Welcome to The Rise – your weekly dose of circadian sunshine, decentralised health wisdom, and actionable tips to help you live healthier, stronger, and more empowered.
This week, discover the Australian sunscreen scandal affecting 20 major brands, which mainstream magazine just admitted avoiding the sun is a bad idea, and why your health might have nothing to do with food—and everything to do with missing one electron volt of morning light.
Have suggestions? Or something you’d like to see here? Help me better serve this vibrant community of health rebels and send me your feedback and message here.
Much love and sunshine, ☀️
Sandy xx
Issue #88 • 5 October, 2025
🌅 Rise Report
Australia’s Sunscreen Scandal Goes Global
Twenty sunscreens have just been recalled, withdrawn, or had sales suspended across Australia – and experts warn this has global implications.
The products facing action also includes popular “organic” brands and mineral formulations—all tainted by using the same base formulation from the same contract manufacturer.
Sunscreens are a massive market, sold as a risk-free fix for skin cancer and premature ageing. But nothing’s ever that simple.
This unfolding story reveals major flaws not only in the manufacturing process and formulation inconsistencies, but with lab testing, safety, integrity, and the very body that’s meant to oversee them.
You see, it wasn’t the TGA that uncovered this mess—but rather the consumer advocacy group Choice. Without them, we’d be none the wiser about what’s going on with the sunscreens people are encouraged to use all year round.
But here’s the double whammy: whilst the reasons for suspending these sunscreens at face level are for integrity and testing issues, they’re harmful at their most fundamental level—for what they do, and for what they “protect” you from.
When you block UV light with broad-spectrum sunscreens, you’re cutting off critical biological signals your body depends on. So whilst we’re told we need to protect ourselves from the sun, perhaps it’s the sunscreens we need protection from.
Here’s the full list of sunscreens currently recalled, withdrawn, or with suspended sales at time of writing:
Aspect Sun SPF50+ Physical Sun Protection
Aspect Sun SPF50+ Tinted Physical Sun Protection
Aesthetics Rx Ultra Protection Sunscreen Cream
New Day Skin Good Vibes Sunscreen SPF50+
New Day Skin Happy Days Sunscreen SPF50+
Allganics Light Sunscreen SPF50+
Beauti-FLTR Lustre Mineral SPF50+
Found My Skin SPF 50+ Tinted Face/Body Cream
Ethical Zinc Daily Wear Light Sunscreen
Ethical Zinc Daily Wear Tinted Facial Sunscreen (Dark)
Ethical Zinc Daily Wear Tinted Facial Sunscreen (Light)
Endota Mineral Protect SPF50 Sunscreen
We are Feel Good Inc Mineral Sunscreen SPF50+
GlindaWand The Fountain of Youth Environmental Defence Cream SPF50+
Ultra Violette Velvet Screen SPF50 (export only – not available in AU)
People4Ocean SPF 50+ Mineral Bioactive Shield Lightly Tinted Cream
McoBeauty SPF50+ Mineral Mattifying Sunscreen
Naked Sundays Collagen Glow Mineral Sunscreen
Outside Beauty & Skincare SPF 50+ Mineral Primer
Salus SPF50+ Daily Facial Sunscreen Broad Spectrum
We have to be careful who we outsource our trust to — especially for products that are absorbed by our skin, and largest organ daily.
The Economist: The health benefits of sunlight may outweigh the risk of skin cancer
In a remarkable shift, the very mainstream publication, The Economist, just published what many of us in the decentralised health space have been advocating for years: the health benefits of sunlight may outweigh the risks of skin cancer.
The article challenges decades of “slip, slop, slap” messaging, highlighting multiple studies showing that greater sun exposure correlates with significantly lower all-cause mortality—even when increased skin cancer risk is factored in. As dermatologist Richard Weller from the University of Edinburgh beautifully puts it: “The big picture is that the benefits of sunlight outweigh the risks—provided you don’t get sunburnt.”
The Economist article reveals (as we know) that sunlight triggers multiple beneficial pathways beyond vitamin D – including nitric oxide production which lowers blood pressure, strengthens your immune system, and protects against cardiovascular disease and diabetes. It also acknowledged that the risks and benefits of sunlight will differ between those with lighter or darker skin.
“You can’t tell someone of African extraction he has the same risks and benefits from sun exposure as someone from a Scottish background,” says Dr Virós. In Britain, cardiovascular disease kills far more people every year (around 170,000) than skin cancer, which kills around 3,000, points out Dr Weller.
