UV Light Therapy for Autoimmunity
An excerpt from Dr. Leland Stillman’s upcoming book, The End of Autoimmunity
In a recent post, I shared how food can act as a powerful driver of autoimmune disease in the modern world. Today, I want to continue that conversation by exploring another key environmental factor that most people overlook… light. Here is an excerpt from my upcoming book, “The End of Autoimmunity”. Expect many more in the coming months…
UV light has a long history of treating autoimmunity. The Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology in 1904 was given to Niels Finsen for the treatment of cutaneous tuberculosis with UV light. Subsequently, physicians realized that UV light could be used to treat eczema, psoriasis, and many other allergic or autoimmune skin conditions.
What is UV light?
UV light is divided into three parts - UV-A, B, and C. UV-C is emitted in tiny amounts by your cells to trigger cell division. UV-A triggers tanning, but also causes skin aging and is linked to skin cancer. UV-B is not linked to skin cancer and produces vitamin D production in the skin.
Treating Autoimmunity with UV Light
How do we treat autoimmunity with UV light?
The old-fashioned way to treat with UV light is sun exposure, or heliotherapy. The sun has been recognized as a powerful source for healing since antiquity. Apollo was the Greek god of the sun and of healing. Greek physicians swore the “Hippocratic Oath” to Apollo.
Many patients with autoimmunity notice their disease improves dramatically with sun exposure.
UV light is not present at all times and places on planet earth. To understand UV light, we need to briefly talk about the seasons and climates of our planet.
The tropics are defined as the area around the equator where UV light is present each day in some amount. UV light is strongest during the middle of the day. Outside of the tropics, in the northern and southern hemispheres, UV light is only present for part of the year. The colder it is outside, the less UV light there is. For example, there is no UV light in New York City from the Fall until the late Spring. In the summer, the UV intensity is at its greatest. There is less UV light present earlier and later in the day.
UV light is present in the tropics every day, but the further from the equator you are, the less UV light you receive and the shorter the season during which you receive it.
Using sunlight (and the UV light in sunlight) to treat autoimmunity has significant seasonal and geographic limitations. Sunlight has other benefits for autoimmunity. Sunlight provides red and infrared light, which improve mitochondrial function and therefore cellular energy generation. The heat of sunlight can provide many of the same benefits as sauna. The visible light helps time circadian rhythms, which improves our recovery and rest at night. The UV light helps produce vitamin D and other hormones, like alpha-MSH, which have positive effects on autoimmunity.
For most patients with autoimmunity, my advice is to get as much sunlight as possible, at the greatest intensity you can stand. Some patients are photosensitive (they burn easily when exposed to even minimal amounts of UV light) and need to be mindful of this. Try to never burn.
The Autoimmune Connection: Repair Deficit
There is a clear link between autoimmunity and lack of UV light. As you go further and further from the equator, rates of autoimmunity increase. Autoimmune diseases tend to flare in the winter, when UV light is weakest, or entirely absent. As we have moved indoors, rates of autoimmunity have risen rapidly.
Why does UV light have such a profound effect on our immune systems? UV-A triggers the release of hormones like alpha-melanocyte stimulating hormone, which modulates the immune system and calms inflammation. UV-B triggers the production of vitamin D in the skin. Vitamin D makes the immune system smarter and more powerful. It helps the immune system tell the difference between your cells and tissues and everything else (toxins, pathogens, allergens, and more). It helps the immune system to overpower these external threats as well.
Vitamin D is so helpful in multiple sclerosis that it is now used routinely at high doses (10,000 IU daily or more). I have heard of more than one case where a patient got up out of their wheelchair and walked again with mega-doses of vitamin D. Do not try this without practitioner supervision, and make sure you use vitamin D with K2.
Coming soon to our supplement store.
The benefits of UV light extend beyond vitamin D production, which is why the sun outperforms vitamin D in studies, such as the Melanoma in Southern Sweden Study.
The bottom line of that study, and many like it, is that the more sun you get, the lower your risk of death.
Which immediately begs the question, what about skin cancer?
Skin Cancer Myths and Realities
The literature is clear. The more sunlight you get, the lower your risk of death. The magnitude is about the same as smoking. As in, the people who get as little sun as possible have the same risk of death as people who smoke most heavily. A smoker who spends every day at the beach has the same risk of death as an office worker who only goes outside to walk to their car.
Let that sink in. Stop and think about it for a moment. If your best friend picked up smoking, you might look at them in horror and say, “what are you thinking?” Yet your best friend might get less than a few minutes of direct sunlight each day, and you think nothing of it.
The sun protects us from immune dysfunction. The closer to the equator you are (more sunlight), the lower your risk of autoimmunity. Everything about sunlight improves our immune systems.
Skin cancer kills about 12,000 people each year in the United States. This pales in comparison to the total number of people who die each year (about 3 million, though it varies a great deal), most of whom die of diseases linked to lack of sunlight, such as cancer, stroke, and heart disease.
Avoiding the sun for fear of skin cancer is like avoiding fresh food for fear of food poisoning or avoiding the beach for fear of shark attacks. The math does not add up.
Avoid sunburns. Otherwise, get as much sun as you can tolerate.
Photosensitivity
What if you have cutaneous lupus, or another autoimmune disease that is exacerbated by heat or sunlight?
If this is the case, then moderate your sun exposure and get what you can tolerate. I would get sunlight early in the morning and the afternoon, which will be best tolerated. There is often zero UV light early and late in the day, which means you should be able to tolerate direct sunlight.
Many patients find that as their disease goes into remission, they are able to stand the sun again.
How We Use UV Light in Daily Practice
UV light can be a useful therapy for many people with autoimmunity. We start with sunlight. Few people can get enough sunlight for optimal vitamin D levels. They tend to work outside in agriculture, forestry, or hospitality (like valets, beach attendants, or lifeguards). We generally recommend everyone take a vitamin D supplement for optimal immunity. Our goal is a vitamin D level above 50 ng/ml.
If they have a skin disorder that responds to UV light, I will often recommend a UV-B lamp. UV-B is the wavelength of UV light that has the greatest potential for treating immune disorders of all kinds. If a patient wants to optimize their vitamin D levels without a pill, I recommend a UV-B lamp for 5 minutes every other day or daily (the dose depends upon the person and can vary widely).
You can purchase the UV-B lamp that I recommend here: Sperti D Lamp
Today, many integrative practices use a therapy called UV blood irradiation (UVBI). Blood is taken out of the body, irradiated with UV light, and then returned to the body. This has many benefits, but should be used in addition to (not replacement of) everything else we cover in this book. We will cover UVBI in more detail later.
UV light is one of my favorite tools for treating autoimmunity. It is safe, effective, and convenient (just don’t burn!). More and more patients are waking up to this fact and embracing light therapy for autoimmunity.
Ready to Go Deeper?
If this excerpt resonated with you, don’t miss my live Autoimmunity Masterclass.
I'll show you how to identify your personal autoimmune triggers and build a truly sustainable plan for healing using food and lifestyle as medicine.
You deserve to understand your body.
You deserve to feel well again.
It starts with the light you live in.
Until next time, be well,
Dr. Stillman
I have Hashimoto syndrome, will sun exposure help
Thoughts on red light therapy?