Seeing the Light
by Sally Euclaire Osborne
Sally Eauclaire Osborne, M.S., is author
of Boost Your Health with Bovine Cartilage,
to be published this summer by Keats. She
writes frequently on health and wellness
for Home, New Age Journal and other magazines. As the director of
Right Spin Health Education in Santa Fe,
New Mexico, she teaches classes on nutrition
and healing including gHealth and Light.h
For more information, call 505-984-2093.
When Dr. Albert Schweitzer arrived in Lambarene,
Gabon, in French Equatorial Africa in 1912,
he hardly ever saw a case of cancer. Later,
cancer rates skyrocketed. Although their
new gcivilizedh diet was certainly at fault,
another lifestyle factor may have also played
a role.
Natives who had once paddled their dugout
canoes up and down the rivers wearing nothing
more than a loin cloth, had started wearing
sunglasses. Indeed Dr. Schweitzerfs daughter
remembers that sunglasses were such a status
symbol in Lambarene that they had a higher
bartering value than beads and trinkets.
Anecdotes abound that correlate the use of
sunglasses with cancer. So do stories of
gspontaneous remissionsh from cancer, achieved
soon after patients threw away their sunglasses
or tinted lenses and soaked up the healing
rays of the sun. Yet the mass media has whipped
people into such a frenzy of fear about the
dangers of sunlight that many Americans are
afraid of going out in the daytime at all.
The sun has been blamed for everything from
premature wrinkling to skin cancer.
Those who examine the evidence, however,
will find it less than convincing. Certainly,
Dr. Weston Price never spied healthy natives
wearing dark sunglasses, fashion shades or
tinted contact lenses. Nor did he see them
riding around in cars with tinted windows,
slaving under artificial lights or slathered
with sunscreen. The result was they never
suffered from gmalillumination,h a word
coined by photobiologist John Nash Ott. Dr.
Ott believes that malillumination is as big
a problem in the western world as malnutrition.
In Dr. Ottfs opinion, depression, fatigue,
eyestrain, headaches, stress and feeling
gout of sortsh can all be attributed to
poor lighting. Whatfs more, he has accumulated
considerable data connecting the lack of
sunlight and use of artificial lights with
major diseases of civilization such as arthritis
and cancer.
Now in his 90fs, Dr. Ott has studied the
effect that light has on living things for
more than 40 years. The author of Health and Light (Devin-Adair, 1973), Light Radiation and You (Devin-Adair, 1982) and more than 60 scientific
papers, Dr. Ottfs most striking work may
well be the time-lapse photography sequences
in the Walt Disney films gSecrets of Lifeh
and gGodfs Half Acreh in which he filmed,
respectively, the actual growth of a pumpkin
from seed to fruit and the bursting of flower
buds into bloom. These films led him to the
conclusion that if the wrong light can wilt
plants, it can also wilt people.
Though Dr. Ottfs work remains controversial,
he is hardly alone in his opinions. gUntil
100 years ago, 90 percent of the worldfs
population worked outdoors,h says Jacob
Liberman, OD, PhD, the Aspen, Colorado-based
author of Light Medicine of the Future (Bear, 1991) and Take Off Your Glasses and See: A MindBody
Approach to Healing Your Eyesight and Expanding
Your Insight (Crown, 1995). Now, 90 percent work inside.
gTheyfre not getting the entire spectrum
of light, which is truly the spectrum of
life. Full-spectrum light from the sun nourished
humanity for millions of years. Itfs naturefs
optimal fuel and the octane we require.h
The National Institute of Mental Health in
Bethesda, Maryland - in a striking departure
from other government health agencies - agrees.
