Living with any pain is miserable, and inflammatory digestive issues can be one of the most frustrating conditions out there — and it’s widespread, particularly as autoimmunity on the rise.
Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) is a life-long chronic condition of the gastrointestinal tract. Among these conditions, various digestive system parts, including the bowels (intestines), become swollen, inflamed, and ulcerated. This inflammation leads to disruption of the natural processes of digesting food, absorbing nutrition, and healthily eliminating waste.
There are three forms of IBD: Crohn’s disease, Ulcerative colitis, and indeterminate colitis. The main differences between the three are in the areas affected and the depth of inflammation.
Friendly bacteria may cause it, but that doesn’t make it friendly one bit — ulcerative colitis is rather uncomfortable even if the symptoms are often mild. This condition happens when the immune system mistakes our bacteria, which aids in digestion as friendly, leading to the colon and rectum's inflammation.
The main symptoms of IBD are recurring diarrhea, which may contain blood, mucus, stomach, and abdominal pain, and needing to empty your bowels frequently. It is also possible to experience extreme tiredness (fatigue) and loss of appetite, leading to weight loss.
The severity of the symptoms varies, depending on how much of the rectum and colon is inflamed and how severe the inflammation is.
In 2015, an estimated 1.3% of US adults (3 million) reported being diagnosed with IBD (either Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis). This was a large increase from 1999 (0.9% or 2 million adults). In the latest years, autoimmune diseases have risen, including stress, diet, lack of exercise, insufficient sleep, and smoking. In general, people haven’t been leading healthy lifestyles, which results in a higher chance of developing an autoimmune disease. While there are ways to treat autoimmune diseases, they typically are conditions that stick with you as long as they can.
The number of ulcerative colitis cases was 40% higher, and Crohn’s disease was 80% higher in northern Europe than southern Europe. This gives more evidence to the theory of vitamin D deficiency coming from lack of light. In France, a study described a transparent north-south gradient for the incidence of Crohn’s disease, but not colitis.
Light therapy can help with a wide range of problems, autoimmune diseases being one of them. For different autoimmune conditions, incidences increase at ranges between 3% and 9% year on year. This includes a 7.0% increase per year of rheumatic diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. 6.3% increase of endocrinological conditions such as type 1 diabetes.
This is where light therapy comes in as a form of non-invasive therapy. Aside from being non-invasive, it’s an excellent option for those seeking non-pharmaceutical treatment.
The health benefits of led light therapy are many, and that’s because of how it works. In its essence, light therapy works directly on our cells. Light deposits into our skin cells, penetrating each cell in the targeted area. Then by activation of ATP, reproduction is accelerated, and cellular rejuvenation occurs throughout the whole body.
Use of light therapy at home is available simply by purchasing your own device, using it in the comfort of your own home. How does light therapy help with IBD and ulcerative colitis? Well, light therapy first and foremost helps with tissue repair. Again, through the process of cell rejuvenation and reproduction, our tissue gets the opportunity of healing as well.
By default, UV light is highly anti-microbial, which means it prevents the spread of microorganisms, which infiltrates and causes infection and inflammation. Making an adequate UV light means having the perfect wavelength, which isn’t corrupting to the genetic material and will penetrate and effectively work on the colon.
To alleviate autoimmune symptoms, red light therapy is the perfect non-invasive solution. By healing the body from the inside out, those suffering from autoimmune diseases can finally progress in the right direction. Kaiyan’s light therapy devices are MDASAP-certified and FDA-approved and perfect at-home treatments for people suffering from these conditions. Contact our team for more information.
