Unlock your bodies potential through circadian principles (highly practical)

As a reader of my newsletter you know how big I am into circadian principles. These are foundational things related to seasonal changes of sun, temperature & environment.

Starting this topic is like the craziest journey there is. Suddenly a million new words, principles, domains & habits pop into your head.

There is confusion everywhere at the start of this.

So in this one, I wanna bring clarity into the fog of circadian principles. Here is the complete, no fluff guide for adjusting your circadian rhythm to the tides of seasons.

We will cover

• Sun exposure

• Grounding

• Blue Light

• Diet Cycles

• Temperature

I will share the 9 most practical habits for adjusting to the circadian system.

Let’s do this!

Sun, Time & Energy

Our body needs to know what time it is to function properly. For that to happen, the body uses light information through our optic system (not only, but for this one we ignore the skin) to signal what time of day is it.

This is done via the melanopsin pigment in our eyes. It signals to our SCN, our “inner clock” and thereby setting our clock accordingly. Hormones, organs & cell cycles are all adjusted accordingly to the light input we get.

Now, this is the timing aspect. But there is another important system set by the sun:

The leptin-melanocortin pathway

At its core, there is the POMC polypeptide. It is a remarkable protein, which has many downstream products when cleaved:

• ACTH

• MSH

• Endorphins

• CLIP

All of these act in organs which in todays world are under attack:

ACTH is involved in adrenal metabolism. MSH is involved in pathogenic defense. Endorphins are here to make you happy. CLIP is involved in insulin metabolism.

This is such an oversimplification, but in this instance, it is all whats needed.

Now interestingly, the POMC peptide is heavily controlled by our light exposure, especially UV light.

Without proper circadian signaling, POMC won’t cleave into the right products, leading to dysfunctional organ systems.

For example, chronic blue light is associated with diabetes. Why is that?

POMC gives one hint. Chronic blue light exposure leads to higher CLIP/ ACTH activation, leading to insulin sensitivity & adrenal fatigue.

This is the melanocortin part of the story. But what is leptin?

Leptin is the master energy hormone of our body. It tells our body the energetic state on a fundamental level (by proton, electron & redox status). In the night, this leptin is set free by adipose fat tissue, traveling into our brain and transmiting all of its information.

People with diabetes, obesity or virtually any other disease have leptin resistance. That means that this hormone cannot function properly. Our body cannot sense its own energy, which is crucial in the development of any disease.

Now, let me tell you, that POMC needs good leptin sensitivity to work properly.

Leptin resistant = dysfunctional POMC expression

For now, that should be all. Let us get into action.

The ONE Thing

If there is one thing in your life you need, than it is sun exposure. To be more precise, for the vast majority of people the 80/20 of health should start with seeing the sun first thing in the morning, for as long as possible.

Seeing the sun that early in the morning is key for signaling of our SCN & POMC system. This leads to proper cortisol timing & melatonin production, leading to better sleep, better regeneration & thereby more energy.

Not only that, but you should see the sun at least at three distinct times as it is crucial to get every wavelength of light into your eyes.

Every wavelength of light has profound impact on your health

Blue = Time Setting (only natural tho)

Red & NIR = Fuel for mitochondria

UV-A = Blood vessels

UV-B = Vitamin D & Melanin

As you can take away from the image above, to get the benefit of all, exposing your body to the sun at the “crunch” times is crucial for health

Practice #1: Kissed by the sun

Expose yourself to the sun, for at least 90 mins a day, in 3 blocks (Sunrise, early PM, Sunset).

Do that religiously.

No matter the season, even in winter this is extremely important.

Practice #2: Steroids for your engines

If you got the financial capabilities, a Red & NIR panel is a great invest. Whenever being stationary (inside) turning it on and exposing yourself to the red light spectrum will fuel your mitochondria.

Red light is deeply regenerative & pro-healing through its actions on the electron transport chain, enhancing ATP production.

Do not do it too late, as the sheer lux (intensity of the light) will shift your circadian rhythm. You can also wear (preferably white, non denim) clothing while doing it, it can penetrate through it.

Blue light: The hidden enemy

As I told you, blue light is the most important Zeitgeber in terms of light. It is the signal of action, of day, of hormetic stress. It triggers cortisol in the morning when seeing the first rays of the sunrise, setting the stage for the whole day.

Now the problem? Every modern device emits blue light. You might guess what the consequence is, when sitting at your desk at 10pm at night.

You guessed right: disease

It not only raises cortisol, but it also destroys your melatonin. Melatonin is what is deeply regenerative during the night. It is what repairs your mtDNA. It gives reductive power (electrons) to fill the oxidative gaps from the day.

If you watch a blockbuster until deep in the night you literally got zero of it to regenerate.

It is that critical.

