Tiffany Murphy 4/14/24 Tiffany Murphy 4/14/24

Let There Be the Right Kinds of Light! Part 2

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Summary:

Getting the wrong light at the wrong times can drastically decrease your health and vitality.
Sunlight exposure at key times during the day and controlling/reducing your artificial light exposure can support sleep and stress management.
How to improve your light environment at home for better health, amazing sleep, and better melatonin production.

To continue our chat about Light, we’re now going to focus on what artificial light is, why it is bad for us, and how to mitigate it if we’re not able to create the perfect light environment. But one thing I’d like to say from the beginning with any info or recommendations: just do what you can. Life will get in the way, and you can’t be perfect all the time. As Voltaire has said: “The best is the enemy of the good.” So do what you can, and don’t quit or feel defeated if you aren’t perfect! Cuz guess what, no one is! Ok now that that has been cleared up, let’s get after it!

Artificial Light is like Junk Food for your Body:
We have come a long way from living with just natural light (sunlight, moonlight, etc), firelight and candle light. In today’s world, we are being assaulted by artificial light at every turn, from our homes, to workplaces, stores, and even our appliances and street lamps! It is becoming increasingly difficult to find a completely dark place in the USA, and this increased amount of artificial light has been linked “to a host of ailments - such as depression, obesity, even cancer - and can confuse wildlife, muddling their sense of direction and migration patterns.” (1) Artificial light can even destroy or suppress melatonin production, an essential hormone needed for many functions, one of them enabling us to fall asleep when we’re supposed to.

Why is artificial light so bad you may ask? One could even argue that fire, candles, and oil lamps would fall within the realm of artificial light, and you would be technically correct! The problems occur when we use artificial light to negatively alter our circadian rhythms on a continuous basis and also because the newer light technologies are extremely different compared to oil lamps and even incandescent bulbs. The newer LED type of light bulbs that everyone is using these days are cheaper, last longer, and are more efficient, but are terrible for our health and circadian rhythms. The reason why LEDs are so terrible is mostly because of the wavelengths of light they emit.

Natural light, like sunlight and even firelight and good ole incandescent, encompasses many different types of wavelengths, and they are grouped together in a logical fashion that don’t interrupt our circadian rhythms. For instance, sunrise light is mostly red light mixed with a tiny amount of blue light, then by mid-day, it’s the reverse. Blue light in and of itself isn’t “bad,” it’s just when it’s on its own and not balanced out with red/purple light (and even wavelengths we can’t see!), is when we experience bad effects. Blue light LEDs emit only a very narrow band of blue and green light that would normally only be found during the daytime, more specifically, midday light.

Nature never intended for there to only be very narrow bands of light, and then for us to be exposed to these narrow bands of intense blue light for hours and hours on end, especially at night time! According to neurosurgeon Dr Jack Kruse: “Modern lighting, such as fluorescent and LED bulbs emit unprecedented amounts of blue and green light. Blue and green light are found in the visible spectrum. For millions of years, these two types of light have only been present in the human environment through sunlight – hence through daytime exposure. Blue and green light is that they tell your brain it’s daytime. Getting that at nighttime will have negative health consequences.” (3)

As Dr Kruse mentioned, being constantly exposed to mostly blue and green light will produce negative health consequences due to the light causing your eyes and body to think it’s broad day light, even if it’s 9pm at night. Being under this kind of light all the time severely disrupts our circadian rhythms, and our bodies’ ability to place itself within proper orientation of time and space. This in turn heavily disrupts the your body’s ability to make and balance important hormones (leptin, estrogen, testosterone, and others) and conduct hormone signaling, such as knowing when to turn on or off melatonin or cortisol at the right times. Furthermore, overall issues with hormones and signaling can cause low quality sleep, decreased ability to handle stress, issues with brain health, and reduce your libido (just to name a few!). Who would’ve thought something as simple as turning on a light switch at the wrong time of day for too long could do so much damage?

