READERS SUMMARY:
1. A QUESTION DURING AN EDUCATIONAL CONSULT STIMULATES A DISCUSSION
2. HOW DOES ARTIFICIAL LIGHT DESTROY THE SIGNALING OF THE CORTISOL/DHEA/MELATONIN AXIS?
3. HOW DOES ARTIFICIAL LIGHT AFFECT THE GUT FLORA?
4. CAN ARTIFICIAL LIGHT AFFECT HUMAN BIOLOGY DIRECTLY?
5. IS BODY COMPOSITION TIED TO ARTIFICAL LIGHT AND IMPAIRED SLEEP CYCLES?
Question asked to me during an educational consult: I still don’t understand the significance of the prolactin surge especially in older people like me. Since I am post-menopausal, what happens if I eat carbohydrates within 4 hours of going to sleep? What does it have to do with leptin resistance? I am neither a science person, so is there any way to explain it in less technical terms?
BEFORE WE BEGIN to TAKE A LOOK HERE AND TELL ME IF YOU THINK EVOLUTION HAS A PLAN FOR THIS?
I hope everyone realizes that artificial light has only been around on our planet since 1874. But fire and candles can affect our melatonin cycles too. Even a full moon can do it.
Just so we are clear. Chronic artificial blue light is equivalent to chronic excessive carbohydrates because both contain excessive photoelectric energies. This alters mitochondrial functioning after a period of time because our mitochondria evolved expecting a seasonal variation of energies in both photons and electrons/protons. Here is a link to look at.
So you might be wondering what exactly does artificial light do to a human brain?
In a word, it destroys its ability to properly signal environmental signs to our cellular machinery. It affects this molecular machinery pretty quickly by fast forwarding our circadian chemical clocks to light. These clocks are all biologically tied to the cell cycle that controls growth. How does this happen? I beleive the initial stimulus occurs on the skin and the first clinical sign physician notice is a change in a hormone’s secretion in the brain. It dramatically alters the surge of the pituitary secretion of Prolactin. This happens after 4 hours of darkness or after a really big release of oxytocin.
NON GEEKS: The surge of Prolactin is normally quite large in normal darkness but is significantly diminished in artificially lit environments after sunset. This was shown in the CT 2 video. This has big implications for modern humans. The reason is that prolactin release is coordinated with sleep cycles where autophagy is at its highest efficiency and where Growth Hormone is released. If this is diminished we generally see lower DHEA levels clinically and higher IL-6 levels on cytokine arrays. Remember when we see lowered DHEA levels this sends a signal to our gut flora that something is amiss. It allows more permeability of our intestinal brush border to inflammation that destroys signaling. We covered that in the DHEA blog. This is how I measure of uncoupling of sleep from normal metabolism. When sleep is bad paleo says you gain weight. Dr. K says you might get cancer. Read this link. I base every case I examine I do on this step in circadian biology because it is the most important to humans. Why do you ask?
GEEKS: For evolution to work, a cell first must adapt to its environment. So the first thing a cell would encounter in an earth day is a period of day and night. The cell also has to make energy and it also has to control its own cellular division. In essence, the circadian cycle has to “yoke” to the metabolic cycle and its growth cycle. Evolution harnessed these environmental signals to control both metabolism and cellular growth. When it is dark at night time, the cell becomes more reduced chemically and electrically. (A lower redox state like we saw in the mitochondrial series). During a low redox time, cells are usually recycling their components using autophagy. In the mitochondria this is called mitophagy. During the day with sunlight, energy is being made to explore the environment, the cell is more oxidized because of increased leakiness of the mitochondria at cytochrome number one. This is how the environmental light signal is coupled to the chemical signal in the mitochondria. Another interesting coupling occurs between the circadian cycle with the cell cycle. They are linked via the PER 1 and PER 2 genes. PER 2 directly affects the cell cycle in mitosis. Mitosis requires a cell pulsing an ELF-UV signal to occur. We need oxygen and ROS to generate this light signal. Mitosis is the phase of the cell that occurs just before cell division to generate an offspring. Mitosis occurs via a light signal in between cells. The signal is usually UV light and it is in the extreme low-frequency range of the UV part of the spectrum. The mammalian period 2 gene plays a key role in tumor growth in mice; mice with a mPER2 knockout show a significant increase in tumor development and a significant decrease in apoptosis (levee 19). This is thought to be caused by mPER2 circadian deregulation of common tumor suppression and cell cycle regulation genes, such as Cyclin D1, Cyclin A, Mdm-2, and Gadd45, as well as the transcription factor c-myc, which is directly controlled by circadian regulators through E box-mediated reactions. E-box reactions involve regulation of the hTERT gene encoding the telomerase catalytic subunit. Here is where circadian biology directly impacts telomere biology. Because the telomerase enzyme is altered in these E box reactions, light, especially artificial light during sleep cycles, plays an important role in human cell senescence, immortalization, and carcinogenesis.
