July 30, 2025 • 45 mins
Episode Highlights With Katie
- Why sunlight is essential for mitochondria and cellular energy
- The role of light in hormone balance, mood, sleep, and immunity
- Why the right kind of light exposure reduces disease risk
- How to safely and effectively get sun (without fear)
- Myths about sunscreen, windows, and indoor lighting
- Tactical shifts to optimize circadian biology and light signaling
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
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with any order. Hello and welcome to the Wellness Mama podcast.
I'm Katie from walnessama dot com and this episode is
going to cover a topic that is near and dear
to me, one that I have researched a lot and
(04:06):
felt a tremendous difference from in my own life, and
one that I feel like is still subject to a
lot of misinformation that's voting around that can be conceivably
very harmful when we believe this misinformation. And that topic
is the topic of sunlight, and I'm going to delve
into the benefits, the misconceptions, and what the data says
(04:26):
about best practices. And I hope that by the end
of this episode you having more complete picture of the
many ways that the sun supports us, how to get
those benefits in a healthy way, things to actually avoid,
and cautions to understand, and a lot more. So let's
jump in. We have been told for decades to avoid
(04:47):
the sun to where spf evening if we go outside
for just a couple of minutes, to spend more time indoors,
to cover up, and to avoid too much sun exposure.
We've been told that even a little bit of a
tan is sun damage, skin damage, and e and so
much more. But new data. What if I told you
that sunlight deficiency is actually considered now more dangerous than smoking.
(05:10):
There's new published data that reveals that avoiding the sun,
especially with certain caveasts that I'm going to get to
in this episode, is actually can increase your risk of
car of denus even more than smoking. Every day we've
been living in an indoor world with our official lights.
We are disconnected from the rhythms of nature, the things
that have kept humans healthy for decades and generations, and
(05:32):
we're paying the price. I've called this before nature deficit disorder.
I don't think light is the only factor by any means,
but I do think it is one of the most
important and not talked about enough. We're seeing rising rates
of poor sleep, of anxiety, modeling issues, all kinds of
mental health struggles, hormone and balances, and more. And I
believe that natural light at least plays a part in
(05:55):
all of these things. So today we're going to talk
about how sun light, which is real, natural light from
the sky, can help solve almost all of our problems.
I say that it's a little hyperbolic, and also I
will make a strong case for just how connected natural
light is to essentially every aspect of our lives. And
I can say this with complete confidence because I have
(06:15):
lived it. I've talked before. I am Irish, Scottish German
by nature. I grew up very fair skinned. There was
a time when I could only handle five minutes of
sun without getting pink. I avoided the sun, wore sunscreen.
I was low in vitamin D four years and I
didn't realize how much it was affecting everything, from my sleep,
to my mood to my mental health. I was even
(06:36):
taking oral vitamin D, which I now know does absolutely
nothing to help me based on my genes. It wasn't
helpful at all. My levels stayed very low, and it
wasn't until I've figured out these pieces I'm going to
talk to you about today that I started seeing results
in my energy, in my minun D levels, and in
much more slowly, I trained my skin back to health,
(06:56):
produced inflammation in my body, which was a big factor,
rebuilt my tolerance, and I started with small amounts of
morning sun which is the thing you're going to hear
me recommend throughout this episode. Starting with morning sunlight which
has a tremendous amount of benefits that I will get
into primes your skin for if you're willing to get
any other sun exposure throughout the day, and is so
supportive in so many ways. I also worked on my
(07:18):
mineral levels, supported my mind with andrea, reduced inflammation, and
saw dramatic changes because now I can spend literally hours
outside per day. I live in a very sunny area
in Florida at the beach, and I can spend a
couple of hours in the bright sun without burning. My
vitamin D levels are consistently in the eighties or nineties.
They were eighty six on my last test, and I've
(07:40):
had quite a bit more sun since that, without any
oral supplementation whatsoever. And this shift came about from smart
consistence on exposure and getting my body back in sync
with its natural light environment. It wasn't about the vitamin D.
That's a very small part of that. I think we
do ourselves a disservice when we reduce the light conversation
(08:01):
just to vitamin D. I now find I sleep better,
I think more clearly, I'm happier. I feel that I
feel the happy chemicals of sun exposure almost instantly. Now
when I get sun exposure, I have more energy, less
inflammation as reflected by my labs as well, and my
hormones are more balance. So today we are going deep
(08:22):
on one of my favorite topics, which is sunlight, not
just as a vitamin D source, like I said, I
think is it as surface when we reduce it to that,
but as an electrical signal, a mitochondrial booster, aceropedian rhythm regulator,
and a biological imperative if you have been avoiding the sun.
I hope this is the episode that changes everything and
(08:42):
I hope it will challenge some still pervasive misconceptions. So
first things first, let's dispel the myth. The sun is
not just about vitamin D by any means. Some light, yes,
is a mechanism by which our bodies do obtain vitamin D.
It is so much more than that. Vitamin D, of course,
(09:03):
is important. We will talk about that vitamin D levels
being in the correct range correlates to better outcomes to
everything from the common cold to cancer and reduced rates
of nearly every conict disease. It is important, but only
focusing on vitamin D is like saying that the only
reason to drink water is to hydrate your mouth. Sunlight
is improviation. It's so much more than just a cascade
(09:24):
that creates vitamin D. It's an ancient biological signal that
your body has evolved to respond to for a very,
very long time. It doesn't just hit your skin and
magically make vitamin D. It hits your eyes, it hits
your mitochondria. It resets your internal clocks in a very
important way. It changes your hormones, your neurotransmitters, your immune system,
(09:46):
your metabolism, even your blood shirt or response. So here's
a wile part. Different wavelengths of the sun do different things.
I feel like this part is not well understood. There
is rear red light and neurine red light, and the
early morning and late afternoon, so sunrise and sunset, there's
that red light effect, and that's the stuff that feeds
your mitochondria and helps with cellular repair. It's also very
(10:09):
low in UVA and UVB, so it's not going to
help you tanner get vitamin D. It's serves a completely
different purpose and is considered safe even for people who
for whatever reason try to avoid avoid bright sunlight. Then
you have blue light and UV light in the middle
of the day, which actually are very important. These help
regulate your circading rhythm, They help your body synthesize vitamin D,
(10:30):
they help with nitric oxide production, and so much more.
And it's actually the full range of light together that
is a perfectly orchestrated symphony to supports your health. The
problem is most of us are indoors under flickering led
lights most of the day with very limited wavelengths. We
get blue light all day long, even at night when
(10:50):
our body needs to know it's nighttime, we get barely
any red or neurinfrared or UV light at all. So
that's like eating a diet of only candy. Wondering why
we feel off. If you have ever felt tired, wired, foggy, inflamed,
or just off, it may not be capping tolerance. It
might not be your diet, it might not be your schedule.
(11:12):
It might be your light exposure. So we're going to
dig into each of these light driven processes in a moment,
but I want you to keep this in mind as
we go. We've been told that some light is dangerous
or optional, and I would argue it is not either
gross things. It is absolutely foundational for human health. So
let's delve into the middle of some light and mitotandria
(11:34):
and why this is important. If you have ever felt
like you're dragging by the middle of the day, even
after a full nife's sleep, this might help explain why
let's talk about mitotadria. You've probably heard them called the
powerhouse of the cell in a high school biology class,
and that is true. But they are not just little engines.
They are also light sensitive photoreceptors, which means your body
(11:58):
literally responds to the right light cues like sunlight by
making more energy, especially red and near infra red light,
which as I said, are abundant during sunrise and sunset. Especially,
these lootlenks penetrate deep into our tissues and activate an
enzyme in our miidochondria called cytochrome cxidies. When this happens,
(12:21):
to jumpstarts ATP production and ATP is the actual energy
currency that our bodies run on. Think of this as
like plugging ourselves into a cosmic charger. This is why
we feel more alive after watching a sunrise or sunset,
or spending time in that beautiful golden hour at night.
But it gets even better these spectrums of near and
infrared light. Near infrared light which we get from these
(12:44):
certain times of sunlight in much bigger amounts than we
can get from any red light panel. They also reduce inflammation,
can be helpful for wound healing, improve blood flow, and
so much more. This is not anecdotal. This has been
studied extensively and it is the basis of the red
light therapy devices that you might have seen or even purchased.
They're now popular Oliver Instagram. Those red light masks on
(13:06):
the sun gives us to for free every single day
in bigger amounts, in full frame spectrum, and you get
the benefit of time and nature as well. And this
is the one of the reasons I started really prioritizing
my natural light exposure morning and evening, even trying to
get up for sunrise whatever possible, not just midday sun
When I added this piece, in sunrise and sunset, and
(13:29):
I started getting regular light from those spectrums on my
skin and my eyes every day, I saw massive changes
on my labs, in my hormones, my energy, my mental clarity,
and my skin tone. And so it felt like my
body had gone from running on fumes to running on sunlight.
