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Series Code: MH
Program Code: MH240011S
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00:05 There's something I've become increasing aware of
00:09 humanity's intimate relationship with nature. 00:12 It's sad to say, many of us have lost touch with this 00:15 connection. Think about it, our body literally translates 00:19 light rays, sound waves, electrical waves, ions, 00:22 food molecules into us. 00:24 They influence everybody function, become a part of our 00:28 very being John Muir is the great naturalist and explorer 00:32 known for helping Yosemite becoming a National Park. 00:34 He understood this connect between nature and humanity 00:38 and he said, The sun shines not on us but in us. 00:42 John Muir may not have under- stood the science and physiology 00:45 behind his statement he spoke a profound truth, 00:48 we are light catchers. 01:14 I'm reading some of John Muir and his writing is so beautiful 01:18 and poetic, he says... 01:37 Joh Muir was a lover of the wilderness, he was a man who 01:42 became an advocate for conservation of lands in 01:44 the United States, he was significantly involved in the 01:47 establishment of Sequoia National Park in Yosemite. 01:50 You know, I only live an hour from Yosemite and it 01:52 is such a beautiful place. 01:54 There's a waterfall in Yosemite that at the right time 01:58 of the year, the right time of day, 02:00 the sun hits it in such a way the waterfall looks like 02:03 molten fire flowing down the cliff, that's sunshine for you 02:08 makes everything look better. 02:09 But it's also responsible for doing amazing things 02:13 for our health. In fact, if I were to tell you 02:16 that there is a nutrient been found that will slash our risk 02:19 of developing at least sixteen different types of cancer 02:23 including Pancreatic, Lung, Ovarian, Colorectal, 02:27 and Prostate cancers. 02:28 That it would be essential for healthy immune function 02:31 and decrease the risk of autoimmune diseases such as 02:34 multiple sclerosis, it affects our blood pressure, 02:38 and reduces heart disease, stroke, and infectious diseases 02:41 from influenza to tuberculosis, it improves mood, 02:46 prevents dementia, depression, insomnia, muscle weakness, 02:51 joint pain, Fibromyalgia, osteoarthritis, 02:55 rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis, and psoriasis, 02:58 it helps us sleep better, age better, and is good for the gut. 03:02 We learned in our last episode that deficiency in this nutrient 03:07 resulted in higher the rates of Covid 19, higher hospital 03:11 admissions and that those who were deficient were more likely 03:15 to need ventilators and die of Covid 19. 03:18 You probably wouldn't be able to guess what this can do, 03:22 can't live without it substance would be if I hadn't given 03:25 you the clue, it's sunlight. 03:27 Today we're going to continue our look into the healing power 03:31 of the sun and we're going to start with the question 03:34 does sunshine benefit our mental health? 03:37 It does in a huge way for sure so it helps with our 03:42 circadian rhythm, it helps with Vitamin D production, 03:46 it also helps us directly stimulate mitochondria... 03:50 You know when I think about mental and hormonal health 03:55 I often think of all the neurotransmitters and hormones 03:58 and chemicals that actually function as part of a symphony 04:03 or an orchestra, they need to keep collaborative rhythm 04:07 and sometimes when they get out of sync with each other 04:09 there's dissonance, it doesn't sound so good. 04:12 Light is like the conductor that can bring them back into 04:16 harmony and rhythm. 04:18 I asked Dr. Binas if he thought that was a good analogy. 04:21 I think so and again when we think about that whole harmony 04:26 that takes place, it reminds me of the whole circadian rhythm 04:30 thing because just like with a symphony there needs to be 04:34 a conductor and things taking place at the right time... 04:37 Same thing with the circadian rhythm right? 04:39 Like where you want to have things be released and 04:44 not being released at certain times so that things can work 04:46 in an integrative fashion. 04:48 So he mentioned that sunshine plays a vital role in 04:53 circadian rhythm, Vitamin D, and mitochondria stimulation, 04:57 all topics that we addressed in previous episodes. 05:00 Now as we're about to learn sunshine also helps to support 05:04 balance, brain chemical levels. 05:06 Remember that Sunshine on My Shoulder Makes Me Happy Song 05:10 that we sang years ago? 05:11 Come to find out it's true. 05:14 I would definitely say that sunshine at least on my forehead 05:20 makes me happy. Again, because of the infrared penetration 05:28 into your brain that really is going to stimulate 05:31 your frontal lobe and your whole cerebral cortex 05:33 which in turn can really elevate your mood states and 05:37 certainly there is also the tie- in with Vitamin D, serotonin, 05:44 melatonin, and so even in order to get adequate secretion 05:50 production of serotonin, we need to have Vitamin D 05:53 and we need to have sunlight exposure. 