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The Role of Light in Your Health

Studies have shown that with exposure to natural light (or an artificial light source that duplicates natural light) there is less human fatigue and stress. What does this mean to you?

Light affects our energy levels, alertness, food intake, and sleep/wake cycles. There is a center of cells in the brain known as the "body clock" that uses light and darkness to regulate our cycles. The "body clock" also regulates our hormone levels. Light triggers our "body clock" to release the right amount of hormones. As you may know from Marie-Annette Brown's When Your Body Gets the Blues, serotonin is one of the hormones released from light exposure and plays a very important role in our bodies. When serotonin is released, it will boost metabolism levels and boost your mood. Lack of light can result in a slow metabolism, fatigue, and even cause carb cravings. Our body is starving for the right nutrients and the right amount of light.

Many of us find that carbohydrate cravings can be a problem. Did you know that this is because your "body clock" center of the brain is lacking certain nutrients? Starches and sugars trigger insulin which has the same affect on the "body clock" as light. After you consume carbs or sugars, the "body clock" will release serotonin and give you a mood boost. However, as we all know, excess carbohydrates in the diet are undesirable. AS an alternative, researchers have found that this same mood boost can be achieved with light therapy. Light exposure has the power to stop the carb-craving cycle; light is very effective at satisfying the need for serotonin.

Light exposure combined with nutrient builders such as Levity Mood Elevating Formula or Levity Plus Multivitamin is even more effective than light alone. Researchers say this combination is synergistic and produces results (see the Levity Study).

We offer GoLite light therapy devices. These units use Bluewave™ technology; studies show that doses of blue light work significantly better than white light are safer, and faster acting. Click here to learn more about GoLites!