The Quantum Health Connection #146 The Dangerous Lack of Infra-red in Modern Lighting on Our Health with Scott Zimmerman
Feb 24, 2026
Scott Zimmerman, optical engineer and founder of NIRA Lighting who researches near-infrared and full-spectrum lighting. He explains why modern LEDs lack near-infrared wavelengths found in sunlight and incandescent bulbs. He discusses how NIR aligns with cellular biology, affects hormones and melatonin dynamics, and practical fixes like NIR-enhanced lamps and sunlight habits.
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Infrared Preserves Color Contrast
- Short-term visual metrics change quickly under different spectra: adding NIR preserves color contrast that degrades under LED-only light.
- Glenn's experiments showed measurable contrast improvements within days when NIR was present.
Indoor LEDs May Contribute To Lower Testosterone
- Moving indoors under LED lighting correlates with lower testosterone and hormonal shifts that may impact gender dimorphism over generations.
- Zimmerman links reduced sunlight/NIR exposure to large population-level hormonal declines observed across two generations.
Hormones Fluctuate Rapidly Not Just Diurnally
- High-frequency sensors show rapid cortisol and melatonin fluctuations every minutes, revealing transient responses missed by hourly circadian sampling.
- Zimmerman says these rapid spikes occur with meals, stress, or activity and reshape our view of circadian control.