In a statement issued by its photobiology
department regarding the malady known as
Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) that leaves
five million Americans seriously depressed
during the winter months when days are short
and there is little sunlight, the Institute
made an unequivocal statement: gAlong with
food, air, and water, sunlight is the most
important survival factor in human life.h
Why? gSolar radiation activates biochemical
events in our bodies that are involved with
regulation of stress and fatigue, endocrine
control, timing of our biological clocks,
immunologic responsiveness, control of viral
and cold infections, and the dampening of
functional disorders of the nervous system.h
In addition to those people who have been
clinically diagnosed with SAD, there are
perhaps 25 million more afflicted with a
milder version that is commonly known as
the gwinter blues.h
Although it is best to open windows and get
outdoors as much as possible, more and more
people are choosing the next best thing -
lighting up their interiors with full-spectrum
fluorescent tubes. gThose who work in offices
with full-spectrum lighting report less eyestrain,
fewer headaches, fewer sick days, better
concentration and greater productivity,h
says Sam Berne, O.D., of Santa Fe, New Mexico,
author of Creating a Personal Vision: A Mind/Body Guide
to Better Eyesight (Color Stone Press, 1994). gPeople have
more energy, sleep better and stop craving
carbohydrates and caffeine.h
Although anecdotes abound about happy workers
in offices that have switched to full-spectrum
lighting, most of the scientific research
has been done on school children. A l973
study performed on first grade classes in
Sarasota, Florida, conducted by Dr. Ottfs
Environmental Health and Light Research Institute,
proved that hyperactive children calm down
and academic levels go up when full spectrum
lights are installed.(1,2,3) At the same
time, the Sarasota Dental Society observed
that the children schooled under full-spectrum
lights developed one-third the number of
cavities compared to the children schooled
under the standard fluorescent lights.(4)
The most likely reason is the increased calcium
absorption that occurs when Vitamin D is
manufactured by the skin in the presence
of sunlight. Interestingly, it is the ultraviolet
component - that most health gexpertsh
urge us to avoid at all costs - that encourages
the skinfs production of this important
vitamin.(5)
Another study of school children was conducted
in 1981 by Catherine Sam and Harry Wohlfarth
at the Elves Memorial Child Development Centre,
a school for handicapped children in Edmonton,
Alberta, Canada. There researchers noted
marked behavioral improvement among children
under full-spectrum lighting as well as decreased
stress levels, which they calculated by drops
in systolic blood pressures averaging 20
points per child. When the full-spectrum
lighting was changed back to the original
cool-white fluorescent tubes, the childrenfs
stress levels shot back up and they became
disorderly again.(6)
In Germany, Fritz Hollwich, Professor Emeritus,
Department of Ophthalmology at the University
of Munster, found high levels of stress hormones
- specifically adrenocorticotrophic hormone
(ACTH) and cortisol - in individuals sitting
under cool white fluorescent tubes. He found
normal levels, however, in people working
under full-spectrum tubes. Based on the research
of Dr. Hollwich and others, the cool-white
fluorescent bulb is legally banned in German
hospitals and medical facilities.(7)
In America, however, most schools, hospitals
and businesses gstill havenft seen the
light,h says Dr. Berne. Although he reports
some luck in convincing school officials
to convert to full-spectrum lighting, his
success has been mostly in the private sector,
namely Waldorf and Montessori Schools. It
seems that we are willing to buy special
lights so that chickens, hogs and horses
will grow better, yet subject our children
to the cheapest warehouse lighting possible.
The usual reason is higher cost. The other
major deterrent is fear of the UV part of
the spectrum. After all, news stories routinely
warn us of the dangers of UV light and public
service television commercials have even
begun advising parents to keep their children
out of the sun - but not away from the radiation
and electromagnetic fields of their trusty
TVs. gUV has gotten a lot of bad press,h
says Dr. Liberman, gyet UV is one of the
most biologically active and important portions
of the electromagnetic spectrum. Like most
aspects of life and health, itfs a matter
of the right dosage, of balance.h
Dr. Ott, too, speaks of balance: gWhen too
much oxygen is given to premature babies
in their incubators, it causes blindness,
deafness and brain tissue damage. Fortunately,
this has not resulted in any recommendation
that we should try to get along without oxygen.
Such a notion is obviously preposterous.
Yet this is exactly what is happening in
prevalent views about ultraviolet light.h
Though the average physician and dermatologist
believes that scientific research conclusively
proves that sunlight is hazardous to health,
a close look at the literature reveals that
researchers are divided on the subject. The
study most responsible for the fear of UV
was conducted in the Medical College of Virginia
at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.
Reported in 1981, it involved anesthetized
monkeys whose eyes were dilated, held open
and blasted for up to 16 minutes with a 2,500
watt xenon lamp containing high levels of
UV radiation. The monkeys showed retinal
damage, leading to the conclusion that UV
light causes retinal damage.(8) Similar studies
in which researchers burned the skin of laboratory
animals with high levels of UV light are
cited to prove that it causes cataracts and
skin cancer.(9)
Far less publicized was a study published
in the British medical journal Lancet, which
reported that a group of Australians who
worked all day under fluorescent lights had
higher incidents of skin cancer than people
who frequently sunbathed or worked outside!
This startled the researchers, who expected
quite the opposite. The study, after all,
had been conducted in Australia, where residents
are routinely exposed to higher than average
doses of UV light because of depletion of
the ozone layer there.(10)
Adding to the confusion around UV is the
tendency of the press to put all types of
UV radiation in the same negative light.
