Intranasal Light Therapy

Intranasal light therapy as a cognitive performance and brain health hack

Ben Greenfield describes intranasal light therapy as an LED or laser device placed in the nose that induces wakefulness, increases alpha brainwave production, and improves blood flow for traumatic brain injury, concussion, and Alzheimer's. He notes it is not as conspicuous as in-ear phototherapy but is a powerful pre-workout or pre-performance cognitive hack.

"It's intranasal light therapy. And they'll use this a lot of times for like Alzheimer's. It's actual LED or laser lights. It's very, very attractive look, of course, but it's up your nose. It is a cognitive performance hack, meaning it induces like wakefulness and an increase in alpha brainwave production."

How photobiomodulation activates cytochrome C oxidase in the mitochondria

Dr. Lim explains the core mechanism of photobiomodulation: light enters the mitochondria and interacts with cytochrome C oxidase in the respiratory chain, releasing nitric oxide and boosting ATP production, which triggers gene transcription for healing and cellular integrity.

"The mitochondria, more specifically in the respiratory chain, where this process goes on into creating ATP, the cellular energy. Then it began to close in into a particular enzyme in the respiratory chain that apparently has this chromophore that receives the red to near-infrared light."

Why the nose is the thinnest membrane for delivering light to the brain

Dr. Lim explains his approach of finding the thinnest membrane in the body to deliver light, settling on the nasal cavity where red light can reach blood vessels and near-infrared at 810nm penetrates deep enough to stimulate the brain directly.

"When it gets absorbed by water, it starts agitating the water molecule and it creates heat. So heat helps. It helps with comfort and it does have stimulating qualities, even some healing and so on. But in photobiomodulation, you really don't want to go into the thermal effect of creating heat. So you want to avoid that because all you need is just deliver light to the cells, to the mitochondria."

Alpha vs gamma frequencies for different brain effects

Dr. Lim describes how 10 Hz alpha pulsing targets the default mode network for relaxation and sleep, while 40 Hz gamma improves memory encoding and reduces beta-amyloid plaques, with advanced meditators reporting psilocybin-like experiences at higher frequencies.

"So that's, and I can see why that's happening because that goes back to what I said earlier about, you know, when you use gamma 40 Hertz, you see these changes in alpha beta gamma and actually reducing the power of the slow waves. And when you increase the power of the gamma, what you're doing is in gamma, gamma is, is a place that your brain is not always there unless it's,"

Mitochondrial melatonin production from photobiomodulation

Dr. Lim reveals that mitochondria produce their own melatonin in response to photobiomodulation, distinct from pineal gland melatonin, which acts as a subcellular antioxidant to neutralize free radicals and maintain cellular health.

"a red intranasal rather than an infrared intranasal, which is visible red. So when you put that together with neuro, you're having a more holistic, you know, delivery of further by modulation to your body, because now you're treating deeper in your brain. And then you're having this red that goes more to your system in general. And the health of your brain also depends on the health of the body. So it is kind of holistic. And, you know, if,"

Intranasal and transcranial PBM improves firefighter mental health and cognition

A pilot study using 810nm near-infrared via four transcranial LEDs plus one intranasal LED showed significant improvements in mood, PTSD symptoms, pain, and cognitive function in male firefighters after 8 weeks of 20-minute sessions 3-4 times per week.

"This pilot study explored whether transcranial photobiomodulation could improve mental and cognitive well-being in male firefighters, which this group is prone to a high stress, poor sleep, chronic pain, mood disturbances, and cognitive challenges."

How 633nm intranasal light disaggregates platelets and improves circulation

Peter Adams explains that the 633nm red light changes blood viscosity by disaggregating clumped platelets, improving microcirculation and boosting nitric oxide and ATP production for immune system support.

"It actually changes the viscosity of the blood and it disaggregates the platelets, i.e. the platelets are the little hemoglobin platelets that are responsible for carrying energy, getting rid of toxins, absorbing nutrients, etc. When you get sick, they tend to clump together."

Elite swimmer uses intranasal light therapy to lower heart rate during competition

Peter Adams describes how competitive swimmer Sifiwe Balika used intranasal light therapy before his 50-yard dash, keeping his heart rate at 170 instead of the usual 200 and shaving half a second off his time, which is massive in competitive swimming.

"Normally it would be in the 200 range, but he kept it down at 170 and shaved half a second, which is absolutely massive in swimming."

VieLight's COVID clinical trial leads to Health Canada approval

Adams describes VieLight's clinical trial using the X Plus device on 280 COVID patients, showing accelerated recovery and leading to the first Health Canada approval of a photobiomodulation device for coronavirus treatment.

"for coronaviruses and SARS-related viruses as a medical device. It's actually the first time in the world that photobiomodulation has been approved for that kind of medical treatment. Now, obviously, it took us a long time to do it. It's late in the game, but we are excited about it because it really demonstrates, again, the immune-boosting function."

The 19th century blue glass craze and correlation vs causation

The hosts trace how Augustus James Pleasanton concluded blue light must heal because the sky is blue during spring when plants thrive, a textbook case of confusing correlation with causation that launched the blue glass craze across America.