And literally that was what was happening. Because we are
(13:51):
solar powered creatures. We just forgot about this. And that
leads me into the hormone piece, because there's a whole
lot of thubt right now about horns. Cortisol is trending
on social media. People are doing hormone cocktails to support
proper corisol levels, which I think in the right time,
in the right dose, can be very helpful. And there's
more to the story through as well, because sunlight is
(14:13):
a big factor. In fact, this is for me where
things started to feel almost magical. Some light doesn't just
help ourselves make energy, it also helps regulate our entire
hormonal symphony. So I'll start with one of the most
powerful ways this happens. Sunlight is the master switch. It
sets your shircadian rhythm, which controls the timing of not
just your sleep and wakefulness, but literally every hormone in
(14:36):
your body. When sunlight hits your eyes firstly in the morning,
without important caveat, without sunscreen, without contacts, without windows in
the way, it signals your brain to release cortisol. Now,
cortisol gets a bad wrap. You might be saying, wait,
I don't want cortisol, but this kind of corzo at
this time of day, you actually do. We don't want
no cortisol or too low of cortisol either. You want
(14:58):
the right amount at the appropriate time of doubt. And
this kind is triggered by sunlight in the right dose,
in the right range at the right time. When we
do this part correctly, so it's energizing, it wakes you up.
You may find if you don't do this and you
make this a regular habit, that you get more energy
from this than from caffeine. The signals to your body
it's daytime, time to get up, time to take action.
(15:19):
Let's go. And bonus if you after getting this morning
light also signal safety to your body with a really
nutritious breakfast that has en approaching as well. Within about
an hour of waking up. Then about twelve to fourteen
hours later, that same light signal that you started at
sunrise and now flips the switch to start creating melatonin,
which is the sleep hormone, So no supplement needed. Your
(15:42):
body makes this perfectly naturally when it's given the right cues,
so no selhomon needed. Your body starts producing malatonin in
the evening if it got the right dose of light
earlier in the day, and this is missing for a
lot of us. Also, melatonin is often thought of as
just a sleep hormone. It is so much more than that.
It is a really powerful antioxidant. It helps with sollular repair,
(16:05):
and it plays a role in fertility, immunity, and detoxification.
That is also just the beginning of the hormone cascade.
Sum might directly boost serotonin, which is the feel good
nerve transmitter. He ever had that feeling of almost bliss's
just like a burst of happiness after being outside on
a beautiful day. This is why it's not blissy about.
It is serotonin synthesis in action. Serotonin means better mood,
(16:28):
better digestion, and better emotional regulation and better sleep because
serotonin is actually the precursor to melatonin. And for any
fellow warow nerds out there, here's an interesting fact as well.
Sub Light exposure, especially to the chest and the genitals
in men, can boost testosterone production. There are actually studies
(16:49):
that show that men who exposed therefore so and their
testes to slight head significantly significantly higher testosterone levels than
many he didn't, and women get this benefit as well.
On this gain impacts estrogen and progesterone, the hypothalmis pituitary
gonatal axis. So put simply, some light is one of
the most powerful hormone balancing tools we have, and it's
(17:12):
free at the very least. I think this is something
to build into your life foundationally before you try any
kind of hormone therapy or even supplements, because it's going
to make all of those things much more effective. When
I started optimizing my light exposure, I didn't just start
sleeping better. I saw changes in my hormones, my cycle,
my energy, even my metabolism, and all of that happened
(17:33):
without any kind of crazy protocols or supplements. I do
think there's a time and a place for those. I'm
not saying there's not. I just think that getting back
in rhythm with natural light JEWS is a vital part
of this as well. And if you are a woman,
especially if you are cycling every month, if you pregnant,
postpertum or paramount apausal, these benefits can compound because the
(17:54):
light doesn't just work on our hormones indirectly, it actually
regulates the hypothalmus, which is the master canroller of the
endocrine system. So when your hypothalmith gets consistent natural light,
it does a better job of managing your ovarian, adrenal
and thyroid function. Speaking of thyroid, the sun plays an
important role here as well. Your thyroid is incredibly sensitive
(18:15):
to circadians signaling of mitochondrial health, both of which are
supported by daily sun exposure, red and your throat light
in particular, like I said, can single ATP production in
thyroid cells and help reduce inflammation. There's even some evidence
that photobiomodulation to the neck area may support thyroid healing
in conditions like hashimotos and while I personally still love
(18:38):
supporting the thyroid with nutrients like selenium and iodine and
small doses as well, sun light I think is one
of the foundational tools here for keeping the thyroid strong.
I also want to briefly touch on pregnancy. There's often
a fear based narrative around some light during pregnancy of
especially avoiding heat, avoiding overheating, staying inside, et cetera. And
(18:59):
of course, while we want to during pregnancy of avoid burning,
we're overheating. Of course, our nity actually increases our need
for sunlight, not lessens it. And like I said, sunlight
supports vitamin deproduction, which is essential for fetal developments. Is
actually a massive factor that we're finding out more and
more really is correlated to better pregnancy outcomes across the board.
(19:20):
It helps immune function and even reduced risk of complications
like preclamsy and gestational diabetes. Sunlight also helps with moove
regulation af they're finding there may be a positive affect
you're encountering prenatal and postpartum anxiety and depression. Also, it
is helpful and vital for calcium metabolism and bone formation.
For both mom and baby, and even in birth timing.
(19:42):
Some research this is fascinating found that sunlight exposure in
the third trimester is associated with healthier birth weights and
more optional birth timing. So whether you're trying to support
your thyroid balance, your hormones, or you are growing a
tiny human, sunlight is one of the most foundational tools
can use. There's also a big mental effect here, and
(20:04):
I think sunlight is an overlooked, massively impactual tool when
it comes to mental health. Sunlight is perhaps one of
the fastest, most effective ways to shift yourmode. In fact,
studies show that morning sunlight exposure can be as effective
as antidepressants for some people with seasonal effective disorder. And
I've personally and anecdotally felt this strongly when I visited
(20:26):
countries that get almost no light at all in the winter,
and I notice a difference in how I felt my
mental health even within the span of one week. And
I noticed this too, if I don't get enough light,
even throughout the course of a week, I will start
to feel a difference. And why is this. It's because light,
especially bright full spectrum light, activate your body's production serotonin,
(20:47):
like I said, which is the neurotransmitter responsible for happiness, contentment,
and emotional stability. Serotonin is also the building block for valatonin.
Like I said, so when you get enough natural light
during the day, you are not just setting yourself up
to feel better during today, but to sleep better, which
leads to more resilience the next day as well. And
sunlight increases BDNF, which is brain derived neurotropic factor, and
(21:12):
you can think of BD and F as miracle grow
for your brain. There's a lot of emerging evidence on this.
It supports neuroplasticity, improves learning outcomes, memory, and protects against
cognitive decline. And it's also, as you guessed, triggered by
a natural light exposure, especially in the morning hours as
well ask certain dietary strategies that I'll cover in a
different episode. There's even research showing that regular on light
(21:36):
exposure reduces the risk of depression, anxiety, bipolar episodes, Alzheimer's
and ADHD symptoms. And to me, this makes complete sense
because we weren't designed to spend our days inside disconnected
from the rhythms of nature, steering into flickering blue light
rectangles like many of us are doing, and like I'm
doing right now as I record this. I talked before
(21:57):
about nature deficit disorder, and I think that light is
a big piece of this. When we are chronically light deprived,
we don't just get tired, we get sad, we get reactive,
we get overwhelmed, we get disconnected, and when we reconnect
to light in the right way, we literally light up again. Personally,
I've noticed that my best days, where I feel the
(22:17):
most calm, grounded and joyful, almost always start with morning
sunlight and natural light exposure throughout the day and freennny
mom's listening. This works for kids too, including babies. If
our kids are struggling with focus or mood swings or sleep,
one of the most powerful things we can do is
help get their light cues back on track. Now, I
want to talk about circadian rhythm reset. So let's zoom
(22:39):
out for a second and look at the big picture
he had. Body is one hundred, roughly thirty seventy trillion selves,
and almost every single one of them runs on a
twenty four hour biological rhythm, which is your circadian thiss
governs everything from when you wake and sleep, to when
and how your body repairs itself to when hormones are
released when your gut digests, when your brain is most creative,
(23:01):
and when are ready to wind down. Think, guess what
one of the biggest influencers of certainianism is You guessed it.
Light exposure. More specifically, the right light cues at the
right time of day, including some light hitting your skin
and your eyeballs for stand in the morning, some amount
of midday sun and ideally sunset exposure as well. This
is because your eyes contain This is so fascinating to me.
(23:24):
Your eyes contained special non visual photoreceptors. These are called
intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells fun science turn that detect
blue light. When these receptors since bright natural light early
in the day, they send a signal to a part
of your brain called the super chismatic nucleus, which is
your central circadian clock. This clock than signals every system
(23:48):
in your body to tellium hat it's morning. Time to
make cortisol, revop the metabolism, get a digestion going, start
the clock from melatonin production tonight. So this one signal
triggers everything else downstream. But here's the thing. The signal
only works with real light. Indoor light doesn't cut it.
Screens don't cut it. Even standing here window doesn't cut it.
