Seeing the Light

How to harness the natural healing power of the sun’s rays.

- EMILY KANE, ND, LAC

Q I’ve been hearing about using light energy for healing. What do you know about the potential for light waves as a way to improve health?

Light has many amazing properties that we often take for granted. For starters, without sunlight there would be no life on Earth. Plants make glucose from sunlight via an incredible process called photosynthesis. When we eat plant foods we benefit from this conversion of light to nutrients. Similarly, when sunlight penetrates the top layer of our skin, some of our subcutaneous fat cells (cholesterol) are converted to the very useful pro-hormone vitamin D3. I use a green light in my exam room because it is known to reduce cortisol (a stress hormone). Sometimes the doctor’s office can be a stressful situation, but I do my best to keep things pleasant and even-keeled in mine! And, by now, we’ve all heard about the excessive stimulation and eyestrain caused by blue light emitted by electronic devices, and how wearing amber-tinted glasses can counter that unwanted effect.

Light is both complex and potent. It is an electromagnetic frequency. There are many frequencies, from super speedy and damaging gamma rays, through the visible range (ultraviolet to the more slowly undulating infrared) all the way to very slow, high-amplitude radio waves.