Latest / The Reverse Aging Club with Meredith Oke / 160: Why Morning Sunlight Exposure Holds the Key to Resetting Your Circadian Rhythm with Valerie Giangrande

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160: Why Morning Sunlight Exposure Holds the Key to Resetting Your Circadian Rhythm with Valerie Giangrande · The Reverse Aging Club with Meredith Oke

6:15
Doctor Valerie Giangrande, welcome back to the Quantum
6:19
Biology Collective podcast. Thank you, Meredith. I'm so excited
6:23
to be here. Oh, it's so good to have you again. Okay, so. So we
6:27
had, like, a roaring Q and A session in the
6:30
last live cohort of the certification of the applied
6:34
quantum biology certification. And I was like, okay, we gotta get Valerie back on the
6:37
pod. But before we get into all the new stuff that
6:41
you're, you know, thinking about and looking at, could you just
6:45
sort of lay out for us how a very traditionally
6:48
trained medical practitioner
6:52
ended up in this crazy world of
6:57
fringe science? Absolutely. Yeah.
7:00
It's. It started when I started when I had my son, you
7:04
know, when I had kids and my son had health issues and they were
7:08
neurological issues when he was 4 years old. He is now 17.
7:12
Doesn't even realize that he had these issues, actually. But anyway, he had these
7:15
issues that were going on. I remember going to the pediatrician and they just said,
7:19
here, give him a medication. And I didn't like that option. Ended up going, kind
7:23
of looking at holistic stuff. Tried to, you know, did all the natural things, went
7:26
to a functional medicine practitioner, did all the things. And things were. Got
7:30
so much better with all the changes that we had to make. Diet, nutrition
7:34
supplements, all of those things. Toxins and, you know, but it. But then I
7:37
started. It was such a stressful time for me that I ended up getting a
7:41
lot of different symptoms. I had, like, fibromyalgia and just a lot of different things
7:44
that I wanted help with. So then I went to a doctor for functional medicine,
7:48
doctor as well. And one of the first things he said to me was, you
7:52
need more sun. You need to get more sun. And I just. It,
7:56
you know, took me back. I thought he was joking. And, you know, just. I
7:59
know I've told this story many times, but I just. I was so conditioned. Now
8:02
I got some when I was a kid, when I was a teenager. But, you
8:05
know, ever since my early 20s and now 50, like I have been,
8:08
I was always blocking the sun. I never got the sun. Even on a cloudy
8:12
rainy day. I was always blocking it because. Because I thought I needed to. And
8:14
it was so sensitive. And he pointed me to the
8:18
research and to people who are in the space. And
8:22
it just changed my life immediately. I could not believe all of the
8:26
information and it's there, and it changed everything. So I made those changes in my
8:29
own life. And when I say those changes, I mean, I go out in
8:33
the morning at morning sun. I just get more Exposure. I did it safely
8:37
and it changed everything. And I, you know, change the habits of my
8:40
family. And then I started to tell patients, I just educate so much because I
8:44
think this, this extra layer of how much light controls the
8:48
entire body is such an important conversation to have that we don't know about. And
8:51
you see a lot of different things that are going on in the eyes and
8:55
our health that can be traced back to, to poor light or
8:58
poor lighting environments. It's really interesting. So when you, When I
9:02
educate patients, there's. It resonates with many, many people. And I
9:06
see year after year, if they are, are listening, there are so many improvements that
9:09
they feel, systemically they feel and just, it just makes a huge
9:13
difference. So I think the education piece of adding this extra
9:17
layer of how light controls the entire body through our eyes especially,
9:20
is really important. I just want to share that because I think it's one of
9:24
the most important things that changed my life. And I think it's really valid.
9:27
The research is very valid and it makes a big difference.
9:32
Yes. And once you start looking into it, the
9:36
research is so extensive, going back many
9:40
decades, in some cases even longer,
9:43
it really, I think that's why so many of us felt
9:47
so. Almost like we had to take on
9:51
a promotional role in this. Because I think so we
9:55
often think, well, once the research is clear, things will just change.
10:01
And when you look at circadian rhythm and light, it's like
10:04
that is not true. Like, the research has been there definitively
10:09
since at least the 1980s. And then obviously, you know, the importance
10:13
of sunlight is an ancient, an ancient idea.
10:18
And yet it didn't shift. It didn't shift. And even
10:22
now it's just starting to, like, you might be the only person
10:26
in a patient's life who's giving them this
10:29
information. I do find it interesting that we're seeing this
10:32
explosion of red light therapy. Right. Even in the eyes. There's a ton of research
10:36
on red light therapy. But if you look at it, the reason why it works
10:39
is because that's what the sun gives us, especially in the morning. That morning sunshine
10:43
that most of us aren't getting is red light therapy. And it does do so
10:47
much. And I think that's so important. It's just so funny that even people who
10:51
don't know this are promoting or talking about all this research about red light. Well,
10:54
where do you think that comes from? The sun comes from all the stuff that
10:58
we are depleted. And because we don't have that when we're indoors. So it's
11:02
just so interesting. So I think there are some shifts, but not enough. Not enough
11:05
at this point at all. Not yet. Yeah. Yeah. And
11:09
the vision of the Institute of Applied Quantum
11:13
Biology is that everyone in the world has access to at least one person
11:17
who can teach them this, because that's all it takes.
11:22
And you're that person for so many of your patients. And so, yeah, it is
11:25
really interesting because there's more and more research coming out showing how effective red light
11:29
therapy is. But one of the reasons is because it's
11:33
filling us up with all the infrared light that we're totally deficient
11:36
in because we don't go outside. Don't go
11:40
outside. And because our indoor lighting is just so
11:44
wrong. It's just not normal. Right. I love all the
11:48
research from Scott Dimmerman and infrared and how it penetrates our
11:51
eyelids and gets in there. And you know, how important that is and how we're
11:54
just lacking so much of that, that it's just such an interesting image. Important
11:58
piece that we really need to understand that just getting outside, we're getting those
12:01
signals. Right. Okay, so let's talk
12:05
about what's happening. You've mentioned light
12:08
and going into our bodies,
12:12
but particularly our eyes, is
12:15
controlling a lot of things, if not everything. So what's going on there?
