You’ve heard of Quantum Mechanics in physics, now let’s think of Quantum Biology and the impact it can have on our health. In school we learned about photosynthesis but did we really understand it at a quantum level? Plants taking sunlight and convert the light into energy in order to grow. This is what life is all about, right? We are biologic entities are we not? How does sunlight effect us? A convergence of Quantum Mechanics and Biology — or Quantum Biology?
Is it a particle or is it a wave? Or is it both? Or is it neither?
Coherence must be maintained if quantum mechanics can be observed, much like a pebble skipping through the water and creating ripples in patterns. If decoherence from the environment disturbs the resonance, it will cause the chaos that will cause a status of both particle and waves, the chaos ensues.
Mitochondria inside the cells might contain these pockets of resonance that might resemble this release of energy causing different states within the cell. Science has yet to understand the real life at this level with respect to physics and the transfer of energy is the new frontier.
How is energy transferred? How can we harness it to our advantage? Could this explain why we are tired…a lack of energy at a cellular level? This would only explain a fraction of the whole equation. Will it matter for nature?
“Tunneling” and hopping from one side to another without passing through a membrane could be happening at such a speed traveling from one chlorophyll molecule to another. This tunneling causes oscillations which confirms the quantum mechanics happening at incredible speeds. Tunneling is suppressed with an energy ladder. Having no energy landscape is necessary for the tunneling to take place.
When the leaves turn orange in fall it is from carotene in the cells which provide a sun block as the leaf reabsorbs the chlorophyll. The loss of chlorophyll (green) in the leaf and as it begins losing it’s green color the carotene levels rise, the leaves turn yellow, orange and red, the fall colors of the deciduous trees in the northern climates.
Bird Migration
When you call someone a “bird brain” you are actually complimenting them. Birds navigate every season without GPS. The bird’s brain have a “compass” inside their brains that magnetically align with the geographical poles to determine “true north” and the relationship to navigate to their “home”.
Cryptochrome has been detected in bird’s brain and explain the ability to detect the magnetic field. Human eyes detect blue light which effects the circadian rhythm due to cryptochrome. Interaction with the magnetic field requires the detection of coherence vs. discordant state and the animal’s sensitivities are able to determine the differences. For some this “noise” that is created can be a signal and for others the noise can be extremely irritating.
Understanding Sunlight for Health and Healing with Carrie Bennett
Ways to Improve Your Sleep
Enjoy the sunrise and expose your eyes to the early light of day
Block the artificial light at night
Daylight is made of wave lengths of light with packets of information called photons. The colors change throughout the day and what you have at sunrise, is light without the UV light (blue) but it is heavy in the red and infrared which is calming and energizes. As soon as the sun breaks the horizon, the blue light peeks and flashes and triggers the brain to wake up. At noon, all the colors are visible in the spectrum of daylight and then wanes as the day progress and sunset approaches.
The “blue light” that has been given a bad rap is the artificial light from computers and LED lights and not the natural blue light in the spectrum of light from the sun. When we stare at a screen when the blue light in nature aren’t visible, exposing our eyes to this blue light at night from the computer confuses the brain and the natural circadian rhythm and contributes to insomnia.
Sauna and tanning beds have red light spectrum and can confuse the circadian rhythm. However, I realized beneficial effects after following my cardiologist’s recommendations to use the infrared sauna at the spa. All cardiology patients in Japan use the saunas as part of their therapy. The infrared sauna uses a dry heat and was easier for me to tolerate compared to the humidity combined with the heat in a regular sauna.
Pineal Melatonin (anti-aging hormone made in the brain), runs the programs during sleep:
Morning sunrise trips tryptophan to be produced in the body and makes it into serotonin. When night comes the serotonin breaks down into melatonin to help us sleep at night. When supplementing with melatonin this confuses the natural cycle in the body due to a unexpected surplus. Since serotonin is produced in the gut taking the supplement could sense this imbalance and cause disruption.
Bacteria communicate using light and emit light information which interacts with our gut’s receptors. When you spend time outside the brain receives the light and communicates the circadian rhythm to the gut and signals the repair cycle to kick in.
Mitochondria and all the body’s cells respond to the light and respond with more energy. Blue light is naturally the strongest outside at noon and the use of computers and lights at night is messing up the melatonin balance and creates more cortisol and bursts of estrogen, progesterone, testosterone and this is where many are seeing hormonal imbalances. There are different shades of “blue blockers” to minimize the blue light at the wrong times so you can have a little “wiggle room” but the best is to follow the natural rhythms of daylight that our bodies are designed for.
Incandescent light bulbs are warmer and the spectrum of light is closer to candlelight and are more soothing for the body. Did you know that as of August 1, 2023 incandescent light bulbs are no longer legal to sell in the United States. Any guesses why this law was passed?
Cortisol should be elevated in the morning to wake us up. Before it becomes cortisol it is pregnenolone, a hormone that is triggered during pregnancy if needed. If not pregnant a woman’s body makes cortisol from the pregnenolone and the levels increase. When we get that blue light at night from computers our body starts making cortisol and the other hormones again when these hormones should be abating to prepare for sleep.
It’s time for me to make dinner and stop working on the computer and the blue light so my body can relax and get ready for a good night’s sleep.
Todays feature photo by Liz Joseph on Unsplash