Beyond Vitamin D: How Full Spectrum Sunlight Powers Our Health

Happy Friday, friends!

Hello, Shelly!

Welcome, Shanna! Hope you're all having a great day. And I'm just going to post a few reminders, and as you are tuning in, let me know what you're grateful for today. For those of you who are tuning in, let me know what you're grateful for today.

I dreamed of the sun. I dreamed of the old black crow. In my glory, in my pain, I bear witness to my own beauty. Birth in my body, what is untamed.

Okay, so Shanna says it's Friday. Yes, always grateful that it's Friday. Kelly says I'm grateful for my optician Simon, who provides me with the best eye care, always so helpful. Amazing.

You must know, you must know, you must know.

Irina says, for every moment in my life. Beautiful, thank you.

You must know, you must know, you must know how precious you are.

I'm just gonna put one more reminder here.

How precious you are, how precious you are, how precious. I woke to love.

Deepa, who sings this song?

The Emmett Sisters.

Oh, it's so pretty.

Yeah.

I woke to teardrops.

Michelle says restorative sleep. Okay, awesome. Sleep is so important for our health. We'll be talking a little bit about that today. Okay, all right. So this past last week— I can't believe a week's already gone by— we, um, Sachin and I were in Costa Rica. He was co-hosting a breathwork retreat, so that was really nice. It's like we came back and it was like warm here, it was like, uh, 14 Celsius, and now today it's snowing. So, um, it's— yeah, it, it was nice to be away, nice to take that pause. People had a great experience. Um, I know he's going to be doing it again, hoping to do it again next year. Like 99% sure. So we'll keep you all posted if you're interested in attending one of those in the future. But I thought let's start with maybe just a few minutes of just some conscious breathing, just taking a little pause. You may have had a busy morning, so we'll take a few moments for that because I always find that's helpful to get us recentered. So Give me a second here. Okay, let's see here. Okay, so if you're able to, you can join us for the breathing. If you're driving, which I know, Kat, you're driving, but you can still do the breathing. Just don't close your eyes, obviously. But if you can just kind of get centered where you are, get your feet on the ground and just start— if you feel comfortable, you can close your eyes. It just helps you get a little more centered, less distractions, and just start paying attention to your breath. The inhales, the exhales. And as you start paying attention to the breath, try to slow it down a little bit. In through the nose and out through the nose. Once again, in through the nose and out through the nose. And we'll do a, a coherence breath, which is basically 5 seconds on the inhale. And then 5 seconds on the exhale, and I'll, I'll prompt you through that. But just take a few more moments to relax your breathing, relax your shoulders, relax your jaw. Okay, and going to start in just a few moments here. Pay attention to your thoughts. Try to slow them down. And if you find yourself going down a rabbit hole with your thoughts, Just think of them like clouds passing through the sky. Just let them go. The other analogy that I like to give people is think of yourself on the platform of a train station and you're just watching the trains go by. The goal is to not get on the train. Just wanna watch those thoughts, watch those trains go by. So when you're ready, just take a gentle inhale through the nose. And then you're going to exhale. And inhale. And exhale. And inhale. And exhale. And inhale. And exhale. And inhale. And exhale. And inhale. And exhale. And you'll just return back to your normal breathing. And this coherence breathing, 5 on the inhale, 5 on the exhale. Is a great way to recenter yourself in the middle of the day if you're finding you're stressed or overwhelmed. I know last week Laura spoke about the Oura ring and how one of the things that the Oura does is it tracks your daytime stress. So if you find your daytime stress is really high, this is a great way to take a pause. And help you bring that down. So whenever you're ready, you can open your eyes and come back to the room. And as you can see, it doesn't take a lot of time to take that little pause. I'm sure many of you feel more relaxed, more centered. So try to take those pauses a few times a day. It really helps us to be more responsive rather than reactive, make better choices. Get into that parasympathetic state and really trust our bodies more.

Okay.

So today, I mean, today doesn't look like a spring day, but today we're gonna be talking about sunlight and how we can use sunlight as a prescription for our health. So let me share my screen here. Give me a moment. Sorry, just take the screen here. Can you all see my screen? Okay, great. So like I said, today we are going to be talking about sunlight. You know, most of us think that sunlight is only beneficial for obtaining vitamin D, but today we're going to be talking about how the different spectrums of light that the sun emits are beneficial in different ways for our health. So basically, the human eye can only see visible, visible light. Okay, so that's the colors of the rainbow, right? That's the red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple.