12:19
Yeah. So we have blue receptors in our
12:23
eyes that we have. I mean, we have cells that see the color blue, and
12:26
then we have cells that are reading the color blue sky,
12:29
basically, and it's reading the amount of blue that we're exposed to. And then it's
12:33
sending those actual timing signals. Blue turns into light,
12:37
turns into a timing signal, and it gets sent right to the suprachiasmatic
12:40
nucleus, which is a master clock that we have right behind our eyes
12:44
in the brain. And that clock, when it's wired by
12:48
this blue light, and every time it gets a signal of blue, depending on what
12:51
time of day it is, it's going to send signals to the entire body. It's
12:55
turning on everything in the body. It's turning on our hormones, our
12:58
metabolism. It's just sending messages. Every single cell in our body has a
13:02
clock gene. And we need to know what time to do things. And when we
13:05
get that blue, it's telling us exactly what time to do it. And
13:09
the strongest signal does come from the eyes. And the way it works,
13:12
I mean, it makes sense. When the sky, when the sun is rising, there's a
13:15
small amount of blue and there's this beautiful red, and there's infrared and all these
13:18
signals that tell us it's morning. And then as that sun is rising, that blue
13:22
signal is getting stronger. So it's just going to keep resetting our body like a
13:26
clock. So through our eyes and there's all the other layers that come with it
13:29
that's very balanced and does different things throughout the day. So if
13:33
we are never getting those signals through our eyes, our brain really doesn't know what
13:37
time it is because we're spending so much time indoors. And
13:40
unfortunately, indoors, we don't really have exposure to
13:44
incandescent bulbs anymore, which used to be hot, used to have all the
13:47
infrared, and kind of more of a gentle signal that was
13:51
more like sunrise and sunset. But now everything is energy efficient. So they
13:55
took out the heat portion and now we're exposed to LED lights. And if we
13:58
look at those LED lights, there's this blue spike for
14:02
the most part. And that blue spike is the same color temperature at 12 o'
14:05
clock in the afternoon. So we wake up in the morning, we're not getting the
14:09
sun signals. We're just getting these signals that say, our brain says, all right, I
14:12
guess it's 12 o' clock in the afternoon. So here's this shot of cortisol.
14:15
Like, it just, it doesn't make sense. We're getting different levels of hormones that we
14:19
would get, as opposed to the gradual increase that we need from the
14:22
sunlight. And then we're lacking infrared, so we're not getting any of those balancing
14:26
healing wavelengths, red and infrared light. The reason why it is so important is
14:30
because it powers up the energy cells that we have in our body, our
14:33
mitochondria, which basically control the health of the entire body. But in
14:37
the eyes, there's such a dense number of mitochondria because we can
14:41
imagine how much light we're constantly processing. And red and infrared
14:45
light help power that up. So we need those signals, especially first thing in the
14:48
morning, to help give us that energy in addition to the blue.
14:52
So all of those signals are, again, keep controlling our body. At the end of
14:55
the day, we're not supposed to have any blue. We're not supposed to see any
14:58
of that light because it's dark outside. But when we're indoors, we're still getting those
15:02
signals. It is going to disrupt our clocks as well. And then we have the
15:05
ultraviolet piece, which I can go into as well, that also gets layered in throughout
15:09
the day, which is also something that is an important piece to
15:12
our biology. And while there are safe ways to get those
15:16
signals at different times of day to help Also trigger different
15:19
mechanisms in the body having to do with our hormones and our mood
15:23
centers, our sleep patterns. Melatonin. The eyes
15:27
make retinal dopamine when we're exposed to morning signals. And we
15:30
actually need retinal dopamine to help us see better during the day. It actually
15:34
helps the contrast sensitivity. It's a whole cycle that we need. And then at
15:38
night, we think of melatonin that gets made in the body
15:41
through darkness based on light. But there's also retinal melatonin that
15:45
also helps protect and heal and regenerate our eyes while we're
15:49
sleeping. So light plays such a huge role. Again, when we're not getting those signals,
15:52
we're really not. Those patterns aren't being formed. And you can get a lot of
15:56
eye issues. But more than that, you can get a lot of downstream issues when
15:59
we're getting those wrong signals.
16:04
Yeah. Wow. It's so.
16:08
It's so interesting to me because. Yeah. What
16:12
you're saying, and the way that I've heard
16:16
it put is that the eye is a
16:19
circadian organ. Yes. Right.
16:23
So. And it's. It just. There's so much.
16:26
I don't know, I'm just a little. I always get a little
16:30
kind of shocked when someone explains it so thoroughly because it's like there
16:34
is so much going on that
16:37
starts in our eyes. Yes. And I just don't think about
16:41
it. And I know I was concentrating on the blue light signals, those
16:45
melanopsin signals. But there are other receptors also that also help us
16:48
locally local change the clocks in our eye and also help with other. Other
16:52
rhythms in the body as well. So it's. Melanopsin is the main clock
16:56
setter. But there's also things like neuropsyn, which they found in the eyes as well,
17:00
which we need. And neuropsyn is actually a UVA receptor. It
17:04
also. It collects violet and uva. So right at
17:07
that border of UVA and violet. And that's also a signal that we need and
17:11
we have it in our. So what's the significance of the. Of
17:15
the fact that we now know there are neuropsychin receptors in
17:18
our eyes? How does that change how we understand what's going
17:22
on? Yeah. So there's a couple of things. The research shows with
17:26
neuropsyn that it's responsible for our local
17:29
circadian rhythm in the eye. Again, it does a lot of the. Without
17:33
those signals, without the violin and the uva, the
17:37
local circadian rhythm. So again, the retinal dopamine the retinal melatonin. Some of that wouldn't
17:40
be credit. It turns on some clock genes locally. It also helps us with nitric
17:44
oxide. You know, we're getting the UVA signals, we're getting nitric oxide,
17:48
which is helping us have more nutrients. So I'm going to backtrack. Whenever
17:52
we're exposed to UVA in our skin and in our eyes, our blood
17:55
vessels will dilate and start releasing nitric oxide. And that's because
17:59
our red blood cells want to collect that UV and it helps increase
18:03
nutrients, nutrients
18:06
delivery. So this is a good thing. We
18:10
like that the sun increases nitric. Oxide, increases
18:14
nitric oxide. It also is going to help up regulate a lot of these neurotransmitters.
18:17
We have a lot of amino acids in our, in our eyes. And some of
18:20
the aromatic amino acids, meaning amino acids that collect ultraviolet
18:24
light can be triggered and optimized like serotonin and
18:28
dopamine and all the hormones that we think of when we think of our mood.
18:31
And it also helps link to something called POM C in our brain, which is
18:35
just another link to our metabolism.
18:39
There's a big chemical in our brain that links uva helps link
18:42
that through our eyes to our skin. And when we get those signals through
18:46
our eyes to the brain, we, we're optimizing our metabolism,
18:50
we're making endorphins, we're getting happy. We're doing a lot of different things, A lot
18:54
of different chemicals are being made because of those signals through our eyes. And again,
18:57
we're not staring at the sun, we're not going out and staring at uv. But
19:01
those UVA signals happen about an hour after sunrise, depending on where you
19:05
live. And just being outside at that time, along with the stronger blue
19:09
signals, those are what's going to optimize our eyes even more, optimize the body
19:13
through our eyes. So we do want to be mindful of getting outside, especially in
19:16
the morning. Those morning signals are, are so important because they do so many things
19:20
to jumpstart the day. Our metabolism, our mood, our hormones,
19:24
links with our digestion, our hor, you know, everything again is linked. And if
19:28
we're consistently missing that morning signals, those morning signals, we're actually
19:32
missing so many important things. And we want to make sure that those hormones
19:35
are, those neurotransmitters are regulated like serotonin,
19:39
for example. We want to make sure that serotonin is optimized during the day. That's
19:43
going to give us a lot of that energy. But at the end of the
19:45
day when it's dark. So serotonin is the precursor for
19:48
melatonin and we need a lot of that serotonin in order
19:53
for the body to transfer to melatonin when it's dark. So it has to be
19:56
very dark at night. So I think those cycles of very bright
20:00
morning or daytime sunlight, combined with
20:04
the night darkness, those two signals are super important.
20:07
And it all happens again through our eyes, also through our skin. But our eyes
20:11
are going to be the strongest signal for the brain.
