OK, well, depending on where you live, maybe not right now....but it will be soon!

"Simplicity is the hallmark of truth--we should know better, but complexity continues to have a morbid attraction. When you give an academic audience a lecture that is crystal clear from alpha to omega, your audience feels cheated...The sore truth is that complexity sells better."

Edgar Dijkstra, computer scientist

Where does our energy come from?

No, not energy to run our cars and make electricity, but for our bodies.

"Duh, Marty--our food...and maybe breathing?"

OK, food provides about 1/3 of our energy, yes, but what about the remaining 2/3?

Bzzzz... time's up.

Answer: Light

"We are batteries, made of water,

charged by light."

Carrie Bennett, MS, Quantum Biology educator, health & nutrition coach.

So, it makes sense that, since the industrial revolution and the subsequent invention of artificial light, labor-saving machines, computers, and the internet etc., diseases (such as cancer) related to this radical shift from our evolutionary roots have skyrocketed. (Other culprits include industrial, factory farms and food production and the release of massive amounts of toxins into the environment, of course.)

Many people have cleaned up their diets, stopped drinking and drugging, started moving and exercising regularly, take their vitamins...and still wake up fatigued and feeling like crap.

That's often because they haven't changed their "light lifestyle."

Around 80 years ago, Albert Szent-Györgyi, the Nobel Prize-winning scientist who discovered Vitamin C, also made the groundbreaking statement: "we live by a small trickle of electricity from the sun." His discoveries and those who followed his lead showed that the engines of energy in all of our cells, mitochondria, absorb infrared and UV light to produce energy, repair cells, and improve all-around performance: physically, emotionally, and mentally. This is often called "photobiomodulation."

Natural sunlight is the best source of these frequencies of light. When light comes from artificial sources such as indoor lighting and all the screens in our lives, it is out of balance. This can confuse our body about what time of day it is and can throw off our circadian rhythm and the cascade of processes from dawn to dusk we've evolved to expect. What we need, instead, is "full spectrum" light. (There are a few enlghtened companies making full spectrum lighting for indoor use, but the vast majority of indoor lights are limited in the frequencies emitted--especially since the US government outlawed selling incandescent light bulbs in order to switch to more energy efficient LEDs. As the older folks like me remember, incandescent bulbs get hot, i.e, they produce infrared light. Most LEDs do not and, conversely, elevate blue light frequencies beyond what we get from the sun. Speaking of which...)

Ever wonder why there are no windows, no clocks, really bright lights, and (until recently) free food and booze in the Las Vegas casinos? Eventually, the Italian and Jewish mobsters who created Las Vegas (after they lost their Cuban cash cow to Castro's revolution) figured out why they were not making money hand-over fist after around 5 pm. So they used the principles of Quantum Biology (although, of course, they didn't know that's what they were doing back then) to keep people stimulated 24 hours a day (e.g., cortisol, adrenaline, dopamine). Casino crowds were metabolically compromised and, thus, cognitively vulnerable to making foolish decisions; not surprisingly, they compulsively gambled longer than they otherwise would.

Ever wonder why shift workers such as all-night nursing staff under bright lights have such high cancer rates? Or computer coders and gamers staring at screens all hours of the day and night can often be so unhealthy?

Now, some of you are no doubt thinking: "Wait--isn't being in the sun dangerous?" Don't worry, within reason, exposing your skin and eyes to the sun will not kill you. In fact, a large study of 20,518 women for 20 years showed those with the lowest amount of sun exposure died earlier than those with the most time in the sun. They concluded:

The results of this study provide observational evidence that avoiding sun exposure is a risk factor for all-cause mortality. Following sun exposure advice that is very restrictive in countries with low solar intensity might in fact be harmful to women's health.

Metabolism can also be positively influenced by light without changing what we put in our mouth. A study presented at the 2023 European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) demonstrated that people with Type-2 diabetes significantly improved from sunlight exposure with no changes in other lifestyle practices such as diet, exercise, or other interventions.

Another study of over 40,000 women found that those who kept a light or TV on at night were more likely to gain weight than those who slept in darkness.

What about acute, life threatening conditions and sun exposure? Roger Seheult, MD, a doctor in internal medicine, lung health, critical care, and sleep medicine tells a story about 15 year old boy he met early in his career. The boy was in the hospital with cancer and a deadly lung infection. He was given 2 days to live by the physicians Seheult worked under. When asked for his dying wish, he exclaimed he wanted to "go outside!" The doctors and nurses only agreed to grant his wish because they felt sorry for him. They were soon astonished to discover that, after those 2 days, not only was he still alive, but his blood markers and scans were improving. They kept bringing him outdoors each day, and he left the hospital not long afterward.