05:55 Sunshine causes us to produce serotonin in our brains 06:01 and as you know serotonin is necessary for our moods 06:06 and when we become low in serotonin, we can develop 06:09 depression, we can develop anxiety. 06:11 So serotonin is what we call the feel-good hormone 06:15 and so it's a neurotransmitter that our brain cells use to 06:19 help with communication and it helps us to feel calm, 06:23 to have a positive mood and not to feel anxious, 06:27 but overall a positive sense of wellbeing. 06:31 And then melatonin of course is really important for inducing 06:34 sleep and actually melatonin is produced from serotonin. 06:38 We're not even 10 minutes into this thing and we're learning 06:41 so much, sunlight shining through the eyes and on the skin 06:45 have been found to influence serotonin production. 06:48 Our body interacts with light in more than one way 06:52 it's not just Vitamin D production as important 06:54 as that is. Sunshine is translated, registered, 06:59 inside of us. 07:00 This is one of the most amazing things I found out here 07:03 just recently, when the sun...actually when you are 07:11 exposed to sun the red and infrared rays they penetrate 07:16 quite deep into our body's tissues and they penetrate 07:21 so deeply that they even reach the cerebral cortex. 07:25 And what's really interesting is that there is some research 07:28 where they are trying to look at this and they are saying 07:31 okay what we think is actually part of what is happening is 07:34 you have this fluid called cerebral spinal fluid that 07:37 surrounds your brain and your spinal cord and so when the 07:43 red and the infrared rays from the sun actually penetrate 07:46 into your cerebral spinal fluid it acts kind of like a 07:50 magnifying glass so to speak and it diffuses the light throughout 07:56 your whole brain, especially around the cerebral cortex, 08:00 the outside of the brain which is where the cell body's for 08:04 your brain are and that in turn will directly stimulate the 08:09 mitochondria. There's an enzyme in the mitochondria which has a 08:13 photo-receptors which means that it catches light. 08:17 Wait, we have light catchers inside of us? 08:21 I love this picture, inside ourselves, inside of the 08:25 mitochondria of the cells, we are catching light that is 08:29 streaming from 93 million miles away. 08:32 Sunlight has three different categories of wavelengths 08:35 Visible, Infrared, and ultra- violet light our UV light. 08:40 Vitamin D is produced on our skin as a result of exposure 08:43 to the UV Light. And then there is the invisible infrared light 08:46 which penetrates deeper into our bodies. 08:49 Bypasses, light clothing, penetrates the skin 08:53 and is diffused in our skull entering into the cells 08:57 stimulates the production of the extremely important 09:01 substance melatonin. 09:02 Melatonin is often thought of as just a supplement 09:06 people have to take to help them fall asleep. 09:09 It's true that melatonin is produced in the brain 09:12 in the night in response to dark and is important in 09:15 promoting good sleep. 09:16 But it like everything else in the body has many roles. 09:20 Melatonin is considered one of the body's most powerful 09:25 antioxidants, think of it as an on location well-trained 09:30 Navy Seal Warrior protecting you from harm and danger 09:34 by promptly taking out dangerous molecules, calming ROS down, 09:39 and fighting oxidative stress. 09:41 Remember we talked about this in a previous episode, 09:45 we produce melatonin at night in a gland in our brain 09:49 darkness is actually the queue for the brain to produce 09:53 melatonin... Getting sunlight we're using a lightbox 09:57 first thing in the morning and reducing light exposure 10:00 in the evening can dramatically improve night time 10:04 melatonin production. 10:05 As you can imagine though, melatonin protection is needed 10:09 all the time, not just at night. 10:12 This is where sunlight comes to the rescue, 10:14 not only is melatonin produced in the brain it's also produced 10:18 inside our energy production plants throughout the body 10:22 during the day in response to sunlight. 10:25 This melatonin that is produced inside of the cells 10:28 gets other antioxidants to help fight as well, again protecting 10:33 us from danger and harm. 10:35 How'd this all happen? 10:37 Because you decided to step outside and expose yourself 10:41 to one of nature's powerful healing agents. 10:43 The Sun. And so it's cytochrome- c oxidase, and so when that 10:49 cytochrome-c oxidase gets stimulated by the red and the 10:53 infrared light, that actually helps the mitochondria to work 10:56 better, you get more energy production, you also get 10:59 more of the antioxidant effect and you also even get more 11:03 of the melatonin production from the mitochondria as well. 11:07 And there's a lot of studies that actually showing that 11:11 red and infrared light is tremendously healing for the 11:16 both the mind and the body. I mean there are some stays 11:20 there showing for a traumatic brain injury for example 11:23 that it can help heal some traumatic brain injuries 11:27 and then also for Alzheimer's and for Parkinson's disease. 