Why Do Certain Organizations Declare Any Sunlight is Terrible for Us?
After reading the above info about artificial light vs sunlight, and my previous post about the need to get more sunlight than conventionally recommended, I’m sure you’re thinking that I’ve gone a bit bonkers. Dermatologists have been recommending for years that getting basically any amount of sunshine is bad for us, and we should slather ourselves with the highest SPF sunscreen money can buy, wear long sleeves, hats, and dark sunglasses, and basically pray that we don’t get skin cancer. While I’m not a doctor, and none of this info is medical advice, I would like to propose that we need to better examine these somewhat outdated “recommendations” and consider that sunshine exposure (when done carefully and correctly) is actually good for us. After all, the human species have evolved under the sun and its rays for a millennia or longer! Here is some interesting info for you to consider:

Many studies “proving” UV exposure is bad for us appears to have lumped together artificial sources and natural sources of UV radiation. The artificial sources (usually tanning beds) used a very narrow spectrum of UV light. Lumping them together and slapping the same danger label on both doesn’t make sense. Natural light sources are completely different than artificial sources as explained above. Unlike tanning beds, sunlight doesn’t contain just blue or green, and is always accompanied by many, many other wavelengths of light.
Long term toxic exposure of sunscreens haven’t been well studied, but it is well known that sunscreens are full of toxic chemicals. (4) (5) Some of these chemicals are are known hormone disrupters, allergenic, and cancer causing: oxybenzone, octinoxate, parabens (just to name a few). (6)
Some of the same companies that sell toxic, chemical laden sunscreens (chemicals known to be carcinogenic), also create/sell cancer treatments. (7) (8)

Improving the Light Environment at Home:
Hopefully you’re starting to realize that even if you think you’re eating right and exercising, there’s still something incredibly important missing within your wellness efforts: your light environment! Regardless of where you live and what time of year it is, there are many things you can do to increase your sunlight exposure (the smart way) and reduce artificial light to help increase your health. Most of them free! Here’s a list of things you can do starting today and tomorrow to improve your light environment and get your circadian rhythms on track:

Let sunrise be the first light that hits your face and eyes.
- Doesn’t matter if it’s cloudy or not, your body will still get the necessary light signals to get things up and running optimally. Aim for about 5-10 minutes.
- Don’t use your cell phone or turn on a bunch of lights in the house until after you’ve watched the sunrise. Watch the sunrise without wearing sunglasses or watching it through window glass. If you have to be inside, make sure the window is opened up a bit if not fully open, or better yet, outside bare foot in the grass, facing east.
- Be careful watching sunrise, do not look directly into the rising sun, look towards it but at a somewhat lower angle.
- Mitigation: If you have to look at your cell phone or turn on lights before sunrise, then consider purchasing some blue light blocker glasses to put on when you wake up. Either the Spectra479 amber glasses via Amazon or the Midwest Red Light Therapy Night Crawler glasses (either orange or red). There are many different types and versions, but these are the ones I’m most familiar with, and more on the cheaper end. If you want to go all in and go big, then Ra Optics would be a good company to buy blue light blockers from.
Take sunlight breaks throughout the day.

Getting periodic sunshine throughout the day helps your body reorient itself to the time of day, the season, and gives you a boost of energy.
Go outside every 2 hours or so and get a hit of sunshine and stretch your legs a bit.
Mitigation: if you can’t go out that frequently, then just do your best! There are days I can only do it once or twice, so don’t let perfection defeat your ability to be good enough!

Take a walk around sunset:

Getting all that awesome red light from sunset can be greatly beneficial, and also signal to your body that it’s time to wind down.
After sunset, if you and/or your family aren’t ready to change out all your lightbulbs to red or only use firelight and candle light, consider those blue blocking glasses that were previously mentioned. After sunset, you would want to use either orange or red glasses, and keep them on until you turn the lights out and go to sleep.
Mitigation: even if you just crack a window or a door to let in light around sunset, that’s better than missing it entirely! There have been many winter evenings where I’ve missed the sunset due to it being too cold or still working. So do your best!

