# Sungazing...WTF? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 3, 2011, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sungazing-wtf/591333 "2011-08-03T16:50:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![topaz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e19adc/32.png) [@topaz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/topaz)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sungazing-wtf/591333/1 "2011-08-03T16:50:51Z")
Just watched a documentary on “sungazing”. Any body have any first-hand knowledge of this? Do you know anyone who does it and claims to have benefitted from it without damaging their eyes? The founder of one of the institutes (HRM) claims he doesn’t even need to eat although he admitted later that he does actually consume some food at times. ---
**Author:** ![yoyodyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a9a28c/32.png) [@yoyodyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yoyodyne)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sungazing-wtf/591333/2 "2011-08-03T16:54:55Z")
It’s total bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sungazing-wtf/591333/3 "2011-08-03T17:02:50Z")
Flim-flam, bosh and twaddle. Last I checked, humans cannot photosynthesize no matter how much we want to wish for it. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sungazing-wtf/591333/4 "2011-08-03T17:18:07Z")
> **[Sungazing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sungazing)** > > Sungazing is the practice of intentionally looking directly at the sun, usually during sunrise or sunset. Proponents believe it can provide health benefits by connecting with the sun's energy, potentially leading to increased energy levels, improved mental clarity, and even spiritual awakening. However, medical professionals strongly advise against it due to the risk of severe eye damage. The human eye is very sensitive, and exposure to direct sunlight can lead to solar retinopathy, pterygium, Th... > [@Wikipedia](#): > > Sungazers claim their eyes are capable of converting sunlight into energy for their bodies. Made me laugh. A sedentary person dumps about 2400 watt-hours in a day. In direct sunlight, the eyes receive maybe 1-2 watts each. Even if we suppose their eyes _could_convert sunlight to metabolically useful energy, it would supply a negligible portion of the recipient’s total caloric requirement. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sungazing-wtf/591333/5 "2011-08-03T17:30:04Z")
first “planking,” then “owling,” now this. I never cease to be amazed at how many dumb people will copy what other dumb people are doing. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sungazing-wtf/591333/6 "2011-08-03T18:07:49Z")
They are preaching some [dangerous shit](http://solarhealing.com/sungazing/). > [@some crackpot web site](#): > > Present day teachings and ideas such as don’t look at the sunlight at all --you will damage your eyesight; never go out in the sun as you will get cancer, are causing needless hysteria and paranoia. ---
**Author:** ![topaz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e19adc/32.png) [@topaz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/topaz)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sungazing-wtf/591333/7 "2011-08-03T18:18:13Z")
According to the documentary there are congregations of people even churches that routinely stare for up to 44 minutes either at dawn or sunset. How are they not going blind? Some do it for other reasons, not just sustenance, they claim a deeply spiritual and life changing experience. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sungazing-wtf/591333/8 "2011-08-03T18:24:15Z")
> [@topaz](#): > > According to the documentary there are congregations of people even churches that routinely stare for up to 44 minutes either at dawn or sunset. How are they not going blind? Some do it for other reasons, not just sustenance, they claim a deeply spiritual and life changing experience. At dawn and sunset the light is weakest - anyone can look at a sunset without eye protection. Did they have an opthamologist examine them for incipent eye damage? People “claim a deeply spiritual and life changing experience[s]” from just about anything a human can do, up to and including taking a dump. The phrase is meaningless. ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sungazing-wtf/591333/9 "2011-08-03T18:24:47Z")
Well, at least now I know what the ship’s doctor in the movie [Sunshine](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunshine_%282007_film%29) was doing. ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sungazing-wtf/591333/10 "2011-08-03T18:39:37Z")
> [@topaz](#): > > According to the documentary there are congregations of people even churches that routinely stare for up to 44 minutes either at dawn or sunset. How are they not going blind? Some do it for other reasons, not just sustenance, they claim a deeply spiritual and life changing experience. According to the documentary, there’s a witch that rides a broom around a castle made of emeralds and who commands flying monkeys. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sungazing-wtf/591333/11 "2011-08-03T18:47:23Z")
To sate my curiosity, **topaz** , would you be able to give us the title of this documentary so we might have a chance to see just what it actually says? Not that I doubt your memory, but some things we like to see first-hand. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sungazing-wtf/591333/12 "2011-08-03T18:52:31Z")
This seems legitimate to me. I’m kind of hungry right now, and the sun is peaking out from behind the clouds…LUNCHTIME!!!🆒 ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sungazing-wtf/591333/13 "2011-08-03T18:52:36Z")
> [@yoyodyne](#): > > It’s total bullshit. I must admit I’m skeptical, but it would be nice to hear the “other side” from some practitioners of the art. Maybe one of them will fire up his voice recognition software and join the thread. ---
**Author:** ![Sudden\_Kestrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2011, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sungazing-wtf/591333/14 "2011-08-04T00:51:24Z")
It’s called [Eat the Sun](http://www.documentarychannel.com/movie.php?currID=9601&t=Eat%20The%20Sun). I half-watched it one day and quite enjoyed when one of the sungazers went to the eye doctor and found out how much damage he’d done to his eyes. ---
**Author:** ![tellyworth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@tellyworth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tellyworth)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2011, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sungazing-wtf/591333/15 "2011-08-04T00:55:05Z")
Related: [Inedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inedia). ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2011, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sungazing-wtf/591333/16 "2011-08-04T01:04:35Z")
> [@Sudden\_Kestrel](#): > > It’s called [Eat the Sun](http://www.documentarychannel.com/movie.php?currID=9601&t=Eat%20The%20Sun). I half-watched it one day and quite enjoyed when one of the sungazers went to the eye doctor and found out how much damage he’d done to his eyes. If ever a movie’s tag line, needed a small post fix: > [@](#): > > Is it possible to stare directly into the sun and not eat food? …no ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2011, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sungazing-wtf/591333/17 "2011-08-04T01:58:29Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > At dawn and sunset the light is weakest - anyone can look at a sunset without eye protection. . . . Are there exceptions? For instance,what about on a very clear day, maybe in a desert? I’ve seen sunsets that were still painfully dazzling, even when the sun is partially below the horizon! What about days that are misty or overcast? I’ve heard it said you shouldn’t look at the sun, even if clouds or high fog reduce the brilliance so that it doesn’t hurt. The claim – maybe just an UL? – is that the harm is not always accompanied by any sense of dazzle or of pain. Trinopus P.S. I have a sextant, and use it on occasion…with the sun filters securely in place! ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2011, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sungazing-wtf/591333/18 "2011-08-04T02:08:53Z")
When I lived in Arizona, I worked with an idiot who bought into the whole [vortex](http://www.lovesedona.com/01.htm) pseudo-religion. One of the things these morons did was called “sunning”. They’d go out at lunch and try to stare at the sun for awhile. My particular cow-orker bought a weird electronic contraption that was supposed to bring him a hot wife (Seriously). He was supposed to put pictures of representative babes into the “computer” and wait for his hottie to arrive. (She never did.) I wonder if these two practices are related? ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2011, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sungazing-wtf/591333/19 "2011-08-04T02:25:09Z")
My conspiracy-theory brother-in-law was a proponent of this. I don’t know if he still does it - he seems to eat a good dinner at Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2011, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sungazing-wtf/591333/20 "2011-08-04T06:09:51Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > Flim-flam, bosh and twaddle. Last I checked, humans cannot photosynthesize no matter how much we want to wish for it. Nitpick (as this is the SDMB): humans do photosynthesise vitamin D, but not actual foods. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sungazing-wtf/591333.md?page=2)