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Jonathan Jarecki

@Jonathanjarecki3,302 subscribers

20 y/o Bio & Neuro, B.S. Student • Host of the Whole Health Podcast •

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SUPPLEMENTING YOUR WORK ENVIRONMENT WITH AN INCANDESCENT LIGHT BULB IMPROVES MITOCHONDRIAL FUNCTION! - A brand new (Jan 23th, 2026) paper published by Glen Jeffery and Edward Barrett demonstrates how adding a 60 W incandescent lamp to participants work desk dramatically improves color contrast, or a proxy for color vision. The intervention here is simply placing an incandescent lightbulb on the desk without direct irradiation on participants. And this is huge: “we have obtained significant balanced improvements in both the protan and tritan range. Previously, exposure to restricted experimental 670 nm resulted in improvements biased strongly in favour of only tritan function. Hence, exposure to full spectrum lighting results in a balanced pattern of improvement in visual performance.” The mechanism seems to be mitochondrial in nature. Short wavelength light, which is dominated in standard LED lighting, reduces mitochondrial function. There’s a reduction in mitochondria ATP production, and therefore a reduced demand for glucose. This intern can increase body weight and serum cytokinin levels. Also, with short wavelength blue light, there is an increase probability of cell aging and death. “It is suggested that this is partly due to 420–450 nm light, dominant in LEDs, being absorbed by porphyrin and the subsequent production of oxygen singlets driving inflammation.” “Conversely, exposure to longer wavelengths is associated with increased mitochondrial membrane potential and increased concentration of mitochondrial complex proteins that have declined with ageing and disease. This in turn is associated with elevated ATP, reduced inflammation and extended average lifespan.“ So, for the love of mitochondria, get long-wavelength light! This can be done in many ways: -sunlight/daylight exposure (does not need to be direct sunlight) -fire light -incandescent light bulbs -LEDs that emit long-wavelength light (yes, LEDs CAN emit red and near-infrared, but most don’t)

Jonathan Jarecki

63,136 просмотров • 4 месяцев назад

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THE SUNRISE IS THE MOST POTENT CIRCADIAN STIMULUS. A 2020 paper published in Current Biology identified a previously unknown retinal circuit explaining precisely why the spectral contrast of sunrise so powerfully entrains the circadian system. The key neuron is the M1 intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cell (ipRGC), which projects directly to the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), the brain’s master circadian pacemaker. In primates, M1 ipRGCs are wired to perform a spectral comparison between yellow/red and blue light via two simultaneous pathways. ***This cone-based circuit is just one of several mechanisms by which morning light entrains the circadian system. Going outside after sunrise still delivers meaningful melanopsin stimulation as overall irradiance builds, and that sustained signal remains highly beneficial. The spectral contrast mechanism described here is simply the most precisely tuned and potent stimulus the system has, one that outdoor morning light delivers far more effectively than any indoor environment. As yellow and red wavelengths increase at sunrise, L and M cones drive LM-ON bipolar cells, which directly excite the M1 ipRGC. Simultaneously, the relative decrease in short-wavelength light reduces S-cone activation, quieting S-ON bipolar cells, which reduces drive to a newly identified S-cone amacrine cell, releasing its inhibitory input onto the ipRGC. Disinhibition and excitation converge on the same cell simultaneously. Melanopsin, the ipRGC’s intrinsic photopigment peaking at ~480nm, is slower and requires sustained high irradiance, taking over as morning light intensity builds. The result is a temporal relay: the cone circuit delivers a rapid spectral signal at the horizon transition, then melanopsin sustains entrainment through the morning. No indoor lighting replicates this. The sunrise delivers the exact stimulus this circuit evolved over hundreds of millions of years to detect. #science #circadian #sunrise #neuroscience #biology

Jonathan Jarecki

10,609 просмотров • 2 месяцев назад

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