The Sunshine Paradox & Mold — Healing Light and Hidden Toxins

Today, we’re talking about two invisible forces that shape our health — one that gives life, and one that slowly steals it. We’ve been told to fear the sun, to hide from it… But what if the shade is where the real danger lurks? And what if, in our escape from light, we’ve trapped ourselves in environments that can make us sick?

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/chasing-eden-health-longevity-and-spirituality--6612749/support.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
Welcome to Chasing Eden. I'm Carolyn Thompson, and today we're
talking about two invisible forces that shape our health, one
that gives life and one that slowly steals it. We've
been told to fear the sun, to hide from it,
But what if the shade is where the real danger lurks.

(00:28):
And what if in our escape from light, we've trapped
ourselves in environments that can actually make us sick. This
episode is called the Sunshine Paradox and Mold, Healing, Light
and Hidden Toxins. It's about remembering sunlight as medicine, uncovering
the science that backs it up, and understanding how our

(00:52):
modern indoor lives create both vitamin D deficiency and fertile
ground for toxins like mold. Let's start with the fear campaign.
In the mid twentieth century, public health messaging shifted dramatically.
The rise of sunscreen advertising coupled with skyrocketing skin cancer

(01:15):
awareness left us with a single narrative. Sun equals danger,
and yes, excessive UV exposure damages skin DNA. We know that,
but in focusing so much on one danger, we've overlooked another,
the risk of too little sun. Today, around forty percent

(01:39):
of Americans are deficient in vitamin D, and some estimates
place that number above eighty percent in winter months at
northern latitudes, and vitamin D deficiency is linked to increased
risk of cardiovascular disease, depression, autoimmune disorders, and even certain cancer.

(02:01):
Contrast that with life just one hundred years ago. In
sanatoriums across Europe, doctors would wheel patients onto open air
balconies for daily heliotherapy. Children with rickets, which is a
bone softening disease from vitamin D deficiency, would be sent

(02:22):
to the countryside for sun cures. Vitamin D is just
the beginning. Sunlight triggers a cascade of beneficial processes. Nitric
oxide release, which improves blood vessel function and lowers your
blood pressure. Serotonin production boosts your mood and mental clarity,

(02:45):
and endorphins for natural pain relief and well being. Modern
studies show moderate sun exposure correlates with lower all cause
mortality than complete avoidance. That means, statistically speaking, people who
get some sun live longer than those who avoid it entirely,

(03:05):
even after adjusting for skin cancer risk. Historically, sunlight's mental
health benefits were recognized long before serotonin was discovered in
the nineteenth century. Melancholia, what we'd now call depression, was
sometimes treated by simply prescribing time in the morning sun.

(03:29):
Florence Nightingale famously wrote, it is the unqualified result of
all my experience with the sick that second only to
their need of fresh air is their need of light.
And it's not only light, but direct sunlight they want.
She understood that hospitals weren't just places for medicine, they

(03:52):
were environments for recovery. And recovery, she insisted, demanded sunlight. Now,
time travel to the early nineteen hundreds. Imagine the Swiss Alps,
white blankets of snow reflecting sunlight from every direction. Physicians
brought tuberculosis patients here, not for a miracle drug none

(04:15):
existed yet, but for high altitude sun exposure. They called
it heliotherapy. Patients would lie bundled in chairs, faces uncovered,
breathing crisp air, soaking up UV rays. Why, because they
noticed something extraordinary. These patients lived longer, gained weight, coughed less,

(04:39):
and had fewer infections. Then there was Niels Ryberg Finsen,
a Danish physician who developed a special lamp to deliver
concentrated light to the skin. He treated lupus vulgaris a
disfiguring form of tuberculosis, with such success that in nineteen
o three he won the Noble Prize in Medicine. During

(05:02):
World War Two, even in resource starved military hospitals, sunlight
therapy was used for wound healing. Soldiers were placed in
sunlit courtyards because wounds healed faster in natural light. The
trick isn't baking in the midday sun until your lobster red.

(05:22):
It's finding the Goldilocks zone enough to make vitamin D
trigger those healing biochemical pathways and reset your circadian clock,
but not enough to burn. For fair skinned individuals, that
might be ten to twenty minutes of midday sun. For

(05:42):
darker skin, it could be thirty to sixty minutes, and
that's without sunscreen because sunscreen blocks about ninety five percent
of vitamin D synthesis. Morning light is especially important for
mental health. It helps set your circadian rhythm, improves your
sleep quality, and can reduce symptoms of seasonal effective disorder.

(06:06):
We even know that sunlight exposure may protect against certain cancers. Yes,
you heard that right. While excessive UV can increase skin
cancer risk. Adequate sun exposure appears to reduce risks for colon, breast,
and prostate cancer. Now let's step indoors into the darker

(06:28):
side of modern living. Mold. Mold poisoning isn't just a
musty smell in the basement. It's a hidden inflammatory trigger.
Mycotoxins can cause brain fog, fatigue, immune suppression, and hormonal imbalance.
Dave Asby's journey with mold nearly ended his career before

(06:49):
it began. In some cases, treatments like sporanox, which is
an anti fungal prescription, are used under medical supervision. But
the real first step up is removing the source and
improving your environment. Here's the connection. Mold thrives in damp,
dark spaces. Sunlight, on the other hand, is nature's disinfectant.

(07:15):
UV rays kill many bacteria and mold spores. Historically, windows
were large rooms, airy, not just for beauty, but for health.
By shutting ourselves indoors, we not only miss the benefits
of light, but we create stagnant environments where mold flourishes.

(07:36):
Light filled, well ventilated spaces are the antidote. The sun
has been our companion since before we had names for disease.
It fuels every leaf, every cell, every heartbeat. Maybe the
real paradox is that, in trying to protect ourselves from
the sun, we've hidden from one of life's oldest healers.

(08:00):
So today step outside, Let your eyes see the morning light,
Let your skin feel that gentle warmth, and notice not
just how it feels, but how it changes you. Thank
you for joining me today, for chasing Eden. Until next time,
may your days be bright, your night's RESTful, and your

(08:22):
life bathed in healing light.