This implies that sleep is tied directly into to cell cycle functioning and directly into cell-mediated immunity at some level. It appears that sleep directly affects the chronic diseases of aging and likely plays a role in cancer development.
It also implies that light, especially artificial light may cause several cancers because of this effect. Why do you ask? Take a look at this link.
THIRD GRADE MATH QUESTION: 48% vs 10%
Humans have the largest brain of any mammal. We have 8 lobes in our brain. We have 2 frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital lobes. The Occipital lobes in the back of brain control most of the neuron circuits for light and vision. This implies that 25 % of our brain is tied to light circuits. It gets more interesting for us. The other six lobes have areas within them called the association cortex. Light also wires directly to these areas too! What does this mean? It means if you’re a human with a big ass brain 45-48 % of your brain is wired to light circuits. We recently discovered two visual systems in humans. There are two pathways for sight in the retina. One is based on classic photoreceptors (rods and cones) for regular vision, and the other, newly discovered, based on photoreceptive ganglion cells which act as rudimentary visual brightness detectors. These circuits are very important for circadian signaling of day and night. Your hypothalamus is in control of accounting for energy by accounting for electrons from food. These electrons are sent to your mitochondria’s inner membrane to generate energy. Your hypothalamus integrates and yokes sleep and metabolism as I laid out here a year ago. The hypothalamus only makes up 1 % of the total volume of your brain. Moreover, the outflow tracts of the leptin receptors in the hypothalamus only project to ten percent of the rest of the neurons in your entire brain.
What does this imply? It means that the conventional wisdom that diet is the main controller of metabolism might be dead wrong. Maybe, light is the master controller of how you account for calories after all? It also means light is tied to body composition, cancer, illness, and our gut flora composition. How do we sense light? It appears the eye and skin are the major organs capable of it. Are you starting to connect any dots yet?
What if I told you a sleep researcher in California is now using light to help modify hormones and affect sleep and memory function? Well, he is doing just that. It is called Optogenetic sleep research. My bet is we will soon find out we can alter the gut flora this way as well and impact obesity and sleep. It may even replace CPAP machines for the treatment of Obstructive Sleep Apnea. That researcher is Dr. Luis DeLecea from Stanford. Dan Pardi and I talked about his work at Paleo Fx in 2012. Light has a massive effect on the human brain because it is wired to it on many levels of function.
HOW DOES ALL THIS WORK?
The normal large circadian prolactin surge we should see at around midnight after leptin enters the brain does not happen if the patient has leptin resistance, sleep apnea, or has eaten food too close (within 3-4 hours) to bedtime. This blocks leptin’s ability to enter the brain because insulin spikes block leptin from binding to its receptor in the hypothalamus. As mentioned above, this step is usually impaired if you are a post-menopausal female as well. Just being postmenopausal alone make you more insulin resistant (IR) because of the intrinsic loss of your progesterone to estradiol ratio. The reason is simple, most postmenopausal women have a very altered circadian cycle to both carbs and to artificial light because their gut flora changes as their hormones change as they age. This happens in men as well who are in andropause. This is just not a women’s story guys! It happens to us too. We also know from new research that as we age our gut flora changes to a more simplified one that favors increase deposition of fat from our diets. This is fostered by alterations in our hormones as we age.
GEEKS AND NON GEEKS UNITE: When I test people, I consistently find that their AM cortisol’s are low and this implies that their dopamine levels in their brain are also low too. To increase their central dopamine stores we can use a drug like cycloset and low dose metformin to help their blood sugars, protect their intestinal brush borders and lower the leakiness to ROS at cytochrome one. This increases their ability to clear superoxides created in their brain’s mitochondria. The science of this area involving neurons mitochondria is quite complex but I may tackle it down the pike for you if you guys decided you want your head to hurt even more.
