Hello Everyone! Welcome back to another Friday blog. Why are we all struggling with getting restorative sleep and feeling refreshed on waking; and why is the timing off in our circadian rhythm? Is it really that important? How can we optimize it to restore health and wellbeing? Let's delve in. 

What is circadian rhythm? This is our body's internal 24-hr clock - controlling sleep/wake cycles, body temperature, digestion, as well as the release of hormones. We have a master clock in our brain called the SCN (suprachiasmatic nucleus) that controls subordinate cellular clocks. Did you know there are clocks in every cell? What controls our body's master clock in the brain? Light and dark cycles of our sun and moon are actually cueing the timing of our body's functions during a given day - literally time-stamping a light barcode into our eyes and skin. How does our body know it is time to wake up and time to go to sleep? The master clock is meant to be set every morning with the sunrise when red light and blue light are perfectly balanced, and you are receiving a full-spectrum nutrient from the sun. It is literally a REQUIREMENT for your mitochondria to function properly. Red light activates mitochondrial cytochrome complexes to make biological water and produce ATP among other important tasks - such as quality control by inducing apoptosis (suicide) in damaged/unhealthy. Hormones are produced such as melatonin and cortisol that impact our sleep/wake cycles. When they are out-of-time/sync we experience symptoms such as stress, fatigue, restlessness, poor sleep or insomnia, brain fog, depression and anxiety to name a few. 

Why is this happening? We are not living in accordance with nature. The typical hardworking American is getting up with an alarm flipping on a light with a narrow blue-light spectrum, maybe hitting a blue-lit gym for a morning workout, driving to work behind auto glass, working at a blue-lit screen computer under blue lights in office space, driving back home behind auto glass to cook dinner under blue lights while watching some tv - again more blue light...just to do it all over again tomorrow. No wonder we are out of sync with our world. We are not obeying the rules of nature. Nature requires light, water, and magnetism to function and thrive. Plant a tree - feed it and give it water - now put a tarp over it to keep away the sun. You are giving it soil and water, why isn't it thriving? We put ourselves indoors with artificial light that is in a very narrow range omitting the other spectrums - we are not thriving. When we go outside, we are told to "protect" ourselves by BLOCKING the natural light - robbing us of the essential nutrients of full-spectrum light. Bill Gates wants to block the sun. Does he not understand that our food and lives rely on photosynthesis? Let's look closer at what is actually going on.

Our sun gives us full-spectrum light ranging from ultraviolet (UV) to infrared (IR) vital for life - including plant, animal and human. Our atmosphere allows ~ 280-3000nm light through but protects us from the more damaging radiation such as solar radiation and microwaves. "The skin contains chromophores whose scattering and absorption coefficients are different for each wavelength in the ultraviolet, visible and infrared range. The most important chromophores are melanin and oxyhaemoglobin." When we expose our skin to sunlight, blood vessels come to the surface allowing light to improve oxygen delivery by converting ferric iron (Fe3+) to ferrous (Fe2+).

Much like red light is critical in the synthesis of chlorophyll by plants, it is critical in the synthesis and function of hemoglobin in humans. Mitochondria are crucial in heme production and in the final steps in loading iron (Fe) onto hemoglobin to carry O2. Did you know that light can change the oxidation state of Fe? We use iron-based hemoglobin to deliver O2 (oxygen) to our tissues and to mitochondria for cellular respiration, but it can only do this when in the 2+ state. Sunlight changes the oxidation state from +3 to +2 and allows O2 to be delivered to its destination. Nitric oxide stores in the skin are also liberated to dilate blood vessels. "The photoreduction results show that the effective conversion of Fe³⁺ to Fe²⁺ occurs at λ ≥ 380 nm with the percentage of Fe²⁺ reaching ∼90 %." This is UV-A light. Synthesis of vitamin D requires UV-B light optimally 298nm. UV-A and UV-B light are balanced at sunrise and intensify later in the day. 

