The Energy Engine that Drives Our Health

Our metabolic capacity, is compromised by such apparently small things as staying up late frequently in front of a video game, or just turning on a white light on the way to the bathroom late at night (which sends our whole hormonal system into reverse, affecting us for hours afterward.)

Absolutely everything the body does takes energy. Repairing faulty DNA, removing dangerous garbage molecules from our bodies, building protein, defending ourselves from illness – it all takes a great deal of energy, and the Photoperiod Effect, that is, the lack of natural darkness in modern societies, is robbing us of much of the energy our bodies need to stay healthy, happy, and active. This fundamental deficiency multiplies the deleterious effects of all sorts of other environmental factors – including, but not limited to, those mentioned at the beginning of this paragraph. Energy in the form of phosphorous (ATP) makes everything our bodies do, possible. ATP is our gasoline, so to speak, and when our metabolism is dysfunctional the effect is much the same as an energy crisis or oil shortage on the national economy with lineups, inefficiency, and increasing prices to do anything at all. Life gradually becomes more and more difficult.

But don't despair! This is all very good news: because it means that reversing this epidemic of chronic illness, fatigue, depression, disability and premature death willither be costly or very difficult. You don't have to go back in time and adopt an entirely natural night of about eleven hours of constant darkness, although many like myself who have been very ill will want to go to that “extreme.” Some very simple changes, such as the one I've mentioned a couple times now, merely buying a cheap red LED bikelight and using that when you have to get up in the night (along with good light-blocking curtains) can do most of the job of getting your daily hormonal cycle back to normal, or near-normal. [more about these practical steps at darkness instructions] This absolutely critical daily hormonal cycle was unknown to us when I went to University (no-one even knew what the pineal gland does, for a start), but now it's an undisputed medical fact. The last pieces of this puzzle are still falling into place – but it's not at all too early to take advantage of the new knowledge about human hormones, and surge into better health (with a much better mood too, since Serotonin, the feel-good chemical that heroin mimics, is only made at night.) Moreover, over the next few decades, we are going to see something that must sound very unlikely: health premiums, and medical costs borne by governments are going to begin to shrink, and then keep on shrinking, for some time, since these costs are principally driven by a handful of chronic diseases, particularly obesity and diabetes, both intimately tied to light exposure.

Chronobiology as a Cause of Chronic Illnesses: What's most difficult to believe for someone who's grown up in a world so thoroughly splashed with electric light - and again, I don't expect anyone to believe that this is possible until they've reviewed plenty of quite recent scientific research – is that a lack of true, consistently-timed, and uninterrupted darkness in our lives has not just exacerbated but is actually causing diabetes, obesity, depression, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's, hayfever, eczema, etc, - and much, much more. All other causes, including genetic factors, appear more and more subordinate to this one prime environmental factor in chronic disease – light exposure. Our current long days under artificial light, and remarkably shortened nights are the single greatest reason why these diseases occur, and are the largest risk factor for getting them. We know that light affects many other animals, and yet it is hard to believe that we – humans – might be affected by light as well.