An introduction to human biophoton emission
Key Words: Ultraweak photon emission, Biophotons, Skin, Consciousness, Acupuncture
Summary
Background: Biophoton emission is the spontaneous emission of ultraweak light emanating from all living systems, including man. The emission is linked to the endogenous production of excited states within the living system. The detection and characterisation of human biophoton emission has led to suggestions that it has po- tential future applications in medicine.
Objectives: An overview is presented of studies on ultraweak photon emission (UPE, biopho- tons) from the human whole body.
Methods: Electronic searches of Medline, PsychLit, PubMed and references lists of relevant review articles and books were used to establish the literature database. Articles were then analysed for their main experimental setup and results.
Results: The, mostly, single case studies have resulted in a collection of observations. The collection presents information on the following fields of research: (1) influence of biological rhythms, age, and gender on emission, (2) the intensity of emission and its left-right symmetry in health and disease, (3) emission from the perspective of Traditional Chinese and Korean Medicine, (4) emis- sion in different consciousness studies, (5) procedures for analysis of the photon signal from hands, (6) detection of peroxidative processes in the skin. Of each article the main findings are present- ed in a qualitative manner, quantitative data are presented where useful, and the technological or methodological limitations are dis- cussed.
Conclusion: Photon emission recording techniques have reached a stage that allows resolution of the signal in time and space. The published material is presented and includes aspects like spatial resolution of intensity, its relation to health and disease, the aspect of colour, and methods for analysis of the photon signal. The limited number of studies only allows first conclusions about the implications and significance of biophotons in relation to health and disease, or to mental states, or acupuncture. However, with the present data we consider that further research in the field is justified.
Schlüsselwörter: Ultraschwache Lichtstrahlung, Biophotonen, Haut, Bewusstsein, Akupunktur
Zusammenfassung
Hintergrund: Die Abstrahlung von Biophotonen ist eine spontane ultraschwache Lichtstrahlung, die von allen lebenden Systemen ausgeht, auch vom Menschen. Diese Strahlung hängt mit der en- dogenen Erzeugung erregter Zustände im lebenden System zusam- men. Die Entdeckung und genauere Charakterisierung der mensch- lichen Biophotonenstrahlung hat zur Annahme geführt, dass es dafür zukünftige medizinische Anwendungen geben könnte.
Ziel- setzung: Die Arbeit stellt einen Überblick dar über Studien zur ultra- schwachen Photonenstrahlung (Biophotonen) des menschlichen Körpers.
Methode: Elektronische Literatursuche in Medline, Psych- Lit, PubMed und Handsuche der Literaturverzeichnisse relevanter Überblicksartikel und Bücher wurden benutzt, um die Literaturbasis herzustellen. Einzelne Artikel wurden anschließend auf ihr experi- mentelles Design und ihre Ergebnisse hin analysiert.
Ergebnisse:Die meisten Studien waren Einzelfallbeobachtungen und resultier- ten in einer Sammlung von Beobachtungen. Der Überblick präsen- tiert Informationen zu folgenden Forschungsgebieten: (1) Einfluss biologischer Rhythmen, des Alters und des Geschlechts auf die Biophotonenemission, (2) Intensität der Emission und Rechts-links- Asymmetrie oder -Symmetrie in Gesundheit und Krankheit, (3) Bio- photonenstrahlung aus der Perspektive der Traditionellen Chinesi- schen und Koreanischen Medizin, (4) Biophotonenstrahlung in ver- schiedenen Studien zur Bewusstseinsforschung, (5) Vorgehenswei- sen zur Analyse des Photonensignals gemessen an den Händen, (6) Entdeckung peroxidativer Prozesse in der Haut. Die Hauptergeb- nisse jeder Arbeit werden qualitativ präsentiert, quantitative Daten werden dargestellt, wo sinnvoll und nützlich. Die technologischen und methodischen Begrenzungen werden diskutiert.
Schlussfolge- rung: Die Technik zur Erfassung der Biophotonenemission hat eine Stufe erreicht, die eine gute Auflösung des Signals in Zeit und Raum erlaubt. Die publizierte Literatur wird zusammengefasst und enthält Informationen über Aspekte wie räumliche Auflösung der Intensität, Beziehung der Strahlung zu Gesundheit und Krankheit, Aspekte der Farbe bzw. Wellenlänge der Strahlung und Methoden zur Analyse des Photonensignals. Die begrenzte Studienzahl erlaubt jedoch nur erste Schlussfolgerungen über die Implikationen und Reichweite der Biophotonen in Bezug auf Gesundheit und Krank- heit, in Bezug auf Bewusstseinszustände oder in Bezug auf Anwen- dungen wie Akupunktur. Auf jeden Fall sind wir der Meinung, dass der gegenwärtige Forschungsstand weitere Forschung auf dem Ge- biet rechtfertigt.
