Get this:
Like plants, mitochondria can convert light into energy.
Yes, our mitochondria photosynthesize.
WOW! Exposing your bare skin to sunlight nourishes the mitochondria, thus increasing ATP levels and cellular respiration, resulting in more zest for life and lots more energy.
It gets better.
"Interactions between mitochondria and chloroplasts in photosynthetic cells also occur in the dark."
Day and night, our mitochondria are hard at work.
Sunlight notably supplies vitamin D. But supplements of vitamin D3 may derange the mitochondria. Perhaps this is why the nearly 5000 scientific studies of vitamin D published in the past few years have found great potential for treating diabetes but little else.
I, myself, was one of the more than 25,000 people age 50 and older who took part in the VITAL study of vitamin D. The results? "No significant reductions in the primary endpoints of major cardiovascular events — combined heart attacks and stroke — or the total incidence of cancer."
We need full spectrum sunlight to be abundantly well. To protect my skin and nourish my mitochondria, when I'm out in the sun, I use infused oil of Hypericum perforatum (St. John's/Joan's wort) on exposed skin, especially my lips. It prevents sunburn, protects the skin against cancer, and makes my mitochondria smile.
Mitochondria need full spectrum light.
But not all day.
Short exposures of 10-20 minutes are just right.
Once or more a day.
Many indigenous cultures arise and greet the first sunlight.
What a lovely way for your mitochondria to start the day.
Get outside for lunch.
Park your car far away from work so you get another ten minutes of light as the day winds down.
Mitochondria need direct contact with full spectrum light for optimum wellness.
Full spectrum sunlight.
That means without glass or glasses between your eye and the sunlight.
That means without contact lenses.
Hmmm. During cataract surgery is a plastic lens placed in the eye?
Yup.
"Most intraocular lenses are made of silicone, acrylic or other plastic compositions and are coated with a special material that will help protect your eyes from UV rays."
How sad for the mitochondria.
Electric light is not full spectrum.
Light from backlit electronic devices, like readers, is not full spectrum.
They are richer in reds and blues than sunlight.
Red and blue light directly impinge on retinal cell mitochondria.
"Retinal diseases are attenuated when blue is decreased and red light is increased."
Retinal photoreceptors have an abundance of mitochondria to enable phagocytosis and outer segment renewal. Retinal ganglion cell axons also have high concentrations of mitochondria to efficiently transmit visual information from the eye to the brain.
Red light enhances mitochondrial function.
Red light therapy uses low levels of red light to increase the production of mitochondria.
So does infrared therapy.
A little more than half of the solar radiation that passes through earth's atmosphere is infrared. This part of the electromagnetic spectrum seems to have a strong effect on mitochondrial functioning, especially those in skin cells.
It is believed that infrared treatments stimulate the mitochondria to produce more ATP, which increases fibroblast proliferation, anchorage and production of collagen fibers, production of procollagen, and keratinocyte growth factor, which is responsible for wound healing."
But devices do not reconnect us with the rhythms of health. Mitochondria are very rhythmical. "A healthy circadian rhythm optimizes mitochondrial activity and overall cellular health." And the best way to have a healthy circadian rhythm? Exposure to natural sunlight.
Motherline Medicine takes us into the sun.
I walk in beauty, in the sunlight; without sunscreen, without glasses.
I breathe in giveaway with the plants outside me and the plants inside me, exchanging gases and photons of light.
My heart beats — and the six hundred million mitochondria in my 300,000 heart cells beat — in rhythm with the earth's heartbeat.
Green blessings and sunshine are everywhere.
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