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, we’re diving deep into the body’s most underrated superpower — your immune system’s. From forest air to Nobel Prizes to sleep, it’s all about balance, not boosting.
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 #89 • 12 October, 2025
🌅 Rise Report
Your Immune System Has a Brake Pedal (And the Nobel Prize Just Proved It)
Three scientists just won the 2025 Nobel Prize in Medicine for proving what nature already knew — your immune system isn’t just an army that attacks, it’s also a peacekeeper.
For decades, we thought immunity was all about ramping up defences. Turns out, that’s only half the story. In 1995, Shimon Sakaguchi discovered regulatory T cells—security guards that prevent your immune system from attacking your own body. Then Mary Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell found the FOXP3 gene, the master switch controlling these cells. When this gene mutates, your immune system loses its brakes completely, causing devastating autoimmune diseases.
This discovery is rewriting medicine: turn up your regulatory T cells to calm autoimmune attacks, turn them down so immunity can fight cancer, or use them to help bodies accept transplants.
The takeaway? This Nobel Prize just confirmed what your ancestors knew— immune balance beats immune boosting. Sleep, sunlight, and stress management aren’t wellness trends. They’re how you maintain the brake pedal that keeps you alive.
One Bad Night’s Sleep Crushes Your Cancer-Fighting Cells by 28%
Think skipping sleep is no big deal? Your immune system strongly disagrees.
In a landmark study, researchers restricted healthy volunteers to just 4 hours of sleep for one night—keeping them awake between 3-7 AM. The result? Natural Killer (NK) cell activity plummeted to 72% of baseline levels in 78% of subjects. That’s a 28% drop in your body’s frontline cancer-fighting force from just one rough night.
The good news? After one night of recovery sleep, NK cell activity bounced back to baseline. Your body wants to heal—it just needs you to give it the conditions to do so.
And if you think that’s just one study from a little while ago, think again. A brand new February 2025 study found that just 24 hours without sleep makes your immune cells behave like they belong to someone with chronic inflammation and obesity.
The takeaway? Whilst the Nobel Prize proved your immune system needs balance, these studies show that balance depends on sleep. Every night you prioritise sleep, you’re literally keeping your immune system’s cancer-fighting army at full strength. It’s not self-care, it’s self-preservation.
Breathwork Activates Your Immune Army
Think you can’t control your immune system? A groundbreaking landmark study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences proved otherwise.
Researchers trained 12 healthy volunteers in the Wim Hof breathing technique (cyclic hyperventilation followed by breath retention) combined with cold exposure, then exposed both trained and untrained groups to E. coli endotoxin—a bacterial toxin that triggers flu-like symptoms.
The results were stunning: the trained group experienced 75% fewer flu-like symptoms compared to controls. But here’s what really matters: their breathing practice triggered a massive spike in adrenaline, which caused increased white blood cell counts and a dramatic shift in immune response—boosting anti-inflammatory compounds while suppressing pro-inflammatory ones.
This was the first study proving humans can voluntarily influence their autonomic nervous system and innate immune response—capabilities scientists previously thought impossible.
The takeaway? Your breath is more powerful than you think. A few minutes of intentional breathing might be your immune system’s best friend.
❤️ What’s Hot
Full Spectrum Light Bulbs: BlockBlueLight Biolight
Want to save your sleep and your immune fighting powers? Meet the light bulb that actually works with your biology, not against it. I have these in the pendants over the breakfast bar and love them to bits!!
Most LED bulbs blast you with blue light which crashes your melatonin production and disrupts circadian rhythm – the very rhythms controlling your immune function. BlockBlueLight’s full spectrum bulbs deliver full spectrum light that supports your body’s internal clock without the immune-suppressing blue light spike.
Better lighting = better circadian rhythm = stronger immunity. It’s that simple.
Save 10%: Code Unstoppables
🤓 Smarty Pants
GALT: Your Gut’s Immune Headquarters
GALT stands for Gut-Associated Lymphoid Tissue—the largest immune organ you didn’t know you had. Housing 70% of your immune system, it lives not in your bloodstream or lymph nodes, but in your intestines and gut. Think of it as an immune system boot camp, training ground, and command centre all rolled into one.
Every bite of food you take passes through your GALT’s security checkpoint. Trillions of gut bacteria act as drill sergeants, training your immune cells to distinguish between friend or foe. They also manufacture short-chain fatty acids that regulate inflammation throughout your entire body.
This is why antibiotics temporarily crash immunity, fermented foods boost resilience, and gut health determines immune strength. When you eat, you’re not just feeding yourself—you’re feeding the microbial army training your immune defence system.
🔥 Deep Dive: TL;DL
Forest Medicine: Why Two Hours Among Trees Could Be a Life Saver
What if I told you that spending a weekend in the forest could boost your immune system for 30 days? Not with supplements, not with medication—just trees.
Dr. Qing Li isn’t your typical doctor. He’s an Associate Professor at Nippon Medical School in Tokyo, trained at Stanford University, and has spent 16 years conducting over 20 peer-reviewed studies on forest bathing. He literally established “forest medicine” as a new branch of preventive healthcare, and today we’re diving into his fascinating research and this podcast.
What Actually IS Forest Bathing?
Unlike what most people think, forest bathing isn’t hiking, jogging, or even a brisk walk through the woods.
