Purple Light LED Therapy: The Full Scoop

Purple Light LED Therapy: The Full Scoop

Today I’ll talk about purple light LED therapy. That purple light is just another colour of the visible light spectrum, like red, green, and blue. But, it turns out that purple light’s effects are far more prominent than just psychology–purple light affects your body’s biology at the deepest level.

This blog post is part of a series on chromotherapy that explores all visible colours of light: 

In this blog post, however, I’ll first tell you what purple light is. Then I’ll consider the purple light health effects you can expect from purple light LED therapy. Finally, I’ll tell you how to use the therapy.

Purple Light Meaning. How Purple Light Differs From Red And Blue Light

In physics, there’s a vast light spectrum. The light spectrum can be divided into ultraviolet, visible, and infrared. Ultraviolet light can give you sunburns and infrared light makes the sun feel hot on a beach day. Lastly, the visible light is made up of all colours of the rainbow, starting from purple to blue, cyan, green, yellow, orange, and red. 

All these different types of light have their own biological effects. Red light is very healing, for instance, and can improve your energy levels, skin health, cognitive function, sports performance, and sleep quality. Blue light, on the contrary, is stimulating and can improve wakefulness.

Depending on your source, purple is sometimes also seen as part of blue light. Blue light normally makes up the 400 - 500 nanometre range. But that very beginning part of the blue spectrum is technically purple. So I’ll assume today that 400 - 420nm light makes up purple light - although visually, it may appear blue to many.

Psychologically speaking, the purple light meaning is that of royalty. In ancient Rome, only emperors were allowed to wear purple clothes, for instance. But it turns out that purple light meaning differs far from what is found in modern science, as that light has many biological effects when it hits your skin:

Purple Light Health Effects With Purple Light LED Therapy

So let’s say you use purple light LED therapy. And you’re getting purple light exposure in your eyes and on your skin. What purple light health effects can you expect in that case? 

Let’s explore these benefits. I’ve not included all studies on purple light LED therapy but just the important ones, as there are many publications on the topic.