Ray Peat on red light

Polanyi's adsorption potential and the problems of atomistic ideas

"Today it is clear that Polanyi's adsorption potential was a fact, and that Einstein and Haber were dogmatically wrong in their ideas about interatomic forces. Against this background, we should question the many consequences of the same false atomistic view – including Einstein's theory of the photoelectric effect, which attributed particle-like properties to light because he assumed that matter consists strictly of particles and has no action at a distance or long-range energy properties, as later demonstrated by Polanyi."

Nutrition For Women

Effects of bright light on hormonal mood problems

"Bright light for more than 18 hours a day can correct some hormone and mood problems."

Nutrition For Women

The importance of artificial light in cases of insufficient natural light is often underestimated.

"Lack of light can be artificially compensated for, but the required brightness is usually underestimated."

Nutrition For Women

Pregnancy, similarities to diabetes and blood sugar trends

"Pregnancy is similar to diabetes in some ways because the metabolism adapts to oxidize fat rather than sugar. A slight tendency towards diabetes can therefore be seen as beneficial for the pregnancy. Older women are more likely to have some degree of diabetes or elevated blood sugar. With each pregnancy, there is a tendency for blood sugar to be higher and for the baby to be larger and more developed."

Nutrition For Women

Different nutrient levels and their effect on body tissue

"The body's various tissues can still function acceptably at different nutritional levels. For example, the skin, with its low energy requirements, seems to remain alive for several hours after the general death of the body. The brain, with its extremely high energy requirements, is usually the first to suffer from energy deficiency. In cases of mild deficiency, the brain initially simply loses functional efficiency, but a more severe or prolonged deficiency can cause lasting changes or even structural damage that is relatively permanent (and may even have effects across generations)."

Nutrition For Women

The importance of muscle mass for metabolic rate and weight management

"Since fat has a very low metabolic rate, people who lose muscle mass through fasting will find it increasingly difficult to lose weight because they have less active tissue to consume fat. Building muscle and lymphatic tissue for optimal health – even if this initially causes a slight weight gain – makes losing weight easier later because the mass of metabolically active tissue increases."

Nutrition For Women

Environmental influences on thyroid activity

"Lower room temperatures and brighter light stimulate the thyroid gland."

Nutrition For Women

Effects of bright light on hormone production, energy metabolism and muscle tone

"Bright light also stimulates hormone production and energy metabolism and increases muscle tone."

Nutrition For Women

Against the theory of the regulatory cell membrane

"Ling, DN Nasonov, AS Troshin and others showed not only that the postulated regulatory cell membrane is unnecessary, but that it is impossible. The surface of a cell is the boundary between phases, and within a cell there are slight phase variations, but (except in the case of vacuoles) there is no place for the aqueous solution that is supposedly enclosed by a barrier membrane."

November 2018 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Minimize stressors and strengthen protective factors

"It is important to minimize low-threshold stressors and injuries and to optimize protective factors – such as light, carbohydrates, thyroid hormone, carbon dioxide and the feeling of a meaningful future."

November 2017 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Effects of hypothyroidism on memory and hyperactivity

"Even mild hypothyroidism impairs memory and attention. The Russian paradigm, with its focus on energy and inhibition, suggests that thyroid function should be carefully examined in cases of hyperactivity."

Mind And Tissue Russian Research Perspectives on the Human Brain

Circadian rhythms of brain activity and mental health: The role of light and pineal gland stimulation

"Since a healthy person has pronounced diurnal cycles of brain activity (reflecting an appropriate concentration of brain amines) and many psychotics exhibit flattened cycles – with disturbed sleep as well as disturbed waking consciousness – cyclical light stimulation of skin and head could be beneficial to support regular cyclical activity of the pineal gland and brain."

Mind And Tissue Russian Research Perspectives on the Human Brain

Therapeutic aspects: light, gut flora, sleep and stimulation

"In every therapy, the light environment and the intestinal flora should also be taken into account (endotoxin activates HIF), as well as the cycles of sleep and activity and the quality of environmental stimulation."

July 2017 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Optimize energy production for better regeneration

"If we optimize the known factors that improve energy production (for example, red light, short-chain and medium-chain saturated fats, and pregnenolone) so that our metabolism resembles that of a ten-year-old child, I see no reason to assume that we could not also possess the regenerative and healing abilities typical of that age. I suspect that both brain growth and remodeling processes could continue indefinitely."

Generative Energy Restoring The Wholeness Of Life

Thyroid hormone and fatty acids in the activation of respiratory enzymes

"Thyroid hormone, palmitic acid, and light activate a crucial respiratory enzyme, thereby suppressing the formation of lactic acid. Palmitic acid is found in coconut oil and is also naturally produced in animal tissues. Unsaturated oils have the opposite effect."

July 2000

Influence of light on glucose oxidation and respiratory efficiency

"Light promotes the oxidation of glucose and is known to activate the crucial respiratory enzyme. Winter ailments (including lethargy and weight gain) and nighttime stress must be considered when investigating respiratory defects: there is a shift towards the respiratory-inhibiting production of lactic acid, which damages the mitochondria."

July 2000 - (1)

Warburg's research on respiratory enzyme and carbon monoxide

"Otto Warburg showed that the respiratory enzyme, which contains a heme group, is inhibited by carbon monoxide because it binds to this enzyme – just as it binds to hemoglobin. Warburg also showed that visible light restores the activity of the respiratory enzyme by breaking the bond to the carbon monoxide."

1997 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Comprehensive list of protective nutrients

“A complete list of protective food chemicals and natural compounds—or analogs to our body’s own protective factors—would be very long. However, certain ones deserve special attention, including succinic acid, which stimulates respiration and protective steroid synthesis; thyroid and vitamin E, which promote normal oxidation while preventing abnormal oxidation; magnesium; sodium and lithium, which help retain magnesium; tropical fruits containing GHB; coconut oil, which protects against cardiac necrosis, lipid peroxidation, hypothyroidism, hypoglycemia, and histamine damage; Valium agonists, natural antihistamines; and adenosine and uridine. Stays at higher altitudes and exposure to bright, long-wavelength light can cause the body to optimize its own anti-stress chemistry. Avoiding the feeling of being trapped is a high-level adaptive factor.”

June 1992 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

The connection between stress hormones, aging, and light research

"Having already studied the effects of light on hormones and health for years, I began to realize that the existing knowledge about the role of stress and glucocorticoid hormones in the aging process perfectly matched my concept of 'winter sickness'."

January 1991 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

The role of light and nutritional factors in the therapy of light deficiency

"Besides the question of the specific ways in which light affects us (for example, by maintaining the function of the essential respiratory enzyme cytochrome c), I have also considered nutritional factors that could exacerbate the problem of light deficiency (such as an excess of unsaturated fats), as well as the possibility of other therapies – including medications – that might be more practical and cost-effective than hormone supplementation."

January 1991 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

The role of visible light in enzyme regeneration

"Ordinary visible light has several positive effects on animals. One of these is the regeneration of the enzyme SOD (superoxide dismutase) by causing its copper atom to reattach to the protein."

October 1990 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Light and the normalization of hormone production

"Light also increases the activity of normal respiratory enzymes and tends to normalize (or maximize) hormone production – including progesterone and thyroid hormones."

October 1990 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Global warming and artificial light: Impact on brain development

"I would expect that an increase in the Earth's temperature and greater use of artificial light (or migration) would lead to a lengthening of youth and the development of better brains."

October 1990 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Bright light supports progesterone production

"Plenty of bright light helps to maintain progesterone production."

January 1988 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

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Supplements according to Ray Peat

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