Blue Light Sensitivity – As my research leads me away from a more biochemical lens through which to view migraine, I’ve become increasingly interested in the field of Quantum Biology and how light and electromagnetism affect health.
I love thinking of light as one of the most fundamental forms of medicine and nutrition – that’s why I include a section on light in my Repattern Migraine Masterclass. In a culture of screens and blue light and dysregulated circadian rhythms, getting back in balance means reconnecting with the most basic (and free!) source of nourishment Mother Nature provides us: light.
Unfortunately, as Dr. Jack Kruse points out, “Humans are the only animals on the planted that can alter their environment to break nature’s laws.” If we are exposed to unnatural forms of light like LED lights, which are more energy-efficient but also more poisonous, we experience the light as toxic rather than medicinal.
LED lights and flickering LED screens not only emit blue lights which confuse our biology, but they also send out “a non-visible flickering that is absorbed by the brain and has been shown to trigger headaches and eye strain. This invisible flicker is at its most potent in the blue light spectrum” (source).
Researchers point out that “even blind individuals with migraine can and do experience blue light sensitivity as a result of these retinal cells because they are not part of the visual pathway—but they do connect to pain centers in the brain” (source).
Quantum biologist Dr. Jack Kruse gives a very specific mechanistic description of what exactly is going on with toxic blue light “We have these proteins in our bodies called opsins, and all photoreceptors have an opsin protein bound to it. Most people know about rhodopsin, found on the rods on the dark receptors. It turns out that this melanopsin, which is the one that works with blue light, is our blue light detector. We found out in 2014 that it’s present in all of our blood vessels. In Dec 2017 we found out that it is present in our skin and subcutaneous fat. It turns out that melanopsin is the opsin that is linked to leptin pathways. Blue lights are responsible for turning on the growth and metabolism pathways in the body. The entire food web is built around solar emf, and when you introduce man-made emf – either through your eye, your skin, your gut – you change the signaling”. (Source)
Which signaling is he referring to? Our circadian rhythms are “primarily controlled by a population of neurons and astrocytes in the Suprachiasmatic Nuclei (SCN) of the Anterior Hypothalamus, a paired structure located in the anterior hypothalamus above the optic chiasm. The SCN, which is considered the master pacemaker, receives direct light information from the retina through the retinohypothalamic tract. Within the retina, intrinsically photosensitive ganglion cells are primarily responsible for ‘circadian photoreception’ and the entrainment of the circadian pacemaker to environmental light–dark cycles” (source).
Disruptions in Your Circadian Rhythm Affect Serotonin and Melatonin Levels
How does this circadian rhythm disruption tie in to serotonin and melatonin levels, and migraine? If you’ve had migraine for a while, you may already be aware that it is caused in part by a serotonin deficiency. That is why certain migraine medications that act as serotonin agonists actually work to abort a migraine (I’ve written about serotonin and migraine here).
Low serotonin levels are directly related to a host of migraine symptoms that are all downstream effects of hypothyroidism (the thyroid gland has a huge effect on serotonin levels in the body). Low serotonin contributes to hypoxia because serotonin levels regulate breathrate, And low serotonin correlates with inflammation because the vagus nerve (which modulates inflammation in the body) is regulated by serotonin. Low serotonin is also a cause of insomnia (which most migraineurs suffer from).
Melatonin is made in the body from serotonin. Serotonin is produced by the body upon exposure to bright natural sunlight in the body in the morning. If you do not get that stimulus, you won’t make sufficient serotonin to produce melatonin at night. Then, if you add blue lights to the mix, you slide further in the downward spiral of melatonin deficiency:
“Blue light of any kind can suppress the secretion of melatonin, [but] blue light at night does so more powerfully. Harvard researchers and their colleagues conducted an experiment comparing the effects of 6.5 hours of exposure to blue light to exposure to green light of comparable brightness. The blue light suppressed melatonin for about twice as long as the green light and shifted circadian rhythms by twice as much (3 hours vs. 1.5 hours)” (source).
Hypothyroidism (& Fluoride Toxicity in the Body and Eye) May Also Contribute to Light Sensitivity
I wonder what iodine deficiency might have to do with blue light sensitivity. Although I could not find any compelling research linking blue light sensitivity to iodine deficiency, it is known that those with blue light sensitivity often also have dry eyes: “Photophobia, or an abnormal experience of pain to light, is a frequent complaint in patients with sensations of ocular dryness” (source).
Dry eyes are also a sign of hypothyroidism, which is a root cause of migraine. Iodine is needed by the body to make thyroid hormone and to secrete tears (and any hormone or fluid secreted by the body, anywhere – it’s that important). Hypothyroidism is caused by various mineral imbalances, especially iodine deficiency, but this deficiency in turn is often caused by fluoride toxicity. Fluoride is a halide like iodine and displaces iodine. Fluoride is poisoning people through the water, medications, and oral hygiene products they innocently use (to learn more about that, read this article of mine on why to avoid toxic halides, as well as this one about fluoride in toothpaste).
Could light sensitivity be due, in part, to how fluoride builds up in the retina of the eye? Possibly. Light sensitivity is higher in people with degenerative eye diseases. People with migraine have a 20% higher incidence of macular degeneration (source). Fluoride is known to cause oxidative stress throughout the body, including in the eye: “[Fluoride] exposure may be added to the list of identifiable risk factors associated with the pathogenesis of degenerative eye diseases. ” (source)
Here’s Dr. Jack again, this time on the toxicity of fluoride: “Fluoride is the most electro-negative atom on the periodic table. . . It steals electrons. So, if you steal electrons from water, it should be no shocker that you never want to use fluoride, because it means your water has lost the ability to imprint light information and energy in it. Therefore, there’s not going to be an information transfer in your body. Fluoride also makes you hypoxic. So it creates less water in your mitochondria. So anything that makes you hypoxic changes cytochrome 1 . . . [and] the engines in the mitochondria don’t work as good” (source).
For more information, watch this video with Dr. Jack Kruse: “The Biophysics of Fluoride“
Bottom Line: Diet, Lifestyle Changes, and Mineral Balancing Can Only Take You So Far. You Need to Balance Your Circadian Rhythms to Heal Chronic Migraine
So what’s the take-home? You need to practice good light hygiene to reduce light sensitivity, recognizing that the disruptions in serotonin and melatonin that contribute to migraine are a reflection of an out-of-whack circadian clock that is disrupted by artificial light.
According to Kruse, all artificial light including some of the ones present in nature has a huge effect on our biology: “Day and night cycles are incredibly important for you maintaining your wellness. If you’re not getting AM sunlight to restore or reset the circadian mechanisms of your body, you’re going to have problems long-term.” (source)
To learn more about how to reconnect with Earth Rhythms, check out the Repattern Migraine Masterclass.
