Seven Ways to Optimize Health and Immunity with Light

Today I want to talk about something simple, something free, and something God created on the very first day— light. Gen. 1:3 says, “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.” Light is foundational to life. Light is a part of God’s design. And light is not just for seeing. It is also a powerful tool your body actually uses to heal itself.

Jesus declared in John 8:12, “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” Yes, light brings life.

We live in a world filled with artificial lighting, screens, and indoor spaces. Many of us spend most of our days under fluorescent bulbs and evenings in front of devices. But our bodies were designed by God to respond to natural light, and when we reconnect with it, remarkable things happen.

Let’s look at seven ways to optimize your health and immunity with light.

Light Sends Biological Information to your brain and cells

Light sends signals to your brain and your cells. When light hits specialized cells in your retina, signals go straight to your brain, affecting mood, alertness, and hormone balance. Natural outdoor light helps prevent nearsightedness in children and supports focus in adults. Light also penetrates your skin, triggering chemical reactions that affect immunity, inflammation, and healing. In other words, light is information. Your body reads it and responds. Matthew 6:22 says, “The light of the body is the eye.”

Light Produces Vitamin D Naturally

One of the most well-known ways light helps us heal is through vitamin D. When sunlight touches your skin, especially UVB rays, your body begins producing vitamin D naturally. This vitamin supports strong bones, healthy muscles, mood balance, and immune function.

Low vitamin D levels have been linked to fatigue, depression, frequent illness, and even chronic pain. Just 10 to 30 minutes of sunlight each day — depending on skin tone and location — can make a meaningful difference. This is one reason people often feel better in summer when they get more vitamin D. My video on vitamin D will be referenced in the show notes below. We want to make sure we have optimum levels.

Light Sets Your Internal Clock

Your body runs on a 24-hour rhythm called the circadian rhythm. Morning light tells your brain, “It’s time to wake up.” Evening darkness tells it, “It’s time to rest.” When you get natural light early in the day, your body releases cortisol in a healthy way — giving you energy and focus. Later, as it gets dark, your body produces melatonin, helping you fall asleep. But when we miss morning light and overload on screens at night, this rhythm gets confused. And that’s not good for our sleep cycle or our immune system.

Deep sleep is when our body detoxes, repairs, and heals itself, and detects and fights cancer cells. Melatonin boosts our immune system and cancer-fighting power. When this circadian rhythm gets off, we have poor sleep, brain fog, low energy, a suppressed immune system, and hormone imbalance Simply stepping outside in the morning can help reset your entire system.

Light Improves Mental Health

Light also affects brain chemicals like serotonin and dopamine—which influence happiness and motivation. Bright light therapy is commonly used for Seasonal Affective Disorder, but many people benefit from increased light exposure year-round. Just ask the people who live in Alaska in the winter when it is dark 18-24 hours a day, depending on where you live. Yes, in Barrow, Alaska or what many call “The Slope,” they actually have two months of darkness in the winter. No sunlight at all!

When speaking at a women’s conference in Alaska years ago, I learned much from the wives of the men who work on these oil slopes in North Alaska. The workers boost their health by taking vitamin D supplements, using full-spectrum UV lamps, and maintaining strict sleep routines to combat Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). These workers are fighting more than below zero temperatures! And the research at John Hopkins shows that light therapy is an effective treatment for SAD.

People with SAD who use light to promote healing generally report improved mood, less anxiety, better emotional stability, and clearer thinking. Light doesn’t replace medical care, but it can be a powerful natural support.

Red, Near-Infrared, and Cold Laser Therapy Light Promotes Healing at the Cellular Level

There’s another fascinating form of healing called photobiomodulation — using red and near-infrared light. This type of light penetrates deeply into tissues and stimulates mitochondria, the energy centers of your cells. I’ve done three YouTube videos on the mitochondria including “Ten Causes Mitochondrial Dysfunction, and 10 Ways to Boost Mitochondria These videos will be referenced below.

When mitochondria receive this light, they produce more ATP — cellular energy — which can lead to reduced inflammation, muscle and joint recovery, faster wound healing, and less pain. This is why red light therapy is now used in physical therapy clinics, sports medicine, and even dermatology. It’s helping the body do what it already knows how to do — just more efficiently.

Another type of photobiomodulation called Cold Laser Therapy or Low Level Laser Therapy (LLLT) has been used in pain management due to its anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects. According to research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) found that LLLT is an effective treatment for musculoskeletal pain and offers a non-invasive therapeutic option that is thought to stimulate biologic activity and promote tissue healing.

When my back went out due to an injury in 2010, I thought my life was over. I finally went to a physical therapist, who designed exercises to relieve the pain. Once he saw which exercises were moving me in the right direction, he brought out the magic tool – Laser Therapy. It increased the healing and reduced the pain immediately. I can only compare it to riding a pedal-assist or e-bike up an incline. It gave me the healing boost that I needed.

Light Supports the Immune System

Sunlight also plays a role in immune regulation. Light exposure helps activate certain immune cells and can lower inflammatory markers. This may explain why people tend to get sick more often during darker months. Your immune system thrives on light.

Light Promotes Skin Healing

Different wavelengths help the skin in different ways. Blue light can kill acne-causing bacteria. Red light stimulates collagen production. And light therapy can reduce redness, improve elasticity, and support scar healing. Modern medicine now uses red and near-infrared light to heal wounds, reduce inflammation, and restore cellular energy. Yes, light can be used to promote healing at the cellular level.

Matthew 6:22 says, “The light of the body is the eye.” Our eyes connect light to our brains. As we’ve seen today, this can have an effect on our mood, hormones, and alertness. Light also regulates rest and renewal and can promote healing at the cellular level. “Let there be light” now gives us new meaning. Did you know before this video that God created light for more than just our vision and to divide the day from night.

But stay tuned to this channel, because next week, we’ll look at seven practical ways we can use light to heal and walk in God’s healing light.

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Seven Ways to Optimize Health and Immunity with Light

Related messages:

Ten Causes of Mitochondrial Dysfunction

Ten Ways to Improve Mitochondrial Health

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