Infrared Light: The Sunlight Your Mitochondria Need (And You're Probably Missing) — Goodmood
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Infrared Light: The Sunlight Your Mitochondria Need (And You're Probably Missing)

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TL;DR

Reading time: 10 minutes
Expert: Dr. Roger Seheult, MD, board-certified physician and co-founder of MedCram
Reviewed by: Goodmood Research
Sources: 1 medical researcher, photobiomodulation studies, randomized controlled trials

Infrared light from the sun does something vitamin D doesn’t: it energizes your mitochondria. Just 15 minutes daily improves ATP production, reduces blood glucose, shortens hospital stays, and addresses the root cause of aging. Yet modern life has nearly eliminated this spectrum. Windows block it, LED bulbs don’t emit it, and we spend 90% of time indoors.

The Discovery Hidden in Plain Sight

For decades, doctors told you to get sunlight for vitamin D. True, but incomplete.

There’s a more powerful benefit you’ve been missing.

Researchers studying COVID outcomes noticed something remarkable: patients exposed to sunlight recovered faster. But it wasn’t the vitamin D. It was something else entirely in the sun’s spectrum that had nothing to do with bone health or calcium.

That something is infrared light.

This discovery ignited research into photobiomodulation, a field studying how light therapy affects the human body at the cellular level. What they found is revolutionary:

Infrared light penetrates your skin, travels through your body, and directly energizes the power plants of your cells, your mitochondria.

What Is Infrared Light?

The basics:

Infrared (IR) light is electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths longer than visible light. You can’t see it, but you feel it as warmth. It’s not heat itself, but heat is a byproduct when IR light is absorbed.

Where it comes from:

The majority of photons from the sun are actually in the infrared spectrum, not visible light. The sun’s photosphere and Earth’s atmosphere have specific transparency windows that allow infrared wavelengths through remarkably efficiently.

What makes it unique:

Unlike ultraviolet light, infrared light:

  • Easily penetrates the atmosphere
  • Passes through clothing (it takes 10-13 layers to block it completely)
  • Passes through your skin and travels deep into your body
  • Can reach your mitochondria intact

How Infrared Light Energizes Your Mitochondria

First, understand what your mitochondria do:

Think of your mitochondria as cellular power plants. Every food you eat, whether fat, protein, or carbohydrate, gets broken down into a molecule called acetyl-CoA. Your mitochondria extracts high-energy electrons from this molecule through a process called the Krebs cycle and the electron transport chain.

This extraction creates ATP, the universal energy currency of your cells. More ATP means more energy for everything your body does.

Now here’s where infrared light enters:

As electrons move down the electron transport chain (think of it like water flowing down a waterfall), they need to overcome something called reorganization energy. This is the quantum mechanical barrier that slows electron transfer.

Infrared light reduces this barrier.

The light introduces low-energy vibrational energy that makes it easier for the surrounding water molecules to restructure. It’s like greasing the skids. Electrons can move down the chain more easily, protons get pumped out more efficiently, and your cells produce significantly more ATP.

The result: More energy from the same amount of food.

The Evidence: What Infrared Light Actually Does

This isn’t theoretical. Randomized controlled trials show real clinical benefits.

COVID Hospitalization (Brazil, 2023):

  • Control group: 12 days average hospital stay
  • Infrared light group (15 min/day): 8 days average stay
  • The IR group started sicker than controls
  • Intervention group recovered stronger with less need for physical therapy

Glucose Metabolism (Glenn Jeffrey’s Research):

  • Healthy subjects given glucose tolerance test
  • No IR light: glucose spike of X amount
  • With IR light exposure: 20-25% reduction in glucose spike
  • Carbon dioxide production increased (proof of improved mitochondrial metabolism)

ICU/MICU Outcomes (Brazil, 2023):

  • 60 critically ill patients
  • 15 minutes/day infrared light exposure
  • 30% reduction in ICU length of stay
  • Patients emerged stronger with less need for rehabilitation

Mitochondrial Energy Production: Across multiple studies using different cell types and organisms, infrared light exposure consistently increases ATP production and improves mitochondrial function.

Why This Matters for Chronic Disease

At the root of most chronic disease is mitochondrial dysfunction.

Consider these conditions:

  • Diabetes
  • Obesity
  • Heart disease
  • Dementia
  • Cancer
  • Chronic inflammation
  • COVID and long COVID

All are linked to impaired mitochondrial energy production.

The central theory of aging states:

As we age, mitochondrial ATP output declines. Studies show a 60-70% drop in mitochondrial energy production after age 40. This decline drives the aging process and fuels chronic disease.

Infrared light directly addresses this mechanism by improving ATP production in mitochondria throughout your body.

The Modern Problem: We’ve Eliminated This Light

Here’s what happened:

100 years ago: You got natural infrared light from sunlight during normal daily activities.

Today: You’re infrared-light deficient.

Why:

Modern infrared light elimination:

1. We spend 90% of time indoors
   (instead of outdoors in sunlight)

2. Windows are specifically designed to block infrared
   (because IR = heat = higher cooling costs)

3. LED bulbs replaced incandescent bulbs
   (LEDs emit almost no infrared, only visible light)

4. We work under fluorescent lights
   (which also lack infrared spectrum)

Result: Chronic infrared light deprivation

According to Dr. Robert Fosbury, this is the “scurvy of the 21st century.” Just as 18th-century sailors developed scurvy from food storage methods that eliminated vitamin C, we’ve created an environment that eliminates the infrared spectrum our cells evolved to depend on.

