Light Therapy for Menopause
Why women love light therapy during and after menopause
Light therapy has been a game-changer for my patients in menopause. Light therapy, or phototherapy, consists of illuminating the body with specific frequencies of light in order to heal and enhance our bodies.
I am launching a monthly masterclass on Light Therapy for Longevity. Learn more here:
The Forgotten Connection Between Light and Menopause
Menopause has everything to do with light, a fact that modern medicine has almost entirely forgotten.
What does light have to do with menopause?
Light is the main driver of our circadian rhythm. All of our sex hormones have a circadian rhythm. Light drives sleep through multiple mechanisms, and sleep is what determines how well we rest and regenerate.
This is why light therapy can have a profound impact on the symptoms of menopause. Things as simple as taking walks, spending five minutes in front of a red or infrared light, or taking a few seconds to put on a light therapy patch can change a woman’s life. That’s why I had to write this post.
Common Menopausal Struggles
Menopausal women generally struggle with the following:
Lack of energy and stamina
Lack of focus and declining cognitive function
Slowing metabolism and weight gain
Anxiety
Depression
Insomnia
Skin laxity and aging
Thinning and coarsening hair, skin, and nails
Hot flashes and night sweats
All of these symptoms are driven by hormones and by circadian rhythms.
This is why when we tell women struggling with menopause to go take three ten minute walks without sunglasses, they typically report better sleep, fewer and less severe hot flashes, better mood, more energy, and more stable periods. They often see immediate weight loss. Sunlight helps to time their circadian rhythms and optimize their hormones and neurotransmitters, leading to a reduction in symptom burden.
Sunlight is only the beginning of what light therapy can do for women in menopause.
Light Therapy Options for Menopause
There are many options for light therapy in 2025. They are:
Sunlight
Light panels
Light beds
Sauna
Light patches
Which one is right for you? Let's dive in.
Sunlight
Sunlight has long been known to improve health. In fact, the more sun you get, the lower your risk of death. People who get the least sun have the same risk of death as those who get the most sun, but smoke on a daily basis. Sun avoidance is therefore an equivalent risk factor for death as smoking. This is why I get as much natural light in my life as possible.
Light Panels
Light therapy panels are available that emit specific frequencies of light. I use panels from EMR-Tek. I have found that the inconvenience of daily use often leaves these devices unused and unappreciated. Panels should be used for at least 5 to 20 minutes daily for best results.
Light Therapy Beds
Light therapy beds are great, but they are expensive and take up a lot of room. The same limitations, in terms of time, apply to panels and beds.
I wrote more about light therapy beds and panels here:
Sauna
Sauna is a must for all people who want to be healthy in our modern world. I use and recommend saunas from SaunaSpace for this reason. We need to sweat daily in order to eliminate the toxins we are unavoidably exposed to as part of modern life.
I wrote more on sauna therapy here:
Light Patches
My favorite light therapy for menopause is phototherapy patches from LifeWave. Of all the people I recommend these patches to, the most enthusiastic and grateful are women in or beyond menopause.
Learn More About Light Therapy
If you want to learn more light therapy for menopause and longevity, then you should sign up for my monthly masterclass on light therapy and longevity. Details here:
Patient Feedback on Light Patches
Here are the kind of things I hear from women in menopause who use the X39 patch every day:
"I feel like my hormones are more balanced."
"I'm looking younger and younger."
"My friend asked if I was doing Botox."
"I have more energy."
"My sleep is much better."
"It's like it turned my brain back on."
I strongly recommend the X39 patch to women who are approaching, in, or beyond menopause. They have helped so many women in my practice and beyond.
Start with the X39 patch here. I recommend starting with the Advanced or Premium, as many women in menopause report needing six months to see the full benefits of the patches (many also report immediate improvements).
You'll be enrolling under Kathleen Horstmeyer, who is my Team Director. She is available for product support and customer success, and will reach out to you once you enroll with details on how to get the most out of your patches.
Why Light Patches Work So Well in Menopause
Frequency Matters
The light frequencies in the light therapy patches I recommend are designed to up-regulate peptides in the body that are associated with rest, recovery, and rejuvenation. Not all frequencies of light therapy trigger these peptides. Likewise, most light therapy devices are not specific enough, in terms of frequency, to have this effect.
I have been profoundly impressed by how these patches can. I have not seen the same results with other forms of light therapy that I have seen with phototherapy patches.
More Is Not Always Better
More is not always better when it comes to light therapy. This greatly surprised researchers when they discovered it years ago. It turns out that if you increase the amount of light you use in light therapy, you can actually decrease your results. Response to light therapy can increase or decrease when you increase the dose.
This creates serious problems when it comes to deploying light therapy devices. You'll notice that I don't give protocols or recommendations anywhere for using things like light therapy panels. The reason why is that we don't have thoroughly studied protocols.
With the patches, we do. The patches are engineered to give you exactly the dose of light you need over twelve hours, after which you take them off and take a break for another twelve hours.
Distance Matters
One of the reasons we don't have great protocols for most light therapy panels is that no one has studied them in a rigorous way.
We have no idea for how long we should use light panels for different indications. People just make things up or use them however they feel like.
This is because there are so many variables, one of which is distance. Distance from a light source radically changes the dose.
The beauty of light therapy patches is that the variable of distance has been removed. We get a consistent dose of light every time for this reason, which leads to better and more consistent results.
Stem Cells
Light therapy is well-known to activate stem cells. This is part of why it is so effective. The peptides up-regulated by LifeWave patches have profound effects on stem cells, which I'm convinced is why they are so effective with practically all problems associated with aging.
Success Story: My Mother's Experience
My own mother's case is a great example. She turned 81 in 2025. She started the patches about a year ago now, and didn't notice much. After six months of patching, she took a week off. She became despondent within a week and her crippling neck discomfort returned with a vengeance. She was unable to swim, didn't want to leave the house, and could barely walk her dog.
She was miserable.
She put the patches back on and within two days, she was back to her bright, cheerful self.
This experience sparked her curiosity in other patches. She tried the silent nights and reported an 80% improvement in her sleep within days. She went from waking up multiple times each night to sleeping soundly through the night. In the event that she did wake up, she would quickly and easily go back to sleep.
Her life has been changed by the patches.
Common Benefits Reported
I've heard more stories from women in menopause and beyond than I can count at this point.
Women have reported to me:
Faster metabolism
Better mood
Better cognition, focus, and memory
Resolution of joint discomfort
More even moods
Better sleep
Faster recovery
Better muscle definition and greater strength
They're an amazing product. Which is why I am devoting so much of my time to promoting them. We combine these patches with nutrition at my practice - this is the secret combination to our success.
Try Light Therapy Today
LifeWave patches are by far my favorite light therapy in menopause. I recommend that women commit to six months of the X39 for menopause. Get yours here.
Why six months? Just like my mother, people often miss the benefits if they don't patch for at least a few months, and better six months.
I am committed to making sure you get great results with this product. We have dedicated support for our customers.
For best results with phototherapy, I recommend my 14-Day Reset:
Learn more about light therapy and longevity in my monthly masterclass.
I trust I’ll see you there.
Until next time, be well,
Dr. Stillman
Thank you for educating on these. I am at the beginnings of perimenopause personally and have been struggling with sleep and mostly stress response. Silent nights plus Alavida was a game changer for sleeping. I almost never wake up. X39 helped me recover a sprain in my hip. I have tried many different biohacking tools before and nothing has helped me like these patches.