Introduction
Historical Aspects
Research on human biophoton emission has appeared in the literature since the 1970’s. Its nature is generally descriptive and aetiology and the emission is generally understood to re- flect the physiology of the human organism [1–6]. The ultra- weak light emission originating spontaneously from living sys- tems (UPE, ultraweak photon emission, biophoton emission, or short: biophotons) ranges in intensity from a few to approx- imately 102 photons / (s × cm2). It is thus not visible to the naked eye and cannot be captured with commonly used opti- cal detectors. The spectral range is 400–720 nm. The biological origins and concrete mechanisms of this light emission are not yet well understood. To study the role of biophoton emission in living systems and in order to clarify its basic mechanisms, highly sensitive measuring instruments are required that allow non-invasive and non-destructive recording. Basically, three types of systems have been developed to register UPE.
Photo- multipliers have evolved to extremely low-noise single photon counting systems in which cooled photomultiplier tubes are placed in a vacuum chamber to provide absolute stability of the signal and maximum noise reduction. Photomultipliers allow the study of biophoton emission utilising quantum sta- tistical properties in actual living systems to clarify its basic mechanisms. A second system utilised to study UPE also pro- vides spectral analysis. For spectral characterisation a spectral analyser system using a set of sharp cut-off, optical filters in the wavelength range from ultraviolet (UV) to infrared (IR) is commonly used. A third system to fundamentally characterise UPE utilises a spatial distribution measurement or imaging of biophoton emission. This is usually performed with ultra-sen- sitive two-dimensional photon counting devices, as special equipped charged-coupled devices [7].
This introductory review comprises two parts. The first part presents historical aspects of biophoton research and touches upon pilot work of many professional disciplines from the pe- riod 1975–1995. The second part informs about additional re- search and systematically presents information on human bio- photon emission in relation to health and disease, the aspect of colour, and methods for analysis of the photon signal. Of each article, the main findings are presented in a qualitative manner, quantitative data are presented where useful; tech- nological or methodological limitations are discussed.
Method
This review concentrates on biophoton emission as extremely weak light emanating from the whole and intact human body. It does not take into account UPE from special internal organs or isolated body fluids. On the basis of our own databases, we systematically compiled all citations found in literature searches until end 2003: bibliographic database by electronic search of Medline, PsychLit, PubMed, references lists of relevant review articles [8, 9], books [10–12], and by contact with researchers in the field. Each article was analysed for its main experimental question(s).
78 Forsch Komplementärmed Klass Naturheilkd 2005;12:77–83
Early Attempts to Record the Human Envelope of Radiation
Research in human photon emission started at least three decades ago. Early publications [13, 14] illustrate how fasci- nated their authors were by previous reports of ‘an envelope of radiation surrounding living organisms’. Utilising a DC- photomultiplier, their studies produced a graphic record on a XY recorder. The photomultiplier was mounted in a light- tight darkroom scanned with a photomultiplier tube to demonstrate that there were no leaks of light. The subjects stood in front of the photomultiplier tube without clothes from the waist up.
The protocol avoided signals which resulted from static electricity and fluorescence of dyes. The re- searchers utilised a photocathode with a maximal sensitivity at 400 nm and almost zero activity at 650 nm, thus minimising thermal effects. A major difficulty encountered in these early experiments was the inherent internal noise produced by the photomultiplier tube, which was of the same order of magni- tude as the measured signal. To differentiate between signal and noise, the signal was integrated and the average current for the integration period was determined. The researchers re- ported a statistically significant 11% increase of the signal above background noise.
In this early research, experimental subjects were asked to voluntarily increase emission intensity by breathing deeply and by producing vibratory movements of the body. Only some subjects were able to produce an increased signal, oth- ers failed to do so. However, the increase of the signal did coincide with the subjects’ attempts to increase their ‘energy fields’. Controls did not produce an increase in the signal. According to the researchers temperature changes could be ruled out as the cause for signal increase. Different inani- mate objects with emissions similar to that of the human skin, and heated to varying temperatures between 30–90 °C, did not increase the phototube output. Moreover, small fluc- tuations in room temperature gave a negligible increase in dark current.
Introduction of Sensitive Photomultipliers to Characterise Human Biophoton Emission
Edwards and colleagues published a study on human body photon emission in 1989 [15] and 1990 [16]. This study was carried out as part of the Dove Project, in United Kingdom. Its setup consisted of a photon detection system mounted in a sealed housing with a quartz window, at a constant tempera- ture of –23 °C. The mean dark noise in these experimental conditions was around 60 counts per second (cps).
The dark- room was specially constructed, and the researchers took care for the use of special materials in that room as well as regard- ing subjects’ clothing. The authors recorded the temporal vari- ation of the emission of the hand with measurements every 1.5 h over a 28-h period. Variation with time was observed, but the data were not sufficient to allow any conclusion about
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