(24:09):
Because that's only about one fiftieth of the LUs of
being outside, even on cloudy day. And when we miss
that early sunlight, our circadian rhythm can get very disrupted.
Our melatonin release can be delayed. We feel tired at
the wrong times, We feel wired at night. If you
have forgotten this second wind at eleven o'clock at night,
this could be why our digestion gets sluggish. We might
(24:31):
crave carbs or caffeine to stay awake throughout the day.
Hormones can become unpredictable, and sleep quality can suffer. If
this sounds familiar, I've seen it over and over in
myself and other people. When you fix your light environment,
so many other things fall into place. So again, this
truly is free and some bullets within thirty minutes of
(24:52):
waking up, stepping outside without sunglasses, no contacts, if you
could help it, just ten to fifteen minutes of unfiltered
light on your skin and your eyes. This does not mean,
of course, steering directly at the sound at all. It
just means that you need to be outside without anything
between your eyes and nature. Even better if you can
combine this with movement or grounding or hydration as well.
(25:14):
But if you can just experiment with this, you might
be amazed how different you feel in a couple weeks
of watching the sunrise and getting a natural light exposure.
I honestly believe that this is one of the most
underrated wellness tools we have. It all starts with the sun,
and it's free for all of us. And now I
want to shift gears a little bit and talk about
(25:36):
biometric benefits and the light code. This gets a little
bit more into the physics realm. But I think this
is so fascinating. So we've talked about how sunlight supports hormones, mood,
circadian rhythm, and energy production. But I want to go
even deeper because the body is not just biochemical or biological.
It's also electrical. I've talked about this before. There's a
(25:56):
fascinating book called The Body Electric that really delves into this.
But every cell in your body has a voltage, every
organ has its own frequency. You are at your core
a bioelectric being, actually a bioelectric electromagnetic being would be
really precise, and guess what charges the system? Light, especially
the full spectrum range of light red and near infra red,
(26:19):
ultraviolet and natural sunlight spectrums. When those wavelengths hit our
skin and our cells, they don't just trigger biological reactions,
they quite literally restore our cellular charge. Here's out sunlight
helps to structure and make coherent the water inside our cells.
This is sometimes referred to as easy water or exclusion
zone water, and this was researched extensively by doctor Gerald Pollock. Essentially,
(26:43):
it acts like a living battery, and sunlight, especially the
infrared spectrum of sunlight, charges that battery. So think of
it like this if you want to simplify the cascade. Here,
your mitochondria use red and fred light to make atp.
Your cells use that same light to charge up your
water based voltage systems. Your nervous system, muscles, and even
(27:05):
your heart rely on that electrical flow to function properly.
And when we don't get this, we are quite literally
not supporting the electrical capacity of our body as much
as we could Without sun light, the system starts to
short circuit. You might not feel sick in the traditional sense,
might feel dull or drained and flamed, tired, poggy, or disconnected.
(27:26):
It's also not just about internal voltage. It's also about
how the body communicates. Cells actually use light singles to
talk to each other. In fact, some scientists believe that
biophoton communication, which is the admission of tiny particles of
light from ourselves, may be one of the primary ways
our body coordinates healing and regeneration. So when you step
(27:47):
into the sun, you're not just getting warm, You're literally
getting a frequency fuel that your body recognizes, receives, and
responds to you in a myriad of ways. It's like
charging a crystal or sinking your internal wife to the
Earth's signal. And I know that can sound a little woe.
This is actually like strongly rooted in physics, and no
led screen, pill or supplement can fully replicate this effect. Essentially,
(28:11):
some light carries electromagnetic codes that your body was designed
to read, and the more we receive these, and the
more consistently, the more our system comes back online. This
episode is brought to you by Native Path and in particular,
something I have been experimenting with and really really loving lately.
(28:31):
And here's what you need to understand. A lot of
us think calcium is important for our health, especially for
our bone but this is actually true bad news. It
turns out maybe not, or at least there's more nuance here.
One of the largest bone house studies ever conducted followed
thousands of women taking calcium and oral vitamin D daily
and the results were surprising, but not in the way
(28:52):
you would think. They saw no significant reduction in their
risk of fractures, and they saw no improved bone density.
So all those calcium pills might not be doing what
we think, and it turns out they might actually be counterproductive.
But here's where it gets interesting. A brand new study
found that women who did one thing every morning consistently
for six months gained seven percent bone density, which is massive.
(29:15):
This is the same amount of bone mass the average
person loses over the course of five years after a
certain age. So what did they do. It was not
a medication or even a workout. Came down to one
simple thing added to their morning routine. And that's why
a lot of people, especially people over fifty, are making
this one simple change and seeing massive results. I'm sure
(29:36):
you're probably curious what it is, and it's a particular
protein from one of my favorite brands called Native Path
and they're offering all of you up to forty five
percent off of this plus free shipping and a free gift.
Right now, you can visit save with nativepath dot com
slash Walesswama to find out what it is and how
to implement it and save up to forty five percent.
(29:57):
So again, that special site for forty five percent off
is save as ave with Native pat h dot com
slash wellness Momak and see why people are adding this
to the routine with amazing results. This podcast is brought
to you by Element and this is a company you
(30:19):
might have heard me talk about before, and I really
love their products because proper hydration leads to better sleep,
it sharpens focus, and improves energy and so much more.
But hydration is not about just drinking water, because being
optimally hydrated a state called u hydration, is about optimizing
your body's fluid ratios. And this fluid balance depends on
(30:39):
many factors, including the intake and excretion of electrolytes, which
many people don't get the right amounts of electrolytes are
charged minerals that conduct electricity to power your nervous system.
I talk a lot about nervous system on this podcast.
They also regulate hydration status by balancing fluids inside and
outside of ourselves. Element was created with the science backed
electric light ratio of one hundred milligrams of sodium, two
(31:02):
hundred milligrams of potassium, and sixty milligrams of magnesium with
no sugar. Since electrolytes are a key component of hydration,
here's what happens. When we get our electrolytes dialed in.
We have more steady energy, improved cognitive function, suffer fewer
headaches and muscle cramps. We can perform better for longer
and especially the support fasting or low carb diet because
when we stop eating carbs, like during a fast, the
(31:24):
absence of insulin allows the kidneys to release sodium to
Replacing that loss sodium with electrolytes can help you feel
good on the fast. Since Element is zero sugar, it
also doesn't break up fast. Electrolytes are also important for
maintaining blood pressure, regulating digestion, and proper fluid balance, keeping
skin hydrated, which is a big one that I feel
like often gets missed, and so much more. I feel
(31:46):
like proper electrolytes is a missing piece for a lot
of people, and I love elements new canned drinks which
are sparkling water with all the same ratios of minerals
I just talked about, and they are delicious. You can
check it out and learn more at drink element dot
com slash Wellness Mama. That's d R I n K
L M n T dot com slash Wellness Mama, and
(32:07):
at that link you will receive a free sample pack
with any order. I also want to talk about immune
system and inflammation because I feel like this is a
big component for a lot of people. As I said
at the beginning of this episode, avoiding sunlight might be
increasing your risk of chronic disease more than almost anything
(32:27):
else that you're doing. I know that sounds dramatic, but
let's break it down. We have been told for decades
to avoid the sun to reduce our risk pile of
staink answer and burning is harmful, no question. I'm not
by any means recommending anybody get a sunburn ever, but regular, healthy,
non burning sunlight exposure is actually protective, not just for
(32:50):
the skin, but for our whole body, and there is
data to bak back this up. Facts. An analysis of
available data found no correlation betweal sun exposure and increased
skin cancer risk, just between sunburn and skin cancer risk.
So again from the available data, there is not a
(33:11):
correlation between filthy sun exposure and skin cancer, only between sunburn,
true skin damage and skin cancer. And there's also strong
data that having correct vitamin D levels and potentially these
other benefits from the sun reduce the risk of other
types of cancer. So this is why I personally, again
this is entirely just my opinion. None of this is
(33:34):
medical advice in the slightest, but this is why I
personally feel sunlight is exponentially worth the time and worth
I don't even feel that there are risk to healthy
sun exposure, but that the benefits far far exceed any
potential risk. So let's talk about inflammation. Chronic inflammation is
linked to almost every type of modern chronic disease. It's
(33:54):
stopped about often on this podcast by many guests, and
is linked to or correlated with things like autoimmunity and
cardiovascular disease, metabolic dysfunction, neuroor generation, and even certain types
of cancers. And sunlight is one of the most powerful
free anti inclammatory tools we have. Here's why you be
(34:16):
light the kid We get midday stimulates the production of
nitric oxide help which helps lower blood pressure, improve circulation,
and reduce systemic inflammation. Red and neuronfred light reduce oxidative
stress and mitochondrial dysfunction, which are major drivers of chronic inflammation.
The light also modulates T regulatory cells, which are the
(34:37):
peacekeepers in our immune system, helping calm our overactive immune response,
which is correlated here with autommine conditions. And I feel
like this was personally helpful for me. And then, while
I didn't want to talk about it early on in
this episode, let's touch on vitamin D. It's technically a hormone,
not a vitamin. It plays a massive role in immune
system regulation, calcium metabolism, gene expression, and even mental health.