The Dosage: You Need Less Than You Think

One of the most surprising findings:

You don’t need hours of sun exposure. You need 15 minutes.

The research shows:

  • Glenn Jeffrey observed the effect across bees, insects, and humans
  • Consistent finding: 15-20 minutes of IR light activates the system
  • Additional exposure shows diminishing returns

The intensity is also modest:

The Brazilian COVID study used 2.9 milliwatts per square centimeter. For comparison:

  • Total infrared from sun at Earth’s surface: 100 milliwatts per square centimeter
  • Required for documented benefits: 2.9 milliwatts per square centimeter

You don’t need much. Just enough light to trigger the system.

Your Action Plan

This Week

□ Get 15 minutes of direct sunlight daily
  (no sunscreen blocking IR, but UV protection okay)
□ Expose your skin if possible (IR penetrates deeply)
□ Best times: morning or late afternoon
  (avoid peak UV hours if concerned, but IR is present all day)
□ Can be clothed (IR penetrates through clothes)
□ Even on cloudy days, IR reaches you
□ Winter? It's there (watch snow melt in winter sun, infrared doing it)

Practical Examples

□ Morning: 15-minute walk outside before work
□ Lunch: Sit outside with closed eyes for 15 minutes
□ Afternoon: Walk during break or after work
□ Weekend: Garden, hike, or outdoor activity
□ Commute: Walk or bike part of the way

All of these count. You're already doing the behavior,
just be intentional about the sunlight exposure.

Monitor Changes

□ Energy levels (especially afternoon energy)
□ Fasting blood glucose (if diabetic/pre-diabetic)
□ Sleep quality
□ Cognitive clarity
□ Workout recovery
□ General sense of wellbeing

Expected timeline: 4-8 weeks to notice changes

Why Infrared Saunas Aren’t the Same

People often ask: “Doesn’t an infrared sauna do the same thing?”

Partial answer: It’s more complicated.

Infrared saunas emit monochromatic infrared light (one specific wavelength). Sunlight provides a broad spectrum of infrared wavelengths (760 nanometers to 12,200+ nanometers).

The research suggests:

  • Monochromatic IR (sauna): 15% improvement in tested metrics
  • Broad spectrum IR (sunlight): 20-25% improvement

Why the difference? Glenn Jeffrey’s work on color blindness showed that broad-spectrum light activated every type of cone cell, while monochromatic light only activated specific types. The broader the spectrum, the more comprehensive the benefit.

Bottom line: Saunas provide benefits, but nothing replaces getting outside in actual sunlight.

How This Fits With Screen Time and Eye Health

Here’s where this connects to your overall wellness:

The problem with screens:

  • Blue light and flicker reduce mitochondrial efficiency
  • Screen time reduces blinking and increases dry eyes
  • Poor visual focus strains the eye muscles (highest concentration of mitochondria)
  • Combined effect: reduced cellular energy in your eyes and brain

How infrared light helps:

  • Energizes mitochondria in retinal cells (highest mitochondrial density in the body)
  • Improves ATP production for focusing muscles
  • Supports tear production at the cellular level
  • Enhances overall mitochondrial function for visual processing

The synergy:

  • Reduce screen time and blue light exposure (use screen overlays like Goodmood)
  • Plus: Get 15 minutes of infrared sunlight daily
  • Result: Your eyes and mitochondria both improve simultaneously

Think of it as: overlay reduces the drain, infrared rebuilds the capacity.

The Quantum Biology Behind It All

For those curious about the deep science:

Dr. Seheult references Rudolph Marcus’ Nobel Prize-winning work on electron transfer. Marcus showed that electron movement through proteins isn’t just about energy state changes, it’s about the reorganization of surrounding water molecules and protein conformations.

Infrared light provides vibrational energy that eases this reorganization, allowing electrons to transfer more efficiently through your mitochondrial machinery. This is quantum biology at work.

The beauty: you don’t need to understand the quantum mechanics to benefit from it. Just get the light.

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Sources

Expert:

  • Dr. Roger Seheult, MD, Board-Certified Physician, Co-founder of MedCram (The Jesse Chappus Show YouTube interview: “We’ve Been Wrong About Sunlight”)

Key Research Referenced:

  • Glenn Jeffrey’s photobiomodulation work on color blindness and broad-spectrum vs. monochromatic light
  • Russell Ryder and Scott Zimmerman paper: “Melatonin and the Optics of the Human Body”
  • Glenn Jeffrey and Robert Fosbury (Nature Scientific Reports): “Longer Wavelengths and Systemic Effects”
  • Brazilian COVID Study (2023): Infrared light reduces hospital stays from 12 to 8 days
  • MICU/SICU Study (Brazil, 2023): 30% reduction in ICU length of stay with 15 min/day IR exposure
  • Rudolph Marcus: Nobel Prize-winning work on electron transfer in biological systems (1992)

Additional Studies:

  • Glucose tolerance and infrared light exposure
  • Mitochondrial ATP production under IR light
  • Chronobiological effects of infrared exposure
  • Photobiomodulation for chronic disease management

Watch the Full Interview: Dr. Roger Seheult on The Jesse Chappus Show: “We’ve Been Wrong About Sunlight” (Full episode recommended)