Transcript: EP 171
Roudy Nassif: One of the dangers of contacts, they block the exchange of O2-CO2 at the retinal level, which I don't know if you know, but this is the only area in our body, beside our breathing, where there's an exchange of oxygen and CO2 that happens. Our eyes are highly condensed with mitochondria. Primarily what mitochondria need to thrive is proper light, darkness at night, oxygen, and proper fuel in the form of fluid. Now, what the contact do, they take away actually light because they're filtering out frequencies that are essential for activating mycophagy and light, which is connected to UV light. And also they mess with the breathing ability of the retina and O2, CO2 exchange that happen at the level of the eye.
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Dr. Anna Cabeca: Well, if you've at all been interested in why people are wearing these really weird orange or yellow or red lensed glasses, today's the day to find out. I want to share some things with you about how light is necessary for circadian rhythm, is necessary for good sleep and healthy hormones and vitamin D production and so much more. and also how light affects beyond sleep and our hormones. It affects our sexuality, our transition through menopause, our blood sugar balance, weight gain. And the fact is, even though blue light is being considered the bad guy, not all blue light is bad. And there are important times of the day or evening to block blue light, but other times when we really want to enjoy it. So today on our show, I am bringing in a guest who is an expert through his own personal journey, as well as through the work he's done and the solutions he's created. in helping people really appreciate the light that we have and survive in a world where we are surrounded with blue light. He is the founder of Viva Rays, his name is Roudy, and he's at the cutting edge of circadian health. well renowned engineer, a wellness entrepreneur, a martial artist and a light expert. So I'm excited to bring Roudy on to the show today and talk about his solution. And also I'll share with you why I'm a fan. He'll tell a little bit about his story about suffering from ADHD, headaches and high strain, and how it led to being a night owl and feeling depressed, fatigued and disoriented. And I know those are common complaints. And to find a solution that is natural, is non medicinal, and is pretty darn easy is really powerful. So I've had opportunity to meet with him, talk with him, try his blue light blocking glasses. And I'll share more of that story inside as we talk about how blue light can hurt us and help us and what we need to know about it. Well, welcome, Roudy, to the Girlfriend Doctor Show. It's great to have you here.
Roudy Nassif: Yeah, thanks for having me on. It's an honor and a pleasure.
Dr. Anna Cabeca: Well, the first thing that Roudy said when we got on this cast here to do the show is like, you shouldn't be wearing those orange lenses at this time of day. And so Roudy, go ahead and explain, and we'll talk about this. You know, the reason I'm wearing the orange lenses, right, is to help my circadian rhythm, but also wearing them at the wrong times of the day can also further affect your circadian rhythm adversely. So let's chat about this.
Roudy Nassif: Yes, absolutely. So for the listeners, maybe some people are not even familiar with the word circadian rhythm. So I'll break this down a little bit and talk a little bit about why it's not optimal to wear those glasses right now. So basically, getting a great night's sleep and waking up feeling refreshed and energized is something that doesn't happen by chance. It actually happens by design. and it's controlled by universal law. In science, we call this circadian rhythm, right? And it comes from the Latin word circa and via, which means approximately a day or 24 hours. And it's this rhythm that exists in all animals, plants and humans, because we all undergo an inescapable daily change in the environment, where the day becomes night, and the night becomes day. And evolutionarily, this change in the environment controls our behavior. It controls whether we're awake, hunting, foraging, being active, or whether we're sleeping, restoring, and rejuvenating so that we can wake up for another day and survive. So in order for us as humans to adapt to this daily change, over the years, we have developed an internal clock that sits in the hypothalamus in the brain. And it determines when we go to sleep and when we wake up. And this clock literally controls our energy level, our detoxification system, bowel movement, reproduction, mood, digestion, et cetera. And in a nutshell, it's really responsible for timing all those different functions to an optimal time of the day or the night during a 24-hour cycle. Because we're not supposed to do everything at the same time. There's a time and place for everything in life. And when we do the right thing at the right time, it creates wonders and ease and flow. However, if we do the same thing at the wrong time, it's like swimming upstream. And with the circadian block, it works just like a musical symphony, right? If you've ever been to a musical symphony, in order for this orchestra with many musicians to produce harmonious music, they need to be guided by a conductor. which reads the musical notes and is instructing the musicians on what to do. In our bodies, it's very similar. This conductor is this master clock in the brain, and it's reading the musical notes coming from sunlight, light information, right? And it's responsible for telling all of the musicians in this case, our organs, our glands, and the millions of cells in our body, when to do what. And it's literally how our body knows when to wake up in the morning, and when to have energy to tackle big problems, when to think and learn, and then when to go to sleep, detoxify, repair, and regenerate. Now, here's the takeaway of all of this. There's two primarily signals that actually reset our circadian rhythm and allow us to be living in harmony with the rhythm of nature. Number one is getting morning sunlight first thing in the morning, right? So when we wake up, we go outside, we get that sunlight in our eyes, The contrast between blue and yellow light activates an electric signal that flies into the hypothalamus in the brain, and it tells our thyroid gland to start producing ACTH, which also signals to the adrenal gland to produce cortisol in the right amount, a healthy type of cortisol. Now, cortisol has a bad reputation as the stress hormone, but in fact, cortisol is an absolutely necessary hormone. It becomes bad when it's high all the time, or when it's low, when it's supposed to be high, like first thing in the morning. We need to experience that ebb and flow for cortisol to actually function properly. And it's this healthy rising tide of cortisol first thing in the morning that is going to allow us to feel alert, energized, focused, and ready to tackle the day. It's like nature's most efficient cup of coffee. And the precursor to all of this is getting the proper amount of light in our eyes. Now, the second very important signal that our central clock is awaiting is darkness after the sunset at a consistent time every day. So the moment the sun sets, if we were to be outside, we would notice that blue and green lights start slowly fading away. And the more prominent lights become orange and red light. And then the sun fades away into complete darkness. And light is not only a visual stimuli, it's much more than this. It subconsciously tells our nervous system and our bodies information about our environment. So when this phenomenon is happening around sunset, we are receiving messages flowing into our nervous system telling us that the day is ending. And therefore, the body starts activating its inner pharmacy to produce the right hormones and neurotransmitters that will prepare us for the restful night's sleep so that we can repair, so we can rejuvenate and have deep restful sleep.