(35:02):
But here's what most people miss. Vitamin D from sunlight
is different than from a pill. When you make it
from sunlight exposure through your skin, you also get cholesterol sulfi,
which is important for cardiovascular and cellular health. You get
balanced vitamin DE metabolites, not just vitamin D storage, but
the active forms that are also very important. And you
(35:22):
get light triggered cofactors like nitric oxide, serotonin, and melotonin synthesis.
So it's a full symphony, and popping a vitamin D
pill does not replicate the whole song, just a single note.
So here's a kicker. I mentioned this in the beginning.
A large scale study out of Sweden found that women
who avoided the sun had a similar life expectancy to smokers,
(35:46):
which is where that statistic comes from. So, in other words,
not getting sunlight might be as risky as smoking a packaget,
which turns on its head. What we have often been
told about sun exposure for the past few decades. Let
that sink in From the data we have available. Sunlight
deficiency has been linked to higher rates of heart disease,
type two diabetes, depression, Alzheimer's, multiple sclerosis, and certain types
(36:11):
of cancer in fluting potentially breast and colon cancer. And
yet we're still telling people to avoid the sun. So
I personally feel it is time to flip the script
because the danger is not sunlight exposure, it's sunlight deficiency.
And now that we've covered how essential sunlight is for
our biology, I also want to briefly touch on modern
(36:33):
habits that block or distort these vital signals, because this
is where a lot of us and myself included for
a long time get tripped up so big one and
something I personally will not use for the roosen Funger
to explain is suns green. I'm not totally anti sens free,
and I'm certainly not recommending anybody else do or do
(36:53):
not use sunscreen. I'm saying I personally don't use it
for several reasons. I'm certainly anti regular less sunscreen use,
or using sunscreen when we're getting moderate sun exposure or
burly eats like sunrise sunset sun exposure when there's no
risk of burning anyway, Here's what most people don't realize.
Most conventional sunscreens block UVV, which is what we need
(37:15):
to viteamin deproduction, but allow some parts of vitamin or
of UVA, which penetrates deeper into the skin and is
more associated with aging and DNA damage. Many of them
contain intercurritians rupting chemicals like oxydebin zone, eve a bin
zone or octgozite, which can mimic estrogen and interfere with hormones,
which is especially problematic in children, and one combined with sunlight,
(37:39):
some of these compounds can actually create pre radicals, damaging
the skin. More than protecting it. So, yes, sunburn is bad.
Blocking all sun exposure all the time with chemical sunscreen
that contain that endocrintice ruptors is also bad. So better
approach what I do. At least I build a solar
callus slowly, starting with short, regular sun exposure as soon
(38:00):
as I can early in the spring. I use mineral
based sunscreen almost never, but if I needed to that
was going to be, for instance, scuba diving and couldn't
cover up or something for the whole day, I would
use that. I much prefer I am going to be
outside all day to just use clothing and shade instead
of sunscreening of any kind. And another factor here that
I love to debunk and talk about is sull glasses.
(38:24):
I wore them consistently for years because yes, they make
it easier to stay in the sun, and they look cute.
I especially wear them in the car if it was
bright out. But here's what I didn't know at the time.
Our eyes are one of the most important sensors in
that body. I chopped about this special photoreceptors in our eyes.
When we wear sunglasses, especially in the morning or whom
we're getting bright sunlight, we are blocking the very signal
(38:47):
that sets our Sirpadian rhythm. We are also blocking something
that is signaling to our skin that we are in
the sun and need to make melanin, which is part
of that natural process. So essentially we increase our risk
of sunburn by wearing sunglasses. Also, we block this light
getting through the eyes, which we as I explained, regulates
cortisol and melatonin. It tells our brain when to be
(39:09):
alert versus winter rest. It impacts our neurotransmitter production, especially serotonin.
So if we're always wearing sunglasses, our body may never
get the memo that it's daytime at least correctly. We
might not get that full spectrum of sunlight. So obviously,
if we are skiing or in direct glare, that's an
important time to protect our eyes for sure. But everyday
(39:30):
sun exposure, especially morning sun exposure, try skipping sunglasses and
see what happens. Another quick caveat let's talk about windows.
This one surprised me. You can sit by a sunny window,
you can feel the warm sun. Many modern windows block UVB,
so you're not getting vitamin D. You're still getting UVA,
which is more tied to aging and skin damage, and
(39:53):
this filtered light can increase free radical damage because you're
getting incomplete wavelengths of light. So I do get some
light outside, not through a window. And lastly, I want
to briefly touch on artificial lighting because many of us
are getting much more exposure to artificial indoor light than
natural light. And most indoor light now comes from sources
like LEDs and fluorescenspore from screens which emit high mounts
(40:16):
of blue light very little or no rhdtoranfrared, no UV, wedswever,
and they often flicker at a rate that your eyes
can't see, but your brain can register. So this creates
its own kind of biological stress. Your body essentially thinks
it's midday. It registers stress from the flicker that you
don't even are, you're not even aware of, and so
this can lead to us being more anxious, that overstimulated
(40:38):
and to sleep issues. If you want to buffer this,
this is what I do. Get sunlight first day in
the morning, get bright midday sunlight when you can go
see the sunset as well, use red or amber wolves
in the evening to support malatonin after sunset. I will
link in the show roads to some resources of what
I personally use. You can install things like flux or
(40:59):
night shift on phones and screens at night, or use
blue lit blocking glasses after sunset and whenever possible, which
I hope for all of us is every day, go outside,
even if it's cloudy, even if it's raining. Getting indirect
cloudy outdoor light is better than the best indoor lighting.
So trying to get as much natural light as possible safely.
(41:20):
So and summary and action, Steph. Let's bring this full circle.
We have been told for decades that sunlight is dangerous,
but in my opinion, the real danger is living in
a light starved body, in a disconnected world that is
artificially lit with light that our body doesn't understand. Sunlight
is not just about vitamin D, that is one tiny part.
(41:43):
It is also about mitochondrial and ATP production, about hormone
regulation from cortisol to melatonin, to serotonin to testosterone. It
is about mental health, mood and emotional state stability. It
is about circating rhythm and setting our body's internal clock.
It is about immune function, inflammation reduction, and yes, even
(42:05):
like energy within ourselves, like the vults of our body.
In my opinion, sunlight is a biological necessity. It's an
energetic tuning fork and a form of communication that our
body knows how to read. And when we stop bearing
it and start using it wisely, it is dramatic what
we can feel. So key takeaways simple things. If you
(42:26):
want to start the first three things I would recommend
to try today, get morning sunlight within thirty minutes of
waking up. Super simple, nothing fancy needed. Just step outside,
no sunglasses, no window between you and the light. Just
get ten to fifteen minutes on your skin and your
eyeballs as soon as possible after waking up. This will
help your hormones, boost your mood, and struck an internal
(42:47):
clock from the aluatonium production at night. Number two, expose
your skin safely to midday sun. If you are sunsensitive,
be very careful, start very slowly. Build a solar callis
slowly time. Aim for very short, non burning sun exposure.
To get the benefits of those things I talked about,
not just vitamin D, but nitric oxide and cellular charge
(43:10):
as well. There's an app called d as in Vitamin
D d Minder that lets you calculate how much sun
you need for vitamin D production. For your skin type
and the area where you live. And then lastly eight
number three, ditch artificial light at night. My tip would
be after sunsets which to amber or red lights, wear
blue light blocking glasses, and avoid bright overhead LEDs. Bonus
(43:33):
points if you want to use candle lights, dark gazing,
or go really low light at night, so bonus quick tips.
Combine sunlight with movement or grounding for amplified benefits. Move
your morning tea, breakfast, journaling, meditation, outdoors. Let your kids
get sun too. It helps with so much, and especially
if you have hormonal challenges or your pregnant or postpartum
(43:56):
prioritize gentle light in the morning. This will actually help
support homone balance, milk production for restfeeding moms, and emotional resilience.
The good news is you do not have to overhaul
your life. You just have to step outside and let
your body remember how to thrive. So light won't solve everything,
but it might solve a lot more than you think.
(44:16):
And I would love to hear your feedback how you
incorporate light or if you fully disagree with me, I
would love to hear that too. Please always feel free
to leave a comment or if you are willing. I'm
honored when you leave an honest writing a review because
that helps other people find this podcast as well. And
as always, thank you so much for listening, for sharing
(44:37):
your valuable time, energy, and attention with me. I'm so grateful.
I don't take that lately. Thank you for being here,
and I hope that you will join me again on
the next episode of the Wellness Mama podcast. If you're
enjoying these interviews, would you please take two minutes to
leave a rating or review on iTunes for me. Doing
this helps more people to find the podcast, which means
(44:58):
even more moms and family please can benefit from the information.
I really appreciate your time and thanks as always for listening.
