Avicenna Understood the Power of Light.
Almost 1000 years later, we are re-discovering how to use light to benefit our health.
Background
About a year ago, I published a two-part series outlining the fundamentals of blood flow & circulation. In these articles I presented research and new ideas which will revolutionize circulatory physiology and medical practices.
One of the new pieces of research I discussed came from Li & Pollack (2023), in which they explore and demonstrate the drivers of blood flow.
There are two mind-blowing findings from the experiments they performed on chick embryos.
After the chick embryo has been euthanized, blood continues to flow in the absence of a beating heart.
Post-mortem blood flow speeds up when exposed to infrared light.
Now, you may just take these results at face value and think “Ok, great. Promotes blood flow. So, what?”
But, I need you to linger on this for a moment. Because, blood flow isn’t just “blood flow.”
To make blood move (especially in the absence of a beating heart) there are many things going on behind the scenes. Things which impact:
Viscosity of blood
Shape & tension of blood vessels
Production of metabolites like nitric oxide, which modulate tone and flow
The direction that the blood moves
Electrodynamics between vessel, water, and blood
Energy needed to make all of these things happen
What may seem like simple mechanical flow….is so much more.
The impact of light is deep. Physiologic. Fundamental.
Modern Chromotherapy
For the last 100 years or so, modern science has facilitated our re-discovery of the relationship between light and health.
In some corners of the health-sphere this is called photobiomodulation, in others chromotherapy.
For an increasing niche of the health conscious, this has also been referred to as quantum or decentralized medicine - with light is at the center of this framework. This has become recently popularized by Dr. Jack Kruse, who has been instrumental in unifying these ideas.
Today, we find ourselves using light (both sunlight and artificial light) to create healthy living environments, subdue symptoms, and cure diseases.
Rewind 1000 Years
As many of you know, I have recently embarked on learning from the late great Avicenna, an 11th century physician whose work is revered to this day.
I am about halfway through Volume 1 of his Canon and am already convinced that this work should be part of the standard medical curriculum.
On reading the lecture concerning Humors, my mind was drawn to one of the concluding paragraphs.
Lastly, it must be clearly understood that not only the causes of origin, but also the causes of movement of the humors must be taken into consideration.
Exercise and heating agents set in motion the sanguineous humor…
Even imagination, emotional states and other agents cause the humors to move.
Thus, if one were to gaze intently at something red, one would cause the sanguineous humor to move.
That is why one must not let a person suffering from a nose-bleed see things of a brilliant red color.
-The Canon, Volume 1, Chapter 4, pp. 123
You may be wondering what the big deal is.
What does looking at colors have to do with photobiomodulation? Good question.
First, it must be understood that exposure to light of any color (such as with use of a red-light lamp) is the same as “looking at the color.”
Light is only “seen” because it hits our retina.
Red light is seen because we look at the color red.
More broadly, our skin also has light receptors. So, any color which reflects its hue unto our skin…is tantamount to the same physiologic process as “looking at red.”
So, what is Avicenna saying here? He is being quite clear, in fact. It is our duty not to undermine or underestimate the gravity of what he says.
Avicenna is claiming that the color red (and by extension, red light) promotes the flow of blood. Which Pollack demonstrated experimentally a millennium later.
Indeed, for Avicenna color is both an observable symptom of disease as well as a modality for treatment.
He also describes blue light as the counterpoint to red. Blue light, according to Avicenna, cools and slows blood flow.
Which has also been shown experimentally. In fact, much of modern literature is concerned about the overexposure to blue light.
Excess blue light is said to be restrictive of blood flow, causes oxidative stress, and is associated with tissue hypoxia.
If you were having a nose-bleed, or in the early stages of tissue trauma…you may want to use blue light to slow swelling, bruising, or bleeding.
In our modern, artificial and excessively blue-lit environment…you may want to reduce exposure to prevent the consequences of chronic exposure.
That is, to prevent the consequences of chronic tissue hypoxia and oxidative stress.
Finally, Avicenna also notes that yellow can be useful in reducing muscle aches and pains.
Despite the fact that photobiomodulation is considered a modern discovery and treatment modality, we can see that these are phenomena that have been appreciated and applied for centuries.
It seems that Avicenna was the OG of chromotherapy.
Respecting Our Elders
I reject the notion that our ancestors made us what we are today whilst steeped in ignorance. But, traditional medicine is not for the uninitiated.
I could not have appreciated the importance of what Avicenna wrote 1000 years ago, had I not been familiar with quantum physiology. It would have been just another curious line in a tome of over 2000 pages.
After shattering the ceiling of the modern medical paradigm, we can begin to fathom the wisdom in the words of our ancestors.
Despite my respect for the work of ancient philosophers, I did not expect an understanding of light & healthy this deep.
With each passing chapter of Avicenna’s great work, I find myself increasingly enamored by it.
To stay on top of my summary and analysis of The Canon, this is a series available only to paid subscribers.
There is definitely a clear intellectual lineage from Hippocrates (c. 460-370 BCE) to Galen (129-c. 210 CE) to Ibn Sina/Avicenna (980-1037 CE). This represents one of the most important chains of medical knowledge transmission in history.
The progression worked roughly like this:
1. Hippocrates established the foundational framework of humoral theory and empirical medical observation
2. Galen significantly expanded, systematized and added to Hippocratic medicine over 500 years later, including more detailed theories about physiology and treatment
3. Ibn Sina, working another 800 years after Galen, synthesized and further developed this Greco-Roman medical tradition while adding his own observations and theoretical refinements
This transmission was made possible by:
- The preservation and translation of Greek medical texts into Arabic, particularly during the Abbasid Translation Movement (8th-10th centuries)
- The Islamic Golden Age's emphasis on preserving and building upon classical knowledge
- Ibn Sina's exceptional ability to systematize and expand upon this inherited knowledge
The passage you quoted about colors and humors is a great example of how medical knowledge evolved along this chain.
This is so fascinating. At USC Keck medical center the staff all wear red scrubs. I have had to undergo procedures there. That color bothered me. It concerns me even more now that I know that people often bleed out during and after surgery.