20:15
Wow. And to what extent was
20:19
this covered in your traditional training?
20:23
I'm sorry, I.
20:27
That's. That's it. Yeah. I don't remember any. I don't remember any of
20:31
it. And I don't know. Now, that being said, I. I mean, I've
20:35
been in practice now 23 years or so, so I don't know.
20:39
I will say, though, there is a new graduate that's working with us
20:43
and she does know about melanopsin. She knows about circadian rhythm and she.
20:47
They are teaching it now. I don't know what the extent is. I
20:50
am hoping that at least they're telling people to get outside in the morning, you
20:54
know, with. With naked eyes and to make sure I have darkness at night. I
20:57
don't know if that's the extent of it. I would like. I actually should have
21:00
found that out, but I know they are teaching that a little bit now, but
21:03
when I was in school, they didn't. I don't remember. Unless my memory. I don't
21:06
remember any of that.
21:10
Yes. And I mean, it. It's sort of like nutrition
21:14
and for. For. In medical school, it's like they cover
21:18
it very briefly and then move on.
21:22
And so even, you know, of course you're not going to remember it because it
21:26
wasn't a focal point at all.
21:30
And so is it. And I just like, you know, trying to get a sense,
21:33
like your sense of things. I don't expect you to know, like, definitively,
21:37
but, you know, this idea, like the melanopsin receptors, the
21:40
neuropsyn receptors, there's just more and more research showing how important
21:45
our eyes are and what we expose our eyes to make such
21:49
a difference. Is that getting translated, like
21:52
at conferences, or is it. You know,
21:57
I know a lot of people think there's. There's like a pipeline
22:00
of information and all of the doctors have access
22:04
to it, and when something new comes, they just turn the tap on and get
22:08
the new information. And it doesn't work like that. Like things are sort of
22:12
scattered. But I Feel like red light therapy is being.
22:17
Is being talked about a lot. Okay. The FDA is coming, you know, has come
22:20
up with a new red light device for macular degeneration that I think. I'm not
22:24
sure if it's being used in practice yet. But red light therapy is in conferences
22:28
a lot. I don't know. I haven't seen any.
22:31
I haven't. No. I don't know. There might be a few, but
22:35
I don't really know. When I sign up for my continuing
22:39
education courses, none of it is really circadian rhythm that I can think
22:43
of offhand. There are a lot of holistic doctors talking about
22:46
nutrition and vitamins and supplements and things like that. And that's been
22:50
a big thing. People talk about lifestyle,
22:54
but not necessarily light. This light piece is, again, a
22:58
really important piece. I mean, I have a lot of. Even just in general, even
23:02
diabetic patients, whenever they come in, and I always say, did your doctor tell you
23:05
about how light at night can increase your blood sugar? Do they tell you to
23:08
try to block that light? And they say, no, they told me to stop eating
23:11
pasta and stop eating carbs. And I'm like, oh, my gosh, this is such a
23:14
big piece of the puzzle. We need to talk about light. For so many different
23:17
health issues and diabetes. Since it is such a big issue for the eyes,
23:21
I think that is crucial. I think that has to be a conversation to have
23:25
with people about light. I mean, how it affects everything. And
23:28
a. Of different conditions are, you know, obviously are affected by light, and you
23:32
can see that in the eyes. So that's why it's such a good way to
23:35
educate people about it. Yes. Yeah. And I want to
23:39
talk about how different things showing up in the eye can be
23:42
connected to other conditions. But first you
23:46
mentioned how artificial light at night raises our
23:50
blood sugar. And I find this is one of those points
23:53
where people are like, what?
23:58
Like. Sorry, what? Like, I'm doing all like my,
24:02
you know, I'm, as you said, like, I'm not eating my carbs and I'm doing
24:05
this and I'm doing that. But. But I'm on my phone before bed and
24:09
that's raising my blood sugar. Are you kidding me? Like,
24:12
yes. Sorry. Could you explain
24:16
how that's happening? Because it does sound
24:20
fantastical to people who are not familiar with
24:24
this world. So blue
24:28
light, which is found in our phones and in these artificial lights
24:32
will trigger melanopsin. So those melanopsin blue light receptors
24:35
will trigger, based on different nanometers of light, I'M
24:39
not gonna get into the numbers here, but those signals are in those artificial
24:43
lights that again are triggering melanopsin. So melanopsin is going to send a
24:46
message to the brain and there's a, you know, it's going to trigger
24:50
the production of aceto of
24:53
adrenocorticotropin hormone. It's going to tell our adrenal glands
24:56
to make cortisol. And then cortisol's. What's that going to do? It's going to go
25:00
to the liver and it's going to. The liver is going to release blood sugar
25:02
and it's raising our blood sugar because it has to, because cortisol, we need
25:06
cortisol. Cortisol is very important. It gives us energy, it keeps us awake. It's
25:09
what we need in the morning, but we don't need it at night. Cortisol
25:13
can lead to other. Can be a precursor to other hormones. So
25:17
it has an ability to mess with our hormones as well as should testosterone, things
25:21
like that. But cortisol inherently raises blood sugar, so it's going
25:24
to release blood sugar and then it also makes us a little more insulin
25:28
resistant because the body's not going to. Well, the body will
25:32
release more insulin to try to get rid of this blood sugar, but cortisol blunts
25:35
that responds a little bit. So now we have an epidemic of people who
25:39
are insulin resistant in addition to this high sugar
25:43
because of the cortisol. And then we have the whole leptin issue, which is a
25:45
whole other issue in general, which is also a circadian piece. Leptin plays
25:49
a role in how we, in our metabolism based on our fat cells, and
25:53
that's also circadian. But just a basic. Cortisol is
25:56
automatically just going to raise our blood sugar at the wrong time, and then we
26:00
have nothing lowering it. Now it's just coursing through our body, this
26:03
cortisol, which is also going to create more stress and it
26:07
blunts melatonin. And melatonin cannot be released if cortisol
26:11
is high. And that's another thing that's going to be an issue because melatonin is
26:14
going to help the whole body heal. So cortisol will raise blood
26:17
sugar just from having that blue light in our eyes. And a lot of people
26:20
say, oh, I put my phone on night shift setting, I turn my phone
26:24
orange. But that night shift setting on the phone, even on
26:27
maximum setting, is only 50% blockage. So if you have
26:30
50% of no blue, you have 50% blue and you need
26:34
zero. I mean, you need, you need to not have any blue at night to
26:38
not trigger those melanopsin cells. So it's, it's not enough. It's a kind of a
26:41
false sense of security a lot of people think they're getting. So we want no
26:45
blue. So we don't even want any bright light for the most part. Even if
26:48
we have no blue and really bright lights, that could be an issue. But specifically
26:52
blue, we want to avoid that. So phones, LEDs, overhead
26:56
TVs, all of that, we want to try to eliminate it. And it doesn't mean
27:00
that you have to turn off your lights and walk around with a candle. I
27:03
mean, there are things we can do. We know about our blue light blockers and
27:06
different circadian friendly bulbs. There are ways to get around that. But we just definitely
27:10
need to be mindful that once the sun goes down, we want those signals to
27:13
be correct so that cortisol does go down. Okay. So once the
27:17
sun goes down, we need to be as mindful
27:22
of our light environment as we would be of what we were eating. Right. Like,
27:25
I know, you know, I think of all of the moms I know,
27:29
like there is no way they would be allowing
27:33
junk food into their bodies or the bodies of their children, like
27:36
at, you know, late at night on a regular basis.
