Each week I am asked "If there was one tip you could give above all to regain health, what would it be?"
After serious though I would undoubtedly say "Get more light!"
Did you know that only 100yrs ago humans were outside on average 10hrs per day, totalling 70hrs per week.
Today we are lucky if most of us would be outside 30mins per day.
We are severely deficient in natural light and have an excess of artificial light.
This artificial lights causes chaos with our hormones and deeply undermines our health.
Follow the Sun not your alarm
Dr Ott has spent most of his life researching the effects of light regarding health and states that we all should get at least 30mins of morning light and another 30 mins of late afternoon or evening light to regain our health.
Our whole entire circadian clock is reset each morning, not with the alarm clock but with then sun.
We rely on our alarm clocks to wake up, but have you ever noticed that the animals we share the planet with go to bed when the sun goes down, and wake when the sun rises.
Each day animals that are up during the day go to bed a few minutes earlier, and wake up a few minutes later, as we approach the longest day of the year. Then get less sleep as we move towards the shortest day of the year.
Do you know that birdlife during eclipses land and go to sleep?, like they have missed something.
Has no one told them its only daytime?
The longest living speak up!
When studying longevity and their sleeping habits I found that most centenarians (living to 100yrs) go to bed when the sun sets, and wake up when the sun rises.
Sometimes these people will get 10-11 hrs in Winter and the standard 7-8 hrs in Summer. When you use an alarm clock you are programming the body to think the sun is setting and rising the same time every day.
Reproductive cycles
Then we wonder why we have hormonal problems, we are forgetting that Spring and Summer when animals reproduce, is preprogrammed by our biological clocks.
Our clock is governed on our circadian rhythms, which is established by the morning and evening light.
Social media
The blue and white light emitted from our media devices in the evening can disrupt sleep hormones for up to 6 hrs. Try to have a curfew 1hr before you want to go to sleep to switch your media devices off.
I have found an app called flux to be a great tool to reduce blue and white light, when you have to use your phone/computer late at night.
Studies have shown that working out when the sun rises spikes cortisol levels and compared to lunchtime or evening workouts, those participating had a 25% drop in blood pressure while sleeping and a significantly longer period of their sleeping time was in stage 2 deep sleep, compared with stage 1. This drop in blood pressure shows there is a deactivation in the nervous system.
Vitamin D, the new magic vitamin
In an attempt to get our vitamin D we are all heading outside. There is a major problem with this, vitamin D is only produced by your body from UVB. UVB typically is when we choose to slip,slop and slap. This blocks the rays from reaching our skin, and although we exposing ourselves to the Sun, we do not receive its benefits.
Of course you must exercise caution and not all skin types can tolerate the harsh Queensland climate.
There is an amazing app for your phone called dminder that you can use. You put in your skin type, the amount of Vitamin D you want to synthesise and it will tell you how long you are safe for.
Auguste Rollier when performing work at his hospitals administering light on patients to treat rickets and Tuberculosis , found that patients wearing sunglasses did not improve. The eyes play a significant role in regulating the production of Vitamin D by the body.
In Queensland you do not need to spend long periods of time outside to produce high levels of Vitamin D, 10-15 minutes will do it in Summer.
Just take the vitamins
Well, why not just take supplements?
Yes, you can take a vitamin D3 supplement but that only gives you one of the 13 known D vitamins. There are another 12 that you must get from your diet.
These 13 forms of vitamin D are found in fats, being fat soluble vitamins.
It is amazing how much Vitamin D3 you body can make from brief periods of sun exposure.
Today I spent 1hr in the Sun giving me almost 7000Iu's of Vitamin D3. An egg contains 41iu and a piece of salmon 447iu. This means I gained the equivalent of 170eggs or 15 pieces of salmon.
What does it all mean?
The best plan is try to get some early morning sun and late afternoon, to reset your circadian rhythm's.
A little bit of time outside at midday will also help you get your vitamin D levels up.
We need to expose ourselves to light intermittently during the day to access all parts of the spectrum. Concentrate only on obtaining vitamin D at midday and you may do yourself a disservice.
Top this up with healthy fats in moderation from your diet to ensure you get the other 12 forms of vitamin D.
Remember try to use sunglasses only when really need to, such as driving and download the apps dminder (for vitamin D) and flux (for your media devices).
My name is Blair Harvey and I have had the pleasure of working at one of Australia's best Health Retreat's for the past fourteen wonderful years. Over those years I have had the delight of working with a spectacular kitchen team, we all have an immense passion for cooking good healthy food that is unique and tantalizing to your taste buds. Together we have not only developed our skills in cooking wholesome, nourishing and out right delicious foods, but we have been committed to broadening our knowledge of healing with whole foods and exploring the beauty of healthy living. Because of our enthusiasm in the benefits of foods and there healing properties I developed a blog to help us SHARE what we have learnt with the rest of the world.
You will find tasty gems of wisdom on health, food and healing, helping to expand your mind and revitalize your knowledge of healthy eating.