![\"Breaking](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/overview_optimize-copy.jpg\")
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Science<\/a><\/p>\n If you’re looking to improve your time trialling, there are probably better ways to go about it.<\/p>\n Image: Vielight<\/p>\n Cyclists tend to do some pretty weird and wonderful things in the hope of improving performance. We\u2019ll try any supplement or diet trend with even the faintest promise of improvement, we\u2019ll tinker with and tweak our bikes until the cows come home, and we\u2019ll try all sorts of strange tech in the hope of accessing even the most marginal of gains.<\/p>\n But what about shining a bunch of light through your skull and up your nose, into your brain, all in the hope of improving time trial performance? Yep, you read that right.<\/p>\n What is PBM?<\/p>\n As you might be able to tell from the name, photobiomodulation (or PBM) is a technique that involves shining light into the body in order to stimulate various effects. The light used is in the red to near-infrared part of the electromagnetic spectrum \u2013 normally with wavelengths between 600 and 1,100 nm \u2013 and depending on what sort of tissue you point that light at, it can generate a range of different outcomes.<\/p>\n Point it at muscle tissue and it\u2019s possible to induce an increase in oxygen demand<\/a> which can ultimately lead to improved performance in time-to-exhaustion tests<\/a>. Directing it at the muscles also seems to help with the repair of those muscles, due to a \u201creduction in the inflammatory process\u201d<\/a>. And it turns out that transcranial PBM \u2013 that is, firing those infrared lights through your skull and into your brain cells \u2013 can both enhance cognitive abilities in healthy brains<\/a>, and also has some potential when it comes to treating neurodegenerative conditions including Alzheimer\u2019s disease<\/a>.<\/p>\n So how does it work exactly? To simplify a rather complex process<\/a>, the absorption of infrared light within the brain cells seems to lead to increased blood flow in the brain, in addition to enhanced hemoglobin oxygenation (you might recall that hemoglobin is the protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen from the lungs to the body\u2019s tissues). These factors, in turn, lead to increased activation of the brain areas targeted by the PBM.<\/p>\n Oxygenation levels in the brain are also relevant if we\u2019re talking about exercise performance. Various studies have shown that a drop in cerebral oxygenation during high-intensity exercise is associated with exhaustion<\/a> and that deoxygenation of the prefrontal cortex in particular seems to contribute to \u201cthe cessation of exercise\u201d during controlled and self-paced efforts.<\/p>\n So if there\u2019s a link between oxygenation levels in the brain and exercise performance, could it be that increasing oxygenation in the brain \u2013 via a technique like PBM \u2013 might help improve cycling performance?<\/p>\n This post is for paying subscribers only Already have an account? Sign in<\/a><\/p>\n Did we do a good job with this story?<\/p>\n \n \ud83d\udc4dYep![\"Matt](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Matt-de-Neef-150x150.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n Subscribe now<\/a><\/p>\n
\n \ud83d\udc4eNope\n <\/p>\n