27:40
And yet we don't have the information available to know that
27:45
the artificial light is doing this, having the same effect.
27:49
So yeah, just to like get through that point a little more. So turning off
27:53
the overhead LEDs, that's a simple one because who, who wants those on
27:57
anyway? They're awful. Especially when it's dark out. Your body
28:00
just is like, ah, like it's too bright. So the
28:04
overheads go off. We put on some lamps with a warmer bulb,
28:07
incandescent or circadian friendly bulb.
28:12
A little trickier is the screens. Right. Like I like to
28:16
have a, I like to watch a little TV show or watch a movie.
28:20
So let's talk about the glasses.
28:23
Yeah, So I don't have them in front of me, but
28:27
there's. Everyone heard about blue light glasses, right? We all know that there's
28:31
blue light glasses. And I think a lot of people know that blue light
28:34
keeps you awake. I feel like that's a pretty known thing. A lot of people
28:37
hear it, they don't know the extent of it or they're like, oh, I have
28:40
my blue light blockers. But there's such a big difference between blocking blue light during
28:44
the day and night. And if you're getting, if you're Wearing a blue light blocker
28:47
that has no color to it, you're not really blocking blue light, especially
28:51
not enough. In order to block technically 100% of blue light,
28:54
the lenses have to be orange. I mean, they have to be really amber or
28:57
really orange. And you can see the wavelengths of whatever glasses you're using and make
29:01
sure that they are blocking up to at least you know, at a
29:05
minimum, 480 nanometers. That's the wavelength that
29:09
most activates. Melanopsin is 480 nanometers.
29:12
It's sky blue. But ideally, you want to go even a little further than that
29:16
because melanopsin can also respond to some people, like, even in the
29:20
green range. But that being said, the glasses have to be dark enough
29:23
and orange enough to block that light. Even yellow
29:27
glasses, Yellow glasses are not enough for nighttime. I tend to wear yellow during the
29:31
day because it gives me a nice, nice 50% blockage of
29:35
the harmful light that's going to damage the eyes during the day without messing with
29:38
circadian rhythm. But at night, I tend to wear orange ones, and they
29:42
just work so much better. And then I even wear red right before. But that's
29:45
a little different. That really blocks all the way up to all the green, and
29:48
it takes out a lot of the light. That's like my sleeping pill that I
29:51
use. But orange is really important at night again, after the
29:55
sun goes down. Okay. And I just wanted to make sure we
29:59
covered that because I, I don't want
30:02
people's. The way human nature is, our mind will go to, like, the worst,
30:06
hardest part of any change, right? And it's like, what? Like, no more. No
30:10
more tv, no more screens. No more. And it's like,
30:14
no, just make sure that your eyes are fully protected.
30:18
Right? And, you know, I know all of this, and even I
30:22
sometimes I'm like, you know, I just pick up my phone and I'm like, oh,
30:25
I forgot. You know, it's. But every,
30:29
every moment of protection, every little bit of
30:32
protection matters and, and makes a difference and is
30:36
improving our body's ability to function
30:40
and, and heal itself. So,
30:43
yeah, really. So the, so the blue blockers are really, really, really
30:47
important. And do you just, like, once the sun goes down, do you just put
30:51
them on or do you put them on if you're going to, like, watch TV
30:54
or something? I mean, I put them on. So I,
30:58
I put them on as soon as the sun goes down. I mean, they're on.
31:01
My husband does not. He waits a couple. He only puts them on a Few
31:04
hours before bed, especially at this time of year when it's dark at 4:30.
31:08
Right now, that being said, I'm at work. There are days I don't work. I
31:11
don't work every day. But on the days I do, there is one night I'm
31:13
working till seven and it's dark for a few hours already this time of year.
31:17
And I will say that I wear the yellow. And the second I leave
31:20
the office, I put on my orange. And I'm not. You're not supposed to drive
31:23
with them. But I live pretty close to the office. So anyway,
31:27
that being said, so I. But I put them on as soon as it's dark.
31:29
But I also want to make sure I've eaten already. I tend to try to
31:33
eat before the sun goes down as well because our digestive
31:36
enzymes are not really active as much at night. We're supposed to eat with
31:40
the sun. That's what we're designed to do, eat when the sun is up. Our
31:42
digestion is really strong. So I like to make sure I eat
31:46
and then, you know, darkness and then put them on and I leave them on
31:49
no matter what I'm doing until I, until I go to bed.
31:53
Whereas my husband's like, what do we have the lights off? It's 430. Why are
31:56
you like, I don't care.
32:00
But I mean, at least. And again, not everybody can do that. I recognize that
32:04
people are working. I don't expect people to put them on at 4:30, you know,
32:07
depending on where you live. But at least a few hours before bed. I mean,
32:11
ideally when you get home and it's dark, put them on. You know, that's what
32:14
I'm saying. It's a little bit harder for people who are at work and they're
32:17
working late. And you really don't want to be walking around with orange glasses because
32:20
you don't want to drive with them. But at least yellow in those situations. But
32:24
if you're home and it's dark, you put them on. It would be just such
32:28
an easy thing to do. Such an easy thing to do. And then you're
32:31
protected from any little ambient light or any
32:35
little anything that comes your way.
32:39
Okay, so another question I had.
32:43
You talked about how the
32:46
artificial light at night spikes our blood sugar.
32:52
How is it different? Explain to us how it's different from
32:55
going outside at noon and getting a blue
32:59
light signal. Why there's like
33:03
the timing piece and you know, the fake
33:07
light versus real light piece. So what, what's going on? Because
33:10
I'm I'm hearing people's questions come through the ether.
33:15
They're like, well she said there's blue light outside and you're saying it's so bad.
33:18
So what's right? Right, Tell us. So when we're exposed
33:22
to blue light out in the sun, we're getting a full spectrum signal. So we're
33:25
getting red and infrared, which is is again anti inflammatory. Blue light is in addition
33:29
to telling us what time it is, it's also a strong
33:33
signal. I mean it has a very high wavelength, it's close to ultraviolet.
33:37
So it is a stronger signal. But out in full spectrum light it is
33:40
balanced by that red and infrared. Those red and infrared signals, which are longer
33:44
wavelength and more anti inflammatory, they're going to blunt a lot of
33:47
the inflammatory signals. Just as a side note, but when we are getting full
33:51
spectrum light, we also have other pieces of light in there. We also have some
33:54
depending on what time of year it is where you live. We're also getting some
33:58
ultraviolet light and ultraviolet light helps break
34:01
down our hormones. So we're designed to the way, the way we
34:05
work is to release, you know, cortisol and start making hormones first thing in the
34:09
morning. And then if we're outside getting these signals of full spectrum
34:12
light, we are exposed to a little of ultraviolet and then ultraviolet gets
34:16
stronger and then it gets weaker. And ultraviolet light helps break down those hormones.