And to put the icing on the sunny cake, Australia – the very country that pioneered sun-avoidance messaging, quietly tweaked its guidance last year to acknowledge sunlight’s benefits and the importance of skin colour. We just didn’t hear about it in the media.
As one researcher admitted: “Some of my colleagues that have never advocated any kind of intentional sun exposure are perhaps starting to mellow.”
The takeaway? When even the traditional medical establishment and media starts mellowing on sun exposure, you know the tide is turning. Nature’s been right all along.
Sun Avoidance: As Dangerous as Smoking?
The Economist article above referenced several studies, including a stunning one that deserves its own spotlight. Titled “Avoidance of sun exposure is a risk factor for all-cause mortality,” here’s what it found.
Led by Pelle Lindqvist at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute, researchers followed 29,518 Swedish women for 20 years, tracking their sun habits including sunbathing, tanning bed use, and holidays to sunny destinations.
The results? Women who actively avoided the sun had twice the risk of death compared to those with the highest sun exposure.
Let that sink in for a moment: sun avoidance doubled mortality risk.
The study, published in the Journal of Internal Medicine, concluded that avoiding sun exposure is a risk factor for death of a similar magnitude to smoking.
The takeaway? Whilst billions of dollars have been spent telling people to avoid the sun, these campaigns have been so successful at making people afraid of it that they’ve created an entirely different, and potentially, more deadly health crisis.
Want more? The Economist article also references a British study of 360,000 light-skinned people showing similar results—greater UV exposure correlated with 12-15% lower risk of dying. You can find that study “Higher ultraviolet light exposure is associated with lower mortality” here.
❤️ What’s Hot
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So, wondering how to safely harness the sun?
After this week’s sunscreen recalls and studies showing sun avoidance doubles mortality risk, you might be asking: “How DO I get sun exposure safely?”
All the answers are in my Solar Callus Blueprint. It’s your comprehensive guide to building your body’s natural sun protection from the inside out. No toxic chemicals, no recalls, just your biology working the way nature intended.
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Special offer for The Rise readers: In light of this week’s news, I’m offering the Solar Callus Blueprint at 50% off—just $7.47 (regularly $14.95).
🤓 Smarty Pants
POMC
POMC might sound like the latest drink trend and some fancy blend of pomegranates and vitamin C, but it’s far from that.
POMC stands for pro-opiomelanocortin, (pro-opio-mel-ano-cortin) a master protein your body produces when sunlight hits your skin and eyes.
It’s the starting point of an incredible cascade of biological processes and events. Once released, POMC breaks down into smaller messengers that shape everything from your mood and energy to your stress response and even your skin’s natural sun protection:
- Beta-endorphins give you that calm, happy glow
- ACTH (adrenocorticotropic hormone) helps regulate cortisol, and
- Alpha-MSH stimulates melanin, your body’s built-in sunscreen that also partners with vitamin D production
What makes POMC even more fascinating is its age. POMC is ancient.
Versions of POMC are found across countless species, from fish to mammals, and have been preserved for hundreds of millions of years. That tells us nature considered it essential for survival. Every time you step into the sun, you’re activating a system that life itself has relied on, since the beginning of time.
And every time you don’t, you’re disconnecting yourself from your evolutionary, perfectly created biology.
🔥 Deep Dive: TL;DL
The Hidden Energy Crisis: Why Morning Sunlight Might Matter More Than Your Breakfast
What if the exhaustion you’re battling isn’t about needing more coffee or sleep—but about missing the one signal your body evolved to expect every single morning for millions of years?
This week’s TL;DL explores a fascinating conversation between Aussie doctor and regenerative health practitioner, Max Gulhane and scientist and nutritionist, Cameron Borg, unpacking a radical idea: your body might be running on empty not because you’re eating wrong, but because you’re lit wrong.
When Your Body Loses Its Signal
Picture your body as a complex orchestra with 30 trillion musicians—your cells—all trying to play in harmony. Now imagine the conductor never shows up. That’s essentially what happens when you skip morning sunlight.
Astrophysicist Bob Fosbury has discovered something remarkable: the sun delivers photons at exactly one electron volt of energy—precisely the activation energy your mitochondria need to help electrons tunnel through your respiratory proteins. For two billion years, evolution built your cellular machinery expecting this daily energy boost. Then suddenly, we moved indoors under artificial lighting, switching off the power source your body assumes is always on.