The bedroom situation:

Try to make your bedroom as dark as possible, especially right before you are ready for sleep.
- Turn off, unplug, block, or take out of your room, anything that glows or generates its own light (especially blue light!).

Do NOT use your phone, watch TV, or use any electronic device in bed. The bedroom should be for sleeping, reading to relax, and sexy time!
Don’t use or wear any fitness devices to bed that emit any light or frequencies, such as the Apple watch.

Mitigation: If you need to use your phone as an alarm clock, then consider putting the phone into airplane mode and battery saving mode, and putting it into an EMF blocking bag. Don’t put it on or next to your bed, or right next to your head. Do not charge it next to your head at night.

I usually switch on airplane mode and put it into an EMF faraday bag from a company called Spero Protective Clothing.

Next week, we’ll discuss what getting “responsible sunshine” might look like for you, and how to better balance your sun exposure if you’re stuck working in an office. Hopefully the info provided above will help you make some changes both now and into the future and help improve your health and vitality! Thanks for stopping by my blog, and if you know you want health coaching to help you achieve your goals, then apply to work with me! Click the Apply Now button at the top of the page, answer the questions, then I will get back to you within 48 hours to see if we’re a good fit!

References:

Map Shows The Few Places in America Where You Can Still See a "Pristine" Night Sky https://www.sciencealert.com/light-pollution-is-a-huge-problem-and-there-s-few-places-left-in-the-us-without
What is Sunlight? https://www.pasco.com/resources/blog/401
Three Essential Biohacks (Why Biohacking Starts With Your Environment) https://jackkruse.com/three-essential-biohacks-why-biohacking-starts-with-your-environment/
Neurotoxic effect of active ingredients in sunscreen products, a contemporary review https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5615097/
The Trouble with Ingredients in Sunscreens https://www.ewg.org/sunscreen/report/the-trouble-with-sunscreen-chemicals/
Your Sunscreen is Toxic: How to Buy Sunscreen that’s Safe for You & the Environment https://www.ecowatch.com/sunscreen-guide.html
J&J, Costco Settle Lawsuits Over Recalled Sunscreen https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/jj-costco-settle-lawsuits-over-recalled-sunscreen-2021-11-01/
Johnson & Johnson’s Blood Cancer Therapy gets U.S. FDA Approval https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/johnson-johnsons-blood-cancer-therapy-gets-us-fda-approval-2022-10-25/

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Tiffany Murphy 4/5/24 Tiffany Murphy 4/5/24

Let There Be (Lots of) Light! Part 1

***Your health decisions are your responsibility, and nothing on this site should be considered medical advice. Please review the Disclaimers, Ts&Cs, and Privacy Policy for further information.***

Summary:

What is sunlight and why it’s so important for your daily/seasonal life.
Getting sunlight in the right amounts can lay the foundation for optimal health in many areas of your life, to include your intelligence and libido.
Allow your eyes and body to receive the appropriate amounts of sunshine via Circadian rhythms and Infradian rhythms for optimal health, regardless of where you may live.

For today’s discussion, the focus will be on what is sunlight, why your light environment is so important to your health, and what steps you can implement immediately (for free-ish) that will make a yuuuge difference in your health. There have been a lot of great scientific research and papers written about these processes, so I’ll stay high level to keep things succinct and not repeat what a bunch of smart people have already discussed. But if you want to take a deep dive into the scientific literature, there’s a plethora of studies to refer to if you check out places like PubMed and Examine.com, and also all of Dr. Jack Kruse’s work. Ready to dive in? Ok let’s get after it!

