I don’t wear sunglasses anymore. I stopped wearing them about 6 months ago. I don’t wear sunglasses because I want as much UV light in my eyes as possible. Yes, you read that correctly. I want as much exposure to UV light in my eyes, as possible.
Story at a glance
- A hundred years ago sun exposure was a common medical treatment
- Doctors in the 1920’s up to the 1970’s discovered that UV light entering the eye had biochemical activity
- Human blood can capture photons of ultraviolet light
- The eye (and the skin) is purposefully designed to capture UV light
- We need UV light to set our circadian rhythm and balance hormones
But wait! Don’t doctors tell you to protect yourself from the sun? They certainly do. My ophthalmologist, and many dermatologists say you should block the sun and avoid it at all costs. Even my regular MD suggests using sun block and sunglasses when I go outside. To quote the incredibly smart and always correct internet search engine “UV radiation is dangerous no matter how you slice it… causing skin cancer and related illnesses”. So, why am I going against all that medical advice?
Actually, I am not going against all medical advice- just some. I have discovered other doctors that think that the advice to stay out of the sun is misguided and incorrect. And there is plenty of evidence to support them. Even going back to the early part of the 20th century when heliotherapy was prescribed by physicians for anything from a broken bone to tuberculosis. Heliotherapy is healing disease using sun exposure.
Andreas Moritz (Natural Healer 2007) writes- “Sunlight therapy, called heliotherapy, was indeed considered to be the most successful treatment for infectious diseases from the late 19th to the mid-20th century. Studies revealed that exposing patients to controlled amounts of sunlight dramatically lowered elevated blood pressure (up to 40 mm Hg drop), decreased cholesterol in the bloodstream, lowered abnormally high blood sugar in diabetics, and increased the number of white blood cells, which people need to help resist disease. Patients suffering from gout, rheumatoid arthritis, colitis, arteriosclerosis, anemia, cystitis, eczema, acne, psoriasis, herpes, lupus, sciatica, kidney problems, asthma, and even burns, have all received great benefits from the healing rays of the sun.”
As humans, we certainly aren’t born wearing sunglasses and slathered in suntan lotion. Yet, somehow, we survived millions of years of evolution without those things. So why would some recent medical pronouncements carry any weight? Why are we conditioned by TV commercials and voices in our heads to grab the sunglasses and put on the long sleeve shirt?
Let’s look at the history of heliotherapy.
A physician by the name of Auguste Rollier treated thousands of people in the 1930s with heliotherapy in his clinics around Europe (see old photos above). “His innovative methods demonstrated remarkable success, especially in treating tuberculosis and other chronic illnesses.” “…patients with severe tuberculosis, who had little hope with conventional treatments, experienced significant improvements and, in many cases, complete recoveries. These successes were documented in numerous medical journals, solidifying Rollier’s reputation as a leading advocate of natural healing.”
Interestingly, the physicians at the time (1930s to 1950s) noticed that healing was not complete if the patient wore sunglasses (called “tinted glasses”). “What surprised the medical community most was the fact that the sun’s healing rays remained ineffective if the patients wore sunglasses”. Sunglasses block out important ultraviolet rays of the light spectrum which the body requires for essential biological functions.
The idea that the body needs sunlight to enter the eye for healing was discovered by an innovative researcher named John Ott (Health and Light, 1973). John Ott found that a part of the eye called the retinal pigment epithelium in the base of the eye absorbs UV light and makes a DC current in the eye. He is credited for discovering that UV light is important for plants to set blooms, and for animals to produce offspring, as described in his book, Health and Light. Sunlight also reduces the incidence of cancers (including melanomas).
In Ott’s book he has a chapter named “Biological Effects of Tinted Lenses”. He writes this interesting story – “At a dinner party… I sat next to the daughter of the late Dr. Albert Schweitzer. Our conversation dwelt mostly on her experiences as assistant to her father at Lambarene, on the west coast of Africa. I asked her about the rate of cancer of the people in that area, and she replied that when her father had first started the hospital, they found no cancer at all, but that now it was a problem.
