How I Use Light To Upgrade My Health

If I told you there was a simple, free habit you could practice to optimise your health in just five to 10 minutes a day, would you be up for trying it?

Light is fundamental to human health and is a key component of a balanced lifestyle, just like nutrition, movement and sleep. But light is often overlooked as a major contributor to health, with most people not getting nearly enough sunlight. Our visual system is about more than just seeing. The light that enters our eyes, even in blind people, gives knowledge to the nervous system. Getting the right light, at the right time, sets the clock in all of your body’s cells, which in turn will affect many different functions in the body.

Light is electromagnetic radiation, in the form of a wave. The electromagnetic spectrum includes both visible light that humans can see (like red and blue light) and also invisible light like infrared and ultraviolet light.

A Daily Dose Of Morning Sunlight Is One Of The Most Powerful Sleep-Regulating Signals Of All

Circadian rhythms are the result of our adaptation to the earth’s rotation applying a 24 hour structure on bodily physiology: humans are active in the day and sleep at night. Light is the most important time cue for the circadian rhythm as it stimulates light sensitive cells in our retinas that are connected directly to the hypothalamus of the brain, which acts as the master circadian pacemaker of the body and coordinates all the physical, mental and behavioural changes that follow a daily cycle.

Because of this, light received through your eyes plays a critical role in hormonal functions — including melatonin and serotonin production. As daylight starts to wane, your master clock detects the decrease in light and increases the production of melatonin, your body’s own sleep aid. Once it is fully dark, your body rhythmically secretes more melatonin to keep you asleep so your body can refresh and repair, flush and detox the brain, consolidate memories and information, decrease blood pressure, and make more immune cells. Come morning, the light sensitive cells detect light from the sun and melatonin secretion tails off, waking your body up. The melatonin precursor, serotonin, is also affected by exposure to daylight: more sunlight results in the production of more serotonin. Normally produced during the day, serotonin is only converted to melatonin in darkness.

By viewing light early in the day, the cortisol hormone peak also comes in earlier in the day, for a boost in alertness, energy and focus. If you don’t view bright light early on in the day, the cortisol peak comes in much later in the dayand this has shown to have a negative impact on mental health and wellbeing.

To get as much sunlight into my eyes in the morning and to optimize my health via the full spectrum of visible, UVA, UVB, near and far infrared light, I do an outdoors fasted walk first thing in the morning for 30 minutes. I also try to do my morning HIIT workout outdoors. For the rest of the morning, I try to work near large windows, getting as much sunlight as possible.

Different Wavelengths And Colors Of Light Have Different Effects On Our Health

UV Light For Vitamin D Production

UV light (100nm-400nm) is invisible and has short, powerful wavelengths.

The best-known benefit of sunlight is its ability to boost the body’s vitamin D supply and most cases of vitamin D deficiency are due to lack of outdoor sun exposure. We have vitamin D receptor cells that, through a chain of reactions, produce vitamin D3 when they are exposed to UVB from the sun. At least 1,000 different genes governing virtually every tissue in the body are now thought to be regulated by the active form of vitamin D, including several involved in calcium metabolism and neuromuscular and immune system functioning. Roughly 50 -90% of vitamin D is produced by exposing the skin to the sun, so even a short session of just 15 minutes a day at midday can help boost levels.

Red Light And Near Infrared Light For Enhanced Cellular Function And Deep Tissue Healing

Red light comes from wavelengths in the mid-600nm range and is visible. Near infrared light (in the mid-700 to 1000s nm range) has a much longer wavelength and is invisible. That allows wavelengths of NIR light to penetrate deeper into the body.

Most of us find it challenging to spend hours in the sun — at the right time of day — on a regular basis. A great way to receive the healthy wavelengths of light we need for optimal health is via red light therapy — a simple, non-invasive treatment that delivers red and near-infrared light to a person’s skin and cells. Researchers in the field of red light therapy, or photobiomodulation (PBM), have discovered some incredibly powerful health enhancements linked to red and infrared light. Improved mitochondrial function, which impacts virtually all cellular metabolic activity, has been widely demonstrated to improve health in a number of ways — including enhanced muscle recovery, reduced inflammation, better sleep, better overall skin health, increased blood flow to the brain and even enhanced kidney and thyroid function.

I use an infrared sauna blanket in the evening for 30 minutes which increases my body’s thermal energy via deeply penetrating heat and helps me sleep better. I also sit in front of an infrared panel a few times a week — either a full body panel, half body panel or a smaller portable one for when I am traveling. Red light therapy in the evening can also have a natural repairing effect from UV light.

Blue Light…Knocks Your Circadian Rhythm Off Balance

One of the most commonly isolated wavelengths of light is in the 380–500nm range, which our eyes perceive as very bright blue light.

Blue light is used in most of our modern screen technology — from TVs to phones to tablets to computers. However, because blue light is so bright, with a higher color temperature than daytime sun, it makes your brain and body think it is time to be wide awake. So if you take in too much blue light at night, you can knock your circadian rhythm out of balance and develop sleep problems. After the sun goes down, in addition to the infrared sauna blanket and the red light therapy, I counteract blue light by wearing blue light blocker glasses, I change my iphone to nightshift mode to reduce the blue light the screen emits (here is a video on how you can do this too) and laptop screen to night mode/red light mode and I also use a red incandescent bulb in my bedroom.

Sleep In The Dark

Research has found that. in addition to light sensitive retinal cells, humans have nonvisual photoreceptors too which are found in our skin, subcutaneous fat, central nervous system and host of other areas in our body. Light-activated photoreceptors expressed in skin cells are capable of initiating light-induced signaling pathways to the rest of the body. So to make sure I get a deep restful sleep, I have blackout curtains to evade the urban glow and also use an eye mask.

As you can see, light has a profound impact on your biology: sunlight can regulate hormones, red and infrared light can enhance cellular functioning and promote deep tissue healing, while artificial light can do the opposite. I hope this has been helpful to you and you start implementing routines and tools around light that optimise your health. If anything, try to get at least 30 minutes of natural sunlight a day (best in the morning).