Your body is solar-powered
Greetings Friends,
In timely fashion as we kick-off summer, I wanted to share a theme that has been coming up recently in several striking ways: your body’s relationship to the sun.
As we will explore, your body is designed to get sunlight, it needs it, and it does not function optimally without it. In many senses, then, it is not a stretch to say that we are “solar-powered.”
Let’s begin!
1. Vitamin D requires sunlight in order to be activated.
Most of us know this but it bears review: Your body creates vitamin D in an inactive form that travels to your skin and requires exposure to UV-B rays in order to be activated.
From there, Vitamin D does all its essential functions in the body, including strengthening bones, strengthening muscles, fighting cancer, boosting your immune system, preventing and treating autoimmune disease, anti-aging (boosts telomere length), improving blood sugar and insulin levels, and even promoting cardiovascular health (read all about it here).
In fact, Vitamin D is actually a hormone (it was misnamed when first discovered), so it should be thought of as equally important and ubiquitous as thyroid, testosterone, estrogen, etc.
Visual aid: Here is what the aging process looks like in a mouse who has no vitamin D
(Top row is both mice when young; bottom row is both 4 months later. Taken from this article.)
Optimal level: 40 or more (higher if you are fighting cancer).
Solution: 10-15 mins a day of midday sun exposure OR take a supplement (4-6,000 units a day)
Pro-tip: make sure your supplement is combined with Vitamin K2 (helps prevent calcium deposition in arteries)
Read more about vitamin D, skin and sun in this article.
2. The mitochondria in your cells produce more energy when exposed to infrared light.
Your cells derive their energy from chemical reactions in the mitochondria, and a crucial component of the mitochondrial electron transport chain (“cytochrome C oxidase”) is directly stimulated by sunlight (specifically, near-infrared wavelengths).
Interestingly, 54.3% of the total radiant energy from the sun is near-infrared radiation (NIR).
If you are looking for exposure to infrared rays while minimizing exposure to UV rays (since, though they catalyze Vitamin D synthesis and create a nice tan, they do accelerate aging of the skin), then the best time is morning or evening, when there is less UV penetrance but still copious amounts of infrared and near-infrared light.
The fact that your mitochondria “rev up” in response to near-infrared radiation (NIR) is why I have long recommended patients with chronic fatigue utilize infrared light therapy.
If sunlight is not available, I suggest an infrared therapy bed (available at most tanning salons) or infrared sauna.
Further reading here: Infrared light and skin: Friend or Foe?
3. Sunlight promotes the formation of liquid crystalline water within your cells.
Ever heard of “liquid crystalline water” or “the 4th phase of water”?
Neither had I -- until about 3 weeks ago. Turns out water exists not only as a solid, liquid and vapor but in a 4th formation that can adhere to itself and create crystalline structures.
And it turns out that this “liquid crystalline” form of water is vital for cellular integrity and fluid mechanics within your body. Once we understand that 99% of the molecules in our body are water, logically, then, the structure and function of those water molecules must have a tremendous health impact.
The most studied and reliable way to increase the amount of liquid crystalline water in your body? Exposure to infrared light, especially at the 3,000 nm wavelength.
For further exploration, I commend to you (and myself!) these resources:
Fascinating TED talk by Dr. Gerald Pollack, the O.G. researcher in this area.
More information on Dr. Pollack’s work is here.
A technical and detailed description from one of my favorite Substack authors.
The world of biologic liquid crystals
Wow...
And — as extra credit for you go-getters who love to learn — you may be interested in this article I previously wrote about how sunlight directly boosts physical energy (morning cortisol response), mental alertness (activates the suprachiasmatic nucleus in your brain) and mood (skin synthesis of serotonin).
With Very Best Wishes For Your Health and Wellness,
I Remain, Very Truly Yours,
P.S. Learn How To Remove the Spike Protein from your body
About Dr. Turner:
Michael K. Turner, M.D., is a graduate of Stanford University, Harvard Medical School and The Mayo Clinic. He practices Integrative Medicine in his own national concierge practice, providing personalized approaches (including hormones, sleep, recovery, nutrition, supplements and exercise) to help people achieve their optimal state of health. Called “genuine”, “caring”, and “the best doctor in the world” by patients, he brings a high degree of empathy, trademark optimism, and a holistic approach to patient care. He brings a passion for excellence to everything he does. He believes in living and modeling a healthy, balanced lifestyle.
What would it feel like to be as healthy as you could possibly be?
I hope you all connect with me at www.MichaelTurnerMD.com
Fantastic article, thanks for sharing such important information! First time hearing about liquid crystalline water.
Please edit your article to reflect that you need Vitamin K2 with your D3 to help regulate calcium distribution in the body, not K1, as some may assume you meant when you did not indicate :)
We used to get a fair amount of K2 from our diet when livestock of all types were grass fed, before they switched to grains for likely profit reasons.
Great article!