The infrabed
- Thread starter Pierre
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How about a booklet with building instructions/plans, material's list, suppliers, notes on benefits, testimonials etc for DIY'ers? The information is probably going to be compiled to help out member groups anyway, so maybe presenting in a booklet form for sale to the general public might be doable?
Am I the only one who's not seeing the pictures posted by Rennaissance?
What would be the other four modalities you consider having most benefited from @Laura?
Anyway, great job! I hope to be able to make one at one point. I think it's a good idea Jones, it also made me think of collaborative workshops. It would change from the infamous 'Make your own bread oven' :)
What would be the other four modalities you consider having most benefited from @Laura?
Anyway, great job! I hope to be able to make one at one point. I think it's a good idea Jones, it also made me think of collaborative workshops. It would change from the infamous 'Make your own bread oven' :)
Each modality addresses slightly different issues though they all overlap and that is why I can't rank them. Diet is certainly important, and for me that is Paleo diet modified since I cannot eat dairy or eggs or nuts but it seems that I do require a certain amount of complex carbs. Auto-hemotherapy has made a big difference for me. Reiki/massage has helped a LOT. And then the Quinton water therapy and infrared. All of these have had profound, beneficial effects.
The stem cell therapy and the associated therapies were a big kickstart, but I don't put that in the top five because that isn't something one continues to do regularly. In fact, the auto-hemotherapy and the Quinton therapy appear to be very good for stimulating stem cells in a more natural way.
I should also add that the Buff McGuff HIIT has been a big boost and that, too, stimulates the production of stem cells.
I take very few supplements now and things seem to be on a generally upward path. I continue to take magnesium, moderate doses of iodine and a special B combo with Folate, B6 and B12, DHA, and phosphatidylcholine. That is the right combo for me as far as I can tell from my DNA tests.
It has taken awhile to try different things, assess their benefits on my particular make-up, and that's what seems to work. For others, I would say that Infra-red therapy, Reiki, massage, and Quinton water are good, general therapies that would benefit everyone. For anything else, you have to do the experimenting and find out what is right for you, but slowly and carefully!!!
I used an external image source so it wouldn't take up bandwidth on the forum, so my guess is the problem is with that. Here's a pic of the finished bed:
I have been lucky enough to be able to use the beautiful infrabed constructed by Renaissance. I have noticed an improvement in something I didn't think would improve.
I have f.lux on my computer and use it continually. However, in the last year, I was having to wear the blue light blocking glasses, also, as within a couple of minutes on the computer without them caused my eyes to ache quite a bit. I realized a couple of weeks ago (or so) that I didn't have the eyes aching anymore and didn't need to wear the blue light blocking glasses! To me, this is fairly huge! My eyes are closed while I lie on the bed for probably 98% of the time, fwiw.
I have had another, fairly remarkable to me, thing happen. But I can't say for sure if it is because of the infrabed, NeurOptimal or the Hypertonic water I've been drinking for a couple of weeks now, or a synergystic affect from all, or part, these things. This remarkable thing is that my restless legs have stopped being restless! That, too, is HUGE.
I am so thankful for the information we get on this forum for without it, I would be more of a mess than I currently am! A HUGE Thank You to all who have freely given such valuable information here! And, a HUGE thank you to those who make it possible for others to use these amazing devices.
I have f.lux on my computer and use it continually. However, in the last year, I was having to wear the blue light blocking glasses, also, as within a couple of minutes on the computer without them caused my eyes to ache quite a bit. I realized a couple of weeks ago (or so) that I didn't have the eyes aching anymore and didn't need to wear the blue light blocking glasses! To me, this is fairly huge! My eyes are closed while I lie on the bed for probably 98% of the time, fwiw.
I have had another, fairly remarkable to me, thing happen. But I can't say for sure if it is because of the infrabed, NeurOptimal or the Hypertonic water I've been drinking for a couple of weeks now, or a synergystic affect from all, or part, these things. This remarkable thing is that my restless legs have stopped being restless! That, too, is HUGE.
I am so thankful for the information we get on this forum for without it, I would be more of a mess than I currently am! A HUGE Thank You to all who have freely given such valuable information here! And, a HUGE thank you to those who make it possible for others to use these amazing devices.
Okay, now that IS interesting...
When I started doing the InfraBed, I noticed that if I stared into the LEDs while lying there, my eyes would water. I guessed that maybe it was fixing something, so I would open/close my eyes at intervals to get some magic mojo into them.
