Hey Everyone, welcome to WiseAthletes, your source for discovering how to flourish as an older athlete, and find your path to longevity in sport. I'm your host Joe Lavelle.
Today on Episode 150 I am presenting Part 2 in my series on Near Infrared (NIR) light, an important environmental factor that our bodies expect to have and need for our health. But in a narrowly focused effort to improve energy efficiency, our society has shifted our indoor lighting to LEDs which are the least power hungry way to illuminate our homes and offices....but in focusing on visible light, we have lost something very important to our health. This loss is compounded by the increase in time spent indoors (estimated at 90%). Part Two of the series is with Professor Glen Jeffrey PhD, an research biologist, who has been focused on using Deep Red/NIR light to preserve and improve eye health. His lab has also discovered that a short exposure to deep red (670nm) light measurably reduces blood sugar. Deep Red (670 nm)/NIR (700-2,500nm) light acts to increase ATP production and while blue light reduces ATP production. Low ATP production leads to, in the short term, lower visual acuity, while in the long-term, to photo receptor death (macular degeneration).
"Retina has an enormous metabolic rate...things that burn a lot of energy age fast...by the time you are 70 years old, you've lost 25%-30% of the central photo receptors in your eye....even if you are healthy"
"Retina is a sports car....goes like crazy, burns vasts amounts of energy, but also has a frailty in it. It needs a lot of looking after." You cannot recover lost photo receptors but you can slow the rate of decline by preserving the function of mitochondria in the retina. And you can improve eye function within 3 hours with as little as 1 minute of exposure to deep red and NIR light (targeted LEDs and the effect lasts for days. Incandescent lights also work (if your government hasn't banned them), and natural light is the best solution (if you live far enough South, or it's the right time of year).
The morning is the best time of day for red light to improve mitochondria energy production (it doesn't work after norming!)
Overall metabolic health PLUS deep red light ---> helps the mitochondria in the retina to produce a youthful level of energy to continue to function well enough to survive and allow us to see.
The scary bit is you and I have already lost a lot of our photo receptors (vision)...we just cannot tell yet. Now is the time to stop it.
Professor of Neuroscience, Institute of Ophthalmology, University College London (UCL Profile)
Professor Jeffery researches the intricate relationship between light, mitochondria, and health. Mitochondria (the “powerhouses of the cell”) are responsible for producing nearly all of the energy produced in the body. Sufficient exposure to red light / NIR lightwave frequencies can significantly boost mitochondrial function, leading to a range of health benefits, including:
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