Dr. Anna Cabeca: I just want to reiterate. So the circadian rhythm, the circadian cycle, setting it, like I say, it's good medicine to watch sunrises and sunsets. So challenging everyone listening to try to do that 10 days in a row and see what that does for you. See how you're sleeping. If you're using a sleeping app or monitor, and heart rate variability monitor, see how that changes. You'll notice something. But I want to go into the nuance of that. If, say, for example, you're watching the sunrise through a window, or wearing contact lenses or eyeglasses, or if you have lenses for cataracts, can you talk about how that disrupts that?
Roudy Nassif: Yeah, absolutely. So windows, prescription glasses and lenses filter out different frequencies of light and they make it distorted. They make it unbalanced, right? The thing about sunlight is that sunlight is a system that is a full spectrum. And what this means, it's composed of two forces of opposite expression or conditions. So there's the high-frequency light and the low-frequency light. And they come together as one system that is balanced. So the polar opposite of UV light, which is high-frequency light, is infrared light. The polar opposite of blue light is red light. And in nature, for instance, Blue light is very good during the day because we need to feel alert and energized, but we never get exposed to blue light in isolation from red light. They always come together as a package, right? And the problem that for the past 80 years or so, since we started being exposed to a lot of artificial LED lights all the time, we have disconnected ourselves from this fundamental principle of nature. Why? Because the LED lights were not designed with balance in mind. They're completely off balance. they have a narrow spike in blue light at 455 nanometer, which is not full spectrum blue light. It's only a narrow spike in the blue. And this blue is not balanced and proportional with the other frequencies of color like orange and red light. And that starts creating inflammation and it disrupts mitochondrial functioning, et cetera. But the thing with windows, Windows also filter out necessary frequency from sunlight and they make sunlight unbalanced. So it starts coming missing one portion and we get excess exposure to other portion and that is not optimal. So when you want to get morning sunlight, make sure that you're opening the window or that you're even better stepping outside and getting that sunlight in your eyes. Also, prescription and contact lenses, as well as window. One of the fundamental problems with them is that they filter out UVA and UVB. And while most of the listeners will go like, so what? UV is bad. That is fundamentally like very programmed belief that doesn't belong to reality. Now, why is that?
Dr. Anna Cabeca: A good marketing pitch for sunglasses and sunscreen.
Roudy Nassif: Absolutely. Yes. And what most people don't know is that UV light is an absolutely necessary frequency because basically it's the energy from UV light is what provide the energy to convert different amino acids in the eye like tryptophan into serotonin and melatonin. Okay. So the hormone of darkness melatonin is actually produced in the eye in response to morning sunlight. Serotonin is the hormone that allows us to feel content, happy, and connected to ourselves and the world around us. And the solution is simple. Be outside and connect with nature. Get that UV light in your eyes without wearing sunglasses, without wearing prescription or contact. Also, UV light provides the energy to convert the amino acid tyrosine into dopamine. Dopamine is this miraculous molecule that allows us to sit down, pay attention, think outside of the box, and it motivates us to go after what we really want in life. And it's almost an epidemic in today's world. Young people my age are never focused and they're constantly distracted, never being able to do deep work and to continue putting the work to achieve what they really want in life. they find themselves swimming in a sea of superficiality. And that is absolutely destructive for the soul, because what the soul wants is to use that willpower inside of us so that we can put work to bring our service to the world, to be of service to our fellow human beings. And when we disconnect from that, we start tending more into unnatural and superficial sources of dopamine that completely disconnect us from ourselves. Things like scrolling on social media, being addicted to that blue light from the phone, even things like porn, sugar addiction, gambling, all of these are sources of dopamine that are completely disruptive. So in a sense, nature has designed us to be addicted to her. And when we lose that connection with mother nature, we start subconsciously tending towards other behaviors that end up being very destructive to our biology and to our life in general.