Well, now when I do that, nothing happens.
But I did wonder if the IR light was even having some healing effect on my blinkers.
Also, I wear contact lenses. With/without didn't matter - the effect was the same in the beginning.
Nienna, over the last 6 months I've also been practicing in different directions (NO, exercising, diet, and the infrabed-inspired contraption below) but I couldn't tell which measure is responsible for which improvement.
Anyway:
Inspired by the beautiful infrabed and photobiomodulation in general, recently I built a device emitting in the range from 660nm (red) to 950nm (mid infrared). Results after 2 months of daily use are encouraging – my eyesight, peripheral blood circulation as well as skin “quality” have all improved significantly. Most of the stiffness, especially in my neck, is gone.
Here’s the reasoning that brought me to this experiment. I wanted an infrabed, only smaller (less is more), which I could use while working at my PC (5-7 hours per day), and which would emit a range of wavelengths.
I had a few cheap, ubiquitous “USB reading lights” sitting around which I had never used because they emit an unpleasant, cold white. So I thought about hacking one by substituting the white LEDs with hopefully more therapeutic ones
. I designed a PCB with the same dimensions and fitted it with 6 LEDs: 1x660nm, 1x730nm, 2 each 850 and 940nm. The pictures shows an original and a "hacked" one.
The 6 LEDs are arranged in 3 legs, each leg current-limited to about 70mA from the 5V USB supply. Power consumption is just over 1W, a far cry from the Infrabed’s 175W, but that’s not the whole story. The idea was to use much longer exposure times during work to arrive at a comparable daily dose. A good part of the modest 1W still manages to heat the plastic case. For this reason I mounted the PCB with heat-conducting paste on the backside, and potted with transparent silicone resin.
By plugging the device in a USB socket to the left side of my laptop, the light would shine on my face transversally, while I was working. So far so good. Weeks ago, working barefoot and in shorts in tune with the season, I added a second device with a USB extension cable and taped it underneath the desk, shining downwards on my lower legs and feet. The jury is still out on its efficacy, but I would speculate that it will help to improve blood circulation.
Notes: Although the illumination is not directly at my eyes, initially I found the 660nm to be a bit strong. So I built another one and sprinkled some plastic “sparkling” powder over the still liquid silicone resin for a more diffused effect, as shown. Alternatively I could have used the original milky white cover instead of the silicone resin, but I wasn’t sure how much this would attenuate the emitted light.
Conclusions: the goal was to have a net daily dose of a few J/cm2 on the irradiated skin. Accounting for the different factors like LED efficiency, radiation pattern and distance, a 6-hour exposure gives me a total of about 2J/cm2 . A direct comparison with the original infrabed (about 3J/cm2 in 10 minutes, ballpark estimate) is not really fair because the infrabed covers a much larger body area, albeit only with single 850nm wavelength. A photospectrometer would provide precise measurements, but I don’t have one.
Another thing, according to various sources the 730nm (far red) light has no noticeable biological effect. I therefore would leave that out in favour of a second 660nm LED.
Apart from the many asinoman-hours and the PCB setup charges, the thing came out really inexpensive. Material cost including the original USB white reading light, the PCB, LEDs, resistors plus heat conducting paste and silicone resin was well under 10 Euros.
Anyway:
Inspired by the beautiful infrabed and photobiomodulation in general, recently I built a device emitting in the range from 660nm (red) to 950nm (mid infrared). Results after 2 months of daily use are encouraging – my eyesight, peripheral blood circulation as well as skin “quality” have all improved significantly. Most of the stiffness, especially in my neck, is gone.
Here’s the reasoning that brought me to this experiment. I wanted an infrabed, only smaller (less is more), which I could use while working at my PC (5-7 hours per day), and which would emit a range of wavelengths.
I had a few cheap, ubiquitous “USB reading lights” sitting around which I had never used because they emit an unpleasant, cold white. So I thought about hacking one by substituting the white LEDs with hopefully more therapeutic ones
. I designed a PCB with the same dimensions and fitted it with 6 LEDs: 1x660nm, 1x730nm, 2 each 850 and 940nm. The pictures shows an original and a "hacked" one.The 6 LEDs are arranged in 3 legs, each leg current-limited to about 70mA from the 5V USB supply. Power consumption is just over 1W, a far cry from the Infrabed’s 175W, but that’s not the whole story. The idea was to use much longer exposure times during work to arrive at a comparable daily dose. A good part of the modest 1W still manages to heat the plastic case. For this reason I mounted the PCB with heat-conducting paste on the backside, and potted with transparent silicone resin.