11:32 and then even for depression. 11:34 When people enter into the winter months, 11:38 a lot of people struggle with what we call SAD 11:41 and it stands for Seasonal Affective Disorders 11:45 so basically they tend to be more depressed when it gets 11:48 darker out in the winter months. 11:49 And what some studies have shown, quite a few studies 11:54 actually, is that when people use light therapy 11:59 that that can actually help reverse that because it resets 12:02 your circadian rhythm. 12:04 And of course, we can say well, just go outside but if it's dark 12:07 most of the day especially in the more northern latitudes 12:10 like if you live in Portland, Oregon, or Seattle 12:12 or something like that or New York even, 12:15 then it's going to be darker much later into the morning 12:21 and earlier at night and so that throws off your 12:24 circadian rhythm and can make you feel depressed. 12:26 Because your body does not have those external queue's when to 12:31 shut off that melatonin, release and really boost up 12:34 the cortisol so that you can wake up and feel like you're 12:38 alert and ready to face a new day and you're like ahh, 12:40 you don't want to get out of bed. 12:42 And so then if you do light therapy with what we call 12:45 a lightbox, that can actually help your body to know 12:49 like okay, now it's time to turn down the melatonin 12:52 and to start to secreting more cortisol, this is when the day 12:56 starts and it can actually be a treatment for 12:59 Seasonal Affective Disorder. 13:01 They've also even found with bipolar depression, bipolar is 13:07 quite related to circadian rhythm disturbance that 13:10 light therapies can be often helpful there too where people 13:14 do bright light therapy several minutes a day and this can help 13:18 to improve their mood significantly. 13:21 What controls these circadian rhythms is the sun. 13:25 You know we wake up in the morning and you know we get 13:28 that beautiful natural sunlight through our eyes, 13:32 through our super cosmetic nucleus and that regulates 13:35 our circadian rhythms. 13:37 And the more we spend time in nature and actually 13:40 that's one of the best ways we can set our circadian rhythm 13:42 right is to go outside. 13:44 Because one thing I will say is that when we are exposed 13:48 to the sun that this actually helps our mitochondria to work 13:52 and our mitochondria remember are the ones that actually 13:56 create melatonin... 13:58 And remember, melatonin not only supports good quality sleep 14:02 but is also our body's most powerful antioxidant. 14:06 Turns out sunshine also affects how well our brain works. 14:09 Yeah, I think with Vitamin D it's also important 14:12 to keep in mind that it really helps the cognitive function 14:17 as well and they found that when your Vitamin D level 14:20 at a higher level, not too but at a good solid level 14:26 that that actually helps people's attention and 14:29 processing speed and it also helps with overall memory 14:33 as well and Vitamin D is very important for immune function. 14:37 Vitamin D is very necessary for the integrity of brain cells. 14:42 Vitamin D deficiency has been associated with cognitive 14:47 impairment and Alzheimer's' disease specifically. 14:50 If you ask me sunlight has been undervalued therapeutic tool 14:55 to say the least. 14:57 I remember 15 or 20 years ago I was in fellowship 15:03 and they were just laughing about Vitamin D saying 15:06 you know, it's not important this quack had given Vitamin D 15:10 and it does not have nothing to do with the heart 15:13 and we know how important Vitamin D is and very essential 15:18 there was a study that was published in the 15:21 Journal of Investigative Dermatology in January 20 15:25 of this year found that nitric oxide that is stored, 15:30 that is stored, remember that we talked about the nitric oxide 15:33 for the endothelial cells. Well, this nitric oxide 15:36 that is stored in the top layer of the skin reacts to sunlight 15:42 and causes blood vessels to widen as the oxide moves into 15:48 the bloodstream, that in turn lowers blood pressure 15:52 so Vitamin D is essential. 15:55 Sunlight lowering blood pressure, that's amazing 16:00 what else can it do? 16:01 People are using red and infrared light through 16:05 their body's, actually a lot of people use the red and infrared 16:08 just for their skin too because they see like Wow, 16:10 it really improves my skin tone and elasticity and all that 16:14 helps to balance our hormonal production like luteinizing 16:20 hormone for example, like for people that are struggling 16:23 with low testosterone levels if you have that light exposure 16:26 in the morning that can actually help to get 16:28 your testosterone levels up. 16:31 That's important, the problem is is that our exposure to light 16:35 is dramatically decreased in the past 100 years. 