Dr. Anna Cabeca: I think it's so powerful because, you know, working with patients too, I had this patient I was stuck with, we weren't able to move her weight or anything, and I had her in the office and she was sitting there And she said, the light's too bright. And she put on her sunglasses. I mean, we're in a second floor office building, and she's putting on her sunglasses inside. And I said, you always wear sunglasses? And she said, I can't even go outside without putting sunglasses on. My eyes are so sensitive. It's been this way for 20 years. And I said, no wonder I can't move your vitamin D. No wonder you've got blood sugar irregularity. No wonder we're not moving the needle. And she came back a few weeks later, and she lost four pounds, which she hadn't been able to lose. She was on this steady gaining cycle. So without really doing anything else differently, I had her focus on just retraining her eyes and stop wearing her sunglasses, and at least get sunrises and sunsets. But the other thing that was really significant is she just felt better. She was less anxious, her mood was better, she was happier. And that ties into the hormonal cascade, because when we're constantly dopamine seeking, and you know, we're not, we're using up our testosterone, we're not making enough serotonin, which converts to melatonin, we're not getting enough sleep. And from melatonin, one of the metabolites is also oxytocin, the hormone of connection and bonding and social interaction and trust. And so it ties in.
Roudy Nassif: Yes, absolutely. I see this again and again. And the tragedy, there's some tragedy and there's some beauty. I think the beauty is discovering how simple it is to realign with nature and how phenomenal the effect is on us. The tragedy is we see all kinds of unbalanced effects that manifest in weight resistance, fertility issues, menopausal issues, Sleep problems insomnia acne and what i see over and over again as i speak with people as i speak with trends that regardless of the unbalanced effect and what it may be. There may be one cause that is causing all of this, and that is living a life that is completely disrupted and that is completely disconnected from the forces of physics in nature, like light and magnetism and water that we have evolved around. And I do think that it's those forces of physics that actually are instructing the biology of the set on what to do and when to do what. So regardless of how hard we try to overcome those things with like food and exercise, if our environment is working against us because we're getting the wrong signals all the time and the wrong instructions, it's like trying to swim upstream. It becomes extremely difficult.
Dr. Anna Cabeca: I think that is so true and it's very interesting because I did this video with my friend Natalie Jill on hormone disruptors and I took off her sunglasses because I'm like, that's a huge hormone disruptor. There was so much confusion and really disgruntled responses because they're like, wait, you know, like my eyes are sensitive. I don't want to get cataracts or all these other things in my eyes. You know, and I like wearing them and blah, blah, blah. And I was like, you know, choose the time of day that you wear them, but don't make it a habit. If you're using them for fashion every once in a while, that's one thing. But you have to understand what the effects are on your hormones and especially in midlife transition. So let's talk about how it can disrupt our hormones in menopause.
Roudy Nassif: Yeah, absolutely. And just to add to this, one thing is what most people don't know is that when you are wearing sunglasses, it's actually the greatest endocrine disruptor ever. And the eyes are an extension of the brain, and you're just disconnecting yourself from the primary source that connects the outside with the inside. And one thing also about sunglasses, the moment you wear sunglasses, you can really disconnect yourself from your ability to produce BOMC, Procreomelanocortine. And it's this master hormone that is composed almost of 242 amino acids, which can become so many peptides and hormones. So, OMC becomes ACTH, which then becomes cortisol, right? And we explained how we need this healthy rising tide of cortisol so that we can feel alert and energized. But also, OMC becomes alpha-MCH, beta-MCH, and gamma-MCH. And alpha-MCH is what triggers the production of melanocytes in the skin so that we can produce melanin, the compound that as nature's work, the natural sunscreen, let's say, that we have in our skin that protect us from burning, and it allows us to tan. But also alpha-MCH increases fertility, increases libido. And basically, there has been some very interesting studies showing how it suppresses our desire to eat food, right? So it brings us into energy equilibrium. And people with disruption in their alpha MCH, the studies have shown that there's a correlation between obesity and disruption with alpha MCH. And that is all due to the lack of UV light. So when you are putting your sunglasses on, there's so many nuances and parallels and disruptions that are happening in your body that you're not aware of. When we speak about fertility, And I'm going to touch on menopause. So basically, the master sex hormone pregnenolone is made in the inner mitochondrial membrane in response to morning light. And pregnenolone is the raw material from which cortisol, as well as estrogen, testosterone, and progesterone are made. So, and we spoke about how, when we first wake up in the morning, we get light in our eyes. Pregnenolone gets converted into cortisol, part of the pregnenolone. And under balanced condition, the body will convert the rest of the pregnenolone to youth and sex hormones like estrogen and progesterone. And those hormones are not only, are also very important to keep our energy levels up and keep, you know, useful looking skin and hair. However, if our bodies sense this threat in our environment, okay, so visualize, I don't know, your ancestors 200 years ago, and they're foraging and they run into a tiger that is chasing them, then the proglanolone gets converted from fertility and youth pathways to more stress hormone, cortisol, so that you can fight in flight. Because in this moment, your body is no longer concerned aboutDr. Anna Cabeca: reproduction and connection. Yeah.
