Episode Details

If you're a "creative professional" the chances are extremely high that you live in the dark. As a film editor, I have to spend all day in a dark room...it's just a requirement of the job. And while many people in my profession like to joke about occasionally exposing themselves to that "funny glowing ball in the sky," there's nothing funny about the long term effects of not getting enough exposure to light (anxiety, depression, and burnout being on the short list). But if your career requires you to live inside a dark room all the time, there's nothing that can be done, right? Not so fast. Thanks to a new light therapy device called The "HumanCharger" (use the coupon code 'OPTIMIZE' for 20% OFF), even if you have no opportunity to get outside during daylight hours you can still reap the mental and physical benefits you would receive from exposure to the sun....but in 12 minutes a day via...earbuds? Yes, the HumanCharger is a device no larger than an iPod Nano, but rather than emitting sound, the earbuds emit full spectrum UV-free white light that is absorbed by photo-sensitive proteins in your brain. No, this isn't the future - intracranial light therapy...is real. In the interest of full disclosure and transparency, this is a VERY new science and much is unknown about why this treatment works (and if it does even work at all). But when it comes to anything that could improve my well-being while stuck in a dark room, I'm happy to be an early adopter knowing there is little downside with tremendous potential for upside, assuming this device and type of light therapy are truly legit.

DOES THIS THING ACTUALLY WORK?

I'll admit I was über skeptical when I first discovered this device, and frankly I thought it could just be a scam. But given that I discovered it from one of my most trusted health & biohacking resources Ben Greenfield who swears by his HumanCharger, I figured if I gave it a try the worst that would happen is it totally sucked (or my brain would melt...but that was a remote possibility). However, if it actually lived up to its promise of improving energy levels, increasing mental alertness, and lifting mood by simply using it 12 minutes a day in the morning, the best thing that would happen is finally having a solution to my desperate need for more sunlight during the day. And since I wasn't required to ingest anything, even if it was just the placebo effect, who cares? I would still feel better. Given that I was about to begin a two month long marathon editing a tv pilot for 12+ hours every day in a windowless room, I decided to take a chance and test out the HumanCharger for 4 weeks, and convinced my tech advisor and fellow editor Adam Bedford to test it out as well. According to Adam, "My first impression was that it was just a weird looking iPod. I thought it played soothing sounds. Imagine my surprise when the earbuds lit up!" After using it every 3 hours between 7am and 8pm (each session is 12 minutes) for 30 days, Adam's initial reaction was a slight increase in focus and energy which lasted for about an hour or so.