Well, go to My Body's podcast. This episode is brought
to you by Native Path and in particular, something I
have been experimenting with and really really loving lately. And
here's what you need to understand. A lot of us
think calcium is important for our health, especially for our bone,
But is this actually true bad news? It turns out
(00:22):
maybe not, or at least there's more nuance here. One
of the largest bone health studies ever conducted followed thousands
of women taking calcium and oral vitamin D daily and
the results were surprising, but not in the way you
would think. They saw no significant reduction in their risk
of fractures, and they saw no improved bone density. So
all those calcium pills might not be doing what we think,
(00:44):
and it turns out they might actually be counterproductive. But
here's where it gets interesting. A brand new study found
that women who did one thing every morning consistently for
six months gained seven percent bone density, which is massive.
This is the same amount of bone mass the average
person over the course of five years after a certain age.
So what did they do? It was not a medication
(01:05):
or even a workout. Came down to one simple thing
added to their morning routine. And that's why a lot
of people, especially people over fifty, are making this one
simple change and seeing massive results. I'm sure you're probably
curious what it is, and it's a particular protein from
one of my favorite brands called Native Path, and they're
offering all of you up to forty five percent off
(01:26):
of this, plus free shipping and a free gift. Right now,
you can visit save with Nativepath dot com slash walness
Mama to find out what it is and how to
implement it and save up to forty five percent. So again,
that special site for forty five percent off is Save
as a ve with Native e pat dot com slash
(01:50):
walness Mama and see why people are adding this to
the routine with amazing results. This podcast is brought to
you by Element and this is a company you might
have heard me talk about before, and I really love
their products because proper hydration leads to better sleep, it
sharpens focus, it improves energy, and so much more. Mud
Hydration is not about just drinking water, because being optimately hydrated,
(02:15):
a state called u hydration, is about optimizing your body's
fluid ratios and this fluid balance depends on many factors,
including the intake and excretion of electrolytes, which many people
don't get the right amounts of electrolytes are charged minerals
that conduct electricity to power your nervous system. I talk
a lot about nervous system on this podcast. They also
regulate hydration status by balancing fluids inside and outside of ourselves.
(02:39):
Element was created with the science backed electrolyte ratio of
one hundred milligrams of sodium, two hundred milligrams of potassium,
and sixty milligrams of magnesium with no sugar. Since electrolytes
are a key component of hydration, here's what happens. When
we get our electrolytes dialed in. We have more steady energy,
improved cognitive function, suffer fewer headaches and muscle cramps. We
can perform better for longer and especially the support fasting
(03:02):
or low carb diet because when we stop eating carbs,
like during a fast, the absence of insulin allows the
kidneys to release sodium to Replacing that loss sodium with
electrolytes can help you feel good on the fast. Since
Element is zero sugar, it also doesn't break up fast.
Electrolytes are also important for maintaining blood pressure, regulating digestion,
and proper fluid balance, keeping skin hydrated, which is a
(03:24):
big one that I feel like often gets missed, and
so much more. I feel like proper electrolytes is a
missing piece for a lot of people. And I love
Elements new canned drinks which are sparkling water with all
the same ratios of minerals I just talked about, and
they are delicious. You can check it out and learn
more at drink Element dot com, slash Wellness Mama. That's
(03:45):
dri nk l mnt dot com slash wellness Mama, and
at that link you will receive a free sample pack
with any order. Hello and welcome to the Wellness Mama podcast.
I'm Katie from walnessama dot com and this episode is
going to cover a topic that is near and dear
to me, one that I have researched a lot and
(04:06):
felt a tremendous difference from in my own life, and
one that I feel like is still subject to a
lot of misinformation that's voting around that can be conceivably
very harmful when we believe this misinformation. And that topic
is the topic of sunlight, and I'm going to delve
into the benefits, the misconceptions, and what the data says
(04:26):
about best practices. And I hope that by the end
of this episode you having more complete picture of the
many ways that the sun supports us, how to get
those benefits in a healthy way, things to actually avoid,
and cautions to understand, and a lot more. So let's
jump in. We have been told for decades to avoid
(04:47):
the sun to where spf evening if we go outside
for just a couple of minutes, to spend more time indoors,
to cover up, and to avoid too much sun exposure.
We've been told that even a little bit of a
tan is sun damage, skin damage, and e and so
much more. But new data. What if I told you
that sunlight deficiency is actually considered now more dangerous than smoking.
(05:10):
There's new published data that reveals that avoiding the sun,
especially with certain caveasts that I'm going to get to
in this episode, is actually can increase your risk of
car of denus even more than smoking. Every day we've
been living in an indoor world with our official lights.
We are disconnected from the rhythms of nature, the things
that have kept humans healthy for decades and generations, and
(05:32):
we're paying the price. I've called this before nature deficit disorder.
I don't think light is the only factor by any means,
but I do think it is one of the most
important and not talked about enough. We're seeing rising rates
of poor sleep, of anxiety, modeling issues, all kinds of
mental health struggles, hormone and balances, and more. And I
believe that natural light at least plays a part in
(05:55):
all of these things. So today we're going to talk
about how sun light, which is real, natural light from
the sky, can help solve almost all of our problems.
I say that it's a little hyperbolic, and also I
will make a strong case for just how connected natural
light is to essentially every aspect of our lives. And
I can say this with complete confidence because I have
(06:15):
lived it. I've talked before. I am Irish, Scottish German
by nature. I grew up very fair skinned. There was
a time when I could only handle five minutes of
sun without getting pink. I avoided the sun, wore sunscreen.
I was low in vitamin D four years and I
didn't realize how much it was affecting everything, from my sleep,
to my mood to my mental health. I was even
(06:36):
taking oral vitamin D, which I now know does absolutely
nothing to help me based on my genes. It wasn't
helpful at all. My levels stayed very low, and it
wasn't until I've figured out these pieces I'm going to
talk to you about today that I started seeing results
in my energy, in my minun D levels, and in
much more slowly, I trained my skin back to health,
(06:56):
produced inflammation in my body, which was a big factor,
rebuilt my tolerance, and I started with small amounts of
morning sun which is the thing you're going to hear
me recommend throughout this episode. Starting with morning sunlight which
has a tremendous amount of benefits that I will get
into primes your skin for if you're willing to get
any other sun exposure throughout the day, and is so
supportive in so many ways. I also worked on my
(07:18):
mineral levels, supported my mind with andrea, reduced inflammation, and
saw dramatic changes because now I can spend literally hours
outside per day. I live in a very sunny area
in Florida at the beach, and I can spend a
couple of hours in the bright sun without burning. My
vitamin D levels are consistently in the eighties or nineties.
They were eighty six on my last test, and I've
(07:40):
had quite a bit more sun since that, without any
oral supplementation whatsoever. And this shift came about from smart
consistence on exposure and getting my body back in sync
with its natural light environment. It wasn't about the vitamin D.
That's a very small part of that. I think we
do ourselves a disservice when we reduce the light conversation
(08:01):
just to vitamin D. I now find I sleep better,
I think more clearly, I'm happier. I feel that I
feel the happy chemicals of sun exposure almost instantly. Now
when I get sun exposure, I have more energy, less
inflammation as reflected by my labs as well, and my
hormones are more balance. So today we are going deep
(08:22):
on one of my favorite topics, which is sunlight, not
just as a vitamin D source, like I said, I
think is it as surface when we reduce it to that,
but as an electrical signal, a mitochondrial booster, aceropedian rhythm regulator,
and a biological imperative if you have been avoiding the sun.
I hope this is the episode that changes everything and
(08:42):
I hope it will challenge some still pervasive misconceptions. So
first things first, let's dispel the myth. The sun is
not just about vitamin D by any means. Some light, yes,
is a mechanism by which our bodies do obtain vitamin D.
It is so much more than that. Vitamin D, of course,
(09:03):
is important. We will talk about that vitamin D levels
being in the correct range correlates to better outcomes to
everything from the common cold to cancer and reduced rates
of nearly every conict disease. It is important, but only
focusing on vitamin D is like saying that the only
reason to drink water is to hydrate your mouth. Sunlight
is improviation. It's so much more than just a cascade
(09:24):
that creates vitamin D. It's an ancient biological signal that
your body has evolved to respond to for a very,
very long time. It doesn't just hit your skin and
magically make vitamin D. It hits your eyes, it hits
your mitochondria. It resets your internal clocks in a very
important way. It changes your hormones, your neurotransmitters, your immune system,
(09:46):
your metabolism, even your blood shirt or response. So here's
a wile part. Different wavelengths of the sun do different things.
I feel like this part is not well understood. There
is rear red light and neurine red light, and the
early morning and late afternoon, so sunrise and sunset, there's
that red light effect, and that's the stuff that feeds
your mitochondria and helps with cellular repair. It's also very
(10:09):
low in UVA and UVB, so it's not going to
help you tanner get vitamin D. It's serves a completely
different purpose and is considered safe even for people who
for whatever reason try to avoid avoid bright sunlight. Then
you have blue light and UV light in the middle
of the day, which actually are very important. These help
regulate your circading rhythm, They help your body synthesize vitamin D,
(10:30):
they help with nitric oxide production, and so much more.
