Darkness & Light & Madness

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"Although three individuals don't prove an argument, I think the lives and situations of Sidis, Mill, and Russell are usefully symbolic. Sidis, who grew up under intense pressure and social isolation and in extreme poverty, died at the age of 46. Mill, who was educated mainly by his father, in secure financial circumstances, experienced social isolation and moderate pressure, and lived about 20 years longer than Sidis did. Russell, who grew up in the highest circles of the ruling class, experienced no pressure, and only the mild kind of social isolation that wasn't exceptional for his class. He lived to be 97." -Ray Peat
 
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"Willy Sidis and John Stuart Mill were being stimulated and allowed to develop in one direction, but they were being isolated from interaction with their peers. When Mill was twenty he went into a depression, and later he wrote that it was because he discovered that he was unable to feel. He had developed only part of his personality." -Ray Peat
 
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"During the night all of the hormones of stress and inflammation rise, and the ice cream decreases them enough for you to stay asleep, but they still rise. Having more very bright light (several hundred watts of incandescent bulbs) in the hours from sundown until bedtime will lower them a little more." -Ray Peat e-mail exchange
 
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"There is a common belief in the rigidity of the adult nervous system, in analogy with feral cats or dogs, that supposedly can't be tamed if they have grown up without knowing humans. But people who have had the inclination to understand wild animals have found that, even when the animals have been captured as adults, they can become as sociable as if they had grown up in domestication. The “horse whisperer” demonstrated this sort of empathetic approach to animals. Sometimes, these people have a similar ability to communicate with people who are retarded, or autistic, or demented, but the professionalization of society has made it increasingly unlikely that people with the need for intuitive help will encounter someone who is able to give it. The closest psychology has come to professionally recognizing the importance of empathy was in Carl Rogers' work, e.g., Client-Centered Therapy." -Ray Peat
 

Jennifer

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Great quotes, @Rinse & rePeat. Ray’s intelligence and metabolism article is one of my favorites of his. I very much resonate with the above quote, in particular, and where he talks about playfulness.
 

AncestralJoy

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"During the night all of the hormones of stress and inflammation rise, and the ice cream decreases them enough for you to stay asleep, but they still rise. Having more very bright light (several hundred watts of incandescent bulbs) in the hours from sundown until bedtime will lower them a little more." -Ray Peat e-mail exchange
It's interesting to me he specifies the light to be very bright.
I prefer the golden lights of candles/firelight/orangey lights after sundown.
Not sure if you're familiar with the danish 'cosiness' concept hygge but I think they do something similar with warm softer lighting throughout winter to keep things cosy..
I think when I was more oestrogen dominant than now light affected me to the point I couldn't handle bright light at all in the evenings. Seemed to really stress me out.
I wonder what's going on there.
To be fair I also don't have a reference point to several hundred watts of incandescent light bulb so it may be a bright warm light compared to what I'm thinking of, I think I just imagine the bright fluro lights of hospital and it doesn't feel stress very relieving haha.
I like that light is something that can affect us so much and we can do much to adjust our exposure.
I also feel a great deal more alive when I can lay in the sun for an hour or two each day which has been very nice lately with spring arriving in New Zealand
 
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It's interesting to me he specifies the light to be very bright.
I prefer the golden lights of candles/firelight/orangey lights after sundown.
Not sure if you're familiar with the danish 'cosiness' concept hygge but I think they do something similar with warm softer lighting throughout winter to keep things cosy..
I think when I was more oestrogen dominant than now light affected me to the point I couldn't handle bright light at all in the evenings. Seemed to really stress me out.
I wonder what's going on there.
To be fair I also don't have a reference point to several hundred watts of incandescent light bulb so it may be a bright warm light compared to what I'm thinking of, I think I just imagine the bright fluro lights of hospital and it doesn't feel stress very relieving haha.
I like that light is something that can affect us so much and we can do much to adjust our exposure.
I also feel a great deal more alive when I can lay in the sun for an hour or two each day which has been very nice lately with spring arriving in New Zealand

You are right that those fluorescent lights not being the same and as incandescent. I think the fluorescent is really stressful. We replaced all of our home to LED's and I could immediately feel the difference. They made me really irritated and I took them all out within the week.

This Ray Peat quote seems relatable to your hygge....