Okay.

The other to the left is the UV spectrum of light, which we can't see. The human eye cannot see it. It's invisible. And then to the right is infrared, which is also invisible.

Okay.

So most of what the sun emits when you feel that heat, that's the infrared. Okay, so we can only see a very, very narrow spectrum when it comes to the full spectrum of light. The UV and the infrared we cannot see. Okay, so basically, you know, a lot of this is based on the work of Dr. Roger Seheult. And so basically, our modern day, we're living, most people on average are living 93% of our time indoors. So we get very little exposure to sunlight, okay? So when we're in our indoor environments, right, over the last few years, most of our lighting that we spend indoors is under LED spectrum. So the LED spectrum, as you can see from this image, is very high in blue light. Okay, there's virtually no red or infrared light. And there's not really, you know, too many of the other colors in the visible spectrum. Okay, whereas when you go outside in the sunlight, you're getting the full spectrum of light. So, as you can see, this is very abnormal for our biology, right? And light, just like food, is information for your body.

Okay?

So, unfortunately, with the, you know, the phasing out of incandescent bulbs, incandescent bulbs, you know, they basically were more full spectrum. Right? So that's why, if you remember when you were younger, if you touched a light bulb, it was hot. Right now, when you touch a light bulb, it's not hot anymore.

Okay?

So we've basically created an environment that's completely bereft of the same wavelength of light that the sun is giving us. And we'll talk a little bit about this in, in just a few slides. But we call this the scurvy of the 21st century, right? Just as sailors once died from a lack of vitamin C, modern humans are suffering from a lack of solar wavelengths, right? Windows block infrared and LEDs completely eliminate infrared, right? And also a lot of the visible spectrum too. So we've created an environment that's unrecognizable to ourselves. Okay, so Sunlight, you know, sometimes we think it's just like, you know, this ball of fire in the sky that just gives us vitamin D, right? But each wavelength triggers a specific biological mechanism, right? So like I talked about in the beginning, there's UV light which hits the surface, surface of our skin. There's the visible light which sets the master clock in our brain. And then there's infrared, which is our cellular battery. And we're going to talk about each of these 3 different spectrums in more detail. So when it comes to ultraviolet light, we'll start with that first. There's UVA and there's UVB. Okay, so UVA is, you know, essential for balancing certain hormones. Okay. Essential for, you know, balancing our cortisol. It's, you know, essential for nitric oxide production. UVB is what helps us generate vitamin D. Okay, so it's more than just vitamin D, right? So UV exposure, one of the main things that it does is it releases nitric oxide stores in the skin. And the reason why this is important is because nitric oxide is the molecule that tells our blood vessels to relax and widen, which is then going to help lower blood pressure, but also improve circulation throughout the body. So we get more blood flow to the brain. If you suffer from, like, cold hands and feet all the time, it's usually because you need more nitric oxide. Okay, this is why we also, you know, for some of you, include it in the program. Okay, and then, as you all know, vitamin D is important for many different things when it comes to our health. It's important for our mood. It's important for bone health, right? It's important for our immune health. So we have to get ultraviolet light to get all these benefits. So can you see why just taking a vitamin D supplement is not going to replace all these other benefits that you would get if you were to be under sunlight? Okay, and it's about getting the right amount because too much light Or sunlight can also cause sunburn and DNA damage, right? That's why, you know, in the recent years, sunlight's been villainized, right? Oh, you're gonna get skin cancer, right? So it's not just black and white, right? These conversations require nuance. Okay, so it's about getting the right amount at the right time. So UV light is typically, you know, just roughly I'll give you— it's going to be different depending on the time of year, depending on when you— where you live. But UV light is going to be most available approximately from the hours of 10 to around 4. Once again, that depends on when— where you live. And I'll talk about an app that you can download which can give you the exact times in terms of when UV is available. Available. So in order to get the benefits of UV light, you have to, you know, be in the sunlight during those hours. So I just opened up the app. It's called My Circadian. So here where I live in Toronto, UVB light today is available from 10:39 to 4:17 PM.