This should really come as no surprise. Hippocrates, "the Father of Medicine, treated disease with sunlight. By the early 1900s, physicians and medical facilities practiced "heliotherapy" to treat tuberculosis (Click here for a short but enlightening heliotherapy history lesson). Along with other effective treatments for illnesses (e.g., Methylene Blue), it fell out of favor as the pharmaceutical industry grew in size and influence.

"A good night's sleep starts when you wake up."

Here's a brief protocal to consider for taking advantage of this ancient, free source of health and vitality:

• 10-15 minutes in the sunlight at sunrise or within 30 minutes of waking up (cloudy days don't matter). This tells your brain what time of day and year it is, sets your circadian rhythm for the day, increases energy (cortisol), and improves metabolism.
• Take time during midday for sun exposure. UV-A frequencies for serotonin production (controlling mood and appetite) and nitric oxide release; UV-B frequencies for Vitamin D production (much better than from supplements) and endorphin release (pain modulation and elevation of mood).
• Spend some time outside at sunset to tell your brain to start winding down.

In other words, more healthy light during the day, less or dimmer light in the evening, and darkness during sleep (I wear a sleep mask, for example).

"Sleep is our competitor."

Netflix

Blue blocking glasses can help mitigate the unbalanced light from indoor lights and screens (computers, smartphones, TVs, etc.). Yellow lenses during the day, Amber lenses at sunset, Red lenses 1-2 hours before bed (the red ones always make me drowsy). [See below for some recommendations for the glasses.] Energy, sleep, and metabolism should all improve in days or a few weeks.

My health and habits have been better than average for most of my adult life, but when I learned about these principles of Quantum Biology, I changed my habits and I'm sleeping much better, I feel better, and I have more energy. My blood panels and other health markers also improved.

During the winter, I still get my sunrise walks in (in the past, I didn't care if my morning walks were before sunrise), and I use red light therapy panels and an infrared sauna regularly. My ancestors were northern European (I'm about a "3" on the Fitzpatrick skin type scale, a traditional but outdated classification method) and I end the summer with a nice tan; therefore, there's no need for Vitamin D supplementation during the winter because the body releases stored Vitamin D during dark months.

With regular sunlight (or the use of photobiomodulation devices), our mitochondria can produce plenty of energy. Therefore, I now find that the reports I've come across of people going months (even years) without food are becoming more believable; I'm not going to try it to those extremes anytime soon, but fasting is part of my life now.

So, what's your relationship to the sun? Scared shitless about burning and wearing a hazmat suit outdoors on sunny days? Or maybe you're a fanatical sun worshipper who burns regularly?

Experts in Quantum Biology don't recommend either one.

If in the first category, start slow. For people who burn easily, sunrise infrared exposure (there's no UV at that time of day) prepares the skin for UV later on and protects against potentially harmful effects. Infrared light exposure at or around sunrise as well as short stints in the sun, overall, can build your "sun callus" and make you more resilient and less prone to burning. Basically, use common sense for "safe sunning" (sorry, couldn't resist). (The link to the heliotherapy history lesson above has more information on safe sun exposure.)

If in the 2nd category, if you're prone to overexposure: back off. You're not getting the benefits if you overdo it and you risk skin damage. Not fun.

Word of Caution: mainstream medicine and dermatology get lots of press warning of the dangers of sun exposure and misrepresenting the dangers and mortality risks of skin cancer. Seems I can't go more than a week or two before another article pops up in my news feed with all the standard warnings (not to mention ending with affilicate marketing ads for sunscreen). In fact, one appeared in The Atlantic just a week ago. Like most baby boomers, I grew up on this dogma and more or less avoided getting plenty of sun exposure after age 30 or so.

"Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed.”

Francis Bacon

Anyway: Get Outside! Sun or no sun exposure, getting out of the artificial light and into natural surroundings has many health benefits. Trees, plants, gardens, wilderness, flowing water, clear lakes, the ocean, and fresh air will help cure what ails you. My clients who have taken these perspectives and practices to heart report suprisingly positive results.

To track frequencies of sunlight year round in order to plan your time outdoors, try one of these apps: MyCircadianApp (has both a free and paid version) or the free Circadian app.

Here are some good sources of blue blocking glasses (and related products). Note: I do not have any financial relationship with any of these companies. If that ever changes, I will disclose it.

Vivarays have my favorite blue blocker glasses, but are probably the most expensive. But watch the video with “Roudy,” the founder, on their website; they also have some good articles on the topic.

The cheapest blue blockers that still work:

Spectra 479

Some other options I’ve run across:

TrueDark

Block Blue Light

EMR-TEK

Bon Charge

Ra Optics