Wellness is in the eye of the beholder

Enhance your brain June #2 what can you see?

Did you know that viewing art is positively correlated to high levels of wellbeing and in particular promotoing psychological resilience?

Did you know that the visual cortex and what we view is correlated to how emotional we are and how those feelings are managed?

Did you know that direct, undiluted full sprectrum sunlight is good for us?

Find below a list of really interesting books and reseearch papers that give really good examples of how light can keep us well.

Ott, JN. Light, Radiation and You: How to Stay Healthy . Devin-Adair Publishers, Greenwich, CT, 1990.

Ott JN. Interview by Bland JS. Prev Med Update 1991; (Jan).

Ceder K. Healthy office lighting: A bright idea. Healthy Office Rep 1992; 2: 3-4.

Kime Z. Sunlight . World Health Publ, Penryn, CA, 1980.

Downing D. Daylight Robbers . Arrow Books, London, 1988.

It is important to point out though that there is no money in promoting sunlight as a preventative and curative medicine, so there is little literature within the scientific annals that provide a solid evidence based approach.

There are, however, neurochemical channels from the retina to the pineal and pituitary glands, the master glands of the whole endocrine system that controls the production and release of hormones. This regulates your body chemistry and its growth, all organs of your body, including your brain, and how they function.

Evolution has designed human beings so that the tanning pigment, melanin, in skin was the right shade to protect from the sunlight: black in equatorial regions, gradually getting lighter in colour as we get further from the equator and the strength of the sun diminishes. Our skin is designed specifically for the latitude at which we have evolved.

The same is true of eyes - the different colour irises are the most obvious feature. Again they are black at the equator and pale blue in Scandinavia. In other words, we do not need the 'protection' promised by sunglasses, we need the sunlight that we have evolved in.

Of course it is not good for anyone to excessively sun bathe, but we do need the full spectrum light from the sun to support our health and wellbeing. We also need it to generate vitamin D which most people in the Northern Hemisphere are lacking in.

You have read before in my posts of how we need at least ten minutes of light as soon as we can in the morning to generate enough serotonin to create melatonin at bedtime. This is a huge must for me in our wellness regime.

Let us not forget as well the huge benefits of having the kind of environment around us visually to support who we want to be and how we want to live.

What signs and symbols do you have all around you to remind you of who you want to be and where you want to go. How you want to live and why that is important?

All of these things are really important in convincing your brain that you can do it, you can be it and you can go there.

Look at the colours below

consider each one - how does it make you feel, which soothe, which challenge, which are comfortable, which are uncomfortable. What colours surround you? How do they support or detract from your wellbeing?

The eyes really have it for a feast of information about how your external affects your internal.

There has been some really interesting research that correlates your visual cortex with your emotional world. It really is that important.

So this Enhance period think about what you see, how you see it and where you see it.

Let the light in and let your eyes be the gates to your health and wellbeing not just to your soul.

“I am a museum full of art
but you had your eyes shut”