Okay.

And today the UV index is pretty low because it's pretty cloudy and it's snowing outside, so you're not really going to be able to generate much vitamin D. Okay, so the UV index, the higher it is, the more vitamin D you can generate. And with this app called My Circadian, you can also log a vitamin D session. So it'll give you an approximate amount of vitamin D that you're generating based on your skin tone, based on where you live, and based on how much skin is exposed to the sunlight. And so it'll give you a rough amount. The darker your skin, the more time you're going to need in the sun. The lighter your skin, the less time you're going to need.

Okay.

And when you first start doing this practice, especially if you're not used to going out and, you know, quote unquote sunbathing, you want to start slow, right? Once you start your skin, even if you haven't reached your like vitamin D level or vitamin D, you know, dose for that day, once you start seeing your skin getting a little red, you probably want to, you know, either go indoors or put some protective clothing on or go in the shade. So you have to start slow, right? This is why sometimes you see people who travel to, you know, somewhere like Mexico in January and they're just like loving the sun. They're like sunbathing all day. And then next thing you know, they're like, burnt like a lobster, right? They look like a lobster the next day. So you have to respect the sun, right? And you have to go slow. You can't go from 0 to 100. And we'll talk a little bit about some ways that you can actually increase your tolerance to the sun as well. So of course, you know, the closer you are to the equator, the you know, more UV availability, it's going to be, you know, like when we were in Costa Rica, you have to be very careful, right? Because you're closer to the equator and so you're going to have a higher UV index. And, you know, you, you have to make sure that you once again go slow. All right. So studies and data have shown that the further you live from the equator, the higher your blood pressure is. Okay, so darker skin at high latitudes requires significantly more time outdoors to generate the same protective nitric oxide response. So someone like me, right, my, I was born in Canada, but my parents, my grandparents were born in India, right? And as you can see, here's where India is. That's much closer to the equator. Right? And so I'm so far removed from my, you know, natural environment, right? Our mitochondria gets passed down from our mother's lineage and it doesn't change. Okay, so my mitochondria is, you know, built for living close to the equator. So for someone like me, you know, I may require a little more supplementation with nitric oxide or vitamin D. And especially in the sun, I'm going to really— I mean, especially in the summer, I'm going to really want to make sure that I try to get more time outdoors.

Okay.

So this is basically showing you that the darker your skin, the slower the synthesis of vitamin D and nitric oxide is going to be. But you're also— and it's because melanin is natural protection. Right. So this is why I would need more time in the sun, because that melanin— like, I'm less likely to burn, right, because I have that melanin. Whereas if you're lighter skin, you're going to need— you're going to need less time in the sun because you're going to be able to synthesize vitamin D much more quickly. Right. But you're also going to have a higher burn risk. So melanin is a natural sunscreen. And as we migrate away from the equator, UV absorption is going to be significantly less in these low light environments. Like I said, today the UV, you know, index is only 2.

Okay.

So, you know, of course you want to make sure that you're respecting the sun, like I said. You don't want to just, you know, go crazy and, you know, sunbathe for inappropriate amounts of time. But the research has shown that the more sunlight exposure we get, it's going to decrease our all-cause mortality. Okay, there might be a slight increase in melanoma, but even then, you know, if you look at people who work outside, like construction workers, they typically have less skin cancers than people who work indoors.

Okay.

So next, we'll talk a little bit about visible light. So visible light is what literally sets our clock in our brain. Okay? So our body doesn't have a watch.

Okay?

The way that our body determines the time of day is through the sun and through the way that light enters our eyes. So when light enters our eyes, it sets the rhythm for the entire body. So that part of the brain, so the eye, basically light enters the eye. And it basically hits a part of the eye called— it's kind of a long, complicated name, but the intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells. The retinal ganglion cells then communicate to a part of the brain called the suprachiasmatic nucleus, which is, like I said, the master clock. Okay, so they basically detect light and then from there travel to that part of the, the suprachiasmatic nucleus, which coordinates every system in the body from digestion to repair. Okay, so we have to make sure that we're getting these light signals. So one of the most important signals for us to get is bright light exposure first thing in the morning, ideally before 9:00 AM. And even more ideal is within an hour of waking. So that bright light exposure in the morning is going to, quote unquote, start our engine.