34:20
So our body knows exactly what to do. It's like a balance
34:24
checks and balances. It's like, yeah, you're making hormones and then ultraviolet light helps
34:28
start breaking them down. But at night, if we start releasing hormones, there is no
34:31
ultraviolet light at night and we're not, nothing's breaking them down. So then they're just
34:35
flowing through our body. But cortisol, you know, we're going to make it. We're supposed
34:38
to make it, but we're also supposed to stop making it and do something to
34:42
help get rid of it or help break it down with all of our
34:45
hormones and all of the things that we're doing. Everything has a rhythm and we
34:49
need the sunlight to kind of tell us what to do and when to do
34:52
it. So that being said, I know middle of the day, sun,
34:56
there are caveats to that. We're not going to have someone who's never been out
34:59
in the sun and then go outside for hours. And all of that is a
35:02
separate story. But the idea is that full spectrum light does exactly what
35:06
we needed to do. We're supposed to have different things happening at different times a
35:09
day. At night, it's all artificial. It's not our biology
35:13
to release all these hormones at night. There's nothing. Then they just sit there and
35:17
they create wreak havoc on the body.
35:23
So amazing. So when we're outside
35:27
there, yes, there's blue light, but there's lots of other kinds of light.
35:31
And it's basically helping our body to digest all of our,
35:35
all of the information. Whereas when
35:38
it's dark out and it's fake light and it just has
35:43
the very narrow stream, it's just bombarding our body with
35:46
signals and our body doesn't know what to do and
35:50
reacts in a way that's causing a
35:54
lot of problems. So many problems, my friends. And this
35:57
is why. Yeah, this is, we're going to get into them. And why
36:01
I'm like such a maniac about circadian regulation
36:05
because it's not necessarily, no one's saying it's
36:08
going to, it's like a magic cure all. But there's so
36:12
many symptoms and can related to
36:15
dysregulated circadian rhythm that to have a regulated
36:19
rhythm, at least you're ruling out, you know, you're covering your
36:22
bases. So if you, you do need help with other
36:26
symptoms, at least you know, you're not trying to like medicate circadian
36:29
dysregulation, which is never going to work. You got to get that in place.
36:33
Okay, so that's, that's why this just
36:37
matters so, so, so much. What are the many reasons it matters so much? Okay,
36:40
so, so you've explained how it all
36:44
works and the things that can go sideways and how our
36:48
eye is such a key, key organ in
36:51
processing light. So when things do go
36:55
wrong, you have
36:58
noticed a lot of correlation between eye issues
37:02
and different symptoms or conditions that are showing up
37:06
in other parts of the body, Right? Yeah. So the eyes are always
37:10
a nice window to what's happening in the body. And that's something that we've, you
37:14
know, we did learn, we always learned that in school. That's, that's such a big
37:16
piece. And one of the reasons that drew me to this profession,
37:20
because you can look into the eyes and you can see so many things that
37:23
happen in the body because you can see blood vessels and nerve tissue and brain.
37:26
You know, you're seeing all these things without having to cut anything. And I just,
37:30
it is fascinating. So, yeah, so anytime anything goes
37:33
wrong in the body, we have to. In the eyes, we have to know what's
37:37
going on in the body or understand that most systemic systems
37:40
can show up in the eyes. So a lot of things that
37:44
happen can be traced back to,
37:48
again, like you said, the foundation of circadian rhythm. It is the foundation
37:52
that we need. And it's not like you said, it's not going to. There
37:55
can be other layers, but we have to get that light. Right. So when we're
37:58
talking about from, from a retinal standpoint, and you can look at the
38:02
retina and you're seeing blood vessels and you're seeing inflammation, you know, perhaps inflammation, a
38:05
lot of people are getting, you know, macular degeneration and, and, and diabetic
38:09
retinopathy and different things like that. And it can
38:13
point to inflammation in the body, can point to poor
38:16
circadian rhythm for all the reasons we talked about because of blood sugar,
38:19
perhaps people are getting too much light. Macular degeneration.
38:24
There's a big link to poor circadian rhythm, or in general, or just
38:27
being exposed to these artificial signals of light, because the
38:31
signals that are exposed, that we're exposed to tend to
38:35
oxidize the retina. We're not designed to stare at a screen all day and just
38:38
get these signals without any balance. And what it does, it actually
38:42
oxidizes the cells of the, of the macula and we start getting these deposits.
38:46
So that's kind of a clue. And there's also links to metabolic
38:50
issues for macular degeneration. So a lot of different things can happen
38:53
where the retina is not working as well. And, you know, it's because of things
38:56
that are happening in the body. Hormones play a big role in what happens in
39:00
the eyes. Dry eyes, especially, depending on, you know, women tend to
39:04
get a lot of dry eyes certain, you know, after menopause or around menopause, and
39:07
then later, a lot of times, there's hormones linked to that.
39:11
Allergies show up in the eyes. Nerve issues show up in the eyes. There's so
39:15
many, so many different things. There's a lot of inflammation can show up in the
39:19
eyes as well, autoimmune issues, and all of those things that happen
39:22
in the eyes and the body. We want to make sure that the foundation, like
39:26
I said, that the foundation is there before we start fixing other things. Because if
39:29
you're kind of like running uphill, if you're trying to fix those things without fixing
39:32
the light, because even with blood
39:36
pressure, blood pressure has a circadian component to it as well. We want to
39:40
make sure we are getting the right signals. Nitric oxide, when we're exposed to those
39:43
ultraviolet A signals, are going to lower blood pressure. It lowers
39:47
eye Pressure. There's a lot of different pieces there. Melatonin is
39:51
really extremely important. There's so many studies on melatonin
39:55
and how it can help a lot of different eye conditions and obviously the whole
39:58
body. And I don't mean that we take it, we want to make sure we're
40:01
optimizing it. And the only way to optimize it is with light. I mean, it's
40:03
a circadian hormone so that in and of itself, people who have
40:07
dry eyes and are not sleeping, why aren't you sleeping? We got to look at,
40:11
you know, are you, are you getting enough light so that you're making your melatonin
40:14
in addition to all the other things that can cause dry eyes? There's so many
40:17
pieces. I know, I'm just, I'm saying like a big jumble of things. But there's
40:21
so many links to so many things in, in the eyes and the body. And
40:24
then we layer in the quantum health with that. It's, it's, it's a no brainer
40:28
to, to really fix light. Right.
40:32
So the eyes are a window to all kinds of systemic
40:36
issues. And the eyes are
40:39
also the main processing unit of light. So
40:43
the circadian organ. So just another
40:47
way of saying. Yes, how important light is. Let's dig
40:51
into a couple of those a little bit. So
40:55
talk to me about dry eye and
40:58
hormones. Okay. Yes. So
41:02
estrogen in general is important in
41:06
keeping our eyes moist in general. So a lot of women will start
41:09
getting dry eyes because our lacrimal glands will stop making. The lacrimal
41:13
glands are what secrete water basically, or the aqueous portion of the tears.
41:17
And it does go down a bit. Estrogen helps keep things moist. So when we
41:20
have a little bit less of that, sometimes we're not making as much of the
41:24
aqueous portion of our tear film. And also our glands tend to get a little
41:27
more clogged. And our oil glands, whenever we blink, we're secreting oil for our
41:31
tear film and they tend to get clogged a lot in women, especially
41:37
just in general. And again, hormones, while
41:41
menopause is a natural thing, we can optimize that a little bit more.
