The Chronobiology Master: Dr. Alexander Wunsch on the Danger of Junk Light & The Secrets of The Sun

“Almost every chronic disorder or chronic condition can be linked more or less directly to chronobiological disruption. What we would call civilization associated disorders or diseases, they are all linked to bad habits with regard to lighting and light exposure,” explains Dr. Alexander Wunsch, chronobiologist. Today, host Meredith Oke talks with Dr. Wunsch about the dangers of artificial light and the reasons why natural sunlight is so vital.

Every organism has adapted to a natural circadian biology, meaning they balance their sleep and wake cycles with those of the sun. When that circadian rhythm is interrupted, our bodies cannot function optimally and require more energy for basic metabolic functions. In most of Western society, people are not getting the proper daily dose of sunlight and instead are spending 90% of their day exposed to artificial light including blue light from computers and cellphones.

Most people are not getting the right dosage of sunlight to reap the positive benefits of the sun. When they do get sunlight, people are often overdosing and causing long term harm to their bodies. In contrast, artificial light is damaging to our natural circadian biology and can be just as problematic to our health as overdosing on sunlight.

Quotes

“Almost every chronic disorder or chronic condition can be linked more or less directly to chronobiological disruption. What we would call civilization associated disorders or diseases, they are all linked to bad habits with regard to lighting and light exposure.” (6:05-6:39 | Dr. Wunsch)
“Most humans in the western industrialized societies don't even have the chance to get the right dose of sunlight on a regular basis, because they are locked into very artificial conditions.” (21:42-22:07 | Dr. Wunsch)
“90% of people living indoors are exposed to artificial light and are living indoors 90% of their lifetime. And so the impact of the artificial light sources, I would say is even more problematic. And, the fact is we have not enough true, unfiltered natural sunlight. And on the other hand, we have much too much cold, artificial light surrogates, artificial light, overdose of artificial light, and almost no exposure to unfiltered natural light. And this makes the problems.” (22:51-23:51 | Dr. Wunsch)
“If you are exposed on a constant basis on the right dosage level, sunlight is positive. And if you are intermittently exposed in terms of overdosing every seven days or 10 days or so, then sunlight will unfold its nasty properties, but not immediately, but 10, 20, 30 years later.” (30:44-31:14 | Dr. Wunsch)
“True light bulbs which produce the light via heat are the best artificial light source because they produce the natural spectral distribution, and our bodies are adapted to so-called thermal light sources.” (46:56-47:16 | Dr. Wunsch)