Have you ever gone outside and felt the sun on you then felt a sense of peace, relief or happiness?
Years ago when someone had a long term illness that doctors struggled to treat they would recommend the patient spend time in the country air. The most obvious way this would have helped is having them move away from the pollution of the cities, but could there be more to it than just that?
Image courtesy of @lightcaptured
I recently came across studies on the healing properties of infrared light. I started looking into it due to an inflamed tendon in my hand that has been reoccurring and a vague recollection of infrared light treatment being mentioned for helping with inflammation. There has been something of a trend for red light, beauty face masks of late, but apparently there are also devices now available for medical applications. However, before shelling out hundreds of dollars on one of these devices I decided to do a bit of research into whether there was actually any scientific supporting evidence of efficacy. For the sake of my wallet, I'm glad I did.
There is indeed plenty of evidence of the healing properties of red light and infrared light and the best and cheapest source of this is from the sun, so if you can make time to get outside, then there's no point in spending money on red light and infrared light products.
I think we've always instinctively known that getting outside and getting fresh air is good for us. My grandmother and many of her generation born before the second world war used to encourage getting babies and children outside as much as possible, even if it meant wrapping them up warm against the winter cold. Some would put their babies outside while they slept during the day, as long as it wasn't stormy. They just wrapped them up warm when it was cold, sheltered them from rain or shaded them from sun. There was even a brief trend of baby cages in the 1920s-40s for those living in city apartments. It was discontinued due to it being perceived as dangerous and cruel, despite the fact that no injuries or deaths were ever recorded from their use. That said, I'm not sure how healthy city air would have been back then.
So we've always known that fresh air and being outside is good for us. We know that UV light is what is needed for our bodies to make vitamin D, something many westerners have been deficient in for the last few decades (even in hot countries like Australia many are vitamin D deficient, likely due to fear of sunburn and skin cancer). However, I've only recently come across references to how important red and infrared light are for us.
The way in which red and infrared light heal seems to be by stimulating cell repair. Infrared has longer wave lengths than red light and is able to penetrate deeper into the body to affect joints and other body tissues, while red light didn't really get past the skin layer. Because it's reflected by most surfaces other than animal tissue you can get infrared light even if you are shaded. Being surrounded by nature is often cited as being therapeutic and because the chlorophyll in plants reflects this type of light while absorbing UV light, it's looking like there is some new scientific evidence to back this up. We'll be getting extra of the healing and anti-aging red light reflecting back on us, but no extra of the potentially damaging and aging UV light than what comes directly from the sun.
It seems ironic that as we move towards protecting our environment with more ecological technology such as LED lights, treated windows to keep the warming red lights out and better sealing on houses to stop drafts and regulate temperatures in order to reduce energy consumption, we are inadvertently negatively impacting our health while indoors. Candlelight and the older incandescent bulbs emit infrared light, but they are now gone from our homes. Air circulation can keep down mould and toxic fumes we might get from chemicals in the home, but we've plugged any ventilation up to stop drafts. When the sun goes down the only light most of us are getting now is in the range of blue light, which is the signal to our bodies to be awake. Then we wonder why we struggle with sleep.
Sunset and sunrise is when blue lights is lowest due to being scattered by particles in the atmosphere, so we get more red light at these times. UV light is also reduced at these times because, like blue light, it has short wavelengths. So on hot days it's the perfect time to soak up that red and infrared light without getting sunburn.
Of course life doesn't always allow us to get outside very often, so there could still be a place for infrared therapy devices for those of us whose work life keeps us indoors or in our cars during daylight hours. I've been trying to fit more daylight into my own life, but it's harder than I expected during the week when I'm working. I try to have the window open when I'm driving, but weather and driving at higher speeds can interfere with that.
For all the advances we've made, it seems quite ironic to realise that returning to nature is probably one of the best things we can do for our health and wellbeing. That's not to say that I think we should abandon all these modern comforts, but I believe we should probably look at incorporating the natural world into our modern lives much more than we do.
TV remotes use infra-red light; so I'm sure I'm getting plenty :)
Grounding out in the countryside might also be a factor. Get out of the concrete jungle and squish your toes in some mud.
So standing in front of the TV while someone is trying to change the channel is good for your health...until they get mad at you at least.
I knew it! It really feels healing when I put my bare feet in front of the burning fire in the fireplace :)))
When I was a kid, I recall during the winters we have a few minutes in swimsuits in a room at school spinning ourselves in front of an strong UV lamp and wwearing protective glasses. I am not sure how healthful that was, as the smell in the room... as meat is cooking, lol. Definitely right though, we need Vit.D epsecially in the freezing winter days!
Thanks so much for featuring my photo and setting me as a benefactor, I wasn't aware someone still does that! :) I love the person that arm belongs to, but please don't tell them :)))
Have a great day!
It's wonderful in those long, cold winters! I love the fireplace at that time of year, there's just something so therapeutic about it.
I'm probably the only person still doing this. This image came to mind when I was thinking of something for the post. I'm glad you're still on here regularly to receive the beneficiary. A lot of the contributors aren't active any more. I'm guessing most will be using the AI image generator on Peakd now rather than from other creators here.
It definitely has a strong therapeutic effect, especially with a glass of red wine in the rocking chair :) Ideal for self-reflection and the future and the myriad of personal mistakes I've made :)))
Thank you for still doing this, I agree, AI is killing this quickly, as it almost killed one of my web2 incomes - stock photography through agencies. I really appreciate this!
Live on HIVE is getting even more difficult with each new day and I have this side to share what I really think, from time to time, and people in general don't like anything apart from the sugar-candied positivism, so for regular bloggers like myself... well, we'll see how much more I'll keep being active here.