It also allows the brain to use it favorite fuels, ketones, and lactate. The brain burns clean on them. What does that mean? It means we have the lowest amount of ROS from superoxide being produced in our neurons mitochondria.
GEEKS: Lower ROS means better cognition and function because the ATPase spins faster.
NON GEEKS: This means the Ferrari engine in our head purrs like a kitten and not a 1990 Nissan Sentra.
These things can all be used to reset the circadian chemical clocks in the brain by altering the levels of adenosine in our cells. Adenosine is the cellular signal that signals our cells we are entering a nighttime phase or renewal.
NON GEEKS: Adenosine rises at night because during the daytime activity we use up all our ATP! Adenosine is the result of using up ATP during daylight. Peroxiredoxins are linked to ATP functions in the matrix. We have a total of six isoforms and all are heme proteins. Peroxiredoxin 3 (PRX3), a is located exclusively in the mitochondrial matrix, is the principal peroxidase responsible for metabolizing mitochondrial hydrogen peroxide, a byproduct of cellular respiration originating from the mitochondrial electron transport chain. Electron leakage, primarily at complexes I and III, leads to the incomplete reduction of molecular oxygen which forms superoxide radical [link]. Superoxide is an unstable intermediate that is spontaneously or enzymatically dismutated to hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), the primary oxidant implicated in redox signaling. Catalase then deals with hydrogen peroxide. Low levels of H2O2 produced by the mitochondria regulate physiological processes, including cell proliferation, while high levels of H2O2 are toxic to the cell and cause apoptosis.
Coffee and artificial light block adenosine receptors and this is why it destroys normal sleep cycles. Artificial light, especially the new LED lights and halogens, with its powerful blue light spectrum, speeds up our chemical clocks to cause massive mismatches. In clinical medicine, carbohydrates out of their growing season and artificial light also cause low AM and higher PM cortisol levels in humans and are often associated with type 2 diabetics (T2D). This is why T2D always seems to have altered sleep and dietary issues with artificial light at night, eating carbohydrates at the wrong time of the day/season, and industrial seed oil PUFA’s with manufactured versions of hydrogen in them. It is because our sleep clocks and metabolic clocks no longer work in unison because of altered cellular signaling due to inflammation caused by these mismatches. Our adenosine receptors account for them all and degrade our sleep cycles. It is as if our left-hand does not know what the left on is doing at any time when this occurs. Blue-blocking glasses and clothing are mandatory for all diabetics in my view.
What else might we consider to do? T2D have metabolic inefficiencies from their disease, and this implies low intracellular magnesium levels, low DHEA levels, and insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is strongly associated in the gut with altered production of Vitamin K2 from our gut flora. Exogenous vitamin K2 can help people with insulin resistance, menopause, peri-menopause, and andropause. We can also use vitamin K2 to sensitize them to insulin helps further. Both of these molecules are solar substrates. In artificial light environments, we find alterations in the gut flora because it becomes simplified. Simplified means lower shear numbers of bacteria and decreased species of bacteria. When this happens as we mentioned in Brain Gut 9, we don’t make enough vitamin K2 from our gut flora. This often will increase their androgen levels too. Often times, it may give them their lost libido back too. One of the clinical signs I ask about in these cases is the ease and power of their orgasms. This usually shocks people initially. Then when they think about it, they realize that their libido and sexual performance has also lost its power and luster too. When this axis is re-engineered, women often report they seem to climax easier. They also the depth of the experience of orgasm is back to when they were young.
