Melanopsin & Neuropsin

"Light exerts diverse influences on mammals by activating melanopsin, a receptor expressed by ganglion-cell photoreceptors. The mammalian visual system encodes information over a remarkable breadth of spatiotemporal scales and light intensities.

This performance originates with its complement of photoreceptors: the classic rods and cones, as well as the intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs). IpRGCs capture light with a G protein-coupled receptor called melanopsin, depolarize like photoreceptors of invertebrates such as Drosophila, discharge electrical spikes, and innervate dozens of brain areas to influence physiology, behavior, perception, and mood." (Source)

Neuropsin is a protein that in humans is encoded by the OPN5 gene. It is a photoreceptor protein sensitive to ultraviolet (UV) light. (Source)

"Vision is a highly rhythmic function adapted to the extensive changes in light intensity occurring over the 24-hour day. This adaptation relies on rhythms in cellular and molecular processes, which are orchestrated by a network of circadian clocks located within the retina and in the eye, synchronized to the day/night cycle and which, together, fine-tune detection and processing of light information over the 24-hour period and ensure retinal homeostasis.

Systematic or high throughput studies revealed a series of genes rhythmically expressed in the retina, pointing at specific functions or pathways under circadian control. Conversely, knockout studies demonstrated that the circadian clock regulates retinal processing of light information. In addition, recent data revealed that it also plays a role in development as well as in aging of the retina.

Regarding synchronization by the light/dark cycle, the retina displays the unique property of bringing together light sensitivity, clock machinery, and a wide range of rhythmic outputs. Melatonin and dopamine play a particular role in this system, being both outputs and inputs for clocks. The retinal cellular complexity suggests that mechanisms of regulation by light are diverse and intricate. In the context of the whole eye, the retina looks like a major determinant of phase resetting for other tissues such as the retinal pigmented epithelium or cornea. Understanding the pathways linking the cell-specific molecular machineries to their cognate outputs will be one of the major challenges for the future." (Source)

Translation:

The eye has many photoreceptors sensitive to different spectrums of light to activate specific processes critical to optimal health and performance. It needs the correct natural light at all times of the day to function properly. Cell phones and blue light devices do a lot to damage the photoreceptors in our eye.

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Artificial Light Damages the Eye Clock

Dr. Alexander Wunsch

Flicker is a stressor to the body. Decreases productivity by 20%, vision comfort, natural posture behavior. The better the cameras are in your smartphone, the less likely it will pickup the flicker because of more sophisticated algorithms.

"Spectra of "white LEDs" are characterized by an intense emission in the blue region of the visible spectrum, absent in daylight spectra. This blue component and the high intensity of emission are the main sources of concern about the health risks of LEDs with respect to their toxicity to the eye and the retina. LED light caused a state of suffering of the retina with oxidative damage and retinal injury." (Source)

Several observational studies showed that outdoor artificial light at night (ALAN) levels are a risk factor for breast cancer and reported that indoor light intensity and individual lighting habits were relevant to this risk. Exposure to artificial bright light during the nighttime suppresses melatonin secretion, increases sleep onset latency (SOL) and increases alertness. Circadian misalignment caused by chronic ALAN exposure may have negative effects on the psychological, cardiovascular and/or metabolic functions. ALAN also causes circadian phase disruption, which increases with longer duration of exposure and with exposure later in the evening. (Source)

Translation:

Modern artificial lighting flickers on and off faster than we can visibly see but our eyes do register it.  The lights were designed this way to save energy being tagged energy-efficient. Turns out this flicker damages our eyes and everything else the eye is responsible for like circadian rhythm and hormone regeneration. This flicker never existed in Nature until man created it. The spectrum of isolated bright blue light also never existed alone until man created it.

All in all, turn off all artificial lighting and use blue-light blocking glasses to protect your eye clock. Get outside in the morning sun to feed your eye clock the proper information.

Dr. Jack Kruse Insights

Light is a biophysical lever influencing processes in mitochondria

Neuropsin is UVa light receptor discovered in the cornea and the skin. UVa & b is taught to be bad in medical school. Why would mother nature put light receptors in our eyes and skin for these specific lights if they were bad?

Purple via you eye at night allows you to catch up for an indoor life..........but if you add an red light at night you lose nothing to melatonin because red and purple light do not affect melatonin or melanopsin.

Sunlight is designed to make us addicted to nature by the beta-endorphin released when sunlight hits your eye

You should never cover your eyes in the sun. Your eye needs that stimulus. Protects the eye from myopia.

Blue light exposure ruins body composition. Melanopsin found in the subcutaneous fat on the skin. Blue light penetrates 6-10 cm in the body. This means you need to cover your neck because your thyroid can be affected. Food and exercise can't solve a quantum problem

Melanopsin actually use UV light at night stored in the RPE to regenerate cones. UV regenerates melanopsin and rods during daytime when you dont use either........so this is why UV light at night appears to be something we can use without biologic penalty. But I always recommend collecting red light when using it........so if you get some some IR during the day.......you can use purple at night indoors.

There is another side to the leptin story: Melanopsin is the blue light detector between 435 and 465 nm but had melatonin effects all the way up to 550. This is why Blue light blocking glasses must block the right spectrums. Melatonin makes sure your Ferrari engine is performing beautifully. They found out melanopsin is in your skin, your arteries as well as the eye and subcutaneous fat.

Cover as much skin as possible indoor if under toxic light. Naked outside.

People tell us all the time to block the sun with sunscreens and glass. Nonsense. We have built in natural sunscreens for UV light. Vitamin C is one way in how we modulate light assimilation and transport at surfaces (by altering proton spin).....This is why equatorial fruits have vitamin C in them. Inuit eskimo's have no need for vitamin C on a ketogenic diet because that diet creates massive amounts of DDW in their matrix to drive a large enough EZ in a poor solar environment. Eating carbohydrates loaded with deuterium at the poles introduces massive mitochondrial dysfunction. It is also why taking too much vitamin C is bad for high latitude living folks because .........it can block the sun even more at high latitudes.

What should you start doing to optimize your eye clock?

Look to the sun for health. Another biological process of sun-energy absorption activates when we have the sun in our eyes. Sunlight enters our eyes and stimulates our pineal gland, which is connected to the hypothalamus, where sun-energy triggers vital magnetic, electrical and chemical reactions in the human body. Science has revealed that sunlight stimulates the production of melatonin and serotonin. Melatonin is a hormone that promotes a general feeling of calmness, regulates our sleep wake cycle and helps us sleep deeply at night.

Practicing the ancient tradition of sungazing may meet all of your body’s and spirit’s sun needs. The practice is easy; simply look at the sun as it rises or sets. It is safe to look at the sun within the hour after sunrise or within the hour before sunset because ultraviolet levels are at zero.

You will want to begin sungazing slowly to acclimate your eyes to the sun. Start by looking at the sun, during one of the safe hours, for about twenty seconds and then add twenty seconds to your sungazing practice every day. At first, after years of indoor living and screen time, you may have to cover one eye with your palm and alternate eyes, so that you can take in the light without squinting. Allowing your eyes to increase their capacity for light absorption creates less squinting and hence less “crow’s-feet,” as the skin around the eyes is more relaxed. After three months, you will have built up to fifteen minutes a day, and you will likely feel the positive effects: less tension, fewer worries, a more balanced spirit, and increased vitamin D. The effects are truly positive and bring an ineffable brightness to the internal spheres.

Nadine Artemis

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