In fact there are three types: UV-A, which
is responsible for tanning; UV-B, crucial
to the bodyfs synthesis of Vitamin D; and
UV-C, a potent germicide. If any of the three
forms pose a threat to life on earth today,
it is UV-C because todayfs thinner ozone
layer filters out fewer UV-C rays than it
did during the millions of years in which
humans evolved.
To date the key research on the different
forms of UV light has been performed by Dr.
Joan Smith-Sonneborn, Professor of Zoology
and Physiology at the University of Wyoming.
Back in the late 1970s, Dr. Smith-Sonneborn
exposed one-cell, fresh water organisms known
as paramecia to the bactericidal form of
ultraviolet light (UV-C). When it caused
DNA damage and shortened the parameciafs
life spans, she healed the damage with UV-A,
the form of ultraviolet light to which humans
are most often exposed, and she found that
it repaired the cells and reversed aging.
Not satisfied, she again exposed the damaged
cells to UV-A and discovered that this extra
dose extended their life spans up to 50 percent.(11,12)
In addition, hundreds of studies - some dating
back to the turn of the century - support
the health benefits of UV light, including
lowered blood pressure, improved electrocardiogram
readings, reduced cholesterol, weight loss,
the healing of psoriasis and increases in
the levels of male and female sex hormones.(13)
And thatfs not even counting reports from
folks who just plain say that they feel happier
and healthier outdoors on the beach, on the
hiking trails and on the ski slopes.
Perhaps the most promising area of light
research today is in medicine. gLight is
our most powerful ally,h says Dr. Liberman,
who speaks excitedly about new frontiers
in light and color therapy. Many mainstream
scientists are also experimenting with the
use of light to destroy viruses causing AIDS,
herpes and other infectious diseases, as
well as to decontaminate blood for transfusion.
Although Dr. Liberman freely admits that
it, gsounds a bit like Dr. McCoy on Star
Trek,h he foresees, ga future in which
photodynamic therapy, alone or in combination
with other conventional techniques, will
be able to successfully treat most, if not
all, cancers and other life-threatening diseases.h
All of which takes us back to the ancient
civilizations of the Egyptians and Greeks,
who worshipped the sun for its healing powers
and used its full spectrum of light to treat
physical and mental problems in a practice
known as heliotherapy.
References
- Ott, John Nash, gSchool Lighting and Hyperactivity,h
Journal for Biosocial Research, Summer 1980,
p. 6-7.
- Ott, John Nash, gInfluence of Fluorescent
Lights on Hyperactivity and Learning Disabilities,
Journal of Learning Disabilities, August-September
1976, p. 417-422.
- Ott, John Nash, et al., gLight Radiation
and Academic Achievement: Second Year Data,h
Academic Therapy, Summer 1976, pp. 397-407.
- See also Sharon, I, et al, gThe Effects
of Lights of Different Spectra on Caries
Incidence in the Golden Hamster,h Archives
of Oral Biology, 1971, Vol. 16, no. 12, pp.
1427-1431
- Holick, M.F., et al, gPhotosynthesis of
Previtamin D-3 in Human Skin and the Physiologic
Consequences,h Science, October 10, 1980,
pp. 203-205.
- Wohlfarth, Harry and Sam, Catherine, gThe
Effect of Color Psychodynamic Environmental
Modification upon Psychophysiological and
Behavioral Reactions of Severely Handicapped
children,h The International Journal of
Biosocial Research, 1982, Vol. 3, no 1 pp.
10-38.
- Hollwich, Fritz and Dieckhues, B., gThe
Effect of Natural and Artificial Light Via
the Eye on the Hormonal and Metabolic Balance
of Animal and Man,h Opthalmologica, 1980,
vol. 180., no 4, pp. 188-197.
- Ham, W.T., et al., gAction Spectrum for
Retinal Injury from Near-Ultraviolet Radiation
in the Aphakic Monkey,h American Journal
of Ophthalmology, March 1982.
- Ott, John Nash, gColor and Light: Their
Effects on Plants, Animals and People,h
Journal of Biosocial Research 7, part 1,
1985.
- Beral, V., et al., gMalignant Melanoma and
Exposure to Fluorescent Light at Work,h
Lancet, August 7, 1982, pp. 290-292.
- Smith-Sonneborn, Joan, gDNA Repair and Longevity
Assurance in Paramecium Tetraurelia,h Science,
March 16, 1979, pp. 1115-1117.
- Smith-Sonneborn, Joan, gAging in Protozoa,h
Review of Biological Research in Aging 1,
1983, pp. 29-35.
- Liberman, Jacob, Light Medicine of the Future
(Bear, 1991), pp.141-144.
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