Seven Practical Ways to Use Light to Heal

According to Dr. Vivien Chen, MD, “Food is information for our bodies, but light is also just as important as nutrients. It is a signal that directs our biological processes. Light is perhaps one of the most underutilized tools in health and wellness impacting every organ in our body–and it’s free.” She also points to the fact that we used to spend 50% of our lives outdoors, and today our bodies are 93% indoors and impacted by artificial lights. These artificial lights are only one narrow part of the light spectrum. Real light from the sun is the full spectrum.

In light of this information with no pun intended, we must not underestimate the impact of light upon our health. Dr. Chen gives us an important analogy to consider. She sees circadian rhythm as the conductor that orchestrates all the biological processes in our body in harmony. But the conductor, circadian rhythm, is directed by light. If you’ve ever traveled five or more time zones on a plane, you know how hard this can be on your body. These biological processes include making hormones, bone strength, and our immune health, which are all impacted by light. As we live in this modern age, we are sometimes living against our natural biology or circadian rhythm.

In a recent video, we covered “Seven Ways to Optimize Health and Immunity with Light.” This is a must-see video and is referenced below.

Here are seven practical ways to walk in God’s Healing light. God created light for many reasons.

Get morning sunlight on your face and eyes – In the am, you need light to shut off melatonin in the brain. Now is the time for cortisol to be ramped up. As the day progresses, cortisol production decreases, and when nighttime falls, our body prepares to sleep. It is during the night when melatonin reaches peak production. This hormone boosts our immune cells and is a known cancer fighter. Many people run off artificial energy found in drinks such as coffee pumped with caffeine. Hydration in the morning is also important to set your day. It’s best to stay away from too much caffeine and let your energy come from proper hydration and the sun.

Spend more time outdoors daily – This may not be as easy in the wintertime, but during this recent winter storm, my husband and I walked every day in the afternoon when it was warmest. We look for ways to walk outside daily, garden, and do yardwork. It’s best to get your dose of sunlight in the morning if at all possible. For this reason in the summer and through the fall, I began walking twice a day. Once after waking and the other time in the afternoon.

A 20-year Swedish study of 30,000 women found that those with higher sun exposure habits had lower all-cause mortality, living six months to two years longer than sun-avoiders. Published in 2014-2016, the research suggested that avoiding the sun is a risk factor for death, with sun-avoiders twice as likely to die as sun-seekers. But never forget that too much sun exposure and allowing the skin to burn is linked to skin cancer and Melanoma. There is a balance.

Dim lights and reduce screens at night – We simply must avoid the wrong type of light at night. Remember that light for many years at night was confined to the moon and campfires. And those are okay, but the wrong type can interfere with your circadian rhythm. Although natural blue light from the sun is good for your body in the morning, artificial blue light is not good at night. It shuts off your melatonin production and impacts your sleep cycle when your body needs to be moving towards deep sleep to restore and heal.

This artificial blue light comes from computers, iPads, cell phones, and TV screens. You can turn your computer to flux mode, and your iPhone or iPad to red mode to avoid this. Some people actually wear blue light-blocking glasses before going to bed at night. The wrong type of light at night can increase our risk of metabolic issues including blood sugar and weight gain. According to Dr. Satchin Panda at the Salk Lab Institute, blood sugar control is better when the sun is out.

Another study by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) found that women sleeping with artificial light at night were 17% more likely to gain weight. The results suggest that cutting off lights at bedtime could reduce women’s chances of becoming obese.

Keep a consistent sleep schedule – It’s best to set the same hours to sleep every night. Sleep studies indicate that the best hours are generally 10 pm to 6 am to coordinate with the rising and setting of the sun. Your body also does best when you keep these hours the same as much as possible. You don’t want your sleep cycle to be like a yoyo. You want consistency.

Use bright-light therapy in winter if needed –This suggestion is only for those folks who must endure winter with little sunlight. I think about those workers who work and live on the oil slope in Northern Alaska during the winter months. This therapy is a part of their health routine.

Consider red light therapy for pain or recovery – This one therapy can be so useful that there may be a time when we all have access to red light therapy at home. It’s something we are considering, especially as we get older. Dr. Chen considers red light to be a nutrient. It can relieve pain in the joints and muscles.

Red light is also a way to support the health of our mitochondria, the powerhouse or battery inside our cells. These mitochondria decline over time. Random controlled studies how that red light therapy on the skin produces more collagen, less wrinkles, and speeds up healing of the skin. It was NASA that put red light therapy on the map in the 1990s. It increases blood flow and nutrient delivery to the cells.

When needing physical therapy, ask if they have laser therapy – When my back went out in 2010, I searched for a physical therapy office that acknowledged they had laser therapy. Doing that bit of extra research definitely helped to speed up my recovery. The skill of the physical therapist is also important, but I could feel the improvement once that laser was brought out.

Your body was designed to respond to light. God didn’t create light by accident, He placed healing within it. Light supports healing at every level — hormonal, neurological, cellular, and emotional. Sometimes healing doesn’t require something complicated or expensive. Sometimes it starts with stepping outside, lifting your face toward the sun, and letting your body do what it was created to do. And we must support our mitochondria to live in this modern world.

What types of light have you used to heal your body?

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Seven Practical Ways to Use Light to Heal

For Your Health,

Ginny

Ginny Dent Brant is a speaker and writer who grew up in the halls of power in Washington, DC. She has battled cancer, ministered around the world, and served on the front lines of American culture as a counselor, educator, wellness advocate, and adjunct professor. Brant’s award-winning book, Finding True Freedom: From the White House to the World, was endorsed by Chuck Colson and featured in many TV and media interviews. Unleash Your God-Given Healing: Eight Steps to Prevent and Survive Cancer was released in May 2020 after her journey with cancer and was recently awarded the First Place Golden Scrolls Award for Memoirs, a finalist in Serious Writers Book of the Decade, and Second Place in both Selah Awards for Memoirs and Director’s Choice Award for Nonfiction at the Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writer’s Conference. It recently received the Christian Authors Network’s (CAN) Gold Award for Excellence in Marketing for reaching 62.5 million people with a message of cancer prevention and survival. It was written with commentary from an oncologist and was featured on CBN’s Healthy Living Show, Atlanta Live, and CTN’s Homekeepers along with over 75 media outlets. Learn more and cancer and wellness prevention blog and book information at www.ginnybrant.com. Ginny is on YouTube