"All of the stress-related hormones increase during the night. One of the ways these hormones of darkness act is to increase the sensitivity to light, in a process that is an important adaptation for organisms in dim light. In the night, our ability to see (and respond to) dim light is increased. But dark-adapted eyes are very sensitive to injury by bright light. Light that ordinarily wouldn't harm the eyes, will do serious damage when the eyes are dark adapted." -Ray Peat

This one is interesting too!

"When I moved from Mexico, first to Montana and then to Oregon in 1966, I became very conscious of how light affects the hormones and the health. (For example, in Montana I experienced an interesting springtime shedding of body hair.) Many people who came to cloudy Eugene to study, and who often lived in cheap basement apartments, would develop chronic health problems within a few months. Women who had been healthy when they arrived would often develop premenstrual syndrome or arthritis or colitis during their first winter in Eugene."-Ray Peat

I hear you on soaking up warm sun, it feels life giving! I feel my cares melt away and my thoughts becoming more clear. It is too bad more people don't understand how big of a key it is to good health, physical and mental. Too bad it has been so demonized this past half century.
 

AncestralJoy

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You are right that those fluorescent lights not being the same and as incandescent. I think the fluorescent is really stressful. We replaced all of our home to LED's and I could immediately feel the difference. They made me really irritated and I took them all out within the week.

This Ray Peat quote seems relatable to your hygge....

"All of the stress-related hormones increase during the night. One of the ways these hormones of darkness act is to increase the sensitivity to light, in a process that is an important adaptation for organisms in dim light. In the night, our ability to see (and respond to) dim light is increased. But dark-adapted eyes are very sensitive to injury by bright light. Light that ordinarily wouldn't harm the eyes, will do serious damage when the eyes are dark adapted." -Ray Peat

This one is interesting too!

"When I moved from Mexico, first to Montana and then to Oregon in 1966, I became very conscious of how light affects the hormones and the health. (For example, in Montana I experienced an interesting springtime shedding of body hair.) Many people who came to cloudy Eugene to study, and who often lived in cheap basement apartments, would develop chronic health problems within a few months. Women who had been healthy when they arrived would often develop premenstrual syndrome or arthritis or colitis during their first winter in Eugene."-Ray Peat

I hear you on soaking up warm sun, it feels life giving! I feel my cares melt away and my thoughts becoming more clear. It is too bad more people don't understand how big of a key it is to good health, physical and mental. Too bad it has been so demonized this past half century.
Those quotes are facinating including the hair shedding, (my cats are currently shedding to their spring time coats)
Interesting about your lighting changes too. LED are so popular for a lot of reasons but not pleasant at all.
My husband and I are currently renovating a tiny house we bought and will be moving in to in a few months. there will be hooks for our long red light panel in the loft above the bed for the perfect relaxing red light sessions. And it looks like you can buy incandescent build here so we'll be getting the lighting and the positioning for best sunlight and windows all lined of for the optimal sun worshipers experience ?


interesting anecdote @Jennifer my husband has much lighter skin than me and isn't really interested in more than say 15 mins of sun a day. I tan a bit more than him and find some days especially after lots of cloudy days I need to lay out for a couple of hours.


@Rinse & rePeat Very interesting what you mentioned about the time of day and the stress response. I do prefer being in full sun on those morning or afternoon times away from midday and would get a stress response or a sort of 'overheating' response from when the sun is too hot overhead.
 
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Those quotes are facinating including the hair shedding, (my cats are currently shedding to their spring time coats)
Interesting about your lighting changes too. LED are so popular for a lot of reasons but not pleasant at all.
My husband and I are currently renovating a tiny house we bought and will be moving in to in a few months. there will be hooks for our long red light panel in the loft above the bed for the perfect relaxing red light sessions. And it looks like you can buy incandescent build here so we'll be getting the lighting and the positioning for best sunlight and windows all lined of for the optimal sun worshipers experience ?


interesting anecdote @Jennifer my husband has much lighter skin than me and isn't really interested in more than say 15 mins of sun a day. I tan a bit more than him and find some days especially after lots of cloudy days I need to lay out for a couple of hours.