“Then I half-jokingly asked her if any of the natives wore sunglasses. She looked startled and then told me that the natives paddling their dugout canoes up and down the river in front of the hospital often wore no more than a loincloth and sunglasses, and indeed, some wore only sunglasses. She further explained that sunglasses represented a status symbol of civilization and education and had a higher bartering value than beads and other such trinkets.” Ott completes the story by saying – “There is, of course, no scientific proof of a correlation between the wearing of sunglasses and cancer, but it does raise an interesting question”. John Ott stopped wearing sunglasses in the 1970’s and was able to overcome several health challenges (including arthritis).
Going back a little further (1923) Alexander Gurwitsch discovered that human cells emit faint ultraviolet light, what he called mitogenic radiation (MGR). He found that this radiation induced neighboring cells to divide. This light is so faint that it wasn’t measurable until decades later when advanced photomultiplier devices were developed.
The light rays that Gurwitsch was talking about are called biophotons. Gurwitsch’s research discovered that human blood conducts UV radiation. Yes, your blood can accept and transmit light in the form of ultraviolet photons. In fact, our bodies are designed to do this. Even parts of the eye and brain tissue are capable of accepting and emitting UV radiation. So why would we want to block that natural process?
In a recent article entitled Natural Light is an Essential Element it states, “Since the eyes are the most transparent part of the body, the blood vessels in the back of the eye have the best access to light. Assuming blood indeed conducts light, this provides an important context to many of the ideas outlined thus far”. Light improves hormone levels, sets circadian rhythm, reduces cancer, and even improves mental health.
Ultraviolet light is divided into three sections –
UVA – 315-400 nm wavelength (makes skin red, called “black lights”)
UVB – 280-315 nm wavelength (makes vitamin D and tans skin over several days)
UVC – 100-280 nm wavelength (antimicrobial, blocked by the earth’s atmosphere)
In the 1970s another researcher, Dr Fritz Hollwich (Germany) discovered that light influences metabolism. Patients with poor metabolic function, and very bad cataracts in their eyes, had their cataracts removed, allowing light to again reach the eyes. Their metabolism and hormones returned to normal. Dr Hollwich writes – “These comparative investigations in the same patients before and after cataract extraction provide for the first time irrefutable scientific evidence of the influence of light via the eye on the human organism.”
The sunset on Heliotherapy:
Despite its proven benefits, heliotherapy began to decline with the invention of antibiotics. The rapid effectiveness of antibiotics in treating bacterial infections shifted the medical community’s focus away from natural therapies. This shift marked a significant turning point in medical history, leading to the rise of allopathic medicine and the decline of practices like heliotherapy.
Sunglasses became popular in 1929
In the mid 1700’s tinted lenses were being used to correct vision problems. But it wasn’t until 1929 when sunglasses were mass produced by a man named Sam Foster who sold them on the beaches of Atlantic City (under the name Foster Grant). Foster-Grant sunglasses became the first cultural trend to wearing tinted lenses that blocked the solar frequencies entering the eye. Hollywood movie stars picked up the trend and the rest is history. Go into any department store today and there will be a display of expensive sunglasses. Or, go into any corner store for a cheaper selection. It has been about 100 years that humans have been blocking ultraviolet light into their eyes. What have we done to our health?
What happens when UV light enters the eyes?
When sunlight hits your skin and your cornea (the transparent protective layer over your eye) it tells UV receptors to alert the brain that UV light is present and it is time to make and store melatonin, among other things. Melatonin is the sleep hormone. Why would your body make melatonin during daylight hours?? It turns out that your body makes melatonin during the daytime in preparation for night time. When darkness falls, your body is triggered to “activate the melatonin”. You are now ready for sleep. Hence, your eyes are part of your body’s mechanism to help you get to sleep. (It should be noted that looking at blue computer screens, TV screens, or phone screens, after dark, disrupts your body’s attempt to go to sleep as it stops the usage of melatonin.)