Roudy Nassif: And good-looking skin and hair, right? It wants to run and flee for your life. Survive, right. Yes, yes. And the very interesting thing is sitting under blue light all day has that same effect. There's a German scientist called Fritz Ulrich. He published many studies showing that sitting under artificial blue light increases the stress hormone cortisol and ACTH abnormally. Right. So you have like chronic high cortisol level in your system. And as a result, the mitochondria is constantly diverting retinol from youth and sex pathways to more cortisol. And this ended up taxing the sexual glands and our fertility pathways, also leading brain fog and sluggish.
Dr. Anna Cabeca: Well, I think that's so important because, you know, understanding how we can hack. We can't beat mother nature. We have to work with her. So how we biohack in these instances, especially in midlife and how important this is because as our 35 to 55, we lose about 75% of our natural progesterone, you know, which is going to also DHEA, testosterone and estrogen. So our youth and reproductive hormones. as you say. And so when we're already losing progesterone, it's imperative to decrease the drain on pregnenolone and progesterone itself.
Roudy Nassif: Absolutely, yes. And basically during premenopausal period, the ovaries, as you said, they slowly stop producing like sex hormones, like estrogen and progesterone. But in a healthy woman, the adrenal glands are supposed to compensate by secreting small quantities of estrogen and progesterone. ensuring that this transition goes as smooth and easy as possible. However, if this woman is constantly in a toxic light environment exposed to blue light day and night, this blue light will impede this process by forcing the conversion of pregnenolone to cortisol over and over again. And with no amount of estrogen and progesterone being produced, the usual hot flashes, weight gain and fatigue, they become much more common. And the regular paradigm is we associate those unbalanced effects with menopause. And we think that it's a natural consequence of going through menopause, but in reality, it's not. And those are consequences of being in an environment that is not balanced and that is taxing the body.
Dr. Anna Cabeca: Yeah, this is so important. There was a study in Asia several years ago that looked at young men who were using their phone. By the amount of hours they used their phone, blue light exposed, and also the dopamine hits from being triggered by their phone was associated with hypogonadism, infertility, low testosterone, and low drive in general. So I think that's really important. So how our light exposure and our activities with that light exposure can make a difference. All right, so now I wanted to circle back why wearing the orange glasses, these orange ones, these are darker orange, why we should not be putting them on, I think it's 2 p.m. our time, before 7 p.m. which is our sunset currently at this time of year.
Roudy Nassif: Yeah, that's a great question. So we were chatting about this. Dr. Anna wanted me to talk about this right on the bottom.
Dr. Anna Cabeca: And I wanted to wear these orange lenses to make a point, but those who are listening, you can't see them. But you can hop over to my YouTube channel at The Girlfriend Doctor and watch this interview. I know you're going to want to listen to it again. Typically, I put my red cool glasses back on.
Roudy Nassif: Yes, actually, we'll be in touch after the podcast so I can send you the daytime harmonizer. I'm going to explain a little bit what the difference is between a daytime harmonizer and a blue blocker.
Dr. Anna Cabeca: Okay, I'm going to put my orange ones back on because I've got all this blue light in front of me though, Roudy. You've got to tell me. It just feels better on my eyes. That is something I noticed, because I listened to what you said to put these on at sunset. But I sit at, you know, days I'm in the office, you know, in front of big windows, but I have two monitors, my cell phone, and I'm in LED lights. And I feel better at three o'clock when I put these glasses on. I'm like, okay, I think better, maybe it's placebo effect. But I tried with and without. And so I found that putting them on at three, taking them off again, when I go outside, am I completely messing myself up?