Forest bathing, called Shinrin-Yoku in Japanese. literally means “forest” (Shinrin) + “bath” (Yoku). It’s about bathing yourself in the forest atmosphere which means engaging all five senses:
- Sight: Watch sunlight filter through leaves
- Smell: Breathe in the aromatic phytoncides released by trees
- Hearing: Listen to birds singing, leaves rustling, the wind blowing past
- Touch: Feel tree bark, moss, the forest floor beneath your feet
- Taste: Yes, even taste the fresh forest air
As Dr. Li puts it: “If you just take a walk in the forest but you don’t use the five senses, it’s not forest bathing, just walking in the forest.”
The Immune System Breakthrough
Dr. Li’s research showed that time amongst trees fundamentally rewires your immune system at a cellular level.
Spend just two nights and three days in the forest, and your natural killer (NK) cells—those crucial immune cells that destroy tumour cells, viruses, and bacteria—increase significantly. Even more impressive? The anti-cancer proteins inside those cells skyrocket. And this isn’t a temporary boost that fades the moment you get home. This effect lasts for a full 30 days. A weekend in nature protecting your health for an entire month.
Can’t manage a weekend away? Dr. Li has good news. Even a single day trip of four to six hours amongst the trees boosts your immune function for a full week. And if you’re really time-poor, just two hours provides genuine psychological benefits, with effects beginning at around the 30-minute mark. Though Dr. Li’s gentle reminder rings true: “Longer is better.”
The Phytoncide Factor: Nature’s Invisible Medicine
So what’s actually happening in the forest? Enter phytoncides—aromatic compounds that trees release to protect themselves from pests, fungi, and bacteria. Think of them as the forest’s immune system.
When you breathe in these compounds (at very low, perfectly safe concentrations), they:
- Increase your natural killer cells by 40-50%
- Boost anti-cancer proteins (perforin and granzymes)
- Reduce stress hormones (cortisol, adrenaline, noradrenaline)
- Lower blood pressure and heart rate
- Improve sleep quality
- Reduce anxiety, depression, anger, fatigue, and confusion
Dr. Li proved this in a brilliant hotel experiment. He pumped high-quality Japanese cypress essential oil into hotel rooms using a humidifier. Subjects who slept in those rooms for 3 nights showed the same immune benefits as people who actually went to the forest—just from breathing the phytoncides while they slept.
Can’t Get to a Forest? Try Indoor Forest Bathing
Start with essential oils to engage your sense of smell. Japanese cypress or pine oils in a humidifier or diffuser work beautifully (Dr. Li uses this in his office every day).
Next, add nature sounds—birdsong, wind through trees, flowing water. Pair these with forest videos from YouTube, and suddenly you’ve got a multi-sensory experience.
Finally, fill your space with living reminders of nature. House plants, fresh branches, flowers in your room—anything that brings the outside in.
While you won’t replicate all five senses of a real forest, combining smell, sight, and hearing creates an “indoor forest atmosphere” that delivers real immune benefits. Not bad for staying home!
How to Forest Bathe
Want to give forest bathing a go? Here’s how to get the most out of it. Dr. Li shared some surprising guidelines that might just change how you approach your next forest visit.
First up, timing matters. Visit forests during daylight hours, ideally between 10am and 4pm when the sun is shining. Here’s why: trees produce oxygen during the day but switch to producing CO2 at night, which means oxygen levels drop after sunset.
As for what to do? Think slow walking, not exercise. This is about deep breathing, maybe some gentle tai chi or yoga if that’s your thing, or simply enjoying a picnic with family and friends. The goal is to use all five senses as much as possible—remember, it’s the total sensory experience that creates the magic.
And what not to do? Don’t rush or try to “get your steps in.” Leave the headphones at home, and for goodness sake, don’t check your phone. This isn’t hiking—it’s bathing. There’s a beautiful difference.
The Bottom Line
Dr. Li’s 16 years of research proved what our ancestors always knew: nature heals. He showed us exactly how the most powerful medicine doesn’t come in a bottle – it comes from trees. So go on, start planning that next forest adventure and say a big, slow, hello to some big trees.
☀️ Sandy’s Sunshine
Your Immune System Doesn’t Need Boosting—It Needs Rhythm
Your Immune-Protecting Action Plan
To help you along, here is your Immune Protecting Action Plan. Look at the lists below and pick ONE thing to so this week. Either pick ONE saboteur to eliminate or ONE amplifier to add.
❌ The Saboteurs (silently degrading your T & NK cells):
- Artificial light at night
- Sleep deprivation & chaos
- Non-native EMF exposure
- Chronic stress & elevated cortisol
- Ultra-processed foods and sugar
- Gut dysbiosis
- Sedentary living
✅ The Amplifiers (powerfully restoring immune rhythm):
- Sunlight: regular exposure
- Quality sleep
- Cold exposure
- Whole, nutrient-dense foods
- Regular movement
- Time-restricted eating
- Forest bathing / nature time
- Breathwork
- Smell some flowers, smile and laugh
The strongest immune system is the most rhythmic. And that rhythm is controlled by the choices you make every single day.
🔢 Number Crunch
2–3x higher risk — of catching a viral infection if you sleep fewer than 6 hours per night. It’s time to switch off the Netflix and get to bed — your immune system’s counting on you. 😴
(Study: Prather et al., Sleep, 2015)
“You’re mad, bonkers, completely off your head. But I’ll tell you a secret. All the best people are.” – Lewis Carroll
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.
Leave a Reply