Okay?

So we want to get that. Bright light, which is going to peak our cortisol, which is what we want, right? People talk about high cortisol is bad, but it's not that high cortisol is bad. It's that we want high cortisol at the right time of day, right? We don't want high cortisol at like 6:00 PM or 3:00 PM. We want it to be bright. We want cortisol to be bright in the morning when we wake up. Okay, so this is going to— that bright light exposure is going to cause that cortisol to peak, which is what we want. And then over time, we want that cortisol to start to naturally decline as we see here. Okay, if we don't get that morning sharp cortisol spike, then it's going to lead to a lethargic, slow-rising cortisol curve, right? So if we have a lot of darkness in our mornings, it's going to lead to eventually chronic stress and poor sleep at night. So that, you know, a lot of people focus a lot on what they do before bedtime, but the most important predictor of a good night's rest is that morning cortisol spike, that morning bright light exposure. So one of the things that you can kind of do to kind of measure and make sure you're getting enough light in the morning is measuring the intensity of light. And the way we measure the intensity of light is through something called lux.

Okay?

So once again, if you download the app My Circadian, and I'll show you what it looks like in just a little bit here. But if you download that app and you go outside and you point your, your phone towards the sun, you can measure the lux. And, you know, usually on a bright sunny day, it can be anywhere from like, You know, I've been doing it this past week and on a bright sunny day, it's usually about 10,000 lux. And you want to get— you want to get 10,000 first thing in the morning. So usually to get that 10,000 lux, you have to be— you have to, you know, be outside for about 2 minutes. Now, today, today was a much more cloudy day. So when I went outside, the lux was a little less than 1,500. And so I had to be outside for about 10 minutes to get that 10,000 lux. When I came back inside, the lux is usually like 150 or so. So, you know, if you don't get outside and you're trying, like, you're trying to get that 10,000 lux in the morning to get that cortisol spike, it's not going to happen. You have to go outside to get that cortisol spike.

Okay?

So if I stayed indoors and only was exposed to, like, the lighting in my home, which is, like I said, about 150 lux, it would probably take, you know, let's say over an hour or more, right? So I'm not going to get that cortisol spike.

Okay?

And you might wonder, like, your eyes can't really detect this difference in lux, but the brain can, right? So to the brain, indoor lighting is biological darkness. The other thing you can do, because, you know, as you all know, I live in Canada, so it's cold, and some of you, you know, may live somewhere where it might not be as easy to get that 10,000 lux first thing in the morning, right? It's sometimes challenging to go outside if it's -20. You can get a SAD lamp. So that SAD lamp is going to still provide you with that bright light. It will take longer, right? So instead of 2 minutes outdoors on a bright sunny day, it might take 10 to 20 minutes in front of the SAD lamp, which is still going to be better than, you know, not getting that spike. Okay, so once again, to summarize, timing is everything, right? We want to get that morning light anchor to peak the cortisol. And then later on, we want to make sure— we'll talk a little bit about this in the coming slide too, but later on, we want to make sure that we have darkness because darkness once the sun sets. So ideally, an hour before bedtime, if we don't have enough darkness, we're not going to produce enough melatonin. And so you want to make sure that the hour before bedtime, the lux is less than 10. So those red light bulbs that we included in your packages, those should be, you know, If you're using those, you know, to read or whatever you want to do in the evening or the hour leading up to bedtime, you want to— those will be about less than 10 lux.

Okay.

So the next type of light. So remember we talked about UV, ultraviolet. We talked about the visible spectrum. Now we're going to talk about infrared. So over 50% of solar photons emitted from the sun are infrared. Okay, so UV, it basically hits our skin, right? That's where we see the most benefit to generate that vitamin D and nitric oxide. The visible spectrum of light has to hit our retina. So obviously I'm not recommending that you stare at the sun when you try to get those 10,000 lux. You just have to be outside. Okay, you don't have to look directly at the sun. You just have to be outside without sunglasses or glasses or contacts. Okay, glasses, contacts, sunglasses are gonna block the lux. Okay, and then the third is infrared. So infrared, we cannot see it, but we can feel it as heat. Okay, so unlike UV, infrared passes through clothing, and it can pass up to 10 to 13 layers, and it reaches deep into our tissues to reach the mitochondria. So, you know, right now I'm sitting in front of a window, but most modern windows block infrared because it saves on cooling costs. So you have to go outside to get the infrared. Okay, so once again, it's infrared. You can't see it, right? But you can feel it. So, you know, you might wonder, you know, why does the snow melt when the air is below freezing? And it's because of the infrared radiation from the sun that penetrates the snow. Which heats it from within and then melts it on your driveway.