Roudy Nassif: So here's the thing. What happened is that during the day, as I mentioned, we need that blue light and we need the blue turquoise particularly because we have a photoreceptor in the eye called melanopsin that is connected to the hypothalamus of the brain. And melanoxin is most sensitive to brutal cortis at 480 nanometers. So it senses that frequency of light during the day and it tells the brain that it's daytime to increase our energy levels and to keep our circadian clock aligned with the clock in nature. Now, when we wear the orange lenses during the day, we're eliminating all of the blue and part of the green light, which is sending a false signal to the brain and to the body that the day is ending. And that is why I explained that this could be also a circadian disruptor. As an alternative, on one side, we need blue light during the day. On the other side, the blue light that we're exposed to from our screens and from our LED bulbs are tragic because they're high in this 465 nanometer frequency that is very inflammatory, increases reactive oxygen species, and that's partly why With time, we start experiencing rainfall because the oxidative stress in the eye and the brain is constantly increasing. And we're not getting enough restorative darkness at night to clean and repair that inflammation. What we came up with is a phenomenal solution because we were asking ourselves, okay, how can we actually balance out that blue light during the day without eliminating it? And then we came up with the daytime blue light harmonizer. Now, why is it a harmonizer and not a blocker? Because we are not blocking that 465 nanometer frequency. What we're actually doing, we're decreasing its sharpness, and we're spreading it across the spectrum. So you're getting more green, yellow, and orange light into your eyes. versus some other blue light blocking glasses company that use the dark yellow tinted pigmentation. What it does, it takes away all of the blue light at 455 nanometer. And the problem is that in the process of doing this, it wipes out all of the blue turquoise at 480 nanometer. And then While you may experience less eye strain and headaches, what happens is that with time, you're lacking that frequency, that signal to your brain that it's daytime and start dropping your energy level during the day when you're supposed to have ultimate energy level. So, basically, the evening ones are the one which you're wearing right now, which I'm clipping on right now. For people who are listening, they can't see well. Basically, we call it a three-in-one system that allow you to seamlessly interchange between the lenses without needing to have three different frames. And after the sunset, when you come back home, you're exposed to the second sun, the artificial sun from your LED lights and your screens. And most people think, oh, blue lights come from the phone, or blue light come from the screen. But in reality, the light bulb in your kitchen, down the street, in the mall, emit the same frequency of light that is coming from your screen. And that's why the evening lights is the one I'm wearing right now, but you're wearing. They are designed to filter out 100% of the blue, as well as the highest frequency green in a very specific way to mimic the color temperature of the bonfire at 1700 Kelvin. And this is the light that we've evolved around for thousands of years. And subconsciously, it tells our nervous system that the day is ending, so we can prepare for a restful night's sleep. Now, one hour before bed, We can't be able to switch the night time switch on right now the other percent of the blue percent of the green but also a very important aspect is that the decrease the brightness of light by twenty times. And that is also because bright light of any color has a negative impact on our circadian clock. And I like to describe the nighttime one as if you were to be around a bonfire, the beginning of a bonfire is the evening dance. And that's when you feel calm, relaxed, yet you have enough energy to dance, cook, and socialize. And that's why the evening lenses, you put them in the afternoon after the sunset, and you can still do your stuff, work on your task, cook in the kitchen without feeling overly sleepy. But the nighttime one, they're like the amber coils by the end of the fire. And by that time, you're feeling super sleepy and ready for bed. And this is what these do. Within like half an hour to an hour of putting them, Most of our clients report feeling extremely sleepy and unable to open their eyes anymore.
Dr. Anna Cabeca: That sounds good. So help me, like walk me through like the best sequencing. So this is also something that you taught me is that even though my prescription Caroline Herrera, regular red eyeglasses, you know, clear lenses, but they have blue light blocking film on it. It doesn't block, you said it doesn't block out the blue light from the screens.
Roudy Nassif: Yes, that's a great point, Anna. Thanks for bringing that up. I actually fell into this when I first learned about blue-blocking glasses and I bought clear lenses from my optometrist's office. And after using them for a few weeks, I noticed that I was still getting a lot of eye strains and headaches and so on. And I actually laughed at myself because I'm an engineer. And I understand the physics of light anyway. And basically, like any kid who is enthusiastic about coloring, if you ask them, they will know that in order to… On the color wheel, the opposite of blue is orange. And in order to completely eliminate blue, the lenses need to be orange, right? So, I brought my spectral color meter and I measured what the lenses were doing. And I discovered that the clear lenses, they block blue-purple lights up to 420 nanometer. But the problem is that LED lights, they start their emission at 430 nanometer, and they don't emit any blue-purple below 420. And most people fall into this marketing gimmick of companies using this pen, showing you that, oh, the clear lenses work because they block the blue light from that pen. But that pen is emitting blue-purple light at 410 nanometer, and that's why it's actually showing you that it's blocking that light. But the LEDs don't actually emit that color, so they're inefficient. But for someone like you, Ana, who wear prescription lenses, the sequence and the optimum sequence would be having the 4-in-1 technology.
Dr. Anna Cabeca: Well, we'll start with getting outside without my eyeglasses, walking outside, watching my sunrises, walk around the lake or whatever with my regular eyeglasses down a little bit so I can get the eye light in and not trip and fall and break my leg or something, right?
