The Transit Lounge Podcast

Near-Infrared Light Therapy After Stroke: Does the Science Hold Up? A viewer reached out recently with a question I have been getting more frequently: Does near infrared light therapy actually help the brain recover after stroke? It is a fair question — the claims circulating online range from cautiously promising to outright extraordinary. In this post, I am going to cut through the noise and look at what the peer-reviewed research actually shows. What is Near-Infrared Light Therapy? Near infrared (NIR) light therapy — also called photobiomodulation (PBM) or transcranial photobiomodulation (tPBM) when applied to the head — uses specific wavelengths of light (typically 630-1100 nm) to penetrate tissue and interact with cells at a biological level. This is not a tanning lamp or a heat lamp. The mechanism is specific: NIR light at the right wavelengths is absorbed by cytochrome c oxidase, a key enzyme in mitochondrial energy production. When stimulated, cytochrome c oxidase increases ATP synt