What if sunlight deserves a place in the health conversation alongside sleep, exercise, and nutrition? And how do we weigh its potential benefits against the very real risks of too much exposure?

In this episode, Norwegian GP and author Torkil Færø joins Dave and Georg to discuss The Sun Cure, his latest book on sunlight, circadian rhythms and health. Torkil describes how his views changed after years of assuming sunlight had little benefit beyond vitamin D. He now believes its influence reaches much further, affecting a range of processes in the body, though many questions remain open to research and debate.

Georg shares what happened during his three-week sunrise experiment in Vienna. He used Shadowmap to find places to watch the sun rise, then tracked his light exposure and several health measures. He reports that his heart rate variability rose by 13%, his resting heart rate fell by 8%, and his Whoop recovery score improved by 25%. Torkil explains what HRV can tell us about the body’s response to stress and recovery, while the conversation considers what wearable data can—and cannot—show.

The discussion also examines skin cancer and how risk is communicated. Torkil questions how to interpret the gap between rising melanoma diagnoses and comparatively stable mortality, suggesting that changes in detection and diagnosis may be part of the picture. Georg brings a personal perspective, describing his diagnosis and how it changed his relationship with the sun. Together, they explore the tension between advice to avoid sun exposure and research into sunlight’s wider effects.

They discuss sunscreen, shade and sunburn, as well as the importance of distinguishing between different kinds of evidence. The episode does not offer a simple answer to the skin cancer debate; it asks how medical guidance is formed, how strongly it is supported, and how it might account for both the harms and possible benefits of sunlight.

In this episode

• Why Torkil began questioning what he had been taught about sunlight
• Georg’s sunrise routine in Vienna and the health measures he tracked
• What heart rate variability may reveal about recovery and physiological stress
• Sunlight, circadian rhythms and their possible effects across the body
• Why melanoma diagnoses have risen, and how that compares with mortality trends
• The role that screening, detection and overdiagnosis may play in those figures
• Georg’s experience of skin cancer and his changing relationship with sun exposure
• How to think about sunscreen, shade, sunburn and individual circumstances
• Why the sunlight debate can produce sharply different readings of the research
• Whether wearable technology and light-based products could bring more attention to sunlight

Sunlight Matters is a podcast exploring the role of the Sun in human health, architecture, cities, and everyday life.

Through conversations with scientists, architects, and technologists, the series examines how natural light shapes our bodies, our buildings, and the way we live indoors.

Hosted by Dave Wallace, Sunlight Matters asks a simple but overlooked question: what happens when we disconnect from the Sun?

Because sunlight isn’t optional. It matters.

Please do not forget to Like and Subscribe.

What makes a house feel like home? It is not simply the number of bedrooms, the size of the kitchen or the asking price. It is also the light that comes through the windows, the way the rooms feel throughout the day and whether the morning sun reaches the places where we live, work and wake up.

In this episode of Sunlight Matters, Dave Wallace and Georg Molzer are joined by Ariel Dos Santos, Chief Product and Design Officer at Redfin — one of the largest property platforms in the United States, with around 50 million monthly active users.

Ariel explains how Redfin is moving beyond showing people what a property looks like to helping them understand what it might actually be like to live there. That means bringing together information about neighbourhoods, climate, environmental risks and, increasingly, sunlight.

We hear how the partnership between Redfin and Shadowmap led to the launch of Sunscore: a simple property-level measure that helps buyers understand a home’s access to sunlight, with the option to explore the detail at different times of day and throughout the year.

Ariel also shares Redfin research showing that 67% of US residents consider sunlight an important part of how satisfied they are with their home. The conversation explores whether sunlight could eventually influence property values, how better environmental data can give estate agents new “superpowers”, and why buyers need this information before they move in — not after.

The discussion also looks further ahead. Could we identify the best places in a neighbourhood to find the morning sun? Could property searches eventually show whether sunlight will reach a particular bedroom window? And might greater awareness encourage architects and developers to design brighter, healthier homes?

Along the way, Ariel talks candidly about Redfin’s culture of experimentation, what it means to be a genuine pioneer, and why companies cannot expect people to take risks if failure is punished.

And, on a more personal note, he explains why he will always choose sunrise over sunset — and describes the rare moments when sunlight, cooking and discovering a great piece of music come together perfectly.

In this episode:

• How Redfin serves buyers, renters, sellers and homeowners across the entire property journey
• Why property search must explain what a home is like to live in
• The research showing how much sunlight matters to homeowners
• How Redfin and Shadowmap developed Sunscore
• Why a simple score can make complex sunlight data understandable
• How people use property information differently as they get closer to buying
• The possible relationship between sunlight and property value
• Using sunlight data for gardens, renovation and solar energy decisions
• The idea of community “sunspots” for finding morning light
• How better data could help architects create brighter homes
• Redfin’s approach to innovation, collaboration and intelligent risk-taking
• Why Ariel is firmly on the side of sunrise

Sunlight Matters is a podcast exploring the role of the Sun in human health, architecture, cities, and everyday life.

Through conversations with scientists, architects, and technologists, the series examines how natural light shapes our bodies, our buildings, and the way we live indoors.

Hosted by Dave Wallace, Sunlight Matters asks a simple but overlooked question: what happens when we disconnect from the Sun?

Because sunlight isn’t optional. It matters.

Please do not forget to Like and Subscribe.

In this episode of Sunlight Matters, Dave speaks with Professor Sean Cain, a leading researcher in circadian rhythms, light and mental health. His research points to a striking pattern: brighter days are associated with a lower risk of depression, while greater exposure to light at night is associated with a higher risk.

Drawing on data from nearly 89,000 people, Sean explains why the timing of light matters as much as its brightness. He also shares remarkable early results from a simple intervention involving brighter days and dimmer evenings, which helped participants move from severe to mild depression in just four weeks.

The conversation explores why depression may genuinely feel like darkness; how antidepressants could change our sensitivity to light; and why modern life leaves us spending our days in dim indoor “caves”, followed by nights bathed in bright, blue-enriched light.

Dave and Sean also put the MiEye wearable light sensor to the test, uncover the near-infrared benefits of old windows, and challenge one of the most common pieces of jet-lag advice: getting outside as soon as you land.

Because when it comes to light, the right advice at the wrong time can make things worse.

In this episode:

• Why light at night may increase the risk of depression
• How bright daytime light strengthens the body’s circadian rhythms
• The fascinating connection between depression and metaphors of darkness
• Why antidepressants may alter the way the circadian system responds to light
• How a simple home-lighting intervention produced potentially life-changing results
• Why morning light matters — but missing sunrise does not mean you have missed your chance
• What nearly 89,000 UK Biobank participants revealed about light and mental health
• How MiEye measures the biological effects of visible and near-infrared light
• Why modern windows and LEDs may be changing our light environment
• How citizen science could transform our understanding of light and health
• Why “get natural light when you land” can be terrible jet-lag advice
• How the time of your flight could determine how badly jet lag affects you

This is a conversation that may permanently change how you think about the light around you — not simply as something that allows us to see, but as a fundamental biological signal telling every part of the body what time it is and what it should be doing.

Sunlight Matters is a podcast exploring the role of the Sun in human health, architecture, cities, and everyday life.

Through conversations with scientists, architects, and technologists, the series examines how natural light shapes our bodies, our buildings, and the way we live indoors.

Hosted by Dave Wallace, Sunlight Matters asks a simple but overlooked question: what happens when we disconnect from the Sun?

Because sunlight isn’t optional. It matters.

Please do not forget to Like and Subscribe.