Light is a Nutrient!

Light is a nutrient!

It's also essential for hormone production, as each gland and organ in your body has its own circadian rhythm, which is controlled by light. Light is the way your body know what time it is and when to produce hormones and run the millions of processes that keep you alive and healthy.

At sunrise, a key blend of blue and red appears, signalling the mitochondria make pregnenolone - which can become cortisol & all the sex hormones.

At this time, our body decides if we should divert pregnenolone to sex hormones to make a baby or if we are under stress and need more cortisol instead.

When the sun is 10° above the horizon, ultraviolet A comes through which then creates serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine. This is one the reasons why SAD syndrome is so common in the dark winter months!

UVA & UVB often get a bad rap but you NEED them on your naked and sun cream free skin (in a safe manner of course!) and here's why:

• UVA on the skin makes nitric oxide, which dilates the blood vessels to lower blood pressure.
• UV also degrades excess steroid hormones.
• UVB on the skin makes vitamin D (which is really a hormone!) and we all know how important that is!

So morning sunlight both drives hormone production and balances it out. Hormone issues are typically light issues.

At sunset, blue light disappears from our environment. This signals nightfall (this is why blue light at night is not good as it confuses our body as to what time of day it is). Sunset light is also full of red light/infrared frequencies that heal inflammation, support mitochondria, and are a soothing way to end the day.

Light during the day also sets you up for a great night's sleep, where all your body's repair mechanisms can run.

Not getting enough sleep can decrease leptin levels, which will make you feel hungrier and more likely to eat excessively and put your insulin levels out of whack, which is also not good for sex hormone production!

One thing you can begin implementing now is to take regular light breaks during the day, and purchase a pair of blue blocking glasses to wear after sunset to block the blue light on your eyes.  As Black Friday sales are coming up, now is a great time to invest in a pair!

Light is one of the 7 pillars I teach for balancing your hormones holistically.  I will be launching my one-to-one coaching in the new year for my ALIGNED hormone balancing protocol. Watch out for more about that coming soon!