Are you looking for more daily energy?

David Asprey, who is also the founder of Bulletproof Coffee, spent 10 years and over $1 million dollars bio hacking himself. In other words, Dave experimented with his own body to optimize his physical and mental capacities. He did this in a formal setting (i.e. receiving stem cells, etc.), and outside of the science lab (i.e. using cold therapy in his own home, etc.). With both approaches, Dave incorporated independent studies to substantiate his findings as well. Many of the topics resonated with me, but one really stood out. He dedicated a section in the book to light exposure. Dave read and researched the effects of different types of unhealthy light that we’re exposed to everyday — cell phones, tablets, laptops, e-readers, interior lights/bulbs, cars — the list goes on. I’ve come across articles about minimizing usage of my cell phone and so on, but I didn’t realize there were more pervasive issues with light.
What I didn’t know before is that light in all forms — unnatural and natural — tells our bodies (down to the cellular level and our mitochondria, which are the powerhouses of our cells) what to do and when to do it. And since our eyes use up to 15% of our total energy — via visual processing — David explained simply that unnatural spectrums of light stress our cells and mitochondria, and that consequently slows energy production; whereas our bodies will accept and function better with the varied colors, signals and frequencies (i.e. circadian rhythm) from the sun. Unnatural light and an imbalance of colors of light causes a myriad of other detrimental effects on our bodies: it increases free radicals (namely unnatural blue light) and inhibits our bodies from producing extra anti-oxidants to clean up free radicals. Free radicals are essentially atoms or groups of atoms that lead to cellular damage and they increase in number with age. Blue light exposure, at night, is also linked to lower levels of serotonin and melatonin production. Melatonin is our sleep aid hormone and a powerful antioxidant, and without it, we have a harder time getting good rest. And as a matter of fact, a lack of sleep creates weight gain.

So, how do we fix it?
Tips for improvement to increase exposure to quality and infrared red light.
- Go outside in AM and during lunch for a few minutes without UV protective sunglasses. Let the sun hit your skin for a reasonable amount of time — say 15–30 minutes depending on the time of year (sun strength varies depending on the season).
- Cover skin in junk light (i.e. office and airplanes) to lessen its effect on your health.
- Use an infrared sauna or UV sun lamp if you have access to it for exposure to other light spectrums (could be great option esp. for winter months).
- Use incandescent or halogen bulbs with lower wattage (instead of fluorescent). Full disclosure — these bulbs are much less efficient from a cost perspective.
- At night (1 hr. before bed) or in the afternoon, use red/amber light instead of blue, white, or green LED and CFL bulbs. Try out — https://www.lsgc.com/collections/biological/products/good-night-sleep-better-led-lamp-bulb?variant=1234091904 (same light NASA used to stabilize circadian rhythms of astronauts!) Candles at night are great too. If you have a computer, consider going on getflux.com and install it as a way to reduce blue light exposure from your computer screen. Also, check out biohacked.com for light covers.
- If you really want to turn it up a notch, wear amber or orange glasses to block blue light by wearing TrueDark glasses.
For more information, please research studies that Dave provides in the book below. Hope you’ve found this post helpful. Please feel free to subscribe to www.PeterFiorita.com.