And it's actually the full range of light together that
is a perfectly orchestrated symphony to supports your health. The
problem is most of us are indoors under flickering led
lights most of the day with very limited wavelengths. We
get blue light all day long, even at night when
(10:50):
our body needs to know it's nighttime, we get barely
any red or neurinfrared or UV light at all. So
that's like eating a diet of only candy. Wondering why
we feel off. If you have ever felt tired, wired, foggy, inflamed,
or just off, it may not be capping tolerance. It
might not be your diet, it might not be your schedule.
(11:12):
It might be your light exposure. So we're going to
dig into each of these light driven processes in a moment,
but I want you to keep this in mind as
we go. We've been told that some light is dangerous
or optional, and I would argue it is not either
gross things. It is absolutely foundational for human health. So
let's delve into the middle of some light and mitotandria
(11:34):
and why this is important. If you have ever felt
like you're dragging by the middle of the day, even
after a full nife's sleep, this might help explain why
let's talk about mitotadria. You've probably heard them called the
powerhouse of the cell in a high school biology class,
and that is true. But they are not just little engines.
They are also light sensitive photoreceptors, which means your body
(11:58):
literally responds to the right light cues like sunlight by
making more energy, especially red and near infra red light,
which as I said, are abundant during sunrise and sunset. Especially,
these lootlenks penetrate deep into our tissues and activate an
enzyme in our miidochondria called cytochrome cxidies. When this happens,
(12:21):
to jumpstarts ATP production and ATP is the actual energy
currency that our bodies run on. Think of this as
like plugging ourselves into a cosmic charger. This is why
we feel more alive after watching a sunrise or sunset,
or spending time in that beautiful golden hour at night.
But it gets even better these spectrums of near and
infrared light. Near infrared light which we get from these
(12:44):
certain times of sunlight in much bigger amounts than we
can get from any red light panel. They also reduce inflammation,
can be helpful for wound healing, improve blood flow, and
so much more. This is not anecdotal. This has been
studied extensively and it is the basis of the red
light therapy devices that you might have seen or even purchased.
They're now popular Oliver Instagram. Those red light masks on
(13:06):
the sun gives us to for free every single day
in bigger amounts, in full frame spectrum, and you get
the benefit of time and nature as well. And this
is the one of the reasons I started really prioritizing
my natural light exposure morning and evening, even trying to
get up for sunrise whatever possible, not just midday sun
When I added this piece, in sunrise and sunset, and
(13:29):
I started getting regular light from those spectrums on my
skin and my eyes every day, I saw massive changes
on my labs, in my hormones, my energy, my mental clarity,
and my skin tone. And so it felt like my
body had gone from running on fumes to running on sunlight.
And literally that was what was happening. Because we are
(13:51):
solar powered creatures. We just forgot about this. And that
leads me into the hormone piece, because there's a whole
lot of thubt right now about horns. Cortisol is trending
on social media. People are doing hormone cocktails to support
proper corisol levels, which I think in the right time,
in the right dose, can be very helpful. And there's
more to the story through as well, because sunlight is
(14:13):
a big factor. In fact, this is for me where
things started to feel almost magical. Some light doesn't just
help ourselves make energy, it also helps regulate our entire
hormonal symphony. So I'll start with one of the most
powerful ways this happens. Sunlight is the master switch. It
sets your shircadian rhythm, which controls the timing of not
just your sleep and wakefulness, but literally every hormone in
(14:36):
your body. When sunlight hits your eyes firstly in the morning,
without important caveat, without sunscreen, without contacts, without windows in
the way, it signals your brain to release cortisol. Now,
cortisol gets a bad wrap. You might be saying, wait,
I don't want cortisol, but this kind of corzo at
this time of day, you actually do. We don't want
no cortisol or too low of cortisol either. You want
(14:58):
the right amount at the appropriate time of doubt. And
this kind is triggered by sunlight in the right dose,
in the right range at the right time. When we
do this part correctly, so it's energizing, it wakes you up.
You may find if you don't do this and you
make this a regular habit, that you get more energy
from this than from caffeine. The signals to your body
it's daytime, time to get up, time to take action.
(15:19):
Let's go. And bonus if you after getting this morning
light also signal safety to your body with a really
nutritious breakfast that has en approaching as well. Within about
an hour of waking up. Then about twelve to fourteen
hours later, that same light signal that you started at
sunrise and now flips the switch to start creating melatonin,
which is the sleep hormone, So no supplement needed. Your
(15:42):
body makes this perfectly naturally when it's given the right cues,
so no selhomon needed. Your body starts producing malatonin in
the evening if it got the right dose of light
earlier in the day, and this is missing for a
lot of us. Also, melatonin is often thought of as
just a sleep hormone. It is so much more than that.
It is a really powerful antioxidant. It helps with sollular repair,
(16:05):
and it plays a role in fertility, immunity, and detoxification.
That is also just the beginning of the hormone cascade.
Sum might directly boost serotonin, which is the feel good
nerve transmitter. He ever had that feeling of almost bliss's
just like a burst of happiness after being outside on
a beautiful day. This is why it's not blissy about.
It is serotonin synthesis in action. Serotonin means better mood,
(16:28):
better digestion, and better emotional regulation and better sleep because
serotonin is actually the precursor to melatonin. And for any
fellow warow nerds out there, here's an interesting fact as well.
Sub Light exposure, especially to the chest and the genitals
in men, can boost testosterone production. There are actually studies
(16:49):
that show that men who exposed therefore so and their
testes to slight head significantly significantly higher testosterone levels than
many he didn't, and women get this benefit as well.
On this gain impacts estrogen and progesterone, the hypothalmis pituitary
gonatal axis. So put simply, some light is one of
the most powerful hormone balancing tools we have, and it's
(17:12):
free at the very least. I think this is something
to build into your life foundationally before you try any
kind of hormone therapy or even supplements, because it's going
to make all of those things much more effective. When
I started optimizing my light exposure, I didn't just start
sleeping better. I saw changes in my hormones, my cycle,
my energy, even my metabolism, and all of that happened
(17:33):
without any kind of crazy protocols or supplements. I do
think there's a time and a place for those. I'm
not saying there's not. I just think that getting back
in rhythm with natural light JEWS is a vital part
of this as well. And if you are a woman,
especially if you are cycling every month, if you pregnant,
postpertum or paramount apausal, these benefits can compound because the
(17:54):
light doesn't just work on our hormones indirectly, it actually
regulates the hypothalmus, which is the master canroller of the
endocrine system. So when your hypothalmith gets consistent natural light,
it does a better job of managing your ovarian, adrenal
and thyroid function. Speaking of thyroid, the sun plays an
important role here as well. Your thyroid is incredibly sensitive
(18:15):
to circadians signaling of mitochondrial health, both of which are
supported by daily sun exposure, red and your throat light
in particular, like I said, can single ATP production in
thyroid cells and help reduce inflammation. There's even some evidence
that photobiomodulation to the neck area may support thyroid healing
in conditions like hashimotos and while I personally still love
(18:38):
supporting the thyroid with nutrients like selenium and iodine and
small doses as well, sun light I think is one
of the foundational tools here for keeping the thyroid strong.
I also want to briefly touch on pregnancy. There's often
a fear based narrative around some light during pregnancy of
especially avoiding heat, avoiding overheating, staying inside, et cetera. And
(18:59):
of course, while we want to during pregnancy of avoid burning,
we're overheating. Of course, our nity actually increases our need
for sunlight, not lessens it. And like I said, sunlight
supports vitamin deproduction, which is essential for fetal developments. Is
actually a massive factor that we're finding out more and
more really is correlated to better pregnancy outcomes across the board.
(19:20):
It helps immune function and even reduced risk of complications
like preclamsy and gestational diabetes. Sunlight also helps with moove
regulation af they're finding there may be a positive affect
you're encountering prenatal and postpartum anxiety and depression. Also, it
is helpful and vital for calcium metabolism and bone formation.
For both mom and baby, and even in birth timing.
(19:42):
Some research this is fascinating found that sunlight exposure in
the third trimester is associated with healthier birth weights and
more optional birth timing. So whether you're trying to support
your thyroid balance, your hormones, or you are growing a
tiny human, sunlight is one of the most foundational tools
can use. There's also a big mental effect here, and
(20:04):
I think sunlight is an overlooked, massively impactual tool when
it comes to mental health. Sunlight is perhaps one of
the fastest, most effective ways to shift yourmode. In fact,
studies show that morning sunlight exposure can be as effective
as antidepressants for some people with seasonal effective disorder. And
I've personally and anecdotally felt this strongly when I visited
(20:26):
countries that get almost no light at all in the winter,
and I notice a difference in how I felt my
mental health even within the span of one week. And
I noticed this too, if I don't get enough light,
even throughout the course of a week, I will start
to feel a difference. And why is this. It's because light,
especially bright full spectrum light, activate your body's production serotonin,
(20:47):
like I said, which is the neurotransmitter responsible for happiness, contentment,
and emotional stability. Serotonin is also the building block for valatonin.
Like I said, so when you get enough natural light
during the day, you are not just setting yourself up
to feel better during today, but to sleep better, which
leads to more resilience the next day as well. And
sunlight increases BDNF, which is brain derived neurotropic factor, and
(21:12):
you can think of BD and F as miracle grow
for your brain. There's a lot of emerging evidence on this.
