About this episode

This episode explores the impact of light exposure on athletes' energy, recovery, and health, featuring insights from neuroscientist Glen Jeffery.

What if one of the biggest factors affecting your energy, recovery and long-term health wasn’t your training or nutrition… but the light you’re exposed to every day? Most triathletes spend hours dialling in their fuelling, sessions and recovery protocols. But modern life has quietly changed something fundamental to human biology. We now spend around 90% of our time indoors under artificial lighting that is very different to the sunlight our bodies evolved with. In this fascinating episode, Advanced Sports Dietitian Taryn Richardson sits down with Professor Glen Jeffery, a neuroscientist from University College London and one of the world’s leading researchers on how different wavelengths of light influence our biology. Professor Jeffery explains how light interacts directly with your mitochondria, the tiny energy factories inside your cells. And why certain types of light may influence everything from energy production and inflammation to recovery, metabolism and ageing. You’ll also hear why athletes might be using red and infrared light the wrong way, and why the biggest benefits could actually come after hard training sessions rather than…

People in this episode

Host: Taryn Richardson

Guest: Glen Jeffery

Topics covered

• red light therapy
• athlete recovery
• mitochondria
• energy production
• inflammation
• nutrition

Keywords

• red light therapy
• infrared light
• athlete recovery
• mitochondria
• energy production
• inflammation
• nutrition

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: University College London

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