Blue light emitted from the sun is balanced by all the other wavelenghts of light:

• Red light stimulates mitochondria to offset the stress response

• UV light breaks down cortisol slowly

• UV-A is a vasodilator, the opposite of what cortisol does

Also, normally, we are out there moving, we use the “cortisol energy” for something. In todays world, we sit. We sit for hours under cortisol induced atrophy.

By now you might see the problem. But what can we do about it?

Practice #3: Buy those glasses

Buy blue light blockers. These are the red tinted glasses you always wanted. They protect you from 80% of the damage the blue light does.

Wear them whenever you are outside after sunset or exposed to any artificial light.

Practice #4: Black out

Cover your skin as much with black clothes as possible to mitigate the damage of blue light onto your skin. Yes, your skin is a circadian organ. Tho your eyes are very important, the sheer amount of skin exposed is a topic of optimization.

Practice #5: Mitigate the damage

Install a red light filter onto your devices. I did that a year ago. My devices are filtered by almost all blue light for 95% of the time. As we are indoors using our smartphone or computer, we limit the amount of unnecessary stress we exposure ourselves to.

You might need a week of getting into it, but to be honest, it is not that difficult. Do not miss this step. If you spent 5-9 hours in front of your devices, you will probably see a benefit after a few days of doing that.

Practice #6: Lighting environment

Mimic natural lights.

The best would be candles & fire. These are natures way of having light at night.

The second best are flicker free red light bulbs, which are really cheap buys. I bought 1 of those for my small student room. Added with 2 small red lamps my whole room is circadian friendly.

I use them whenever the sun has set.

Grounding: Circadian impact

Grounding is the practice of exposing your uncovered body (most often just the foot sole) to the natural ground. As we evolved to have sweat glands on our hands & feet, the water aids in the absorption of electrons through the ground.

Many will tell you that this is pseudo-science, but let me tell you, it is not. It is far from that. Grounding might be the best NSAID to combat inflammation.

It works as we can use the electrons of the earth to fill in the wholes our metabolism has. Inflammation is a state in which positive charge accumulates. Now, the negative charge coming in by the electrons will aid in restoring homeostasis.

Much more interesting for our discussion is the so called “Schuhmann Frequency”. It is the earths breath, more precisely, electromagnetic waves with a magnitude of roughly 7,83 Hz.

The interesting thing is, that by grounding, we can synch our own frequency to that of the earths. By that we are shielded from the harmful nnEMF humans produce since the Industrial Revolution.

Not only that, but this frequency is not staple at all. Just like the sun, it undergoes cycles of change.

Practice #7: Grounding

Ground as often as possible, not only to get the anti-inflammatory properties of it, but to synch to the earths breath.

I’d advise you do to that bare feet, as grounding shoes seem to not work as well. A bit, but not as well.

Ending the diet debate

Diet is the most fearful topic of the whole health sphere. Keto, Vegan, Vegetarian, whatever. All of these diet camps miss what food was all about:

The sun

The sun is the entity giving all of our food web the energy to grow, live & reproduce. So it should be clear that we need to follow the natural cycles of the sun & its food to be healthy.

Practice #8: Carbohydrates should be cycled

Lower carbs out of summer. Enjoy them in the summer. Eat local carbs bound to your geographic foot print.

That is all there is to carbs. But why is that?

It is simple: look outside in the winter, are there any fruits? No, because to make them we need high photonic energy which is only present in the summer.

Carbs store the energy of the sun in its electrons. That is what Einstein found out to win the Noble Prize.

If you eat high carb out of the context of UV light cycles, you are prone to disease. What are the mechanisms of that?

UV light impacts

• thyroid hormone production increasing the burn rate of carbs

• can break down hydrogen bonds of carbs

• higher CLIP for insulin production (via POMC)

You can see how light changes the talk about food.

Winter Arc: Regenerate like crazy

To make a full circle around the topic of diet, let me tell you what to do in winters. But first, let’s see what goes wrong in our world:

We do not live winter like we should. In times of 24/7 heating devices, three layers of clothing & a generally more inside life style we completely uncouple from our natural environment.

Then we do not change light & diet behaviours et voila: winter depression is the consequence (with disease over an extended period of time).

But what can we do about it?

Practice #9: Winter Arc

• eat more fat/ low carb

• increase your PUFAS slightly from natural sources

• embrace the cold, go for shiver walks, cold water emersion, lower heating

• embrace the darkness

• rest more (sleep, naps, etc)

This is the secret way to offset the loss of UV light in winters. It liberates leptin like nothing else, ensuring the right signaling. It uncouples your SCN from light, to temperature, setting a good circadian rhythm. It uncouples your mitochondria to use fat as fuel, liberating the fat stored Vitamin D, aiding in the winter depression.

If you implement what I have said, I can tell you, your health will upgrade like crazy. I hope you enjoyed this one.

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Stay safe folks!