Laird Hamiltonred light makes up for the sun we're missing
Hamilton calls mitochondria batteries that red light recharges, and says his own source is the sunrise, which he has looked straight at for more than 20 years.Hamilton says red light recharges mitochondria like batteries. His own source is the sunrise.
Key takeaways
- Hamilton says red light beds, infrared saunas and other red therapies are ways of making up for the sun exposure we no longer get.
- He describes mitochondria as the body's batteries, which run down, and red light therapy as the way to recharge them.
- He says sunlight is itself infrared light. He takes it in by solar gazing, looking straight at the sun as it breaks the horizon, which he puts at more than 20 years of practice.
- He says it affects hormones, melatonin among them, while saying he doesn't know all the science behind it.
- He says the low morning sun is filtered: the atmosphere takes out the UV and lets the infrared through, and if it were harmful you wouldn't be able to look at it.
In their words
“the best way to describe the red light therapy stuff is it's really based on recharging your batteries so your mitochondria are like your batteries of your body and then you can recharge them through the red light ...”
“there's a reason why sunrises and sunsets are beautiful, right? Like why are they beautiful? They're beautiful because they're good for you.”
Context
Laird Hamilton, the big-wave surfer who co-invented tow-in surfing, sat down with former Navy SEAL Shawn Ryan for a two-part interview in November 2023. In the second part, Ryan turned to biohacking, which Hamilton framed as making up for what modern life no longer gives us from nature. About an hour and a half in, red light came up, and it led him straight to the sunrise practice he has kept for more than two decades. The episode was sponsored in part by Laird Superfood, the company Hamilton co-founded.
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Updated Sep 28, 2026