would continue to rise and can now be seen in beauty products and skincare. (Photo: Shutterstock) 2015: Wellness Meets Instagram The rise of food bloggers and wellness influencers put healthy-eating and fitness inspo at your fingertips. In 2015, Yoga with Adriene, a YouTube yoga community of currently 5.5 million viewers, was one of the top trending exercises on Google and healthy food blogger Ella Woodward of Deliciously Ella published her first cookbook. While there have been some negative side-effects of this social media wellness shift (for example, the spread of dangerous fad diets and filtered, unattainable health standards), there’s no denying social media has helped make wellness mainstream. (Photo: Shutterstock) FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM! 2016: Don’t Forget About Self-Care Scroll through Instagram and you will likely see face masks, bubble baths, cooking, and yoga all being done in the name of #selfcare (which has been hashtagged 22 million times to date). At Nutritious Life, we’ve always said that it’s important to #NurtureYourself, but the idea that taking care of your body and mind is not a luxury, but rather a necessity has really taken hold in an era of constant hustle and anxiety. The self-care movement has also coincided with the growth of meditation and mindfulness, with apps like Headspace increasing in popularity and gyms like Equinox incorporating meditation into exercise classes. (Photo: Shutterstock) 2017: Go with Your Gut Have you been sipping on some kombucha recently? This fermented beverage—and other fermented foods like kefir, kimchi, and miso—have sky-rocketed into popularity with sales surging 37.4 percent in 2017. Research reveals that gut microbiota plays a bigger role in our health than we once thought. We’ve learned that these good-for-you bugs may influence everything from obesity to immunity to mental health. Expect gut health to become an increasingly important part of wellness. RELATED: The Gut-Brain Connection and How it Impacts Your Health (Photo: Shutterstock) 2018: It’s Personal Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all health recommendations. In an age of tailored Netflix suggestions and hand-picked meal delivery kits, we can expect our health recommendations to be personalized too. Between fad diets that fail and nutrition confusion, consumers have turned to personalized nutrition and wellness for advice that works. Advancements in epigenetics and technology have enabled companies like Habit and DayTwo to offer health advice based on your DNA or microbiome. TBD if these new developments will actually improve your health, but with a projected market growth of $11.5 billion by 2025, we can expect personalized wellness to explode in the next decade. (Photo: Shutterstock) 2019: Plant-Based Everything When fast-food chains start selling the Impossible Burger and Beyond Meat, you know plant-based diets have gone mainstream. With growing environmental and health concerns, lots of people are reducing their intake of animal products as a way to address these issues. But it doesn’t just stop at faux meats.