Sunlight’s purpose-
- Sunlight has a path through your eyes (Central Retinal Pathway) which energizes your pituitary gland and hypothalamus (controlling energy)
- Sunlight on your skin and on your cornea hits UVA detectors called neuropsin (light sensitive protein). Neuropsin tells the brain that UVA light is present and it’s time to start making melatonin.
- Morning sunlight sets your circadian rhythm, better sleep later on.
- Photoreceptor cells which are particularly sensitive to the absorption of short-wavelength (blue) visible light communicate information directly to the central “body clock”, in mammals
- All the important chemicals that your functional doctor tells you to take, are made via the eye.
The Central Retinal Pathway mentioned above, leaves the back of the eye and communicates to several areas of the brain. It turns ON your pituitary gland and turns ON energy production via the hypothalamus. It communicates information directly to the area of the hypothalamus called the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), also known as the central “body clock”. The SCN uses light from your eyes to maintain circadian rhythm.
Neurosurgeon Dr. Jack Kruse is a strong advocate for the use of ultraviolent light in healing. He believes that exposure to ultraviolet light after surgery helps patients heal faster with less downtime. During his residency in the 1980s he was known to wheel his surgery patients out into the courtyard of his hospital to allow them some time in the sun to speed their healing. It worked, as his patients healed at a faster rate than any of his colleagues. Dr Kruse does not wear sunglasses.
So, what to do?
After learning this fascinating information, I decided to stop wearing sunglasses. Yes, it can be glaringly bright at first, but you get used to it. That said, if I were skiing down a mountain with glare coming off the snow, or if I were out on the water in a boat, with sunlight reflecting off the water, I might reconsider. But for everything else, no sunglasses. (I do wear sunglasses in my car when driving as the car windows block UV light anyway, so you get no benefit from going without them in the car.)
Glass blocks UV light.
If you want to increase your exposure to UV light, go outside in the morning to get that early morning daylight in your eyes and on your skin. Morning sunlight is perfect for this! It has the ultraviolent rays you need but is not too hot as it would be in the middle of the day. I even take off my regular prescription glasses when I am outside as they block UV light as well. Glass blocks UV light. You can’t get UV light by standing next to the window inside your house. You must go outside. I go out in good weather and on cloudy days, and sometimes in cold weather. I make sure I am outside for no less than 20 minutes but the more the better. My sleep has been good, so I think the sunlight is helping my circadian rhythm.
Cataracts
Most cataracts (clouding of the lens in the eye) are age related and get worse if you smoke, or have underlying medical problems, diabetes, or use steroids.
Many people think that UV exposure, in and of itself, causes cataracts – and therefore, they wear sunglasses to prevent that problem. But the real reason for cataracts is multiple and varied and inevitable for most people. Ergo: wearing sunglasses probably is not going to prevent most people from getting cataracts sooner or later. Dr Michele Lee says smoking, alcohol, poor nutrition and genetic tendencies are all risk factors for cataracts. It appears that inflammation in the body increases the risk of cataracts.
I needed to have cataract surgery a couple years ago for several reasons. Unfortunately, the acrylic lens used in cataract surgery blocks most of the ultraviolet light. I seem to have permanent “sunglasses” on!
The bottom line-
Despite it all, my opinion is that a healthy diet and moderate sun exposure (without sunglasses) is the best route to health. We should not be afraid of ultraviolet light. Sunlight (and ultraviolet light) has a purpose in our bodies. The purpose has been forgotten. I propose that we reconsider the wisdom of the physicians and researchers of the past and welcome sunlight into our day.
Always talk to your health professional before starting anything new. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat or cure any condition and is intended only for entertainment. I welcome your comments.