How to Improve Skin Health & Appearance

Red and near-infrared light improve muscle recovery, skin healing, acne, and even vision

Clinically proven wavelengths of red and near-infrared light trigger cellular adaptations including faster muscle recovery, improved skin health, reduced pain and inflammation, and better mitochondrial function.

"Now, if there's one thing I've consistently emphasized on this podcast, it's the incredible impact that light can have on our biology. Now, in addition to sunlight, red light and near-infrared light have been shown to have positive effects on improving numerous aspects of cellar and organ health, including faster muscle recovery, improved skin health and wound healing, even improvements in acne, reducing pain and inflammation, improving mitochondrial function, and even improving vision itself. What sets Juve lights apart, and why they're my preferred red light therapy devices, is that they use clinically proven wavelengths, meaning it uses specific wavelengths of red light and near infrared light in combination to trigger the optimal cellular adaptations. Personally, I use the Juve handheld light, both at home and when I travel. It's only about the size of a sandwich, so it's super portable and convenient to use. I also have a Juve whole body panel, and I use that about three or four times per week. If you'd like to try Juve, you can go to juve, spelled J-O-O-V-V dot com slash Huberman. Juve is offering an exclusive discount to all Huberman Loud listeners with up to $400 off select Juve products. Again, that's Juve, J-O-O-V-V.com slash Huberman to get $400 off select Juve products. Today's episode is also brought to us by BetterHelp. BetterHelp offers professional therapy with a licensed therapist carried out entirely online. I've been doing weekly therapy for over three decades. Initially, I didn't have a choice. It was a condition of being allowed to stay in school, but pretty soon I realized that therapy is critical to overall health. In fact, I consider doing regular therapy just as important as getting regular physical exercise, which of course I also do every week. Research tells us that excellent therapy includes three critical ingredients. The first ingredient is a strong rapport between you and the therapist, somebody that you can really trust and talk to about the issues that are concerning you."

Zinc oxide sunscreen is safest — chemical sunscreens are fine in moderation but watch high doses

Mineral-based sunscreens (zinc oxide up to 25%) are considered safest. Chemical sunscreens exist because they spread more smoothly, but some ingredients may be endocrine disruptors at high concentrations.

"If you're wearing sunscreen very often and a lot of it, probably best to veer towards a mineral-based sunscreen. The concerns about chemical sunscreens were at exceedingly high amounts."

BPC-157 and copper peptides for skin: promising logic but uncertain risk of tumor growth

BPC-157 promotes vascularization which may help skin rejuvenation, but the same mechanism could accelerate tumor growth. Copper supports DNA repair and acts as an antioxidant. Both lack randomized controlled trials.

"The mechanistic logic is just as strong for BPC-157 encouraging tumor growth as it is for encouraging vascularization of skin, muscle, tendon, and ligament."

Red light therapy for skin: Nobel Prize-backed science since the early 1900s, not just biohacking

Red and near-infrared light reduce reactive oxygen species and improve mitochondrial function. A Nobel Prize was granted in the early 1900s for phototherapy treating lupus. Many studies show benefits but with small sample sizes.

"A Nobel Prize was granted in the early 1900s for the use of phototherapy. Red light reduces reactive oxygen species and improves mitochondrial function in cells."

Bone broth, omega-3s, and leafy greens: the dermatologist-backed diet for skin health

Anti-inflammatory diets with collagen from bone broth, omega fatty acids from walnuts, flax, and fatty fish, plus dark leafy greens are the foundation of dietary skin health according to dermatologists.

"Now, with respect to the specific foods that can improve skin appearance and skin health, it's very clear that diets that are of the so-called low inflammatory type that don't spark inflammation. So these would be things that sometimes are referred to as the Mediterranean diet or a paleo-like diet. You hear these terms, but what are we really talking about? Mostly whole foods, minimally processed foods, okay? And then there's variation depending on whether or not you emphasize or de-emphasize meat and fish or emphasize or de-emphasize vegetables, this kind of thing. Again, I'm an omnivore. I love fruit. I love vegetables. I do like rice, oatmeal, and some pastas. I like a great sourdough bread. I like butter. I like olive oil. I like meat. I like fish. I think I am representative of most people out there because I eat most all those things, but I also eat the occasional croissant. I also eat the occasional slice of pizza. I don't eat a lot of that stuff, but I eat it now and again. And then of course you have people that are super strict. What do we know about the relationship between specific foods and skin health and skin appearance? Well, anti-inflammatory diet, we've more or less spelled out what that represents without getting into too many specifics. And then there are the specific components within foods. So vitamins, minerals, and micronutrients, as well as things like collagen present in bone broth that can be really useful to include. So one of the, I think, best accounts on dermatologic health and skin health and appearance on the internet is Dr. Andrea Suarez. She's a medical doctor, board certified dermatologist. And she has a wonderful video that describes the various foods that one can eat to promote skin health and skin appearance. And rather than repeat that entire video, because A, that wouldn't be right, and B, it already exists out there in excellent form. I'll just give a brief synopsis of some of the things that she suggests because I entirely agree. And again, there's no need to be repetitive and she does an excellent job. So she certainly mentions collagen and bone broth. She also mentions various sources of omega fatty acids that are often lacking in people's diets that they should pay extra careful attention to get. So things like walnuts, flax, fatty fish. I personally am a big believer in supplementing with liquid form fish oil. That's what I do. I personally am a big believer in supplementing with liquid form fish oil. That's what I do. Why am I a big believer in that? Well, I don't tend to cook much fatty fish. I love the taste of it if it's prepared right, but I don't tend to do that very often. So I use a liquid form fish oil or capsules, but the liquid form is generally more affordable. This was discussed in an episode that I did with Dr. Rhonda Patrick. So we can put a link to that particular segment in the show note captions. It's also suggested that we eat a lot of leafy greens, so dark leafy greens. You're probably noticing a lot of these recommendations are kind of typical for what people describe. Anytime they're talking about nutrition for health, she highly recommends people get enough folic acid for the role that folic acid plays in DNA synthesis and repair of skin cells as among other cells and cell proliferation."