Can you increase the biophotons in your body naturally?
It is an appealing idea. If the human body emits tiny quantities of light, perhaps eating fresh food, getting more sunlight or improving your lifestyle could make you “glow” more strongly.
But there is an important problem with that idea: more biophoton emission does not automatically mean better health.
Human ultra-weak photon emission is associated with biochemical processes including metabolism and oxidation. The amount of light detected can therefore change because biological activity has changed — not necessarily because somebody has become healthier.
So instead of trying to maximise biophotons, a much better question is: what naturally supports healthy cellular function?
Does the Human Body Really Produce Biophotons?
Yes. Extremely sensitive scientific equipment can detect ultra-weak photons emitted by the human body.
These emissions are far below the sensitivity of the human eye, which is why you cannot see yourself glowing in a dark room.
Human studies have also found that photon emission can vary during the day, suggesting a relationship with changing metabolic activity and circadian rhythms.
We explore the evidence in detail in Do Humans Really Emit Light? The Science of Biophotons.
Should We Try to Increase Biophotons?
Not necessarily.
It is tempting to think of biophotons like a nutrient: low is bad, high is good. That is not how the science works.
Ultra-weak photon emission can arise during oxidative reactions. If tissue is placed under certain forms of stress, photon emission can change or increase.
Therefore, deliberately trying to produce the highest possible photon reading would make little biological sense.
The goal should be normal, well-regulated cellular activity — not the largest amount of measurable light.
Does Sunlight Increase Human Biophotons?
Light exposure can complicate biophoton measurements because biological tissues can temporarily retain and later re-emit absorbed light. Researchers call this delayed luminescence.
This means an apparent increase in photons after exposure to light does not automatically prove that the body’s cells have become healthier or are generating more biologically meaningful biophotons.
Daylight nevertheless plays important roles in normal human biology, particularly in regulating the body’s daily sleep-wake rhythm. That is a good reason to have a normal relationship with daylight without needing to claim that sunlight “charges” the body with biophotons.
Can Fresh Food Increase Your Biophotons?
Fresh fruits, vegetables, leaves, seeds and sprouts themselves produce measurable ultra-weak photon emissions.
However, there is currently no established evidence showing that photons emitted by a piece of fruit pass through digestion and directly increase a person’s internal biophoton level.
Biophotons are therefore not comparable to a nutrient that can simply be eaten and added to the body’s stores.
Fresh whole plant foods can still form part of a healthy diet for many other reasons. They naturally provide water, carbohydrates, fibre, vitamins, minerals and numerous plant compounds in their original food structure.
For more on this subject, see What Foods Have the Most Biophotons?.
What About Raw Food?
Fresh raw plant tissue remains biologically active after harvesting. Respiration, enzymatic reactions, ripening and other processes continue, and ultra-weak photon emission can be measured from the tissue.
Cooking changes that biological state considerably.
That does not mean raw food contains a magical reservoir of photons that transfers directly into human cells. It means raw and cooked plant tissues are biologically and chemically different.
Read Does Cooking Destroy Biophotons in Food? for the full explanation.
Can Sleep Affect Biophoton Emission?
Human ultra-weak photon emission appears to vary with time of day. Research has observed a daily rhythm in emission, with measurements changing independently of simple changes in skin temperature.
This does not establish that sleeping for a particular number of hours will directly “boost your biophotons”.
It does, however, reinforce a broader point: human cellular activity changes according to biological rhythms. Sleep and regular light-dark cycles are part of the conditions under which those rhythms operate.
Does Exercise Increase Biophotons?
Physical activity changes metabolism, oxygen use, circulation and oxidative processes, so it is reasonable that ultra-weak photon emission can also change around exercise.
Again, an increase would not mean that the exercise has filled the body with beneficial light. It would primarily tell us that biological activity has changed.
This distinction is crucial throughout biophoton research: photon emission is a measurement of processes occurring in tissue, not a health score.
What About Meditation, Grounding and Breathwork?
Extraordinary claims are sometimes made that meditation, grounding, breathwork or particular mental states dramatically raise a person’s biophoton level.
These practices can affect physiology in various ways, but evidence is not strong enough to treat increased biophoton emission as an established mechanism explaining their effects.
Where evidence is limited, it is better to say so than to turn an interesting area of research into certainty.
Can Stress Change Biophoton Emission?
Potentially, yes — and this demonstrates why “more photons” should not automatically be considered desirable.
Ultra-weak photon emission is closely connected with oxidative chemistry. Biological stress can alter oxidative processes and therefore alter photon emission.
A higher reading under those circumstances would not mean the tissue had suddenly become healthier.
What Naturally Supports Healthy Cellular Function?
Rather than trying to manipulate an obscure biological measurement, focus on the conditions under which human cells normally function.
- Regular exposure to natural daylight and darkness
- A consistent opportunity for adequate sleep and rest
- Appropriate physical movement
- Adequate hydration
- Fresh whole foods appropriate to your needs
- Avoiding unnecessary physiological burdens
- Allowing sufficient recovery from exertion
None of these needs to be justified by claiming that it “raises your biophotons”. They support normal physiology in their own right.
The Natural Hygiene Perspective
This distinction fits particularly well with Natural Hygiene.
The aim is not to micromanage every chemical reaction occurring inside the body. It is to understand that living cells continually adapt to the conditions in which they find themselves.
Food, rest, sleep, movement, daylight and the overall demands placed upon the body all form part of that environment.
The Law of Vital Economy explores this from another angle: the body must continually allocate its available resources according to its priorities and the demands being placed upon it.
Biophotons may eventually provide researchers with another window through which to observe some of this biological activity.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you naturally increase your biophotons?
Ultra-weak photon emission can change with biological activity and environmental conditions, but there is no established health target for increasing a person’s biophoton emission.
Does sunlight charge your body with biophotons?
Human tissue can absorb and later re-emit light, but this should not be confused with evidence that sunlight fills the body with a beneficial store of biophotons.
Do raw foods give you more biophotons?
Fresh raw plant foods emit ultra-weak photons, but research has not established that these photons are transferred through digestion to increase a person’s internal biophoton level.
Does more biophoton emission mean better health?
No. Photon emission can change with metabolic and oxidative activity, including biological stress. A higher reading is not automatically a healthier reading.
The Bottom Line
Your body really does emit ultra-weak light.
But the objective should not be to make yourself emit as many photons as possible.
Biophotons are an intriguing window into biological activity — not a health currency that needs to be maximised.
The sensible approach is to support the conditions in which your cells normally function and allow the body’s extraordinarily complex regulatory processes to do what they do.