Also, something very weird I've been noticing lately, if you take a glance at my latest posts, when I spend hours selecting photos and writing and sharing something interesting, I get less upvotes than posts, where I just share few of my travel photos. It's like the community is trying to tell me "don't waste your time here". Rewards have so little to do with content...
Have a great weekend! :)
At the moment here it is too warm to use the fireplace but next week the forecast says negative temperatures so I'll be preparing it :)
I notice the same. I get much more interaction on my shorter ones where I'm just sharing my thoughts as well. I've been writing up some longer posts on biology, health and chronic disease prevention from my own research that I thought I'd share, but I think if it's not of interest to the majority then they don't want to be spending that much time reading it, despite the fact that I think it's useful.
The same probably goes across all social platforms. I'm often surprised at what gets more attention on Instagram from my posts and my daughter pointed out that while some things might be easy to do for me, they look more showy to others. The showy bit also needs to be at the start of the video. 😉
There's also luck of the draw as to which accounts find your post and vote on it here, I suppose.
The paradox is at the same time, it seems there are many auto-voting accounts that just calculate word count and place a vote based on that. Hence there are so many who copy/paste and in the last months, use AI to create longer texts, Then in terms more and more of us see this is generated, and less and less read.
I hope that trend from the last few years to blindly upvote longer posts is abandoned for the sake of original and quality content. Before it is too late ;)
You're right, capturing attention seems to be a problem of all social networks.
There were news here, at least two separate cases in the last half of an year where teenagers get electrocuted for climbing on trains trying to make unique selfies.
I wasn't aware of autovoters for higher word count. I guess it's bound to be abused if people know. Sadly some curators recently found someone using some AI generated content who used to (and still does) use original content. A good writer too, so I was wondering why they'd turn to that. Hive certainly brings slightly different aspects which mean content isn't organically lifted in the same way as other social media content.
It's concerning what lengths people will go to for attention. Although soon they won't even need to as AI generated video is improving at a phenomenal rate.
Oh, they do. I even took the liberty of commenting on one of those who states that, in a friendly-banter-ish style, as they even mentioned the length of the text under which the post is considered "shit".
It was an interesting "conversation" and I don't get any vote by that user since :) A bit expected and only confirms my observation that any non-sugar-coated action isn't appreciated here.
Oh, something even more entertaining - long ago I wrote a post about commenting on Hive as I am not a native English speaker but I write my posts usually in English, that's both learning and also, Bulgarian isn't broadly spoken, but I often get comments in Spanish. I asked in a post why people comment in Spanish when the post is only in English, and my Spanish knowledge is basic. Since that post, I don't get any appreciator vote anymore. Speaking of energies, I like that, to be honest :))) If something like this could "flip" their curators, I don't want that attention.
Here, attention usually equals rewards, so shiny AI pictures, videos, texts... even more understandable.
I think people will use more and more AI, they have been since day one here and any honest content creators will find a better use of their time ;) The community is sending mixed signals, many AI features already embedded in some of the frontends, it's a bit confusing, isn't it ;)))
Call me old, but I don't use AI to create content :)))
I find it useful for research, and sometimes solving some RL issues. I believe its best use-cases are for research and development.
I share your opinion that nature has much to offer for our health. Here in Venezuela, with so much sun and that pleasant warmth, my wife and I are among those who know how to make the most of outdoor walks. I live in a large neighborhood that has plenty of space to walk and enjoy the sunshine between 7:30 am and 8:30 am.
You reminded me of when my grandmother also used to take us out to the yard to run and play, saying that the sun and fresh air were good for us. Now it seems to me that she was absolutely right. With the hustle and bustle of work, we sometimes forget how simple it can be to improve our health just by getting outside and enjoying a bit of sunlight.
It sounds like it would be a peaceful time to be walking around the neighborhood. I love that you and your wife walk together as well. I'm not sure if I could convince my husband to do that. Few of my family like walking. 😕
Yes, I have the great joy of being able to walk with my wife, in fact hahaha we even work together at the university and here in hive we also write, of course each one with their own niches,
But I don't know, you should try one day to tell her to go for a walk with you, it's just a proposal and if she says no, then you discard it and go on your way. At the end of the day it is for your well being.
!BBH
We often forget that nature is a source of health and life and we do not take advantage of the goodness it gives us.
For example, many people only talk about the harmful effect of the sun's rays and not to expose themselves to its light. However, knowing at what time you should not expose yourself to the sun and knowing its positive effects can help us a lot.
Knowing about the goodness of nature allows us to help protect it.
Thank you for sharing.
Happy day.
Cheers and greetings.
Yes, for sure. The sun brings us more good than harm, so we just need to be sensible about our exposure to it. Even animals avoid the midday sun when it's hot.
Excelente artículo. No tenía conocimiento sobre este asunto en particular. Sin embargo, he leído acerca de los bosques terapéuticos, un tema que ha sido objeto de investigación por parte de científicos en China. Este enfoque ha inspirado a profesionales de la salud en España a integrarlo en sus estudios en años recientes.
Es realmente sorprendente cómo el "progreso" ha traído consigo una serie de problemas de salud que antes no existían. Lo más preocupante es que, a pesar de contar con acceso a esta información valiosa, muchas personas no la conocen ni la aprovechan.
Considero fundamental promover las tradiciones animistas y valorar todo el conocimiento cultural que nos ayude a restablecer nuestra conexión con la Madre Tierra. Es vital reconocer su importancia y el papel que juega en nuestro bienestar, tanto físico como emocional.
We have addictive things happening inside our homes (gaming, social media, TV, etc) so we'd rather get entertained by these than go outside, it seems.
Nature is our part of life that we should not take for granted. Without nature, our world will definitely be less beautiful and complete and that is why we have the beauty of nature
Agreed, nature is really quite incredible