What if one of the most vital ingredients for your health isn’t a vitamin or a mineral, but something you encounter every day? Modern people need a different kind of nutrition — one supplied by light. Light is neither a poison nor a drug; it is the most fundamental rhythm source in the human body’s design. Behind many contemporary chronic diseases lies an overlooked problem: our bodies are gradually becoming “light-deficient.”
The imbalance of modern civilization
We are experiencing a severe imbalance, often referred to as circadian rhythm disorder. This goes beyond simple Vitamin D deficiency. Even with healthy habits, crucial physiological rhythms fail to activate if your body misses proper light cues. The brain and cells become confused, leading to cascading issues with metabolism, immunity, mood, and sleep. This imbalance is a byproduct of modern civilization and incorrect lighting. Our ancestors’ rhythms perfectly followed the sun:
- Morning: Blue light enters the eyes and skin, activating the biological clock and cortisol to create alertness.
- Midday: Strong sunlight (including UVB) helped regulate leptin, stabilizing appetite and energy metabolism.
- Evening: Red light increased, signaling “sunset,” naturally lowering cortisol and turning the body toward melatonin production.
Today, many of us miss the essential morning sun but remain exposed to artificial blue light at night. This pattern disrupts our natural day-night cycles, throwing our entire physiology into chaos.
The cost of a confused clock
The earliest systems to suffer are the hypothalamus and the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), the command centers that regulate the biological clock. These regions govern the rhythmic secretion of key hormones like leptin, cortisol, insulin, and melatonin. Once these command centers are imbalanced, the entire metabolic chain goes awry, causing symptoms like abnormal appetite, weight gain, blood sugar fluctuations, insomnia, depression, chronic fatigue, and inflammation. The problem isn’t that you did something wrong; your body hasn’t received the correct signals.
Realigning with nature’s rhythm
Restoring this balance is not complicated. Your body needs a precise clock; the key is adjusting your light environment. Morning blue light regulates cortisol, helping us smoothly enter daytime mode. Infrared and UVB from sunlight activate energy release, suppress excess leptin, and enhance leptin sensitivity. Darkness and red light after nightfall are necessary conditions for the rise of melatonin. Today, most people get too little morning sunlight and are overwhelmed by blue light from screens and indoor lamps at night, preventing natural physiological synchronization.
The light-rhythm lifestyle: Four principles
To reset your body’s rhythm and regain balance, commit to these four simple changes:
1. Morning light is your ignition key
Within 30 minutes of waking, go outdoors and receive natural sunlight for at least 15 minutes. Even on cloudy days, the intensity is far higher than that of any indoor lamp. This light helps reset the biological clock, allowing cortisol to peak naturally in the morning and fall toward evening, restoring your original rhythm.
2. Daytime sun supports metabolism (Not just Vitamin D)
Get at least 15–30 minutes of daily sunlight, ideally after 10 a.m. The skin is an active participant in energy conversion and metabolism. Sunlight containing UVB activates α-MSH, a hormone that directly helps regulate metabolism and appetite.
3. At night, keep it black or red
After sunset, keep your environment as dark as possible and strictly avoid artificial blue light from phones, tablets, and white lights. Switch to red light bulbs to simulate the sunset signal. Red light allows cortisol to fall and melatonin to be secreted, guiding your body into a resting rhythm. Most critically, commit to turning off all lights one hour before sleep — allowing true darkness to enter your life is essential for a melatonin spike and deep repair.
4. Supplement with red light
If consistent daytime sun exposure is impossible, use a red light or near-infrared (NIR) light device (wavelengths from 660–850 nm). Illuminating your skin for 15-30 minutes can support mitochondrial repair, compensating for the energy stimulus lost due to insufficient sunlight.
Take charge of your environment
We cannot entirely avoid 3C products (computers, communication, and consumer electronics) and indoor living, but we can use them wisely. Don’t let technology shape your routine — become the driver of light. Make it a habit to take a walk in the morning. Use yellow screen filters during the day and orange lenses at dusk. Use red light mode on devices at night and switch to a warm halogen or tungsten filament lamp on your desk.
We are not necessarily lacking medicine. Humans thrive not solely by eating, but by synchronizing with the sun’s rising and setting. When you restore proper light exposure, you’ll discover greater vigor during the day, deeper sleep at night, a stabilized appetite, and clearer thinking. By letting the alternation of light and dark guide you, you can start your light-rhythm journey today.
This article is excerpted from New Nature Publishing’s Decoding the Mitochondria II: Optimizing Mitochondria with Light — Harnessing Energy Medicine from Quantum Biology to Heal Body, Mind, and Spirit, author: Lee Cheng-Chia.
Translated by Joseph Wu and edited by Helen London
Follow us on X, Facebook, or Pinterest