Okay?

So just being outside is going to allow you to absorb that infrared and infrared. One of the main benefits of infrared is that it helps with energy production. So like I said, infrared can penetrate deep. Right into our skin, and it, it does something called structuring our water around ourselves.

Okay?

And when we structure the water in our cells, it's going to allow for more efficient ATP production. ATP is the unit of energy that our bodies generate. Okay, it's also going to reduce oxidative stress. Okay, the other benefit of infrared light, as I had mentioned earlier, in order for you to tolerate UV light, infrared light is going to allow you to do that. So the more infrared light you get, the more you'll be able to tolerate the sun. So it's almost like a natural built-in mechanism for us to prevent from burning. So infrared is going to be most available in— during the sunrise and sunset. Okay, it's available, you know, even during the day, but at sunrise and sunset, infrared is going to be most available. Okay, so the more we can get outside in the morning when the sun rises, that's going to provide us with that protection later on in the day when we go out to get the UVB light. We won't— we'll be less likely to burn. So they've done a lot of studies with UV light— sorry, not UV, infrared light. So there was a study that showed that there was a 30% to 50% reduction in ICU length of stay for patients, COVID patients treated with infrared vests. There was a study that was done that showed a 20% improvement in color vision using simple incandescent bulbs. 'cause like I said, the incandescent bulb emits that infrared light, whereas the LED doesn't. Another study showed that there's lower glucose spikes in patients exposed to infrared light versus LED as well. And the dose required is minimal, right? So just 15 minutes of exposure was sufficient to, you know, produce these results. Okay, so this is— this slide is basically a little bit more about, you know, the light bulb crisis, right? So we used to use incandescent light, which was high in infrared, but now because of energy savings, it's primarily LED bulbs that you can get. I don't even think if you go to a hardware store, I think incandescents have been banned. So it's very hard to get incandescents. There's zero infrared in incandescent bulbs. Okay, so incandescents are quote unquote inefficient because they release the heat, but biologically that waste is actually a nutrient, right? So it might be better for your energy bill, but it's not better for your biology.

Okay?

So the other thing with LED bulbs, the reason why they save a lot of energy is because they flicker, right? So if you were to take a slow-mo video of your LED bulb and then play it back, you would see the flicker. So you can't see it with your eyes, but once again, your brain can detect that flicker. And that flicker is very, very jarring for your nervous system.

Okay?

So later on, I'll, I'll show you where you can also get bulbs that are flicker-free and bulbs that are full spectrum.

Okay?

You can still get them online, certain, certain websites. So basically to summarize, you know, in terms of what your day should look like. So in the morning you wanna get outside before 9:00 AM 'cause you need that intensity, right? You need approximately, you know, 10,000 to 100,000 lux to anchor the cortisol spike. Okay? 15 to 20 minutes is gonna be sufficient, right? Because the 15 to 20 minutes is also going to allow you to get that infrared. Exposure. No sunglasses, right? You wanna let the light hit your retinal ganglion cells. So once again, not telling you to look directly at the sun, just be outside with your eyes exposed. In the winter, you can use a SAD lamp for 20 minutes to stimulate that same visual input. During the day, you wanna make sure that you get safe sun exposure to get the nitric oxide and vitamin D. You can use the My Circadian app. And UVB and UVA are gonna be, you know, most readily available from about 10:00 AM to, you know, 2:00 to 4:00, depending on where you live and what time of day, what time of year it is as well.

Okay.