@Rinse & rePeat Very interesting what you mentioned about the time of day and the stress response. I do prefer being in full sun on those morning or afternoon times away from midday and would get a stress response or a sort of 'overheating' response from when the sun is too hot overhead.

I am so jealous of all your strategic lighting! I gotta give that red light a try. Any that you can suggest?
 

AncestralJoy

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I am so jealous of all your strategic lighting! I gotta give that red light a try. Any that you can suggest?
well I actually consulted with a nutritionist probably almost 3 years ago now and he let me know the same company in asia that Joov gets their lights from as it would have been wild expensive for me to get from the states. so going by his recommendation if he's correct about the company then I have the equivalent of a joov light though that doesn't seem a very popular brand in the metabolic community.
There are various critizisims like the specific light frequencies available and I've seen one about not being able to use joov outdoors (though I have no idea why you would want to do that anyway lol) I have loved mine and feel a difference, we have a full length panel and two small round handheld ones that I've made into bedside lamps s that sometimes reading in bed can be with red light which is also lovely.
Having said all that there is an australian nutritionist that has been in close contact with Ray for years and has a blog about a light brand that does seem to offer the best possible light frequencies in the red light spectrum which I would be confident as being good though I'm not sure how they compare price wise and it may actually be a UK company now from memory

red light nutrition blog is the blog

Otherwise I've heard Gemba Red has lots of perks like low flicker etc and I've seem them recommended too.

I'm just mentioning these as though I'm happy with my 'Joov Equivalent' there are people who throw around more technical things and recommend other brands for various reasons. Though as far as I'm aware these three are all very low EMF which was the main important thing to me besides it emitting red light as it is close to my body for extended time periods.
 

Jennifer

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Interesting, @AncestralJoy. Thank you for sharing. Maybe there actually is some truth to the theory that light skin requires less sun exposure.
 
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"Muscle protein is very rich in tryptophan and cysteine, and these amino acids suppress the thyroid gland’s function, and are potentially toxic to nerves, especially in the presence of cortisol and hypoglycemia. Tryptophan is turned into serotonin, which promotes lipid peroxidation, blood clotting, and certain patterns of nerve activity. Serotonin can suppress mitochondrial respiration, and along with the reduced body temperature that it produces, a pattern of torpor or helplessness tends to be produced.” -Ray Peat
 

Makrosky

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I used to have very bad seasonal affective disorder in the winter, to the point where I could barely function during November - February from around the time when I was 15 or so. I live in the UK, so it is often very cloudy / rainy and in the winter there isn't much sunlight.

I managed to mostly fix it by spending as much time as possible outside during winter (though it still isn't easy with an indoor job). I try and get out for a walk in the morning and another on my lunch hour. I also try to go for long walks on weekends and sit outside with a book drinking coffee even if it is really cold to get more sunlight. Supplementing Vitamin D helps a little too.
Hey mate. So yo stayed outside even if cloudy? Did this make a huge difference in your SAD? Or just became a bit better?

Really interested as the winter approaches.
 

BodhiBlues

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Hey mate. So yo stayed outside even if cloudy? Did this make a huge difference in your SAD? Or just became a bit better?

Really interested as the winter approaches.
Yea, even if it is cloudy it will be brighter outside than inside. That alone does make a difference, but other things like brighter lights indoors, vitamin D and exercise are all important too.
 

Makrosky

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Yea, even if it is cloudy it will be brighter outside than inside. That alone does make a difference, but other things like brighter lights indoors, vitamin D and exercise are all important too.
Good to know. Thanks!
 
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"A brief perturbation amounts to simple perception and response, reflecting the basic "irritability" of life, to use Lamarck's term. But with more intense disturbances, the structures are altered at deeper levels, and structures will be restored with different degrees of completeness, and the organism will have adapted, according to its resources, either toward increased "fitness" and sensitivity, or toward decreased sensitivity.

On the level of an individual, the movement away from fitness and sensitivity would resemble the development of aging and degenerative disease; on the level of a species, it would amount to "reverse evolution," a mammal would become more reptilian, a primate would become more rodent-like." -Ray Peat
 
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"Extremely serious mistakes about the nature of the solar system didn't matter too much until interplanetary travel became a possibility. Extremely serious mistakes about brain "transmitters" and "receptors" didn't matter too much until the drug industry got involved." -Ray Peat
 

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