In MJ’s guest blog, this discussion caught her totally by surprise. I told her and Danielle that a good orgasm is like a great exercise, because hormonally, sex and exercise do the same things to our brain, via our ATPase spin rate. If you cannot make ATP fast enough you likely will not experience orgasm. Orgasms increase the anti-oxidant protection of our brain to ROS from any cause because they are associated with optimal melatonin and oxytocin levels! Both affect mitochondrial function. The duration and intensity is the only major difference in this case. Oxytocin is the second most powerful anti-oxidant in the brain and lowers inflammation and makes neurons more reduced chemically as we see in normal sleep. Recently, I have noticed older women asking about exercise-induced orgasms done during abdominal crunches on a “Captain’s Chair” machine at their outdoor gyms. Rarely does this happen indoors under blue light? They seem to be experiencing them more outside more often now and are wondering if it is pathologic or normal? The response I give is that it means their hormones are approaching what they were when the 17-25 years old and that is a great clinical sign their circadian cycles are becoming entrained back to normal once again. It is hard to get women to this point who is not doing a lot of this right, but it can be done with persistence and the knowledge of the clinician. There is a cite below that discusses this phenomenon. It not a mirage. It is a clinical sign a woman is re-emerging back to optimal. This is how “Stella found her groove” again.
WEIGHT GAIN AROUND MENOPAUSE/PERI-MENOPAUSE/ANDROPAUSE:
This may begin to make you why perimenopausal or PM women gain weight no matter what they do with their diet or exercise. This is where paleo fails many people. Their Rx is to exercise more at the CrossFit and consider “carbing” up diet wise to support T3, and this only worsens the plight. You will see precisely why when Brain Gut 12 is live. This is where I begin on my blog. I focus on those of us who are broken and not working well. It is all driven by a massive change in their hormones once they lose their period or in men when their androgens and vitamin D3 levels fall apart for many reasons. This is often why older women sleep badly and gain weight they can not seem to lose in the gym (fake light) even with a good dietary template and good exercise habits. This is another reason I am a big advocate for bio-identical hormone optimization in women and men when it is required. This need is greatest in women who are warm adapted because they have the worse PG/E2 ratios. The need is lower in the cold-adapted females because their leptin levels are already low due to the cold protocols, and this implies that their hormone panels are not too far off the optimal path. Everyone’s mileage varies because our Ferrari engines are all different and at different points in our life cycle. Men tend to have very low free testosterone, low DHEA, low pregnenolone, and low sulfated Vitamin D3 levels.
Did you know that even the AMA says fake light now causes breast cancer? Watch the video here at this hyperlink.
Postmenopausal women who are cold-adapted tend to do amazingly well clinically in most disease parameters in my clinical experience. The cold-adapted to use a ketogenic diet match to cold thermogenesis while being outside in nature. This tends to keep their HS CRP quite low so cellular signaling is not destroyed. The main problem they face is that their vanity and dogma keep them from using the cold pathways to become rockstars as they age. Exercise training tends to frustrate postmenopausal women and men with andropause because if their hormone response is altered they have a lot of trouble as they age. Men, on the other hand, do not lose their growth hormone levels (IGF-1) until 50-55 years old usually. They are also protected by their testosterone levels which can and should persist throughout life, provided that they are not suffering from inflammation which directly lowers their free and total testosterone levels. Art DeVany is a perfect example of this in the paleo community. Sadly, few share his epigenetics, because they have lived for decades in a life bathed in multiple circadian mismatches. Modern technology is our Achilles heel. I think it is also ironic that many of the younger folks in the paleo community also have altered hormone panels despite their exteriors when they test. This means that eventually they too will face the same set of biologic facts. Art is way ahead of most of the modern folks. GH and testosterone keep a man’s heart and muscles in tip-top shape. If inflammation destroys these levels earlier in life, the results can show up in their labs and injury history even in younger people. I am finding this clinical result is an epidemic in my own practice today.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THIS IS ALTERED IN MODERN HUMANS?
Well, when a man or woman ages is like an instructive test case for us as clinicians. Peri and PM women have mental fog and fatigue and lowered energy and can’t sleep well at all. Men with andropause have the same issues. This sounds eerily similar to what a diabetic faces every day of their life as well. Very few people have put these two syndromes together clinically, but PM women and men with andropause, are a microcosm of what T2D faces daily. Let’s examine this link further.
