Bryan Johnson1 uses a sunlight lamp in the mornings to “regulate his circadian rhythm.”
When I first learned about this, I jumped to buy it. I thought I’d use it on cloudy mornings, or while drinking my coffee before heading out for a walk.
Now, this lamp is buried in my attic.
Sunlight lamps are a gimmick and come nowhere close to replicating morning sunlight, even on cloudy days.
I watch the sunrise almost everyday and get over 2 hours of morning sunlight. I’ve lost 9lbs, have higher energy, and an elevated mood. Any amount of sunlight beats a fake sunlamp hands down.
Nothing compares to Sunlight for Circadian Rhythm regulation
Light intensity is an important cue to tell our biological clocks to wake up. Sunlight has 3-5x more light intensity than Bryan Johnson’s sunlamp. Without sunlight’s intensity, your brain’s master clock does not get the same alert cue.
But intensity is just one piece. Health influencers miss the other irreplaceable benefits conferred by morning sunlight. Morning sunlight is irreplaceable in its unique benefits. No sunlamp or LED/artificial light comes close.
Sun vs. Sunlight lamp
Unique benefits of Morning Sunlight
Watching the sunrise and spending time in the morning sun helps with energy production, repair signals, cognitive performance and blood flow. Each wavelength of sunlight is important.2
Morning light is particularly rich in beneficial red & infrared, UVA, and blue light.
Red & infrared: Mitochondrial fuel
Boosts mitochondria: Recharges your cells’ batteries for higher energy.3
Balances Blood Sugar: Helps smooth out glucose spikes after meals.
Lowers inflammation: Soothes musculoskeletal pain and speeds up recovery.
Blood Circulation: Delivers more oxygen to your body by improving blood flow.
Repairs Skin: Stimulates collagen to repair damage and reduce wrinkles.
Sharpens Vision: Revitalizes aging eyes to see clearly for longer.4
UVA: The Morning Repair signal
UVA and UVB have been demonized with little care for nuance and the benefits they confer.5 Morning UVA significantly improves cardiovascular health, among its many benefits.6
Lowers Blood Pressure: Widens blood vessels to improve flow and heart health.
Signals Repair: Tells your cells and mitochondria to start fixing damage.
Boosts Mood: Triggers natural feel-good chemicals for a morning high.
Fixes Sleep: Sets your internal clock for deeper rest at night.
Builds Melatonin: Triggers production of melatonin in the morning so it’s ready for release at night. Melatonin is the hormone that lets you sleep better.
Blue light: Cognition boost
Morning sunlight contains blue light balanced with red and infrared. This signals your body to increase cortisol, helping you to wake up and feel alert.
Blue light from the sun also:
Boosts Serotonin: Triggers your body’s happy hormone to elevate your mood.
Sharpens Focus: Enhances brain power to keep you alert and dialed in all day.
Sets Your Clock: Signals daytime to every cell to keep your daily rhythm on track.7
The problem is artificial blue light at night and isolated blue light without the other wavelengths that come from the sun.
If you don’t get morning sunlight, you’re doing health on hard mode. You rely on grinding and 100 pills like Bryan Johnson ;)
Without sunlight you miss out on energy production, deeper sleep, improved blood flow, higher cognition, cellular repair and so much more.
Be smarter. Do Health on Easy Mode.
Don’t be me 3 years ago. Don’t fall for Bryan Johnson’s sunlamp trap.
Go out and get the real deal: sunlight.
Environment over effort,
Aastha
Browse my Health on Easy Mode setup across 15+ categories (non-toxic kitchen, clean water, skincare, diagnostics, lighting).
Follow me on X @aasthajs & Instagram @aasthajs as I parse through the snake-oil in longevity.
Health influencer who spends $2 million / year on his health.
Table source: The Light Doctor.
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7488285
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-02311-1
We’ve been told to avoid all UVA and UVB. This message lacks nuance since UV light is essential for Vitamin D, heart health, and even all-cause mortality. Further, this message rests upon poorly conducted experiments. I’ll cover this topic in more detail.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40465176/
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7065627/
The last I listed/watch Bryan, he said he avoids the sun at all costs. I don't care what protocols he devises, he will never be healthy without it.
Thanks for shining a light on this issue! I agree completely. The two challenges however are when you live in a place where there isn't a lot of daylight (even morning light) for a part of the year and even when you go outside in the morning (If you have that time or energy), our body's are having a hard time absorbing the light. This is why I love sharing a biophotonic light technology that anyone can avail themselves of daily (at any time of the day) in their own space and recharge their body's energy battery with living intelligent light. I've written and spoken about it extensively and will continue to do so because we desperately need this light even more now. I hope you don't mind my sharing one blogpost that talks a bit about it and I'd love to share it personally with you as well so you have your own experience. Perhaps we can even do a podcast together getting the message of light out to those who need it. Here's a link to that post. Please keep sharing your message and knowledge. https://bodyharmonix.substack.com/p/biophotons-awakening-your-dna-hydrating