41:44
Right. With circadian rhythm. If we help optimize hormones, we want to make sure we're
41:48
doing all of that to help. Gosh,
41:52
I'm drawing a, drawing a blank on other things right now.
41:56
I'm sorry, I'm completely drawing a blank here. Okay, we'll
42:00
just tighten this up later. Yeah, you can edit this out. Actually, I'm going to
42:04
Plug my computer in. So let's make a note. At 35
42:08
minutes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just feel like I'm. I'm not. No
42:11
problem. Completely. Right now I realized I forgot to
42:15
plug it in, and it's getting low, so I'll be right back. Okay.
42:47
I mean, I don't know that that's really answering anything anyway. I'm not really sure
42:51
if I even answered anything, really. I don't know. I'm drawing a blank on that.
42:54
Menopause. It's hard to say that's fully circadian because it's.
42:58
It's like we're losing hormones at that point. So it's like, almost.
43:02
Yeah. And that, like, I'm not looking to say it's fully
43:05
circadian. I just, like, even the idea that you're. That is a
43:09
symptom of a hormonal. Imbalance, it's like, oh, I see what
43:13
you're getting at. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I'm just trying to think of
43:16
other testosterone I don't know. I don't know much about.
43:20
It's mostly estrogen, honestly. So tell me when you want to restart.
43:24
Okay. Want to ask that again? And I'll. Sure, I'll. Yeah, sure.
43:28
I'll just pick it up.
43:31
Yeah. And as I was saying, like, it's. It's more just like
43:37
most people have no idea. They're like, oh, I have dry eyes. Like, they don't
43:40
even. Wouldn't even connect it to a phase of life or to a
43:44
hurt. You know, they just get drops, and that's it.
43:49
So those are. That's sort of who I'm talking to. Okay. It's like
43:53
that. The idea. There's a lot of different
43:57
reasons for dry eyes. I mean, I'll tell you before we continue. Like, there's
44:01
medication side effects. There's, like, histamine issues that we can get, which can
44:05
also be immune issues. Okay, well, let's do that, then. I'll let.
44:09
How about this? I'll just ask about dry eyes. Right. And then it
44:12
might be easier to do that because the only, like, example I have would be
44:16
menopause and that. Yeah. Okay. So. Yeah, we can start that again.
44:25
Okay. So I want to circle back to a symptom you mentioned, because this
44:28
comes up a lot on Q&As, and I hear people wanting to know more about
44:32
it, and that is dry eyes.
44:36
Most people I know get dry eyes. They go get some drops,
44:40
and they put the drops in, and they're like, now my eyes aren't dry anymore.
44:44
Right. And that's kind of it, right? Well, with.
44:48
It's actually very frustrating because when people get a drop, a lot of times those
44:52
drops will help for a few minutes and they're really not helping the actual
44:55
problem. So there's a ton of reasons why people can get dry eyes. There is
44:59
the circadian piece to that, but in general, there are, you
45:03
know, hormonal issues, there's side effects from medications. So people who are
45:07
basically, if you look up any medication, blood pressure medications, birth control
45:10
is a huge, huge cause of dry eyes in general. But if you're taking
45:14
a systemic medication and you look up side effects, dry eyes is
45:18
usually one of those side effects. So most people who are on medications,
45:22
I'm thinking of like antidepressants, you know, psychiatric medications,
45:25
blood pressure medication, any hormonal medications, antibiotics,
45:29
things like that can absolutely disrupt the tear film. So that's.
45:33
That's the thing that most people are on medications. And it's. It's one of the
45:36
most common symptoms, dry eyes. So you have the medication
45:40
piece, the hormonal piece. So again, people, especially menopausal women, when
45:44
estrogen starts to go down, it's going to dry us out. It's going to mess
45:46
with our glands. Our oil glands are not secreting oil as well. The
45:50
water portion, the lacrimal glands are not making as much of the aqueous or the
45:54
water part of our tears. Our tear film is made up of mucus,
45:57
water and oil. So we need those layers to be nice and full in order
46:01
to have a good tear film. So you get people who even have immune issues,
46:05
allergies, they get too many, a lot of cells,
46:09
mast cells that's secreting a lot of histamine or a lot of mucus.
46:12
So that can also disrupt the tear film and relate to dry eyes. And
46:16
we have environmental issues. People who are sitting on screens, just in general sitting
46:20
on screens, we don't blink as much. We're not pumping out that oil. Our eyes
46:23
are going to be dry. So there's a lot of lifestyle changes
46:27
and a lot of systemic changes that can actually have an effect on that. There
46:30
are autoimmune conditions that can actually lower the production of that water as
46:34
well. Inflammatory conditions. There's
46:38
almost everything, even digestive issues, even if our microbiome is off,
46:41
if we had recent any issues with digestion, and
46:45
there's a gut eye connection, there's a mouth eye connection,
46:50
sometimes there's issues with dental work that can affect
46:53
things. There's really so many layers. There's even issues with
46:57
Say lymph stagnation. If we have issues where we just
47:01
have stagnation and our lymph flow is not
47:05
flowing for many reasons, even postural issues,
47:08
we can have more dry eyes. A lot of people say I wake up in
47:11
the morning and my eyes are puffy or my eyes are just watery in the
47:14
morning. It's a lot of. There's all, excuse me, there's a lot of lymph tissue
47:17
around there. And we need to make sure that that's moving, that we're releasing
47:21
toxins, that we're hydrating, that we're getting, you know, all the, even circadian. There's
47:24
a big circadian piece to how our lymph is flowing as well. There's
47:28
kidney, you know, kidney function also plays a role. Liver
47:32
function plays a role in our eyes and how we're releasing toxins. If we're
47:35
exposed to too many toxins, it's going to
47:39
show up in the eyes. Even poor air quality, right. If we're exposed to
47:43
dust, if we, you know, I like having an air purifier in bedrooms. I
47:47
think that's a nice way to just make sure we're exposed to clean air while
47:49
we're sleeping. Because a lot of people don't realize that it's their, what they're
47:53
exposed to that's, that's creating dry eyes. A lot of products
47:57
create dry eyes. We have to be careful with cleaning products. Right. So
48:01
many people are still using bleach and all these
48:04
toxic, even fragrances. Oh, it drives me crazy.
48:08
Fragrances, those chemicals every. Tell people, every time
48:11
you're wearing, if you're wearing perfume or anything with a fragrance. Every time you
48:15
smell that, your, your liver has to detox, has to detox
48:19
those, those scent molecules. Like it's adding a burden, a toxic burden to the
48:23
eyes, Women, contact lens, just in general. Contact lenses are a
48:26
big cause of dry eyes in general because you're literally putting a piece of plastic
48:29
on your eyes and disrupting the tear film if, if you're over wearing them, if
48:33
you're not taking care of them properly or if the contact's not fitting properly
48:37
or if it's not a good contact for you. But makeup, that's another thing. So
48:40
I know you're asking about systemic conditions, but there's, there's so many different reasons for
48:44
dry eyes. Like depending on what kind of makeup we use,
48:47
there's a lot of different false eyelashes. You see that a
48:51
lot. That's so interesting. There's so many people who have them. And I
48:55
Saw a study about how eyelashes are designed to be a certain length
48:58
because they have a certain airflow.