Sunlight scatters photons exciting non-visual photoreceptors - such as melanopsin (sensitive to blue ~ 480nm) in the retina and transmitted to the SCN in the hypothalamus (brain region) along the RPE (retinal pigmented epithelium). This is a highly myelinated tract - designed for high-speed transmission. Neuropsin (sensitive to UV-A ~ 380nm) is another non-visual photoreceptor that affects local clocks in the retina. As the day progresses and we hit high noon we receive maximum blue light, which further tells our master clock it is noon. These retinal melanopsin cells are highly sensitive to blue light in the 420-480nm range. Sadly, and at our demise, this is the SAME frequency of artificial light that is in our devices and light bulbs in our homes and workplaces ~450nm - mandated by our government in 2007 under Obama's Energy Independence and Security Act. Then in 2023 Biden banned most traditional incandescent bulbs, shifting to LEDs. Nora Volkow's work in 2009 on electromagnetic radiation revealed that Isolated blue light raises blood sugar and insulin in humans using cell phones - NO FOOD REQUIRED - and voila...a sick, addicted population that relies on pharmaceuticals - customers for life. Did you know Americans check their cell phone devices 186-205 times per day - roughly every 5 minutes while awake? What do you think happens in your body when you repeatedly tell your master clock it is 12:00 noon? Especially at night. Obey the dark.

They told us the intent was to save electricity, they didn't tell us they were going to disrupt our hormones, cause autism, Alzheimer's, and dementias, increase obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer and every other chronic disease out there. Blue light without red light to counter, destroys mitochondria, melanin and raises blood glucose and insulin all on its own. Myelin insulates and protects our nervous system and is produced by our mitochondria. Did you realize we don't fully myelinate our brain until we are ~ 25yo? We are harming our children when we give them blue light devices and access to screens and technology - it is damaging tissue far more than in an adult. When we expose ourselves to isolated blue light, we damage or destroy mitochondria, demyelinate, dehydrate at a cellular level, lose melanin, lose power and energy, lose vision, hearing, smell and taste, as well as colors in our internal organs. 

The more we expose ourselves to natural sunlight - starting with protective sunrise light- without sunglasses and sunscreen the more in tune our mitochondria are with the light cycles and the rhythm of our earth. Red light, particularly infrared-A (IR-A) is protective for UV light that gets more intense later in the day. Sunrise sunlight into our eyes enhances our melatonin production allowing it to build during the day, then be released a few hours after dark - enhancing sleep cycles optimizing glymphatic clearing and bathing our brain cells with cerebrospinal fluid. When we improve our cellular hydration through mitochondrial production of biological water, we enhance our protection, optimize production of ultra weak biophotons to optimize the release of hormonal cascades in perfect timing and execution, enhancing our entire biology, fat mass, metabolism, fertility, appetite, pain, mood, and wake cycle as well with a good dose of cortisol to wake us up in the morning - just in time for sunrise. By exposing our eyes to early morning sunlight, we optimize mitochondrial function as they are directly communicating with our sun through red light - sensing the environment so they can pivot to optimize energy production. Sunrise has the most intense red light that will happen during a day where red and blue light are balanced.  

Sunrise sunlight into our eyes enhances our melatonin production allowing it to build during the day, then be released a few hours after dark - enhancing sleep cycles optimizing glymphatic clearing and bathing our brain cells with cerebrospinal fluid. When we improve our cellular hydration through mitochondrial production of biological water, we enhance our protection, optimize production of ultra weak biophotons to optimize the release of hormonal cascades in perfect timing and execution, enhancing our entire biology, fat mass, metabolism, fertility, appetite, pain, mood, and wake cycle as well with a good dose of cortisol to wake us up in the morning - just in time for sunrise. By exposing our eyes to early morning sunlight, we optimize mitochondrial function as they are directly communicating with our sun through red light - sensing the environment so they can pivot to optimize energy production. 

Is this sunlight the same all year long or does the light change with the season? Our sun is time-stamping a light barcode into our eyes and skin - that is information based on location and time of year. It is crucial for biological functions during different seasons to get the sunlight signal so that our mitochondria can function optimally according to information being delivered from the sun. Plants in our location receive the same light barcode! THIS is why it is crucial to eat in season - eat the food that grows where you live in the season it is growing in. Go to your farmer's market - get to know the farmers in your area. This optimizes processing of our food as well as the conversion to energy because the light signals MATCH! You do not want to eat ripe pineapple from Hawaii in January in Texas. Pineapple doesn't grow in Texas. This food creates chaos in the mitochondria because the light barcodes don't line up. We experience this chaos as inflammation. However, Texas ruby red grapefruit are in season in January! 