Roudy Nassif: We came up with a phenomenal solution for people who wear prescription because as we mentioned in the beginning of the podcast, 100% of the prescription lenses block all of the UV light, which is not ideal. So we came up with a prescription solution that allows 50 to 60% more UV light to pass through the lenses. So if someone, let's say, they have a very high prescription and they want to enjoy their walk, they could still get that healthy light in their eyes subconsciously without needing to think about it and while enjoying their walk. And this is why when we were talking by email, my suggestion to you was the 4-in-1, because you would have your base frame with the prescription medicines that you would wear outside, allowing you to absorb all the healthy lights from sunlight. And then you will have three clips, the daytime, the evening, and the nighttime. And the sequence would be, you go outside, you enjoy sunlight, you get that fresh, healthy light in your eyes. The moment you come back home and you're working on your computer, you put the daytime lenses on. And then you keep them on as long as you're exposed to any form of artificial light during the day.
Dr. Anna Cabeca: But if I was to go outside, I would take off those yellow ones. Always get as much direct sunlight exposure. So the concern here is that midday sun causing harm to the eyes. Can you talk about the myths around that?
Roudy Nassif: Yeah, absolutely. So basically, it's crazy because if you trace this back, you know, we know that there are hundreds of quality peer-reviewed studies done on the health benefits of UV. I mentioned some of them. However, you know, conventional medicine is still operating with an old belief about UV light. And it didn't match up with the new understanding of how powerful and important UV light is in driving our health. The crazy part is that most of these studies and assumptions, they are based on a few sketchy studies that were conducted back in the 1980s that created a lot of fear. The main one was done in the College of Virginia in 1891. The result of this study is highly questionable and actually doesn't pertain to reality because the eyelids of the monkeys were wide open with clamps, which fully dilated their pupils. And they were not able to blink. And blinking is actually a natural mechanism that we all use to adjust the different brightness of light and protect our retinas if the light was very intense at any given moment. So what they actually did, they shone an intense bright light with extremely high levels of UV light And besides the abuse with the eye clamps, the amount of UV that they shone into their eyes was abnormal. And they did not represent the balanced trace of UV light that we get from sunlight. In fact, they added UVC light. And UVC is a frequency of light that do not arrive to the Earth because it's filtered out by the atmosphere. Also, the light that was shown in the monkey's eye was UV, and there was no water opposite of infrared. And this does not happen in nature in any way. Now, if you know Dr. John Ott, he wrote the phenomenal book called Light and Health. And I like one of his analogies, as in giving too much oxygen at birth can blind the baby. However, it would be foolish to think that we need to avoid oxygen at all costs. Right? And, you know, if we put our hand in the fire, you will end up burning your hand. But it will also be foolish to conclude that fire is bad and we shouldn't be using it. So, in a way, all this fear propaganda that was created around UV light is completely unreasonable. If you trace it back, you will see that all of those studies were very sketchy, and they did not follow a reasonable sequence that actually is in alignment with the forces of nature.
Dr. Anna Cabeca: And then we have, you know, the tear gems, like the fleshy growth on the eye that's, they call it surfer's eye because of the chronic, the UV exposure to the eye causing this growth. Is that because of the heavy use of sunglasses and the filtering effect? Or is that because of the reflection of the sun on, you know, water or the waves? I mean, what is reasonable protection against that for people who have heavy light exposure?
Roudy Nassif: It's an interesting topic because I'm a surfer as well, and sometimes I'm out surfing for hours. What I do notice is when I'm out surfing with my friends, one of the ways most surfers go wrong is when they come back from their surfing all day long, they're exposed to a ton of artificial light after the sunset. Now, anytime you're exposed to blue light after the sunset, you're destroying melatonin, which is the highest antioxidant in nature. But also when melatonin flows into our bloodstream, it's the primary signal to activate all the programs of repair and rejuvenation. Mitochondria undergoes mitophagy, which is a program that allow our old mitochondria to replace themselves with new ones, right? Our cells undergo autophagy and apoptosis. And those are the mechanisms that allow the old cells to be recycled and replaced with new cells. All of these programs and mechanisms require a balanced rhythm between light during the day and darkness at night. And I guess The way most of us are really going wrong in today's world is that we're getting very little darkness after the sunset, and we just don't realize how destructive it is to be exposed to any form of artificial light after the sunset. We start realizing when we experience what it is like to be without artificial light only for three days. And Dr. Anna, you won't believe it. I have friends come visit me here. And I do live like a true caveman, because after the sunset, I have zero lights on. When my friends come visit me here, they merge into my lifestyle. And within three, four days, they start experiencing phenomenal transformation in their focus, in their alertness. They start getting flashes of inspiration about what's the next step in their life and in their business. But not only this, what often happens is, Subconsciously, their eyes regulate that darkness. And then the moment they leave here, they come back to the world, they call me, oh, my God, Roudy, send me your glasses. I can't believe I can't handle that artificial light. And it's like someone who has been eating McDonald's and junk food all their life, and then you take them out to an organic farm where they get access to whole organic food, and then expose them back to that McDonald's, and they're going to feel like shit. They're going to feel like, oh, my God, I can't handle this. And it's not until you snap outside of that box that you've created to yourself that you realize what would life be like if you were outside of that box.