16:38 In the 1800s the average adult spent 50% of their time outside 16:43 whereas today it's 7%. Yikes! 16:48 And unfortunately even though we live in sunny 16:52 Southern California the percentage of people with 16:56 Vitamin D deficiency is incredibly high 10 to 15 %. 17:00 And we unfortunately see that a lot in the clinic when 17:05 we're treating patients with cognitive decline and so 17:08 we've realized that it's important for people to be 17:11 we are quite aware of their Vitamin D levels. 17:13 If you live above the 37th parallel which is two thirds 17:18 of the United States, even half of California, 17:21 is above the 37th parallel you're making essentially 17:27 zero Vitamin D for up to four months of the year, 17:29 of the fall-winter months because the sun is so low 17:32 on the horizon, even near San Diego where we are 17:36 okay, in the winter months there are on a couple of hours 17:39 where you are actually generating Vitamin D 17:42 if you are outside so that's when most people aren't 17:45 outside. So the other thing is that very few of us 17:50 are actually generating Vitamin D even in that setting 17:57 because as we get older, the ability to convert to produce 18:02 Vitamin D is very very Minimized. 18:05 Also, if we're on a statin lowering cholesterol medication 18:09 that's not going to happen. If we wear any sunscreen, 18:12 it completely negates the ability of sunlight to produce 18:17 Vitamin D, therefore, I always have my patients tested 18:22 so that we're doing personalized medicine so we're making 18:26 decisions that are based on their own blood work 18:29 and almost in every case there have been inadequate levels 18:32 unless they are supplementing. 18:34 So the average individual I see really needs to be on a minimum 18:39 of 4 to 5,000 International Units a day or else they can't 18:43 hope to be above 50. 18:45 When I see a patient and they are having all kinds of problems 18:48 I want to know what their Vitamin D level is. 18:50 Now when I first heard this, I had a hard time believing it. 18:55 The lecturer said that if your practice was north of 18:58 Santa Barbara, 60% of your patients would be low in 19:02 Vitamin D. Here in Mt. Shasta we get 300 days a year of sunshine 19:07 and so I didn't believe it, I said we get lots of sunshine 19:13 this can't be true. 19:14 Over the years I've been testing patients and I've had patients 19:20 as low as nine where the normal, depending on who you talk to 19:25 our current hospital it's 30 to 40 and yet equatorial norm 19:29 where you're getting the most sunshine is 70 to 100 okay. 19:33 The interesting thing is those patients get their Vitamin D 19:38 levels up all kinds of things start changing it's not just 19:42 the immune system, the whole body thrives on that vitamin. 19:46 You know I was a triathlete being outside with my bike and 19:51 running and swimming my Vitamin D level was 11. 19:56 Very low. And why I was so tired? 20:00 Why I was not functioning well? 20:02 So, don't think because you are in the sun, there was this 20:06 another study done in farmers, people that are outside 20:10 all day long, they compared that to someone that was sunbathing 20:14 still for 30 minutes. Guess what? 20:17 Who absorbed the most? Thirty minutes still or 20:21 all day outside in the sun? 20:23 Being still. Sunbathing. 20:26 So that's another thing that we have to, 20:28 especially in the summer, we need to expose our back 20:32 our extremities, to get good Vitamin D because that gets 20:35 stored for the winter. And so you know the sun blockers 20:40 even though they are useful for preventing cancer 20:47 and in people that were fair skin, it's important that 20:52 when you are receiving your sunbathing you cover your 20:56 head with a hat but you expose your body without sunblock. 21:01 That's the way it's going to happen otherwise you 21:03 won't be able to absorb your vitamins. 21:04 So, when I started checking Vitamin D levels 20 years ago, 21:10 I was shocked that my level was low and I lived in Guam 21:15 and I walked, I actually had a membership at the 21:19 Clark Hat Fitness center at the Marriot, because I did a lot of 21:23 lecturing in the evening. I would go to E-Pal Bay 21:28 and walk the bay in the afternoons almost every day 21:33 in a swimming suit and my Vitamin D levels were low. 21:36 Okay, so previous to that I believed in the theory 21:42 that if you were in the sun you know 15 minutes 21:46 two or three times a week wearing normal clothes 21:49 you would generate all the Vitamin D needed. 21:51 That is simply not true. 21:53 You hear that all the time from a health education 21:57 perspective, it's just not true in clinical practice. 