"A.J. Pleasanton. He was born in 1808 in Washington, D.C. His dad worked in the State Department. He was also a hero. He fought in the War of 1812. And he was chief of the Lighthouse Department. A very important job. Got to keep those boats coming in safely. I just really like the idea that there was a point where we had a lighthouse department, like a whole state department. There was the lighthouse department and he was in charge of it. That seems like a really fun department to be in charge of. He's the guy at the bottom who's like yelling up like, how's it going up there? They're like, good, it's on. He's like, excellent. Keep doing it. Yeah, I know. Keep doing it. Keep it on. on, yep, thumbs up Well, we've talked about on previous episodes How important sailors were And like the shipping industry and everything So like, you gotta imagine lighthouses Were pretty darn important Important Just like proper pronunciation It's gonna be a rough one today What was the sailors thing recently Where we talked about it's the reason we have some sort of insurance or something? What was that? Well, we talked about the beginning – yes, because we talked about the hospitals that they set up. Oh, right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I got you. How that led to the creation of the public health system and then the Surgeon General. Yes, Surgeon General. That's what it was. Okay, sorry. I'm getting distracted. I think the Coast Guard actually runs the Lighthouses now. They're in charge. Seems like a good fit. Yes, that seems like a good place for the Lighthouse Department to go. I think it was like, well, we talked about this. A lot of things that sort of shuffled around different government departments for a while. It was like in the Treasury. The treasury was like the catch-all, I believe, because they only made three, and then they threw everything they didn't know what to do with in the treasury. It was like the junk drawer of the government. And then they were like, we should make something new. Let's make a Coast Guard and put the lighthouses there. Anyway, A.J. followed his dad's footsteps. He served his country. He was in the Pennsylvania militiaia he once tried to stop some rioters in philadelphia in 1844 um i only mention this because he got shot while that was happening he does not die at this time that would be a weird that would be a weird episode anyway that's the whole bit that's it it has nothing to do with medicine no but he got shot and he forever had a musket ball in his groin. It was just there forever. Bet that made walking through metal detectors really annoying. Well, you know, in 1844, they're probably... I know they trained dogs to detect metal. I know, Sidney, I know. I don't think that's accurate. During the Civil War, he was appointed the rank of Brigadier General of the Pennsylvania Militia. And he basically worked to defend the city of Philadelphia. That was his divisions, his group, his club. That's not what it's called. My civilian-ishness is showing. I bet his dad is very judgmental. Like, oh, nice. Defending Philadelphia. Get a lot of lighthouses there? Kind of an embarrassment to me, son. There's very few lighthouses in the downtown Philadelphia. But there probably are lighthouses in Philadelphia, right? I have no way of answering that question, and neither do you. And this is the exact thinking that got us into trouble at the beginning of the episode. Well, why don't I tell you more about AJ and you really quickly Google how many lighthouses are or aren't there in Philadelphia. Thank you. After serving honorably and returning from the military, he was bored, I guess. He was in retirement. He needed a project. That happens to so many people my grandpa retired and then he started a microfilming business yeah so you know you got to have a project aj decided to get into two things he had a couple passions have you figured out the lighthouse question yet yeah they got some most notable seems to be the turtle rock lighthouse which is uh Built built in 1887 which is a little bit after his tenure there. Although maybe he was walking around Philadelphia like, God, we could use a lighthouse down here. Something in my DNA says to me, we need a lighthouse. So, I am at the point where he has left the military and he's getting into other things. So, he liked growing and farming or maybe he just had to do it out of necessity. Either way, it was something he was going to be doing. He also liked colors. Who doesn't? Much like my children. He liked colors. So, I guess it was either like he could make one of those Fisher Price little people farms because those have growing and farming and they're very colorful. Or he could do something else. If he invented that, he would have been rolling in it. He really should have. Because, well, yeah, he would have made a lot more money. Except he'd be like, anyway, they're made of plastic. And he'd be like, what are you talking about? I like the idea that he said they're made of plastic without like, I don't know what plastic is or how to make it. I just know they will be made of plastic. I'm putting the big idea out there. I've got no way to achieve it, but I'm going to put the big idea out there. Okay. Plastic was admitted in 1862. So I feel very confident in my assertion that he, that it hadn't really ramped up enough. I mean, maybe he heard about it in the, This is... Yeah. This would have been... So plastic was in existence. That is settled. It would be so new. Why do people keep asking if he made Fisher-Price Little People? He didn't, folks. He didn't. He didn't have anything to do with plastic. This is not where we're going. He was investigating the health benefits of different colors. Okay. That is the interest he had he he wanted to know specifically uh different colors of light is is where he really sort of focused color in general but like the idea of uh light filtered through different colors like panes of glass or something and the impact that could have on living things now this is before you've probably you're hearing you're hearing this and you're thinking, well, so he was interested in chromotherapy."

Ancient roots of color therapy before modern photobiomodulation

Dr. McElroy explains how chromotherapy existed in fragments throughout ancient Greek, Egyptian, and Islamic medicine, but by the 19th century medicine was separating from spiritual traditions, making Pleasanton's color-based claims both revolutionary and scientifically unfounded.

"By the 19th century, those were separating. Medicine was becoming a very empiric, well, slowly empiric thing, something in the physical world, something you could see and measure, and something quite detached from spiritual traditions."

How intranasal light therapy works at the cellular level

Dr. Lim explains that low-level light stimulates mitochondria to produce more ATP and releases nitric oxide, improving oxygenation and blood circulation throughout the body.

"When a person is not functioning optimally and you're exposed to low-level light or laser therapy, oxygenation actually increases. If you do a PET scan, you can actually see more activity in the brain."