Dr. Anna Cabeca: Yeah, no, I love that. And so for those of us who can't come live with you for extensive periods of time, bringing that into our life is the sunrises, sunsets, getting light exposure, limiting the use of sunglasses and retraining our eyes, restrengthen our eyes, which even in this client who was wearing 20 years sunglasses outside, not even able to sit by a window, just within a week to two weeks, she's going to have reduced her use of sunglasses 90% and feel so much better. So I mean, it's just powerful. There's other ways we can shade, right, shading our eyes with hats or whatever, we're still getting the sun's natural rays without direct light. So that's fine. But you want to expose your eyes to that light. And those of us who wear glasses or contact. And so for those of us who if we're wearing contacts, so sometimes I'll put my contacts in, I'm filtering out some of the blue light, so I should put them in after sunrise. What's the judicial use of that, of contacts, if we're wearing contacts? Don't say don't wear contacts, just warning you.
Roudy Nassif: So the thing is, one of the dangers of contacts is that they block the exchange of O2CO2 at the retinal level, which I don't know if you know, but this is the only area in our body, beside our breathing, where there's an exchange of oxygen and CO2 that happens. Our eyes are highly condensed with mitochondria. And if you think about the fundamental aspects of mitochondria, primarily what mitochondria need to thrive is proper light, darkness and light, oxygen, and proper fuel in the form of fluid. So we need high quality food, we need that light and darkness, and we need proper breathing and oxygen. Now, what the contact do, they take away healthy light, because they're filtering out frequencies that are essential for activating mitophagy anion, which is connected to UV light. And also, they mess with the breathing ability of the retina and O2, CO2 exchange that happen at the level of the eye. So if you're someone who wears contact and you need to wear them at specific times, just be aware that it's not something that is good to be wearing all the time. Take a break from that whenever you can. In specific instances, if you had to wear them for two, three hours, fine, but then take them out, get that fresh sunlight in your eyes and allow your eyes to breathe and take a break from the contacts.
Dr. Anna Cabeca: And then in general, with the changing the lenses, for those of us who wear prescription glasses, and these ones that I have are they're also bifocals, by the way, you guys, but so the changing the lenses originally wearing the clear lenses, you know, your regular, you know, eyeglasses without filtration, right, that's exposing our eyes to the full spectrum of light, sunrises when we're outside, but when we're on a you know, an artificial light device. So you know, our smartphones, iPads, laptops are inside under LED lights during the daytime use the yellow blocking the one you're wearing right now.
Roudy Nassif: And it's called the blue light harmonizer. So like, as a reminder, it's the one that harmonizes the blue, but doesn't block.
Dr. Anna Cabeca: And then at sunset, depending on the time of the year, you switch to the orange while you're inside, but outside take them off, right?
Roudy Nassif: No, you keep them on in and out because basically when you go outside after the sunset, unless you're living where I'm living, where I'm not surrounded by any form of artificial lights at night, then you're going to be surrounded by all kinds of nasty LEDs down the street, down the mall and the restaurant. So that's why after the sunset, you put on the glasses and you keep them on. Until one hour before bedtime, you remove your evening lenses and you clip on the nighttime lenses and then you go to bed. And ideally, your bedroom is as dark as possible. If you can't make it dark, then I highly recommend a high-quality sleeping mask. We also offer an organic cotton three-dimensional sleeping mask that allows you to open and close your eyelid without having pressure on your eyes.
Dr. Anna Cabeca: So what have you noticed in people changing from wearing regular glasses to using the blue light blocking glasses? What conditions have improved?
Roudy Nassif: Yeah, primarily we get a lot of clients sharing with us phenomenal stories about how they have overcame many insomnia actually. Many people who have had like trouble falling asleep, staying asleep and accessing restful night's sleep. They reach out back with phenomenal testimonials, sharing how they're sleeping eight hours. But not only sleeping eight hours, most of them report how they are actually feeling a lot more energized, fresh, and rested first thing in the morning. We have a lot of women who reported better hormonal balance in their system. So combined with aspects of getting morning sunlight and getting sunbreaks during the day, watching the sunset, when they start blocking artificial light in the right way, many of our clients report a lot more ease in releasing excess weight and a lot more ease in having more control after the sunset to not engage in their society hormone leptin is better regulated because what will happen is after the sunset if we expose ourselves to artificial life is going to increase credit. the hunger hormone. And also because how leptin can, so leptin is the hormone of society. Yes, it's stored under fat tissues in the skin. And it's supposed to travel up to the hypothalamus when melatonin rises at night. But if you expose yourself to artificial light, melatonin will not rise and leptin will not travel up to the hypothalamus of the brain. And when it does, it actually upregulates the thyroid hormone. and increases our ability to burn fat at night and it increases the production of growth only. So if you look at all this combination, viewing artificial light at night will increase the hunger hormone, which suppresses the satiety hormone and will decrease your ability to burn fat naturally at night while you're sleeping. So that's why many of our clients report having a lot better control on their hunger level at night, you know, being able to release weight much easier, waking up feeling more rested, more energized. And a lot of our clients talk about having better moods during the day, accessing greater state of cognition and creativity and so on.