In northern latitudes, UV is not available in the winter months, right? So if I was to open this app up in like January or February, the UV would probably be like zero. Okay, so the good thing is that with vitamin D, our bodies are smart. When you get vitamin D exposure through sunlight in the summer and spring and fall, Vitamin D is fat soluble, so it gets stored in your fat tissues, and then it can provide a quote unquote bank to kind of last you through those winter months. So for some people, they may not even need to supplement with vitamin D in the winter because you can bank enough during the summer and spring to last you through the winter. Okay, some people will still need a little bit of vitamin D throughout the winter months. Someone like me, I genetically, from a genetic standpoint, I don't transport vitamin D very well. My vitamin D genetics are, you know, not optimal. So I, you know, need more vitamin D in the winter months, even if I did get adequate sun exposure in the summer. Okay, so that's the other thing to note is we're all going to be unique genetically in terms of our vitamin D genetics. And in the evening, you know, campfire— the campfire rule is basically minimize overhead light, keep the environment low, dim, and red-shifted. So The— so it's basically the 3 main things with light is the color of light, right? So we, in the evening and leading up to bedtime, we want to make sure it's red, right? Or dim or more of that orangey tone. The intensity, right? So that's the lux. So during the day we want more lux, but at night we want it to be less than 10. And then the direction.

Okay?

So once the sun goes down, we don't really want a lot of overhead lights, right? Because once again, our eyes can detect the direction of light. And during the day, when the sun is out, it's normal for the light to be shining on us from overhead. But once the sun goes down, we don't wanna trick our brain into thinking it's daytime. Right? We want to make sure that the light is coming from a lamp, right, or a candle, and not overhead. So darkness, you know, just as light is a nutrient, darkness is also a nutrient, right? So we want to make sure we're sleeping in absolute blackness to protect melatonin. So if you don't have blackout shades, get sleep with an eye mask, right? So if you can see your hand in front of your face after your eyes adjust, then your room is not dark enough.

Okay?

You want to make sure you're getting enough infrared light even in the winter. And you also want to restrict eating to daylight hours to mitigate metabolic damage. Now, I know on the release phase, you know, for most people, You know, lunch and dinner, just with schedules or with family, is usually most convenient. But if you can actually shift that eating window earlier on, that is going to be more beneficial because during the day we're going to be more insulin sensitive and our metabolism is going to be working a lot better than once the sun goes down. So even if you are doing lunch and dinner, try to eat your dinner before the sun goes down, which it gets It's getting a little easier now, right? With daylight saving time, we sprung forward, so it's getting darker a little later, so it's a little easier. So just to summarize, basically you want to be outside before 9:00, try to be outside for about 15 minutes, no sunglasses, look towards horizon. Midday, you want safe sun exposure to accumulate nitric oxide and vitamin D. Sunset is beneficial to watch as well. And then you also wanna make sure you turn off overhead lights and block blue light. If you are gonna be on a computer or watching TV, you can always get blue-blocking glasses.

Okay?

And if you can't get outside first thing in the morning, use an incandescent bulb near your desk or a SAD lamp for 20 minutes.

Okay?

So just to summarize, light, I hope you can see now, is an essential nutrient, right? Just as food is, right? We must stop viewing sunlight merely as a carcinogen or a vitamin D pill because, as you can see, it's the fundamental regulator of our energy, our mood, and our longevity.

Okay?

And Dr. Roger here says, there's a time for light and a time for darkness. Health is doing the right thing at the right time. Okay, so the sun is necessary, right? And as you can see, vitamin D supplements are not sufficient enough to get all the other benefits, right? We can't use this reductionistic approach of, you know, taking this magical pill which we think is going to replace the sunlight because it doesn't. Okay, we need the full symphony of the spectrum, UV, visible, and infrared. Okay, so let me show you the app. This is the My Circadian app. You can get it on Google. You can get it on Apple as well. There is a free version, and then there's a paid version, of course, like all apps. I think for the Luxe to log the Luxe session, I think you have to have the paid version. Okay, so in terms of some of the features, you can log sun sessions to, you know, see how much vitamin D you're producing. Like I said, the timer is for guidance only, right? It's not going to be super exact or anything like that, but can give you some guidance. There's a moon tracker, which, you know, can help with syncing your cycle for females. There's a compass to easily locate the sun. You can monitor lux levels to support healthy circadian rhythms and mood. There's a UV index tracker, vitamin D availability availability based on time, season, and location. So yeah, lots of cool features. And then the other thing I wanted to share with you, and I'll share a link for the light bulbs, but I wanted to share the light bulbs. We have a discount code for the light bulbs too. These are the light bulbs that we had sent you. So if you want to get more red light bulbs, like, you know, in your bedroom or living room, this is the website. I'll send— I'll put the link, like I said. And then you can also get a SAD lamp here on this website too, if you live in, you know, colder climates where it's hard to sometimes go outside, and sometimes it's dark, right, when you wake up. So they, they sell some SAD lamps as well, which can, which can help with getting that spike of cortisol first thing in the morning to help regulate your sleep and mood and everything else. Okay, so I'll share both of those links. Okay, any questions? Hope you found that useful. Questions, comments? Doesn't have to be about this topic, could be about something else as well.

