Glowing Humans
“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” [Matthew 5:14-16]
Did you know that as you are reading this right now you are glowing? That’s right; it has recently been discovered that human bodies emit a visible light in extremely small quantities at levels that rise and fall through the day.
Research has shown that this light is about 1,000 times fainter than the levels we can see with our naked eyes. In fact, virtually all living creatures emit varying amounts of weak light, which is thought to be a byproduct of biochemical reactions involving free radicals. This light is different from the red glow of body heat captured by infrared cameras. In fact, infrared cameras show some of the hottest body parts give off very little light.
To learn more about this light, scientists in Japan used extremely sensitive cameras capable of detecting a single photon, the smallest unit of light. For three days, five healthy young men were placed bare-chested in front of the cameras. They sat in perfectly dark, light-proof rooms for 20 minutes every three hours from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. The researchers found the body glow of the men rose and fell over the day, with its lowest point at 10 a.m. and its peak at 4 p.m.
The findings suggest these light emissions are linked to our fluctuating metabolic rhythms. Since this faint light is linked with metabolism, these findings suggest that in the future special cameras that can spot a person’s light emissions may help identify medical conditions. It was also discovered that our faces glow more than the rest of the body, possibly because facial circulation is more dense and closer to the surface. Did you know the Bible also speaks about a man with a glowing face? It says that when Moses came down from the mountain after speaking with God, “the skin of his face shone” (Exodus 34:30).
Spend time with God and you will emit a spiritual glow. With His help we can become lights in the darkness, reflecting the “true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world” (John 1:9).
