Using Light (Sunlight, Blue Light & Red Light) to Optimize Health

这 section of the episode develops the topic 通过 the following source points: Welcome to the Huberman Lab 播客, where 我们 discuss science 和 science-based tools 对于 everyday life. I'm Andrew Huberman 和 I'm a professor of 神经生物学 和 ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine. Today 我们 are going to discuss light 和 the many powerful uses of light to optimize 我们的 health. 我们're going to discuss the use of light 对于 optimizing 皮肤 health, appearance 和 longevity, 对于 wound healing, 对于 optimizing 激素 balance, 和 对于 regulating sleep, alertness, 情绪, 和 even 对于 offsetting dementia. 一 of the reasons why light has such powerful effects on so many 不同的 aspects of 我们的 biology is 那 it 可以 be translated 进入 electrical signals in 我们的 大脑和身体, 进入 激素 signals in 我们的 大脑和身体, 和, indeed, 进入 what 我们 call cascades of biological 通路, meaning light 可以 actually change the genes 那 the cells of 你的 身体 express, 和 那 is true throughout the lifespan. Today, I 会 discuss the mechanisms by which all of 那 occurs. I promise to make it clear 对于 那些 of 你 那 don't have a biology background, 和 if 你 do have a biology background, I'll try 和 provide sufficient depth so 那 it's still of interest to 你. 和 I promise to give 你 tools, 非常 具体的 方案 那 are extracted 从 the peer-review literature 那 会 allow 你 to use 不同的 so-called wavelengths, which most of us think of as colors, of light in order to modulate 你的 health in the ways 那 are most 重要 to 你. 对于 那些 of 你 那 are thinking 那 the use of light to modulate health falls under the category of woo science, pseudoscience 或 biohacking, well, nothing could be further 从 the truth. In fact, in 1903, the Nobel Prize was given to Niels Finsen. He was Icelandic; he lived in Denmark 对于 the use of phototherapy 对于 the treatment of lupus. So there's 更多 than a hundred years of quality science emphasizing the use of light, 和 as 你'll soon see, the use of particular wavelengths, 或 colors of light, in order to modulate the activity of cells in the 大脑和身体. So while it is the case 那 many places 和 companies are selling therapies 和 products related to the use of flashing lights 和 colored lights, promising 具体的 outcomes 从 everything 从 stem cell renewal to improvement of 大脑 function, 和 some of 那些 don't have any basis in science, there are phototherapies 那 do have a strong foundation in quality science, 和 那些 are the 研究 和 the 方案 那 我们 are going to discuss today.

这 section of the episode develops the topic 通过 the following source points: If it didn't sound weird enough 那 你 可以 pass light 通过 particular 组织 和 have them land 和 be absorbed at 组织 deeper in 你的 身体, well, it turns out 那 不同的 wavelengths of light are also best absorbed by particular so-called organelles within 你的 cells. What are organelles? Organelles are the 不同的 compartments 和 不同的 functions within a given cell. So 对于 instance, 你的 mitochondria, which are responsible 对于 generating ATP 和 能量 in 你的 cells, 那些 exist at a particular depth, at a particular location within a cell. They're not all at the cell surface. They sit somewhat deeper in the cell. The nucleus of 你的 individual cells contains DNA 和 那 sits at a particular depth 或 location within 你的 cell. 不同的 wavelengths of light not only 可以 penetrate down 进入 不同的 组织 和 进入 不同的 cells of 你的 身体, 但 they 可以 also penetrate 和 access particular organelles, meaning mitochondria 或 the nucleus 或 the 不同的 aspects of 你的 cells 那 are responsible 对于 不同的 functions. 这 is exquisitely 重要 和 it's exquisitely powerful 因为 as 你'll learn today, particular wavelengths of light 可以 be used to stimulate the function of particular organelles within particular cells, within particular organs of 你的 身体. I 可以 think of no other form of 能量, not sound, not chemical 能量, so not drugs, not food, not touch, no form of 能量 那 可以 target the particular locations in 我们的 cells, in 我们的 organelles, in 我们的 organs, 和 in 我们的 身体 to the extent 那 light 可以. In other words, if 你 had to imagine a real world surgical tool by which to modulate 我们的 biology light 会 be the sharpest 和 the most precise of 那些 tools. Now, let's talk 关于 how light is converted 进入 biological signals, several ways in which 那 is accomplished. 但 the fundamental thing to understand is 这 notion of absorption of light 能量, certain pigments 或 colors in the thing 那 is receiving the light 能量, meaning the thing 那 the light 能量 lands on are going to absorb particular wavelengths of light. Now, I promise 你 那 你 already intuitively know how 这 works. 对于 instance, if 你 were to sit outside on a 非常 bright sunny 天 和 你 had a table in front of 你 那 was metal, 你 可能 find it hard to look down at 那 metal table 因为 it's reflecting a lot of light of particular wavelengths. If 那 table were pitch black, 然而, it wouldn't reflect quite as much 和 你 会 be able to comfortably look at it. If 那 table were red, it 可能 be somewhere in between. If 那 table were green, it 会 be also somewhere in between. 但 let's say it were 非常 light blue, well then it 可能 reflect almost as much as a table 那 were just metal 或 a white table surface. So the absorbance properties of a given surface 会 determine whether 或 not light 能量 goes 和 stays at 那 location 和 has an impact on 那 location, 或 whether not it bounces off. Every biological function of light has to do 与 the absorbance 或 the reflectance of light 或 light passing 通过 那 particular thing, meaning 那 particular cell 或 compartment within a cell. I'd like to make it clear how 这 works by using the 三 primary examples of how 你 take light in 你的 environment 和 convert it 进入 biological events. 我们 have photoreceptors in the back of 我们的 eyes. 这些 photoreceptors come in 二 major types, the so-called rods 和 the cones. The rods are 非常 elongated. They look like rods 和 the cones look like little triangles. Rods 和 cones have within them photopigment. They have dark stuff 那's stacked up in little layers. Rods absorb light of 本质上 any wavelength. There's some variation to 那, 但 let's just say rods don't care 关于 the 不同的 colors of light. They 会 absorb light 能量, photon 能量; if it's red, if it's green, if it's blue, if it's yellow, doesn't matter, as long as 那 light is bright enough. It turns out 那 rods are 非常, 非常 sensitive. They 可以 detect 非常, 非常 small numbers of photons. 和 rods are 本质上 what 你 use to see in 非常 low light conditions. 我们'll return 更多 to vision later.