Extra virgin olive oils should be consumed fresh and in season as well. Polyphenols such as oleocanthal, oleacein, oleuropein, hydroxytyrosol are found in early harvest, high quality oils. They activate anti-inflammatory pathways such as Nrf-2 and NF-kB that is highly neuroprotective. Fluorescent emission (biophotons) at multiple peaks can be detected in these fresh and alive oils, whereas "cosmetic olive oils" exhibit only one. HP-EVOO (high polyphenol extra virgin olive oil) enhances mitochondrial function providing polyphenols, mitochondrial biogenesis, provides melatonin both - antioxidant in mitochondria - as well as enhancing sleep, feeds microbiome, improves cell membrane fluidity, provides vitamins E, K and carotenoids, enhances absorption of other nutrients and much more. 

Let's recap - strategies we can implement to optimize our circadian rhythm and take our health to the next level:

• See the sunrise every morning - set your master clock, renovate your heme proteins, make biological water and use the TCA cycle. This is a natural 'sunscreen' that protects from UV light that gets stronger later in the day.
• Ground - bare feet on the ground to gain free electrons and discharge into the earth. Make sure there are no underground electrical wires. The best grounding is in sea water on dark sand.
• Cold thermogenesis - cold shower or cold plunge - ideally 50-55 deg - allows mitochondria to make more UPE (ultra weak biophoton emissions) in the 200-400nm range to activate hormones and optimize our biology.
• Protect eyes and skin from isolated blue light and light at night. Get some blue-light blocking glasses - there are daytime and nighttime versions. Get protection on your computer screen (I use IRIS). Change the light bulbs in your home to incandescent - before we can't get them anymore!!! Get red bulbs for night-time low light.
• Open a window - in your car, home, office next to where you are working to allow natural light to come into the room - it flows like liquid and offsets some of the blue light toxicity we are all exposed to.
• Remove non-native EMF - sleep with phone on airplane mode in another room or turn off router to protect from EMF radiation while sleeping.
• Eat seafood and fish for DHA in the sn-2 position - this speeds neural transmission, nourishes the RPE (retinal pigmented epithelium)
• Obey light/dark cycles - go to bed early in winter when days are shorter, wake up with sunrise
• Eat local in season as much as possible - match your food to the sun's light barcode it is giving you.
• Increase HP-EVOO intake - this improves myelination, protects mitochondria, provides healthy fat for high ATP output.

So, until next time my friends…Drink, Drizzle, Digest HP-EVOO at least 4 TBS raw daily, - use more for cooking and drizzling onto your food - eat the rainbow of LOCAL organic or wild-sourced veggies and fruits - eat according to what is growing at your latitude and location in season - eat wild-caught, pasture-raised, grass-fed - get early morning sunrise light, plenty of sunshine during the day, sleep in the dark, check your vitamin D3 level and supplement if needed: D3, K2, magnesium, zinc, and boron (- get your trace minerals and electrolytes with good sea salt - Celtic is hand-harvested and Himalayan was formed before plastics - eat foods high in lutein - drink plenty of filtered water. consume digestible and indigestible fiber for your gut microbes - adaptogens (such as mushrooms) and methylation donors (kale, beets, spinach, cruciferous, lion’s mane…), marjoram, rosemary, oregano, parsley and other herbs to detox, enhance overall health and reverse aging and disease - exercise your body and mind - ground barefoot to gain as many electrons as possible, add a few minutes of mindful meditation and breathing exercises to your day to combat stress - take a hot Epsom salt bath and follow with a cold shower/ice plunge - remove EMF (electromagnetic frequency) devices and blue light - use IR (infrared) from incandescent lighting, non-toxic candle or light a fire to enhance sleep and...turn off the light!!   #HP-EVOO 

This blog is intended for informational purposes only. Discuss strategies with your Healthcare Practitioner.