Hello, Deepa. Hi. Hi, I have a question.

Yes.

I've been asked to do the measurements and picture, but I was wondering if I should wait till my appointment with the test results first before I do that, or do you want me to go ahead now?

Have you started the release phase yet?

Not yet. Not yet. We're still waiting for my test results.

Okay.

So the only— the blood work came back for the food intolerances. Yes. But we still don't have the other one yet.

Okay. So the, the genomic test is not dependent on you starting the program. A lot of people like to wait for the food inflammation one. So now that you have that one back, you can start the release phase. You can start the program, like the food part of the program. So basically for pictures and measurements, you want to take your pictures on day 3. So after the 2 loading days is when you want to take your pictures and measurements. Okay. I would, I would go ahead and get started because like I said, the genomic tests are not dependent on you getting started.

Okay. So on Monday I can start the program then because I have a test I have an appointment to go over the results and I can start then.

Exactly. Yep.

Yep. Thank you so much. Thank you.

You're very welcome. What other questions do you all have?

Hi Deepa, I sent you a chat.

Oh, sorry, I didn't— private message. Yeah, so the recordings are— we upload the— on Friday, all the Friday Q&As are uploaded to a YouTube playlist. So the link is the same every single week if you want to get the replay. Um, it, you know, usually will have— so we do these on Fridays, we'll usually have the replay up by like the Monday or Tuesday, the latest. Um, I'll put the link in the chat, and they're all archived in the same spot on YouTube.

Okay.

Yep. So I would just bookmark it because it'll be— everything will be there from all the previous weeks. Thank you very much. You're welcome. Let me get that for you. Any other questions, comments?

I have a comment.

Yes.

Uh, even though I didn't start officially, yes, I lost— since I signed up for the program, I lost a lot of weight. Okay. I didn't make picture from the beginning. Just a picture of myself. Yeah, because I wasn't sure if I needed to do them. And I'm measuring and I lost a lot already.

Okay, good. Excellent.

So I didn't measure it. I feel my goals.

You can feel it.

Yeah, it's so— it's lost a lot. And even just awareness, even though I didn't start a program, it's really significant.

Absolutely. Yeah, that, that happens.

I'm reporting all my food and making more activities, enjoyable activities. I started swimming as much as I can, and I'm walking as much as I can, sunlight. So all that really helping as well. Yep.

Yeah, it totally does.

Yeah.

Good. I'm happy to hear that. Congratulations.

Thank you. You're very welcome.

Okay, so I put those links in the chat and I guess if no one has any other questions, then we will see you all next Friday. Thanks, everyone. Have a great day. Oh, and one more thing, one more announcement before you guys go. I am hosting tomorrow a 3-hour immersive workshop. It's called Beyond Diets, Exercise, and Willpower. Let me put the link if you want to share it with any friends or family members who you think could benefit, I would greatly appreciate it. So let me just put that— I did post it in the Facebook group too, but I will post it here in the chat. And you can share that link for anyone who you think would benefit.

Deepa, have you done that one before?

I— yes, we did it last month.

Oh, okay.

So if you attended last month, Yeah, it sounds familiar, but I can't remember. We did in January and in February. Okay, I'll copy the link. Thank you. Yes, thank you so much.

That was very cool.

Oh, you're very welcome.

I'm glad.

I got the app now.

What's that? I said I just downloaded the app. Oh, okay, good, good, excellent. Okay, you're welcome. Have a great day, everyone.

Bye.

You too.

Bye-bye. Bye.