22:00 And so basically 98% of my patients on Guam were low 22:07 on Vitamin D. Why because I refer to this as the sun shadow 22:12 standard. How do you know when you're outside if you're 22:16 even generating Vitamin D where the photons from the sunlight 22:21 are at a high enough degree to penetrate the skin and 22:24 convert a form of Cholesterol in your skin into Vitamin D? 22:29 The way to know is that the sun has to be above 45 degrees 22:36 in the sky. Meaning, that's why I call it the sun shadow 22:42 standard, if your shadow is longer than you are tall, 22:46 you're making zero Vitamin D or essentially not enough to 22:50 consider clinically worthwhile. 22:53 Living in the sunniest places in America and yet low in Vitamin D, 22:57 yes, and as we've learned we need sunlight for multiple reasons. 23:03 But I think it's extremely important to realize what 23:06 Dr. Rea is about to state and that is something that can be 23:10 draining our Vitamin D levels. 23:12 If your level is low and you're getting sunlight 23:16 and or supplementing, this needs to be considered. 23:19 And so, if we can keep the Vitamin D high as we can keep 23:24 the Vitamin D functional it will help us manage what's 23:27 happening in the body then if it gets low then we know 23:31 there are systems in the body that are needing modulating 23:34 when we need to think of what's draining the Vitamin D 23:36 why is the Vitamin D being used up so quickly? 23:39 and what do we need to do to turn off that process that 23:42 is requiring so much Vitamin D to modulate it? 23:45 So, you'll find people that are deficient in Vitamin D where 23:49 they're getting enough sun exposure and so you would 23:52 expect them to have adequate Vitamin D and we can always 23:55 bring that back to the fact we will probably have something 23:58 going on that's draining our Vitamin D and requiring 24:01 more Vitamin D than they are able to actually generate 24:04 and we need to figure out what that is and it usually has 24:06 something to do with some inflammatory components 24:09 that are going on with their lifestyle and behaviors. 24:12 Because I'm obsessed with the gut, I'd like to interject here 24:16 about the intentional role of the gut microbiome has in all of us 24:20 because researchers have demonstrated that the makeup 24:23 of a person's gut microbiome is linked to their levels of 24:27 active Vitamin D. 24:28 Vitamin D can take several different forms, 24:30 we have inactive forms of Vitamin D and the body must be 24:34 able to change that into the active form. 24:37 To use Vitamin D the body must metabolize the precursor 24:41 into the inactive form where researchers have found 24:45 is that a person's gut microbiome is the link to their 24:48 levels of active Vitamin D, D in turn influences the 24:53 composition of the gut microbiota. 24:55 Vitamin D regulates intestinal barrier integrity and is an 25:00 anti-inflammatory to the gut. 25:01 Particular types of bacteria appear more often in 25:06 gut microbiomes of men with lots of active Vitamin D. 25:10 The researchers stated that they were surprised to find 25:13 that gut-microbiome diversity was closely associated 25:17 with active Vitamin D. What they are referring to is the variety 25:22 of the bacteria types in the person's gut. 25:25 So you need a healthy gut to have a healthy Vitamin D levels 25:29 and good D levels for a healthy gut. 25:31 Let's talk supplementation real quick. 25:34 Ahh when I treated gestational diabetes every Wednesday in Guam 25:39 we gave our gestational diabetics 10,000 International Units based 25:44 on the studies that were done in that population at the time 25:48 and optimized their Omega 3 fatty acids. 25:51 Those two things alone dramatically all through 25:55 the risk of future disease in those babies 25:57 when they become adults. 25:58 Now we are not sharing that is what you are supposed to do 26:02 if you have gestational diabetes, but it's information 26:06 you can take to your doctor. 26:07 So, the average individual I see really needs to be on a 26:13 minimum 4 to 5,000 International Units a day or else they can't 26:17 hope to be above 50. 26:18 And we just think like okay yeah I know the sun is good 26:22 because of Vitamin D but there are so many aspects... 26:25 Obviously a very natural way of increasing our Vitamin D 26:29 is by getting enough sunshine we're all cooped up inside 26:33 and especially us, we are cooped up in the basement. 26:36 We really need to get out in the sun more often and it's 26:41 important to have some protection from the sun too 26:44 because you don't want to over-expose yourself to the sun 26:46 because of all the skin cancer but even 15 minutes of sunshine 26:50 significantly increases the absorbable type of Vitamin D 26:55 in our bodies that help our brains, our bones, 26:58 our cardiovascular system and I think that's a beautiful 27:02 example of how nature actually helps us stay healthy 27:07 and stay sharp. 27:08 That's what we were made for guys and sunlight shining 27:12 not just on us but in us is a part of God's design for us. 27:16 to experience. |
Revised 2025-03-04