The Phonon Bath: Your Missing Energy Shower
When sunlight hits your body, those photons interact with molecules throughout your system, creating what researchers call a “phonon bath”—vibrational energy that stays in your cells rather than immediately dissipating as heat. Cameron explains: “If you’re getting bathed by all of this one electron volt energy, your body just gets blown up like a balloon with all of these phonon vibrations.”
Most people living modern indoor lifestyles have essentially “flicked the light switch off” on an evolutionary given that’s been constant for two billion years. Your mitochondria are literally expecting activation energy that never arrives.
The Water Connection: Your Body’s Hidden Battery
Perhaps the most mind-bending part involves water—the substance making up 99.7% of your body’s molecules. When infrared light (about 70% of sunlight) interacts with cellular water, it creates charge separation, essentially turning your water into tiny batteries. Healthy cells maintain 50-80 millivolts of electrical potential, whilst cancer cells drop to just 10-20 millivolts. The difference? The quality and charge of their cellular water.
What This Means For You
If chronic disease is fundamentally mitochondrial inefficiency, and your mitochondria need light energy to function optimally, then sitting indoors under LED lighting all day isn’t just inconvenient—it’s potentially catastrophic for long-term health.
The fix? Ridiculously simple: get outside within the first hour of sunrise for 10-15 minutes. Let natural light hit your eyes and skin. Don’t wear sunglasses during this time. Open windows when possible—even a crack helps, as light behaves as a wave and spreads through tiny openings.
The Bottom Line
Life on Earth, as Bob Fosbury put it, is “an antenna for solar radiation.” When you deprive yourself of full spectrum sunlight, you’re not just missing vitamin D—you’re cutting off fundamental energy sources your biology requires.
The energy you seek might not be in that next supplement or superfood. It might be waiting outside, in the same place it’s been for billions of years: in the sun.
☀️ Sandy’s Sunshine
Sunshine In Spirit & Sunshine In Science
Today isn’t just about spreading joy or some of Sandy’s wisdoms you may find helpful – today I’m literally bringing you sunshine. Because sunshine has been unfairly feared for far too long.
We’ve been told for decades that the sun was harmful and dangerous and that we needed to “protect” ourselves from it. It’s as if Mother Nature has somehow bestowed on us, a source of light and life, that the whole living world needs and thrives under – but not us.
We’ve been told that the way to protect ourselves was with sunscreen. However, when we slather on broad-spectrum sunscreen without thinking, we’re not just protecting ourselves from sunburn (because we’re not respecting how much sun our skin can tolerate) but we’re blocking some of the most life-giving signals our body depends on.
UV light doesn’t just tan you — it:
✅ switches on vitamin D production
✅ activates the POMC pathway (your master switch for mood and stress balance)
✅ releases nitric oxide to help regulate blood pressure and immunity
✅ sets your circadian clock, and
✅ stimulates melanin, (nature’s own sunscreen with downstream benefits for your whole body)
When we fear and avoid the sun, we miss out on all of that. But when we respect it, everything changes.
The key isn’t avoidance — it’s wisdom. The key isn’t to fear the sun. It’s to respect it. If your skin type doesn’t match your environment (latitude), then dose your light wisely:
☀️ seek shade at peak times
☀️ choose early or evening exposure
☀️ cover up when necessary
☀️ and most importantly, get unfiltered morning light to your skin and eyes to lock in those circadian signals
Today, I’m inviting you to see sunshine not as the enemy, but as one of your oldest, brightest allies.
🔢 Number Crunch
120,000 lux — the brightness of midday sunlight under clear skies. Compare that to most indoor spaces, which hover between 300 and 1,000 lux at best.
Stepping outdoors on a sunny day is a 100 fold jump in brightness compared to sitting inside. And the real marvel? Your eyes adjust to this massive shift effortlessly, moving between dim rooms and dazzling daylight without you even noticing. Just wow!
“The sun is the daily reminder that we too can rise again from the darkness, that we too can shine our own light.”
— S. Ajna
The information in this newsletter is for educational purposes only and not intended as medical advice. Always consult with a healthcare professional for personal health decisions. This post may contain affiliate links for Daylight computer, and I may earn a small commission if you make a purchase, at no extra cost to you.
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