Red and Near-Infrared Light – Red lights on the brain

More Cossack photos

Here are photos from a new Cossack and detachable top made by Michael Richards.

Michael’s only fault is that he makes things extraordinarily neatly. You don’t need to match his perfectionism. I certainly can’t!

Cossack top / light pad instructions.

Instructions for making a detachable top for your Cossack light hat. It also can be used as a light pad, provided that you make it with gel-covered LEDS.

Further to yesterday’s post about Michael Richard’s clever addition to the Cossack light hat, we have now completed the instructions for the detachable Cossack top/light pad which you can download below.

cossack-top-v2-standalone-instructions-feb-2023 Download

Detachable Cossack top / light pad

The instructions for making a detachable top for your Cossack are close to being finalised.

The top, as with the Cossack itself, has a frame made from plastic-coated mesh.

It uses gel-covered 12V DC LED strip. The gel covering is really important because it allows the top to be used directly on the skin. If you get the non-gel-covered LEDS then your skin will be scratched and the LEDs will be uncomfortably hot.

Here’s the top resting on Michael’s sore hand. Note the gel-covered LEDS.

And here it is with the lights on.

The last photo shows the Cossack and its top shining together.

I’ll be posting the detailed instructions very soon.

Stick with LED lights

After I had a query about the effectiveness of LED lights versus laser lights, I wrote a blog post here on the Well Red website.

As noted in the article by Vladimir Heiskanen and Michael Hamblin, the use of lasers is more related to the history of laser development rather than lasers being intrinsically better than other light sources.

In summary, stick with LED lights. They are safe to use and don’t have the health concerns that come with lasers.

Thank you to note thanun on Unsplash for the evocative photo.

The brain’s response to injury

If you are a Game of Thrones fan, then you’ll know the mother of dragons, Daenerys Targaryen, played by actor Emilia Clarke.

What you might not know is that Emilia has had brain injury and brain surgery.

Here’s a wonderful article from The Conversation about brain injury and how the brain responds to injury. The brain’s ability to heal itself is remarkable. Add in red and near infrared lights, and the healing process is stimulated.

The image of Emilia Clarke is reproduced from The Conversation.

Red light’s many ways of working

Don’t discount the indirect effect of red and near infrared light.

I’ve had a number of queries lately about the importance of penetration of red and near infrared light into the brain. The questions stem from an assumption that red and near lights will only be effective if they act directly onto the cell. This assumption isn’t correct. Red light doesn’t rely on just one method to be effective.