Increasing sunlight exposure and managing your light environment are foundational to long-term health. I know that’s a bold statement and may go against some long-held beliefs on what helps to create healthy people, but we’re looking to optimize not just survive, right? When I make this statement about sunlight being the foundation to health, I usually get a question like: “Why wouldn’t exercise or food be the foundation to long-term health?” Weeell sure, they are important too, but I’d probably put them in the top 5, but not number 1. First off, let’s explore what sunlight is:

1. What is Sunlight?

We all know that it’s key to life on earth, photosynthesis for plants, and other things, but do you truly know what sunlight is composed of? Sunlight is composed of many different types of frequencies, more specifically, it is “electromagnetic radiation, or energy, that is emitted by the Sun. It consists of visible, infrared, and ultraviolet light.” (1) Think of the rainbow, or better yet, think of that Pink Floyd album cover with the white light shining into a prism, then splitting into various colors. That’s essentially visible light or sunlight we can see! Did you know that our bodies use various types of light for many different bodily functions and hormone signaling to include the invisible types of light like infrared and UV? Here are some basic definitions and ranges, though keep in mind the ranges are approximate:

Ultraviolet light: light that is invisible to the human eye and is between 10 – 400 nanometers. You have probably heard UV light discussed in cop TV shows when talking about forensics, or when people talk about UVA and UVB light when getting a suntan. Typically shows up between late morning and late afternoon.
Visible light: light that is visible to the human eye, and is between 400 to 700 nanometers, though this range can vary depending on the person. Obviously you can see this light from early morning when the sun is rising to a little past sunset.
Infrared light: light that is mostly invisible to the human eye, and is between 700 nanometers to 1 micrometer, and is divided into 3 basic groups: Far, Mid, and Near Infrared. You get a lot of this type of light starting early in the morning along with visible light.

Sunlight or solar radiation is a fascinating subject that has been heavily demonized, which is unfortunate since we can’t live without it! While there are some of us that are trying to turn that around, there are still many that think they know everything there is to know about how the sun works…though I’m going to bet that we have only started to scratch the surface of our understanding of the sun’s effects.

2. Why is Sunlight so important for us?

Regardless of what we know or don’t know, one thing is for certain: human development was/is directly influenced by sun exposure and going through various cycles based on where we lived, such as Circadian rhythms (daily/24 hour cycle) and Infradian Rhythms (anything longer than 24 hours). How you experience these rhythms will entirely depend on where you live. For instance, a Canadian’s light exposure and needs are drastically different than someone living in Costa Rica. Maintaining our ability to stay synced with natural rhythms using sunlight is important for the following reasons:

Space and time: allows our bodies to know location, time of year, and time of day.
Bodily processes: by knowing time and location, our bodies know when to turn on or off various types of hormones and other chemical signals, and better manage internal processes overall.
Amazing health: when our bodies’ hormones, signals, and bodily processes work as they should, we experience stable energy levels, incredible health, restorative sleep, increased intelligence, and healthy libido.

3. How do our bodies receive signals via Circadian Rhythms?

It starts with our eyes. Our eyes receive these light signals or frequencies, and transmit these signals to the Suprachiasmatic Nucleus (SCN), which then send additional signals to the rest of the body. Essentially the SCN is the main circadian clock or pacemaker of our body that controls the other smaller clocks. If we get the right light signals at the right time, our circadian clocks run smoothly and in sync with each other. These signals control a myriad of processes, most interestingly, signaling hormones such as Leptin, Cortisol, Melatonin, and many others. Let’s examine a typical day and the general flow of a Circadian Rhythm using generalized milestones:

- Early morning: sunrise signals our bodies to start cortisol production and other “wake up” chemicals and actions. While, cortisol has gotten a bad rap over the years, it is a key signal to our body to wake up and be alert and ready for the day. We want to have higher cortisol in the AM and lower cortisol later in the afternoon on into the evening. Sunlight at this time is more red/purple types of light with a minimal amount of blue light.
- Mid morning: hormonal signaling and various other processes are in full swing, we should be up, alert, and owning our day! Sunlight at this time is still very red/purple, but has a higher mix of blue. It is also when UVA light is more prevalent, and this is a time when you should be outside as much as possible. I know this isn’t great if you work in an office, but taking a couple short breaks in the morning to get a dose of sunshine would be awesome!

