Infrared

What do trees and a campfire have in common?

Adirondack Sky in July & Lakeside Campfire, Limekiln Lake, NY

What do the 2 photos above have in common? What do trees and a campfire have/give/reflect, and which we need for life?

Infrared light (IR) makes up about 43% of all the light of the sun that comes through our atmosphere. The other 57% is split among the ultraviolets and the ROYGBIVs (i.e. the colors of the rainbow). In other words, almost HALF of the electromagnetic spectrum that gets through our atmosphere and which we evolved under is IR light. That tells me that Nature considers IR light important for our physiology. And indeed, it is! We need IR to make 4th phase water inside us. Our mitochondria make IR as part of their process for making cellular water and ATP (i.e. energy). And every time we’re exposed to ambient IR light, the water inside us is charged up, thereby increasing our energy stores for cleaning, detoxing, cell function, etc.

The name of the game in healing and reversing dis-ease is ENERGY. Every single dis-ease presentation is simply our body’s way of telling us it is running low on energy. Our water battery needs to be continually charged, just like our cell phone battery. And food is only secondary to replenishing our energy stores. Light, especially in the form of infrared light is key. And it’s free!

"One third of the energy your body consumes comes from the food you eat. The vast majority of the energy your body needs to maintain systemic equilibrium comes from environmental infrared light exposure."

(Dr. Alexander Wunsch, MD, PhD)

Trees, grass and shrubs all absorb light from the sun, with the exception of IR light - they reflect that IR light back. And so by simply walking among the trees we can absorb that reflected IR. Furthermore, we don’t need to strip and get naked to absorb IR light! This type of frequency is long and penetrates deep, it even goes through our clothing. So walking outside, among the trees on a cold winter morning (all bundled up with the long jacket and the hat and gloves and boots) is not a barrier to us absorbing that much needed water battery charger that is IR light.

Anything that emits heat is emitting IR light. That’s what infrared light is! And so sitting in front of a fire, or soaking in a hot tub, or hanging out in a sauna, or standing under a hot shower, all are imparting heat to our bodies. This heat charges up our body water and fills us with the energy needed to power all the cellular processes we need to run every second of every day.

All you have to do to charge up is go outside, or open a window, or sit in front of a campfire or bon fire.

Check out this podcast to learn more.

"We have finally learned that light is a nutrient much like food, and like food, the wrong kind can make us ill and the right kind can help keep us well."

(Dr. John Ott)

Just like many have finally embraced the importance of consuming whole, minimally-processed foods for maximizing nutrient absorption and utilization, we now need to shift our focus, or rather, complement this nutrition-centric approach to health by embracing the importance of full spectrum light. We need to incorporate full-spectrum light into or daily light diet.

The visible portion of the EM spectrum (the ROYGBIV portion that we "see" with our occipital lobe/visual cortex) constitutes around 0.035% of all of the light of the sun.. The rest of the light of the sun that penetrates our atmosphere, and which we evolved under, also includes ultraviolet A and B frequencies and near, mid and far infrared frequencies. Even though we can't "see" these UV and IR waves, our body does have special "sensors" that see it and respond accordingly. These UV and IR sensors are essential for life! One such IR sensor that is KEY is the mitochondrion. Mitochondria are our engines and our batteries, and when they don't get the proper light nutrition they die. If we lose enough mitochondria, we also die. So the light we're exposed to matters!

Why is this such a big deal? Well, the artificial light we’re exposed to all day, the light we consume through our eyes and our skin, is devoid of ultraviolet and infrared frequencies. If we don’t take care to periodically reconnect with natural light sources by going outside, our engines (mitochondria) will run out of fuel and our batteries (mitochondria and body water) will run out of energy.

Not only does junk light fail to give us the light nutrients we need to thrive, junk light drains our battery by stealing electrons and dehydrating us. Same thing happens when we eat junk, frankenfoods (and yes, I consider fruit juice that you find at the store highly processed junk food) - they put a strain on our system, causing us to exert more energy to process them, leaving us energy-deficient in the end.

In quantum physics, when a system is low on energy, chaos ensues.

The word for chaos in quantum biology is inflammation.

Reverse your chaos by revamping your light diet.

Less junk light, more natural light.

For deeper dives on light and hydration, you can go here and here.

If you’re ready to begin applying healthy light and hydration habits, take a look at the following resources:

Thanks for perusing!

And consider this: when I worked at the medical school and had to walk from the research building to the auditorium or the anatomy lab to teach (3-4 blocks each way, rain, snow or shine), I would always walk by a group of people in scrubs (hospital workers, nurses, technicians, etc.), all huddled up on the corner, smoking. The inside of the Medical School campus buildings and hospitals are smoke-free (thankfully!), so smokers have to go outside and walk a couple blocks to get outside the smoke-free zone and get their fix, rain, snow or shine. No ifs, ands or buts. Even in -15F February in the Northeast. If these folks can be so determined for their smoke break, why can’t we be so determined and disciplined for our light breaks?