It supports neuroplasticity, improves learning outcomes, memory, and protects against
cognitive decline. And it's also, as you guessed, triggered by
a natural light exposure, especially in the morning hours as
well ask certain dietary strategies that I'll cover in a
different episode. There's even research showing that regular on light
(21:36):
exposure reduces the risk of depression, anxiety, bipolar episodes, Alzheimer's
and ADHD symptoms. And to me, this makes complete sense
because we weren't designed to spend our days inside disconnected
from the rhythms of nature, steering into flickering blue light
rectangles like many of us are doing, and like I'm
doing right now as I record this. I talked before
(21:57):
about nature deficit disorder, and I think that light is
a big piece of this. When we are chronically light deprived,
we don't just get tired, we get sad, we get reactive,
we get overwhelmed, we get disconnected, and when we reconnect
to light in the right way, we literally light up again. Personally,
I've noticed that my best days, where I feel the
(22:17):
most calm, grounded and joyful, almost always start with morning
sunlight and natural light exposure throughout the day and freennny
mom's listening. This works for kids too, including babies. If
our kids are struggling with focus or mood swings or sleep,
one of the most powerful things we can do is
help get their light cues back on track. Now, I
want to talk about circadian rhythm reset. So let's zoom
(22:39):
out for a second and look at the big picture
he had. Body is one hundred, roughly thirty seventy trillion selves,
and almost every single one of them runs on a
twenty four hour biological rhythm, which is your circadian thiss
governs everything from when you wake and sleep, to when
and how your body repairs itself to when hormones are
released when your gut digests, when your brain is most creative,
(23:01):
and when are ready to wind down. Think, guess what
one of the biggest influencers of certainianism is You guessed it.
Light exposure. More specifically, the right light cues at the
right time of day, including some light hitting your skin
and your eyeballs for stand in the morning, some amount
of midday sun and ideally sunset exposure as well. This
is because your eyes contain This is so fascinating to me.
(23:24):
Your eyes contained special non visual photoreceptors. These are called
intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells fun science turn that detect
blue light. When these receptors since bright natural light early
in the day, they send a signal to a part
of your brain called the super chismatic nucleus, which is
your central circadian clock. This clock than signals every system
(23:48):
in your body to tellium hat it's morning. Time to
make cortisol, revop the metabolism, get a digestion going, start
the clock from melatonin production tonight. So this one signal
triggers everything else downstream. But here's the thing. The signal
only works with real light. Indoor light doesn't cut it.
Screens don't cut it. Even standing here window doesn't cut it.
(24:09):
Because that's only about one fiftieth of the LUs of
being outside, even on cloudy day. And when we miss
that early sunlight, our circadian rhythm can get very disrupted.
Our melatonin release can be delayed. We feel tired at
the wrong times, We feel wired at night. If you
have forgotten this second wind at eleven o'clock at night,
this could be why our digestion gets sluggish. We might
(24:31):
crave carbs or caffeine to stay awake throughout the day.
Hormones can become unpredictable, and sleep quality can suffer. If
this sounds familiar, I've seen it over and over in
myself and other people. When you fix your light environment,
so many other things fall into place. So again, this
truly is free and some bullets within thirty minutes of
(24:52):
waking up, stepping outside without sunglasses, no contacts, if you
could help it, just ten to fifteen minutes of unfiltered
light on your skin and your eyes. This does not mean,
of course, steering directly at the sound at all. It
just means that you need to be outside without anything
between your eyes and nature. Even better if you can
combine this with movement or grounding or hydration as well.
(25:14):
But if you can just experiment with this, you might
be amazed how different you feel in a couple weeks
of watching the sunrise and getting a natural light exposure.
I honestly believe that this is one of the most
underrated wellness tools we have. It all starts with the sun,
and it's free for all of us. And now I
want to shift gears a little bit and talk about
(25:36):
biometric benefits and the light code. This gets a little
bit more into the physics realm. But I think this
is so fascinating. So we've talked about how sunlight supports hormones, mood,
circadian rhythm, and energy production. But I want to go
even deeper because the body is not just biochemical or biological.
It's also electrical. I've talked about this before. There's a
(25:56):
fascinating book called The Body Electric that really delves into this.
But every cell in your body has a voltage, every
organ has its own frequency. You are at your core
a bioelectric being, actually a bioelectric electromagnetic being would be
really precise, and guess what charges the system? Light, especially
the full spectrum range of light red and near infra red,
(26:19):
ultraviolet and natural sunlight spectrums. When those wavelengths hit our
skin and our cells, they don't just trigger biological reactions,
they quite literally restore our cellular charge. Here's out sunlight
helps to structure and make coherent the water inside our cells.
This is sometimes referred to as easy water or exclusion
zone water, and this was researched extensively by doctor Gerald Pollock. Essentially,
(26:43):
it acts like a living battery, and sunlight, especially the
infrared spectrum of sunlight, charges that battery. So think of
it like this if you want to simplify the cascade. Here,
your mitochondria use red and fred light to make atp.
Your cells use that same light to charge up your
water based voltage systems. Your nervous system, muscles, and even
(27:05):
your heart rely on that electrical flow to function properly.
And when we don't get this, we are quite literally
not supporting the electrical capacity of our body as much
as we could Without sun light, the system starts to
short circuit. You might not feel sick in the traditional sense,
might feel dull or drained and flamed, tired, poggy, or disconnected.
(27:26):
It's also not just about internal voltage. It's also about
how the body communicates. Cells actually use light singles to
talk to each other. In fact, some scientists believe that
biophoton communication, which is the admission of tiny particles of
light from ourselves, may be one of the primary ways
our body coordinates healing and regeneration. So when you step
(27:47):
into the sun, you're not just getting warm, You're literally
getting a frequency fuel that your body recognizes, receives, and
responds to you in a myriad of ways. It's like
charging a crystal or sinking your internal wife to the
Earth's signal. And I know that can sound a little woe.
This is actually like strongly rooted in physics, and no
led screen, pill or supplement can fully replicate this effect. Essentially,
(28:11):
some light carries electromagnetic codes that your body was designed
to read, and the more we receive these, and the
more consistently, the more our system comes back online. This
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One of the largest bone house studies ever conducted followed
thousands of women taking calcium and oral vitamin D daily
and the results were surprising, but not in the way
(28:52):
you would think. They saw no significant reduction in their
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we think, and it turns out they might actually be counterproductive.
But here's where it gets interesting. A brand new study
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(29:15):
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it sharpens focus, and improves energy and so much more.
But hydration is not about just drinking water, because being
optimally hydrated a state called u hydration, is about optimizing
your body's fluid ratios. And this fluid balance depends on
(30:39):
many factors, including the intake and excretion of electrolytes, which
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charged minerals that conduct electricity to power your nervous system.
I talk a lot about nervous system on this podcast.
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(31:02):
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We have more steady energy, improved cognitive function, suffer fewer
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(31:24):
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Replacing that loss sodium with electrolytes can help you feel
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(31:46):
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at that link you will receive a free sample pack
with any order. I also want to talk about immune
system and inflammation because I feel like this is a
big component for a lot of people. As I said
at the beginning of this episode, avoiding sunlight might be
increasing your risk of chronic disease more than almost anything
(32:27):
else that you're doing. I know that sounds dramatic, but
let's break it down. We have been told for decades
to avoid the sun to reduce our risk pile of
staink answer and burning is harmful, no question. I'm not
by any means recommending anybody get a sunburn ever, but regular, healthy,
non burning sunlight exposure is actually protective, not just for
(32:50):
the skin, but for our whole body, and there is
data to bak back this up. Facts. An analysis of
available data found no correlation betweal sun exposure and increased
skin cancer risk, just between sunburn and skin cancer risk.
So again from the available data, there is not a
(33:11):
correlation between filthy sun exposure and skin cancer, only between sunburn,
true skin damage and skin cancer. And there's also strong
data that having correct vitamin D levels and potentially these
other benefits from the sun reduce the risk of other
types of cancer. So this is why I personally, again
this is entirely just my opinion. None of this is
(33:34):
medical advice in the slightest, but this is why I
personally feel sunlight is exponentially worth the time and worth
I don't even feel that there are risk to healthy
sun exposure, but that the benefits far far exceed any
potential risk. So let's talk about inflammation. Chronic inflammation is
linked to almost every type of modern chronic disease. It's
(33:54):
stopped about often on this podcast by many guests, and
is linked to or correlated with things like autoimmunity and
cardiovascular disease, metabolic dysfunction, neuroor generation, and even certain types
of cancers. And sunlight is one of the most powerful
free anti inclammatory tools we have. Here's why you be
(34:16):
light the kid We get midday stimulates the production of
nitric oxide help which helps lower blood pressure, improve circulation,
and reduce systemic inflammation. Red and neuronfred light reduce oxidative
stress and mitochondrial dysfunction, which are major drivers of chronic inflammation.
