# Ep. 639 Sunlight, Sleep, and Metabolism with Dr. John La Puma | Menopause, Perimenopause, Metabolic Health

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/everyday-wellness-midlife-hormones-menopause-and-science-for-women-35-72097/ep-639-sunlight-sleep-and-metabolism-with-dr-john-la-puma-menopause-perimenopause-metabolic-health
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/everyday-wellness-midlife-hormones-menopause-and-science-for-women-35-72097/ep-639-sunlight-sleep-and-metabolism-with-dr-john-la-puma-menopause-perimenopause-metabolic-health.md
Podcast: [Everyday Wellness: Midlife Hormones, Menopause, and Science for Women 35+](https://stenobird.com/podcast/everyday-wellness-midlife-hormones-menopause-and-science-for-women-35-72097)
Published: 2026-09-09T07:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/CTH4549402278.mp3
Audio file: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/CTH4549402278.mp3
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Duration seconds: 3253

## Resource

I’m honored to connect with Dr. John La Puma today. Dr. La Puma spent three decades building the case that food, nature, and light are clinical tools, not just lifestyle add-ons. He was the first physician to complete a professional cooking curriculum, and he used that training to co-develop the first cooking and nutrition course taught in a U.S. medical school, a course now adapted across roughly 80% of U.S. medical schools. He later did the same thing for Nature, co-developing and teaching the first skills-based Nature as Medicine CME course for physicians with UCLA. His most recent work extends the same logic to the built environment, coining the phrase "digital obesity and indoor epidemic" to describe a specific underdiagnosed driver of modern fatigue tied to how little time people spend outdoors and how much artificial light and screen exposure they get instead. In our conversation, Dr. La Puma discusses how we went from chefs' training to co-developing the first culinary medicine course; the indoor epidemic and digital obesity; how most people spend about 93% of their lives indoors; how light impacts bone health; and deep sleep metrics. We also explore how poor air quality can reduce cognitive performance, the significance of phthalate exposure and other endocrine-mimicking chemicals, and green dopamine. Dr. La Puma highlights the health benefits of gardening, explaining how it exposes us to microbes and stimulates serotonin. We also cover nervous system awe, movement, how forest bathing can boost your immune system while reducing inflammatory markers, how exercise can help us live longer, nighttime red light therapy exposure, sleep and recovery, and animal companionship as a health intervention. Stay tuned for today’s interesting and highly informative conversat…

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