Dr. Anna Cabeca: Yeah, no, fascinating. It definitely is a part of health and resetting the circadian rhythm. I can talk to you, I know we've already gone over time, Roudy, but such a valuable topic and a important topic for hormonal health, hormonal balance, and optimal aging. It is cutting edge in the field and there's a lot of confusion about different, you know, blue light blocking glasses that are out there and when to wear them. So I thank you for addressing a lot of those issues. Now tell our audience where they can get your lenses, the Viva Rays, and we have a discount to offer our audience of 10% off the Viva Rays and to check those out. Really, I have tried a lot of different glasses over the years and because I'm prescription, it's been a challenge. It's been like sometimes I'll double layer glasses and it's just awkward. So anyway, I was really happy to get these prescription bifocals in the orange and now I have to go to the yellow and get some red. But, you know, they're super cute. They're super comfortable and really high quality. So I was really excited to wear them and then to bring Roudy and his expertise to you, as you can see, is a wealth of information. So go to dranna.com forward slash VivaRays, V-I-V-A-R-A-Y-S, and check those out. And if you decide to get something, up to you, but you'll get an extra 10% off with the code dranna, D-R-A-N-N-A. So Roudy, can we tell a little bit about the different types of glasses again? And you've got cute frames, by the way.
Roudy Nassif: Yeah, absolutely. So all of our frames are actually made from sustainable materials. They're either made from FSC certified wood, which is a certification that makes sure that the wood is coming from sustainably managed forestry. And the other type is coming from plant bio-based, 100% biodegradable material, like the one you're wearing right now. So yeah, whether you wear prescription, it's easy. You just upload your prescription information. If you don't know them, you could just email it to us later and we could help you with that. And I would then highly recommend the 4-in-1 for anybody who's wearing prescription. So again, you could get the healthy light when you're outside and you have your sleep clips, or when you're inside, the daytime, the evening, and the night. The daytime one is the one that you're wearing anytime you're exposed to artificial light during the day, and the moment you step outside, you remove them. Whereas the evening and the nighttime, you'll keep them on all the time or anytime you're exposed to any form of artificial light, which in our modern world, it's everywhere, unfortunately. Also, if you go visit our website, and actually I'll share it later with you, Ana, so they can access it easily. There's an e-book that I've written, it's called Night, The Key to Mastering Your Sleep and Energy. And it's a culmination of seven years of studying quantum biophysics at Circadian Biology. But the beauty about it is that I wanted to create something where the four years old kids could read it within an hour or so and understand exactly what they need to do today to elevate their light environment to a whole new level and access great sleep, higher energy levels, and great productivity. So I share this link with you so anybody who's listening could re-access this information and be able to digest it slowly until it becomes part of their lifespan.
Dr. Anna Cabeca: I think it's so important, this concept of reconnecting with nature, how it was designed to heal us, how the fire is therapeutic in the evening, and again, in stimulating melatonin. You guys, the hormone cascade, melatonin, is key to production of oxytocin, is to restoration and regeneration and repair. anti aging, and just living our best life. So, Roudy, thank you so much for being here. And for all of you check out dr. Anna.com forward slash viva rays, and we'll put the link in the show notes to his ebook. And as you can see a wealth of information. Let me know if you have any questions about this at all. Thank you, Roudy.
Roudy Nassif: Yeah, thank you so much.
Dr. Anna Cabeca: You guys, light biology is just fascinating, and I'm always learning when it comes to this topic and how we can be more physiologically balanced, reset our circadian rhythm. One of the testing aspects that I do is looking at an adrenal stress index or your cortisol pattern throughout the day, whether it's saliva or urine. and looking at how your cortisol, is it waking you up in the morning? Is it nice and low when you go to bed in the evening? Or what's happening? And that is often a disrupted pattern, sometimes too low, sometimes too high, sometimes inverse. And so fixing that circadian cycle is key to health and optimizing health. It's one of the topics I teach in magic menopause and digging deep into the restorative sleep and the resetting our daily rhythm. So we get out of that stress pattern, whether hyper or hypo cortisol is the culprit. So figuring that out and addressing that is one of the nuances in longevity medicine and aging well. I love this topic. And for those of you that are in my Girlfriend, Dr. Club and Magic Menopause, we'll have another live Q&A discussion with Roudy within the group. So I welcome you there, and if you guys have any other questions, I appreciate it. And I really would appreciate you, wherever you're listening to this, or multiple places even, what a big bonus, to just leave a five-star review. Your five-star reviews boost us in the rankings and help us reach more people. So I thank you for being here and listening and sharing this very important information. And I love being your girlfriend doctor. Till next time, it's Dr. Anna.