UCL Neuroscientist: Infrared Light Is Exercise For Your Brain (And It's Slowing Parkinson's) | John Mitrofanis

Our brains run on infrared light. Mitochondria in the brain absorb red and near-infrared light and use it to boost cognition and energy. And mitochondrial dysfunction is a hallmark of Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and depression.

John Mitrofanis has spent 20 years on the question: If infrared light restores the mitochondria, can it save the brain cells that die in Parkinson's?

John Mitrofanis is a neuroanatomist and Scientific Director of Fonds Clinatec in Grenoble, France, the research center founded by Alim-Louis Benabid, the father of deep brain stimulation. He is also an honorary Professor at University College London's Institute of Ophthalmology, and was Professor of Anatomy at the University of Sydney for over a decade. He is the author of Run in the Light: Exploring Exercise and Photobiomodulation in Parkinson's Disease.

Episode show notes + practical takeaways: https://livelongerworld.com/p/jmitrofanis

He explains:

◼️How infrared light and exercise release the same molecules in the brain, and what BDNF does.

◼️How red and near-infrared light restores mitochondrial function in cells that are dying

◼️How Parkinson’s may begin in the gut

◼️Why current Parkinson’s drugs and deep brain stimulation relieve symptoms but don’t stop the cells from dying

◼️ Red light and sleep: the glymphatic system, brain fog, and why he uses a helmet every day

◼️ Biophotons: the light your cells emit, and why stressed cells and healthy cells emit differently

TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 Cells use light to repair each other

01:00 Red light and exercise work on the same mechanism

02:50 BDNF: the molecule both exercise and light release

06:11 Blue light suppresses melatonin, red light repairs cells

09:00 The Nobel Prize won with red light, and the laser that failed to cure cancer

14:02 What deep brain stimulation actually does

14:54 Why the Parkinson's brain becomes "very, very naughty"

16:17 The beauty of deep brain stimulation, and its limit

18:40 "You apply red light on it." And I laughed

20:57 The light-treated mice kept more dopamine cells alive

23:36 Results of red light to the brain clinical trial

24:16 Is it already too late once symptoms appear?

26:48 Where he disagrees with Glen Jeffery on how deep light penetrates

28:58 Light on the body that reached the brain

31:33 Microvesicles: how cells in trouble call for help

33:12 Does Parkinson's start in the gut?

37:32 Could you skip the device and just sit in the sun?

42:06 What other Parkinson's trials are actually running

44:43 Epilepsy, autism, and cancer

45:56 The cancer evidence that cuts both ways

47:01 What's holding the trials back

48:10 Red light and sleep

49:05 We still don't know why we sleep

01:00:17 He wears the helmet every day

01:02:27 Health Stacked

01:03:15 Red light after a heart attack

01:06:41 670, 810 or 850: which wavelength and how deep

01:11:32 Why 40 hertz seems to be the magic number

01:12:03 Does the time of day matter?

01:16:00 Biophotons: the light inside us

01:22:28 Cancer cells and UV

01:30:22 Biophotons are the frontier

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Dr. John Mitrofanis:

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RELATED POSTS:

Boost Mitochondria with Infrared & Sunlight | Glen Jeffery: https://www.livelongerworld.com/p/gjeffery

97 Year Old Brain Scientist: This One Nutrient Prevents Dementia: https://www.livelongerworld.com/p/mcrawford