I hope you guys are prepared for my GM every sunrise 🌅
Zaid K. Dahhaj
npub1q5k7...wuuu
Your local heliotherapist. Father & Husband. Driven by Obsession & Circadian Biology.
🐦 X: x.com/zaidkdahhaj
📸 Instagram: instagram.com/zaidkdahhaj
✍️ Substack: zaidkdahhaj.substack.com
🎙 Podcast: beacons.ai/the2ampodcast
DM me “SUN” if you want the 80/20 course, your shortcut to mastering circadian biology, all in one place. A clear, practical, and evolving course that blends science, philosophy, and actionable steps to transform your health.
Work with me 👇
What a disgusting change
We must take back lighting


The most sophisticated healing technology in existence is a sunrise
Think of it as a reset button for your body
It’s a technology older and more precise than anything humans have ever engineered
At first light, red and infrared wavelengths flood the environment, charging mitochondria and priming cellular repair
As the sun rises higher, UV-A arrives, stimulating nitric oxide release, circadian hormone signaling, and the POMC pathway that ties together mood, energy, skin protection, and immune function
Then UV-B delivers its irreplaceable gift, Vitamin D3 production, the master regulator of immunity and cellular health
Understand that this sequence isn’t random. It’s an orchestrated rollout of light frequencies, a code written into biological systems over billions of years
Every ancestor before you relied on this signal to synchronize metabolism, brain chemistry, and sleep
Compare that to modern technologies.. pills, lab manufactured supplements, artificial lights.. all of them clumsy, fragmented attempts to imitate what the sunrise does effortlessly each morning
When you watch a sunrise, you aren’t just seeing light, you’re witnessing the most advanced regenerative technology ever deployed on Earth
It costs nothing
It carries no side effects
It works flawlessly
Forget the fads, tap into what’s timeless


“Sun ages the skin”
Here’s what you’re really saying:
“I’ve been programmed to fear the sun without context. I don’t know that UV-A, UV-B, infrared, and visible light interact like a symphony, not a single note. I don’t know that progressive exposure builds a tan, strengthening skin the way lifting builds muscle. I don’t know that circadian biology is the master regulator of every anti-aging process, from autophagy to collagen repair. So instead of first principles, I repeat fear slogans as if they were wisdom”
Don’t be a parrot who repeats pre-packaged slogans without understanding the biology underneath
Too many recycle a dermatology marketing script, word for word, without ever digging into the mechanisms, context, or nuance


Take those sunglasses off. Full spectrum sunlight into the eyes peripherally controls every major hormone and neurotransmitter in your body. There is a direct endocrine connection. The eyes are simply an extension of the brain and skin. One neuroectoderm circadian unit with no separation and full on bidirectional connection. Let God’s light grace your bare eyes
When your circadian rhythm is chronically disrupted, your body builds up wear and tear over time
This is what we call allostatic load
The retina specifically plays a key role in setting your master and peripheral circadian clocks through light, so if it gets damaged through isolated blue light exposure (as in most people’s experience), it adds extra stress to the entire system
Ongoing circadian disruption slowly wears your body down, and retinal damage makes that stress worse because it disrupts how your brain senses and responds to light
Retinal damage does NOT stay local
It weakens your body’s ability to keep time, amplifying the overall physiological stress from circadian disruption


Collagen, elastin, and every other part of the body that signifies youth are meant to be used, not preserved like fragile relics
The weakest thing you can do is orient your entire life around clinging to these components of youth, because in doing so, you’re automatically playing defense against a loss that is both certain and unavoidable
Youth is temporary by design
Its purpose is to be expressed, exhausted, and transformed into wisdom, resilience, and depth
To obsess over holding onto it is to miss the greater game of life, growth
But in all of this, there’s a paradox
When you live in circadian alignment, you actually get the best of both worlds
Morning and daytime exposure to red and infrared light stimulate the body’s own production of collagen, elastin, and hyaluronic acid, keeping your skin youthful, your tissues resilient, and your life vibrant, all without obsessively chasing the anti-aging gimmicks
You live fully, and in return, nature keeps you both youthful and healthy
Decentralized wisdom, at its finest