The light also modulates T regulatory cells, which are the
(34:37):
peacekeepers in our immune system, helping calm our overactive immune response,
which is correlated here with autommine conditions. And I feel
like this was personally helpful for me. And then, while
I didn't want to talk about it early on in
this episode, let's touch on vitamin D. It's technically a hormone,
not a vitamin. It plays a massive role in immune
system regulation, calcium metabolism, gene expression, and even mental health.
(35:02):
But here's what most people miss. Vitamin D from sunlight
is different than from a pill. When you make it
from sunlight exposure through your skin, you also get cholesterol sulfi,
which is important for cardiovascular and cellular health. You get
balanced vitamin DE metabolites, not just vitamin D storage, but
the active forms that are also very important. And you
(35:22):
get light triggered cofactors like nitric oxide, serotonin, and melotonin synthesis.
So it's a full symphony, and popping a vitamin D
pill does not replicate the whole song, just a single note.
So here's a kicker. I mentioned this in the beginning.
A large scale study out of Sweden found that women
who avoided the sun had a similar life expectancy to smokers,
(35:46):
which is where that statistic comes from. So, in other words,
not getting sunlight might be as risky as smoking a packaget,
which turns on its head. What we have often been
told about sun exposure for the past few decades. Let
that sink in From the data we have available. Sunlight
deficiency has been linked to higher rates of heart disease,
type two diabetes, depression, Alzheimer's, multiple sclerosis, and certain types
(36:11):
of cancer in fluting potentially breast and colon cancer. And
yet we're still telling people to avoid the sun. So
I personally feel it is time to flip the script
because the danger is not sunlight exposure, it's sunlight deficiency.
And now that we've covered how essential sunlight is for
our biology, I also want to briefly touch on modern
(36:33):
habits that block or distort these vital signals, because this
is where a lot of us and myself included for
a long time get tripped up so big one and
something I personally will not use for the roosen Funger
to explain is suns green. I'm not totally anti sens free,
and I'm certainly not recommending anybody else do or do
(36:53):
not use sunscreen. I'm saying I personally don't use it
for several reasons. I'm certainly anti regular less sunscreen use,
or using sunscreen when we're getting moderate sun exposure or
burly eats like sunrise sunset sun exposure when there's no
risk of burning anyway, Here's what most people don't realize.
Most conventional sunscreens block UVV, which is what we need
(37:15):
to viteamin deproduction, but allow some parts of vitamin or
of UVA, which penetrates deeper into the skin and is
more associated with aging and DNA damage. Many of them
contain intercurritians rupting chemicals like oxydebin zone, eve a bin
zone or octgozite, which can mimic estrogen and interfere with hormones,
which is especially problematic in children, and one combined with sunlight,
(37:39):
some of these compounds can actually create pre radicals, damaging
the skin. More than protecting it. So, yes, sunburn is bad.
Blocking all sun exposure all the time with chemical sunscreen
that contain that endocrintice ruptors is also bad. So better
approach what I do. At least I build a solar
callus slowly, starting with short, regular sun exposure as soon
(38:00):
as I can early in the spring. I use mineral
based sunscreen almost never, but if I needed to that
was going to be, for instance, scuba diving and couldn't
cover up or something for the whole day, I would
use that. I much prefer I am going to be
outside all day to just use clothing and shade instead
of sunscreening of any kind. And another factor here that
I love to debunk and talk about is sull glasses.
(38:24):
I wore them consistently for years because yes, they make
it easier to stay in the sun, and they look cute.
I especially wear them in the car if it was
bright out. But here's what I didn't know at the time.
Our eyes are one of the most important sensors in
that body. I chopped about this special photoreceptors in our eyes.
When we wear sunglasses, especially in the morning or whom
we're getting bright sunlight, we are blocking the very signal
(38:47):
that sets our Sirpadian rhythm. We are also blocking something
that is signaling to our skin that we are in
the sun and need to make melanin, which is part
of that natural process. So essentially we increase our risk
of sunburn by wearing sunglasses. Also, we block this light
getting through the eyes, which we as I explained, regulates
cortisol and melatonin. It tells our brain when to be
(39:09):
alert versus winter rest. It impacts our neurotransmitter production, especially serotonin.
So if we're always wearing sunglasses, our body may never
get the memo that it's daytime at least correctly. We
might not get that full spectrum of sunlight. So obviously,
if we are skiing or in direct glare, that's an
important time to protect our eyes for sure. But everyday
(39:30):
sun exposure, especially morning sun exposure, try skipping sunglasses and
see what happens. Another quick caveat let's talk about windows.
This one surprised me. You can sit by a sunny window,
you can feel the warm sun. Many modern windows block UVB,
so you're not getting vitamin D. You're still getting UVA,
which is more tied to aging and skin damage, and
(39:53):
this filtered light can increase free radical damage because you're
getting incomplete wavelengths of light. So I do get some
light outside, not through a window. And lastly, I want
to briefly touch on artificial lighting because many of us
are getting much more exposure to artificial indoor light than
natural light. And most indoor light now comes from sources
like LEDs and fluorescenspore from screens which emit high mounts
(40:16):
of blue light very little or no rhdtoranfrared, no UV, wedswever,
and they often flicker at a rate that your eyes
can't see, but your brain can register. So this creates
its own kind of biological stress. Your body essentially thinks
it's midday. It registers stress from the flicker that you
don't even are, you're not even aware of, and so
this can lead to us being more anxious, that overstimulated
(40:38):
and to sleep issues. If you want to buffer this,
this is what I do. Get sunlight first day in
the morning, get bright midday sunlight when you can go
see the sunset as well, use red or amber wolves
in the evening to support malatonin after sunset. I will
link in the show roads to some resources of what
I personally use. You can install things like flux or
(40:59):
night shift on phones and screens at night, or use
blue lit blocking glasses after sunset and whenever possible, which
I hope for all of us is every day, go outside,
even if it's cloudy, even if it's raining. Getting indirect
cloudy outdoor light is better than the best indoor lighting.
So trying to get as much natural light as possible safely.
(41:20):
So and summary and action, Steph. Let's bring this full circle.
We have been told for decades that sunlight is dangerous,
but in my opinion, the real danger is living in
a light starved body, in a disconnected world that is
artificially lit with light that our body doesn't understand. Sunlight
is not just about vitamin D, that is one tiny part.
(41:43):
It is also about mitochondrial and ATP production, about hormone
regulation from cortisol to melatonin, to serotonin to testosterone. It
is about mental health, mood and emotional state stability. It
is about circating rhythm and setting our body's internal clock.
It is about immune function, inflammation reduction, and yes, even
(42:05):
like energy within ourselves, like the vults of our body.
In my opinion, sunlight is a biological necessity. It's an
energetic tuning fork and a form of communication that our
body knows how to read. And when we stop bearing
it and start using it wisely, it is dramatic what
we can feel. So key takeaways simple things. If you
(42:26):
want to start the first three things I would recommend
to try today, get morning sunlight within thirty minutes of
waking up. Super simple, nothing fancy needed. Just step outside,
no sunglasses, no window between you and the light. Just
get ten to fifteen minutes on your skin and your
eyeballs as soon as possible after waking up. This will
help your hormones, boost your mood, and struck an internal
(42:47):
clock from the aluatonium production at night. Number two, expose
your skin safely to midday sun. If you are sunsensitive,
be very careful, start very slowly. Build a solar callis
slowly time. Aim for very short, non burning sun exposure.
To get the benefits of those things I talked about,
not just vitamin D, but nitric oxide and cellular charge
(43:10):
as well. There's an app called d as in Vitamin
D d Minder that lets you calculate how much sun
you need for vitamin D production. For your skin type
and the area where you live. And then lastly eight
number three, ditch artificial light at night. My tip would
be after sunsets which to amber or red lights, wear
blue light blocking glasses, and avoid bright overhead LEDs. Bonus
(43:33):
points if you want to use candle lights, dark gazing,
or go really low light at night, so bonus quick tips.
Combine sunlight with movement or grounding for amplified benefits. Move
your morning tea, breakfast, journaling, meditation, outdoors. Let your kids
get sun too. It helps with so much, and especially
if you have hormonal challenges or your pregnant or postpartum
(43:56):
prioritize gentle light in the morning. This will actually help
support homone balance, milk production for restfeeding moms, and emotional resilience.
The good news is you do not have to overhaul
your life. You just have to step outside and let
your body remember how to thrive. So light won't solve everything,
but it might solve a lot more than you think.
(44:16):
And I would love to hear your feedback how you
incorporate light or if you fully disagree with me, I
would love to hear that too. Please always feel free
to leave a comment or if you are willing. I'm
honored when you leave an honest writing a review because
that helps other people find this podcast as well. And
as always, thank you so much for listening, for sharing
(44:37):
your valuable time, energy, and attention with me. I'm so grateful.
I don't take that lately. Thank you for being here,
and I hope that you will join me again on
the next episode of the Wellness Mama podcast. If you're
enjoying these interviews, would you please take two minutes to
leave a rating or review on iTunes for me. Doing
this helps more people to find the podcast, which means
(44:58):
even more moms and family please can benefit from the information.
I really appreciate your time and thanks as always for listening.
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