- Midday: the sun is starting to hit “solar noon” and UVB light is out and about. Getting sun at this time is also crucial for Vitamin D production, but one should still be careful: unless you have a solar callus built up, and have been getting the appropriate light signals, your body won’t be fully prepared for receiving UVB and might not utilize it as well. That’s why it’s so important to get light periodically from sunrise on out, it helps to prep you and your skin to handle more intense sunshine later on!

-Mid afternoon to early evening: we’re moving out of UVB land and back into UVA and less intense rays. Your body is slowly starting to wind down a bit from being on high alert, but you’re still able to focus and do a lot of physical activities with no issue.

-Evening to night time: the sun is setting or has set, and your body is winding down and preparing for a great night of sleep. Your daytime “alert” hormones and chemicals are slowing down and turning off, and your body is preparing to utilize/increase melatonin and switch over to being sleepy and relaxed. If you’re not dowsing yourself with lots of artificial light at the end of your night, you should be getting sleepy and wanting to go to bed within a few hours of sunset.

There are many more reasons/processes based on sunlight for sure, but I don’t want this post to turn into a novel and we’ll touch on other aspects in later blog posts 😊. In order to use sunlight appropriately to increase your health, you must consider where you live, what season you’re in (summer vs winter), and how to use light on a daily basis. The graphic below illustrates a basic circadian rhythm, and how it might work for you, but keep in mind that it’s only general and your personal rhythms depend on your exact location.

Free license Image Sourced from Wikipedia, made by Yassine Mrabet

4. How does our bodies receive signals via Infradian Rhythms?

While technically anything longer than 24 hours is an Infradian Rhythm, I like to think of Infradian Rhythms in terms of monthly shifts and seasonal shifts throughout the year, but we’ll focus on seasonal shifts related to our light enviornment since it’s easier to illustrate the obvious changes from season to season through the lens of the Northern Hemisphere (the Southern Hemisphere will be the opposite of the info listed below):

Spring: moving out of the short days and long night sof winter, to the world coming back to life! The sun is coming up sooner and staying out longer by a few minutes each day, which means more opportunity for sunlight. It’s very important to get a lot of good sun signaling during this time as it will help orient your body to the changing seasons and prep for more increased sun exposure later that year. Depending on where you live, Vitamin D production should be starting up again.

Summer: we are finally in awesome warm to hot weather, the days are longer and nights are shorter with longer/more chances of increased Vitamin D production during the day. Hopefully you were getting sunlight signaling throughout the day during the earlier parts of the year, so your body is more than capable of handling the increased sun exposure via your awesome solar callus. This is a great time to top off your natural stores of Vitamin D as well!

Fall: the days are starting to shorten and the nights are starting to lengthen, and your opportunities for sun exposure are becoming more reduced day by day. There’s still plenty of opportunity to gather up Vitamin D, but there may not be as long of timeframes to produce it. Hopefully between all the good sunlight signaling and grounding, your body is starting to recognize the seasonal shift and preparing for winter time!

Winter: super short days with little to no chances for Vitamin D production, but still able to get other types of light regardless of where you live. Just because the days are short, doesn’t mean getting light signaling isn’t important. Making sure your body understands what time of year it is, is always important! It has been theorized that the increased melatonin production during the winter time (due to longer nights) is how nature balances out the decreased chances of Vitamin D, but I haven’t seen much research to confirm that. Seems logical though that we would need more vitamin D and less melatonin during a time of long days and short nights, and vice versa in the winter time.

While the discussions and explanations above are simplified, hopefully by now you’re starting to get an inkling for how Circadian and Infradian rhythms work, and just how amazing the human body is. Still seems crazy to me how a simple, free input like sunlight, can do so much for our health, sleep, and hormones. Next week, we’ll touch on artificial light and how it affects our health and vitality and what you can do about it!

Thanks for stopping by my blog, and if you know you want health coaching to help you achieve your goals, then apply to work with me! Click the Apply Now button at the top of the page, answer the questions, then I will get back to you within 48 hours to see if we’re a good fit!