49:02
And when we change that length with artificial false lashes, we're actually changing
49:06
the airflow and the air. There's more air hitting your eyes and we can get
49:09
more dry eyes. Just. Wow. So again, there are so many
49:12
layers to dry eyes and there's a lot of systemic issues. Bottom line,
49:16
folks, do not mess with nature.
49:20
I mean, going to a party, you want long eyelashes for a night, fine. But
49:24
like, I would like. Yeah.
49:27
Wow. No wonder everyone has dry eyes.
49:31
That's like everything. Allergy medicine, a lot of
49:35
people are taking anti. That will automatically dry out the eye. It's gonna.
49:39
It dries out the mucous membrane, so you can get more dry eyes
49:43
from that as well. So again, there's so many. So many layers. And again, I
49:46
like to have that quantum layer in there because again, quantum or circadian
49:50
biology is such a good foundation for a lot of these systemic issues that
49:54
perhaps we can improve upon to help reduce the
49:57
systemic issue, which might also help improve the dry eye
50:01
issue. Right? Is look. Yeah. I mean, looking at it from
50:05
the. From the circadian perspective, it's getting all of the processes
50:09
in place with the correct light inputs and then going down
50:12
to that deeper quantum layer where boosting that bar.
50:16
Easy water. The big thing, which I didn't even. Which I
50:20
obviously probably obvious, it's blue light. You know, we're exposed to
50:23
artificial blue light without the balance of the red and the infrared. We are literally
50:27
oxidizing and dehydrating our eyes automatically just by being
50:30
exposed to this signal of blue light that doesn't exist in nature.
50:34
And the other piece of that is also WI fi signals, which are also
50:38
just dehydrating us on that cellular level, which we can't get away from.
50:42
I understand that that's a whole other, you know, conversation, but in
50:45
general, our environment makes it really hard to not have dry eyes. We have to
50:49
do a lot of work, a lot of work to. To really try to keep
50:52
our eyes moist. And even as simple fact as just blinking, like, just remember to
50:56
blink when you're on screens. You know, a lot of things like that can help,
51:00
right? Yeah. I notice when I'm like editing the
51:04
editing podcasts and there's a lot of me just listening, so I just.
51:08
And I'm like, I am blinking like every other second.
51:12
I was like, is there something wrong with me? Why am I blinking so much?
51:15
Oh, but that's my body responding to the fact that I'm on a screen,
51:20
trying to keep. Trying to keep my eyes safe. Okay,
51:25
so what's going on? I know you've talked
51:28
about how there's just more and more research coming out
51:32
about the role of the eye
51:36
and its connection to health and its connection to light. Like, what are your
51:39
favorite things to think about right now? Yeah, it's interesting.
51:45
Everyone's extremely afraid of ultraviolet light, right. Hitting the eyes. And I
51:49
get it, because there is an oxidative reaction that can happen with ultraviolet light, especially,
51:53
especially if it's too much. But there are some studies and some of these are
51:56
animal studies. So it's not necessarily. But a lot of the animal studies
51:59
usually can be extrapolated to humans. But, you know,
52:03
UVA and violet light has been found to help with
52:06
corneal wound healing. And I believe it was done in rabbits, rabbits or
52:10
mice. But when exposed to uva, when, when, when the cornea
52:14
gets wounded, it's actually neuropsyn, those neuropsychin receptors
52:18
that get upregulated, those UVA receptors, and they help heal the eye, eyes, which
52:21
is so interesting. It's like, well, you know, obviously we have neuropsychin for a
52:25
reason. We need these signals. Sometimes these signals can actually help us.
52:30
There's also the study, I believe it was done by Harry Moto is
52:33
one of the researchers, that when UVB was,
52:38
when the cornea was exposed to uvb, they found an upregulated
52:42
Alpha MSH in the body. Alpha MSH is
52:45
melanocyte stimulating hormone. It's a very important, important
52:49
hormone that helps with so many different things. Again, that's a whole other topic.
52:53
But it's just interesting how we can get systemic effects
52:57
from signals in the eye. Same thing with uva they found
53:01
there was another study about UVA and upregulating through nitric
53:04
oxide signaling that there is other systemic effects as well. So we can
53:08
see that ultraviolet light in the eyes does play a role in
53:12
our systemic effects. What I do love, I really love
53:15
Scott Zimmerman's research on infrared light. I just love that, you know,
53:19
how, how well we know how important infrared light is
53:23
again for our mitochondria, for our general health. And how when we're in these green
53:27
spaces, we're getting even more of that and it penetrates the eyes so
53:30
well that it can go through our, our eyelids just being outside.
53:34
So being in these green spaces is such a healing thing that we can do
53:38
for the body. So we can sit in the shade, sit under a tree,
53:42
you know, even if it's in the middle of the day, and we're getting such
53:44
amazing benefits. And we don't really get that. Most of us aren't getting as
53:48
outdoor time as much as we need to. And the infrared portion of
53:52
that is extremely important. It's actually going to hydrate. The retina needs
53:55
hydration. The eyes need hydration. In addition to all the
53:59
signaling. And infrared light is what does that. It actually gets absorbed by the water.
54:03
It's actually helping us increase our cellular water, and it helps things
54:06
work better. We can't work if we're dehydrated. And again, the sun
54:10
or being outdoors is a big piece of making sure we stay hydrated.
54:14
So I talk about hydration a lot with patients, and they're like, oh, I drink
54:17
water all day long. I'm like, oh, that's not what I mean. I mean, that's
54:20
not. It helps. We want to make sure we're getting minerals and we're getting clean
54:23
water, but we really need that piece. We need the full spectrum sunlight,
54:27
especially first thing in the morning, to help us increase that hydration.
54:31
Wow. And so, yeah, let's
54:35
talk about that a little. So tell us a little more.
54:40
Being outside. And yeah, I love talking to Scott.
54:45
And I love. Because it's. Every time I talk to him, I'm like, oh, just
54:48
go outside. Right. Like, it's. In order to make vitamin
54:52
D, you might need to have your skin out a certain time of year at
54:55
a certain time of day. But in order to get the benefits of infrared
54:58
light, which you're talking about, you just got to, like, walk out. Walk
55:02
out that door, be on the other side of the glass. So what's. What's happening?
55:06
How is infrared light, which is
55:10
amplified under leaves and trees, which is so cool,
55:15
or red light therapy, if that's the way we're doing it. How is
55:19
that hydrating our bodies and our eyeballs?