A bolt of lightning is nothing more than massive charge separation and rapid discharge across a potential difference
Mitochondria do the same thing, but on a cellular scale. They strip electrons from food, pump protons to create a charge gradient (~150 - 180 mV), then discharge that gradient through ATP synthase, a molecular turbine
That proton-motive force is literally a nanoscopic electrical storm
Here’s what’s crazy
The mitochondrial inner membrane potential is around –150 mV
Given the membrane is only ~5 nm thick, the electric field across it is on the order of 30 million volts per meter (30 MV/m)
That’s stronger than the electric field in a lightning bolt
Your mitochondria are biological lightning engines that run billions of tiny lightning strikes per second, inside you, to keep you alive
Put some respect on God’s work


The story I hope people will tell when I’m gone is that I reminded them the sun was enough
That I helped them see their body as perfectly designed, not broken
That I have them the tools to reclaim their health without fear, dogma, or dependence on a system that profits from disease management and sickness
If people say, ‘Because of Zaid, I started watching sunrise, developed a mad tan, changed how I lived, and passed that wisdom to my kids,’ then I’ve done my job
That’s the legacy I want
A ripple effect of people realigning with nature’s rhythm. Circadian alignment en masse


New Substack article is live

The Sun Is the Original Gym
Why training outdoors aligns your body with nature’s design.

Time to start watching sunrise every AM
Pair it with UV-A rise, which typically happens around an hour after sunrise
You’ll never complain about energy again
Best part is that it’s not a hack, it’s etched into our circadian, diurnal species. Completely free. Damn near effortless once you learn how to go to bed on time. Provides other health benefits as well
Download MyCircadian app to know specific times according to where you live
If it’s cloudy, the principle of waking at sunrise and going outside remains the same


This is how I know you’re legit


If you’re not dedicating time to proper sunbathing with a large portion of your skin exposed, you’re not giving yourself the chance to produce meaningful amounts of vitamin D3 from UV-B exposure
For some reason, many people assume that simply going to a baseball game without sunglasses or a hat, while keeping most of their skin covered with clothes, will somehow generate sufficient vitamin D3
Absolutely not
You need actual skin in the game at the correct times and in circadian alignment
Sunlight must strike bare skin directly, and ideally in a consistent, intentional way. It’s not something you stumble into by accident. It requires a dedicated practice
Watching sunrise?
Great, you’re still not making D3
Making it dark at night?
Great, still not making D3
UV-A rise?
Fantastic, still not making D3
You must be sunbathing with BARE SKIN when UV-B is present to begin the conversion process in your body
Let me remind you of the conversion process involved here:
1. UV-B hits the skin and penetrates into the epidermis (outer most layer of the skin)
2. UV-B changes the shape of the starting molecule known as 7-DHC (7-dehydrocholesterol)
3. This UV-B induced change turns 7-DHC into Pre-Vitamin D3. With heat, pre-vitamin D3 naturally rearranges into Vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol)
4. That’s where binding for transport occurs. Vitamin D3 cannot float freely in the blood, so it binds to a carrier called DBP (Vitamin D Binding Protein), forming DBP-VD3
5. Once bound, it moves through the bloodstream where it can later be activated in the liver and kidneys into the full active hormone form (calcitriol)
I have bad news if you use any form of SPF as well, so prepare yourself
SPF 15 blocks ~93% of UV-B
SPF 30 blocks ~97% of UV-B
SPF 50 blocks ~98 of UV-B
SPF 100 blocks ~99% of UV-B
So if you use any form of sunscreen, whether chemical or mineral based, you’re blocking the very light wavelength range needed to produce D3 (also one of your most potent anti-cancer hormones)
Negligible conversion is happening, even if you do a shitty job of applying your sunscreen considering the chronic circadian disruption that a modern lifestyle creates, further worsening D3 status
People who don’t have a strong circadian education are likely to make these simple mistakes
And I see it time and time again


All hormones and neurotransmitters in the body are directly controlled through full spectrum sunlight into the eyes peripheral during the day
Sunglasses in 99% of scenarios are a net negative because they go directly against the first principles of evolutionary circadian biology
There is no argument to be made for the use of sunglasses outside of active glare
The optometrists and ophthalmologists who try to push this narrative around UV ocular damage are out of their depth. They don’t know anything about circadian mechanisms, nor how light relates to a systems view of biology