By plugging the device in a USB socket to the left side of my laptop, the light would shine on my face transversally, while I was working. So far so good. Weeks ago, working barefoot and in shorts in tune with the season, I added a second device with a USB extension cable and taped it underneath the desk, shining downwards on my lower legs and feet. The jury is still out on its efficacy, but I would speculate that it will help to improve blood circulation.
Notes: Although the illumination is not directly at my eyes, initially I found the 660nm to be a bit strong. So I built another one and sprinkled some plastic “sparkling” powder over the still liquid silicone resin for a more diffused effect, as shown. Alternatively I could have used the original milky white cover instead of the silicone resin, but I wasn’t sure how much this would attenuate the emitted light.
Conclusions: the goal was to have a net daily dose of a few J/cm2 on the irradiated skin. Accounting for the different factors like LED efficiency, radiation pattern and distance, a 6-hour exposure gives me a total of about 2J/cm2 . A direct comparison with the original infrabed (about 3J/cm2 in 10 minutes, ballpark estimate) is not really fair because the infrabed covers a much larger body area, albeit only with single 850nm wavelength. A photospectrometer would provide precise measurements, but I don’t have one.
Another thing, according to various sources the 730nm (far red) light has no noticeable biological effect. I therefore would leave that out in favour of a second 660nm LED.
Apart from the many asino
Sure monotonic, thank you for the interest! Two remarks:
Let’s be frank, this really isn’t only “infra”, let alone a “bed”. So, depending on how the posts evolve the administrators may decide to move this to a separate thread: anytime, you’re welcome.
Second, let me try to give a few more details about the motivation and reasoning behind the project. After reading this article I wanted to start experimenting with different wavelengths, intensities and modulation frequencies, as Hamblin suggests. Further,
Including some red 660nm would give me the opportunity to verify its effect on my eyes: just before starting the test I had my vision tested, as baseline.
I quickly dismissed the idea of building three infrabeds, or even one with interchangeable wavelengths… that’s when I thought about the USB reading lights. A few calculations convinced me that I could get daily doses in the same order of magnitude as with the infrabed, but limited to my face as explained. Originally I was thinking of building one USB light per wavelength, but then opted for the particular mixture of 3-4 wavelengths, more or less on a whim.
Other than that, I am a fan of “less is more” and “steady does it”, so this minimalist approach fits me better than the infrabed. Also I’m a bit of a cheapskate, often recycling old stuff and shoehorning it into a new function, as opposed to buy/make from scratch.
Having said that, the current solution has limits:
1) it would be nice to have 2-3 times more power, so I could cut the daily exposure in half and spend less time at the PC
. Unfortunately the current solution won’t tolerate much more power and heat – while still touchable now, there is no way it can dissipate twice as much. A PCB with aluminum core would help some, but not much. So I am looking at a wider or longer model (still with a flexible goose-neck) like there are several on ebay or alibaba. Keep in mind that a USB 1.x or 2.0 port on a PC will supply 2.5W at most. Alternatively, typical USB chargers, wall-warts or battery “power blocks” will supply at least 5W.2) Frequency modulation could be built into the substitute PCB together with the LEDs, but building a separate one (essentially an extender PCB with a male plug on one side and a female on the other) is probably a better idea. A form factor like this "USB charger Doctor?"
Frequency could be configurable/settable from say 10Hz to 40Hz (according to Hamblin). I’m partial to sine, triangle or trapezoidal – anything but square with those horrible non-organic nanosecond edges.
IOW analog as you say
. Want to give it a try? Opinions?I don't see why it could not be done. I think a good idea would be to start by gathering the data on parts and specs into one place, and then look it over for solutions.
I was thinking about the complexities of getting a clean modulation waveform. I have an idea that I think could be turned into a neat product, so what do you think about continuing privately?
Of course we could just go with your initial premise, since developing a product takes a while. I think we should start a new thread.
I was thinking about the complexities of getting a clean modulation waveform. I have an idea that I think could be turned into a neat product, so what do you think about continuing privately?
Of course we could just go with your initial premise, since developing a product takes a while. I think we should start a new thread.
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