55:22
Yeah. So it works through our mitochondria. And our
55:26
mitochondria we've probably remember as being our powerhouse that makes
55:29
ATP and our energy. But mitochondria also
55:33
make water. When those electrons are flowing through the
55:37
membrane, they're kind of jumping through these different proteins in the membrane of the
55:40
mitochondria at the fourth. The cytochrome. It's the
55:44
fourth membrane, the fourth protein in that membrane, One of the
55:48
byproducts is water. And research, obviously, from
55:51
Dr. Pollack and all these other water researchers has shown that the
55:55
water that gets made from the mitochondria actually ends up becoming a
55:59
battery. It turns into. It's not just sloshing around our body. It actually
56:03
turns into this kind of structured or this crystalline
56:07
gel, this lattice of a battery. And it gets
56:10
rearranged into a negative and positive charges. And it
56:13
surrounds everything in the body. It's surrounding our mitochondria. It's surrounding every
56:17
single, every single atom or every single
56:20
surface that is hydrophilic or
56:24
attracts water so that everything's hydrated. And that's what makes it work
56:28
because that's what's supplying the energy in the body. And red light and
56:31
infrared light actually power up that
56:35
cytochrome C oxidase, which is the protein in the membrane that's
56:39
making water. So it gets powered up when it's making more of that
56:42
water. It's actually knocking off nitric oxide that can get
56:46
stuck there and it allows oxygen
56:51
to bind. And then it's going to make more water for us. And that water
56:55
ends up turning into what we call exclusion zone water or coherent
56:59
water or just water that helps our body work. And same thing
57:02
happens in our eyes as well, that those mitochondrial cells eat up the red light
57:06
and the infrared and they're actually going to make more water for us, us. And
57:09
that happens on a cellular level that is not the same as the water that
57:12
we drink. It is really happening throughout our entire body. One of the most important
57:15
things we can do for the body because we are electrical and it's
57:19
amazing how light is controlling things on such a, such a level. That light is
57:23
going to interact with electrons and those electrons are what's going to
57:26
help move things in the body. And then it's going to make that water. And
57:29
then we have this battery and we want that battery, that water to be very
57:33
thick and healthy. And infrared is powering that up. It's actually going to explain
57:37
expand that water throughout the entire body. So works
57:41
beautifully. Wow.
57:45
So our bodies, so we are bioelectric,
57:48
not just biochemical. There's an added layer there.
57:53
And this, the light piece is what,
57:57
you know, charges us. And the eyes are
58:00
really like the key organization. I mean, we're
58:04
absorbing light all over our body all the time. Yes, but, but
58:08
the eyes have all of these very specific mechanisms
58:12
and there's. A direct link to the brain. Right. It's right there. So it's just,
58:16
it's such a direct link to the masterpiece and
58:20
then it goes right, you know, all throughout the body. So it is a really
58:23
important piece. And not to say we can't get some benefits
58:27
obviously from the skin because that's the other, the other part of it. But the
58:30
eyes are just. Is crucial.
58:34
So. Amazing. Well, Valerie, do you have anything else
58:38
that you want to add or anything that's on your mind about.
58:41
About all of this? This has been a lot and I want to sort of
58:45
give. Give people a sec. A second to digest and
58:49
I, I really love how you explained everything so
58:52
beautifully because it, I think, you know, that
58:56
we, we can't hear this too many times. I just, again, just
59:00
want to reiterate that we really, our light is a nutrient and we need to
59:03
really be careful about, like, really think about what kind of light we're exposed to
59:06
throughout the day. If you are in an office or you're in a place that
59:10
has LEDs, just get outside as much as you can. Just take breaks outdoors. You
59:13
don't need, you know, we don't need. You don't need to be outside all day,
59:17
but just get outside, take those breaks, make sure we're getting those signals and
59:21
safely. You know, there's obviously safe, safe safety involved there, but we
59:24
don't want to be exposed to all these signals. It's just, it's just not natural.
59:27
And it makes sense if we think about it. Why would, why would we be
59:30
able to live away from nature? Like every other creature needs to be
59:34
outdoors under the sun and, you know, just with the earth
59:38
and we're the only creatures that are able to live
59:41
indoors for such a big portion of our life. You know, we're really not
59:45
connected anymore. And even if we're outside sitting under a tree, you know, it's
59:48
fantastic for us. So we just, especially morning is the most important thing that we
59:52
need to think about. Sunset as well is also a nice time when there's a
59:55
lot of red and infrared light. We need the other signals throughout the day as
59:57
well, but we have to make sure we're getting those early morning signals
1:00:01
and even sunsets another time and then darkness at night. And that's what's going to
1:00:05
optimize our rhythm very well.
1:00:09
Right? Yeah. I love that idea of
1:00:13
light as a nutrient and we, we are deficient again. And it's. Scott
1:00:16
Zimmerman has said it's like 21st century scurvy,
1:00:20
the infrared light deficiency. And when you talked about it, you
1:00:24
talked about like our mitochondria being starving.
1:00:28
Right. So that's the. I find these images
1:00:31
so powerful. Right. Like we have inadvertently starved
1:00:35
our cells of their vital life
1:00:39
force. And then we wonder why we have all these problems
1:00:43
with energy and sleep and digestion and.
1:00:48
Yeah, it's amazing. Well,
1:00:51
Valerie, where can People find you. And again, thank you so much
1:00:55
for putting your, your brilliant mind onto all of this
1:00:59
work and explaining it to all of us. Like, it really makes such a huge
1:01:02
difference. Thank you. Instagram. Go on Instagram. I'm Quantum
1:01:06
IDOC on Instagram. That's where I'm the most active. And there's some links there
1:01:10
for my websites, resources and stuff. It's mostly, mostly
1:01:13
education at this point. So I would say Instagram is the fastest
1:01:17
and easiest way. Okay, so that's Quantum
1:01:20
IDOC doc at Quantum IDOC
1:01:24
on Instagram. If you live
1:01:28
in the Long island area, you can make it an in person
1:01:31
appointment at the clinic. If you
1:01:35
don't, then yes, yes, definitely follow Valerie on Instagram. And
1:01:39
she has a lot of amazing free resources. And of course, she
1:01:43
is a faculty member at the Institute of Applied Quantum Biology. So if you
1:01:46
wanted to study under her as a practitioner and
1:01:50
learn how to apply all of this in your, in your work,
1:01:54
you can find her there as well. Thank you. Yes. The Apply
1:01:58
Quantum the program is just fantastic. I have to say I love the
1:02:02
program so much and I'm honored to be on the faculty. But then that the
1:02:05
Applied Quantum Biology program I just find so helpful.
1:02:10
Again, I've learned about this since I would say 2017,
1:02:14
and I read as much as I could and I learned as much as I
1:02:17
could and I made the changes. But honestly, it wasn't until I went through the
1:02:20
program that I think I really understood it or how to apply it and
1:02:24
how to really live and not be so stressed out about it all the time.
1:02:27
So I think it's really helpful. And I don't think you have to be a
1:02:30
practitioner to go through the program. I think it's a great program just to understand
1:02:33
and just know how to change your life. I mean, it really is life changing.
1:02:37
And I love the way things are explained in the program. I just highly recommend
1:02:40
it. I love it. Oh, Valerie, thank you so much. I
1:02:44
really appreciate that. Yeah. And that is the point of it. It's like it's an
1:02:48
integration program. It's not academic, it's not
1:02:51
theoretical. Like, we sometimes have people who just want to like
1:02:55
talk about electron tunneling for five hours. And I'm like, I will
1:02:58
refer you to some other places where they. That's their
1:03:02
focus for us. Yeah, it's like we want to understand
1:03:06
what's happening so that we can do, so that everyone
1:03:10
can do something practical with it. So thank you so much for,
1:03:14
for. Articulating that because that's, that's the point. It's
1:03:18
like, the information is wonderful, but if we
1:03:21
can't live it out right, who cares?
1:03:27
Sitting on a Lincoln PubMed.
1:03:32
Thank you again, Valerie. And I look forward to doing this again.
1:03:35
Thank you, Meredith. Me too.