All diabetics are leptin resistant and that implies their hormones are disordered by the very nature of the biologic process. Diabetics are also chronically dehydrated and their ability to recycle their total body water is reduced. This is a clue to mitochondrial disease. Diabetics get this disorder from altered light cycles and excessive carbohydrates out of season. PM get this too on a smaller scale when their ovaries fail. These processes are commonly thought to happen in diabetics because of diet alone, but most of my readers now know about the temperature and light effects are far bigger issues than modern healthcare realizes. This is why I mentioned the medication ‘Cycloset’ earlier. Cycloset was approved for diabetics in 2009, but few physicians even know about it, or how it works in our brain to reset the circadian clock once it has been fast-forwarded by mismatches. It works on the brain to fix the circadian mismatch that light and carbs cause when they are used out of their normal cycles. We look for altered AM and PM cortisol levels on an adrenal stress index test for a clue this is happening. It eventually results in the brain by lowering the dopamine pathways centrally.
Cycloset actually raises your AM cortisol spike that we normally see in normal humans. I covered this extensively in my August webinar for members on my site. It resets the cortisol/DHEA/melatonin axis of the hypothalamus. When the circadian cycle is off we usually see low melatonin levels. Low melatonin levels are consistently found in epithelial tumors. In modern humans, all epithelial cancers rates are exploding. Maybe now you might realize why.
Melatonin is the third most important anti-oxidant in the human brain. When melatonin is lowered chronically for any reason, we see a sharp rise in epithelial cancers. Epithelial cancers have risen dramatically since 1874 when the light bulb was invented. When Cycloset was approved for use by the FDA in 2009, it validated all my empiric clinical observations of what really causes diabetes and cancer. I believe the environmental mismatches that have gone on for decades are the real etiology of the modern epidemics we are seeing explode in medicine. It is due to a modern human never facing a true winter, and never giving the brain the appropriate sunlight and sundown stimulus it needs to function optimally.
Prior to 1924, we never had to worry about artificial light much. If you look at the incidence and prevalence of T2D and cancer since 1874, be prepared to be astounded out what I just laid out here. Diabetes and cancer may not be a real disease after all; they maybe epigenetic light-induced phenomena of modern life!! I said this earlier in the year in the Cold Thermogenesis series.
KEY POINT: Diabetics and PM women get the same symptoms from the same lowered dopamine problem, but they differ in intensity and duration. When you add another environmental mismatch it just worsens the defect for those with peri-menopause, PM, or andropause. That is why modern medicine thinks T2D is a “carbohydrate” only issue. I don’t and have not for the last ten years.
Most diabetic,s and those in PM, menopause, and andropause are even more sensitive to artificial light after dark. It is now becoming a very common finding in research papers in cancer and metabolism, that this is a huge problem that has been in our blind spot. Artificial light by itself makes us insulin resistant, lowers our sex steroid hormones, destroys vitamin D levels, and alters our gut flora so we do not make enough Vitamin K2. Chronic lowered vitamin K2 also makes us more IR too and pushes us closer to T2D as well. It also sets the stage for atherosclerosis, CAD, osteoporosis, and strokes. I covered the mechanism of this extensively here in this blog.
Think about what I have just shown you earlier, in the brain-gut 7, about how obesity and metabolic syndrome have their own particular gut flora associated with them. Are beginning to see why these are interconnected now? It is all about the light first, when you are mammal with a large brain that wired to light.
KEY POINT: This is also why peri and menopausal women’s FBG go up once their ovaries have failed. Ladies pay attention to it. Very few clinicians seem to know this, so they do not pay attention to it. Look at your own glucose levels on your labs. If they are over 88 you likely have this issue as well. I pay attention to it. When we have high normal blood glucose it is a sign of brain damage. High normal blood glucose causes the brain to shrink! I have been on the artificial light rampage for 10 years now because I found I was very sensitive to it myself before I fixed the problem.
Moreover, these artificial lights also tend to be quite bright (because of halogen and LED uses today with massive blue light exposure) and completely un-yokes the normal circadian signals from the hormone response in the brain. Blue light is a powerful known disruptor of the SCN in the eye. When it is off, we age faster. We age faster when our hormone levels fall to their lowest levels in our labs. The hormone panel is the Rosetta Stone for humans. I mentioned this in bold in Brain Gut 5. It is probably the most important thing I have written in this series, so far to date.
WHAT DOES BLUE LIGHT SPECIFICALLY DO TO US?
Blue light after sunset reduces the prolactin surge we normally see in humans. When we see chronic lowered prolactin surges we also see lower growth hormone secretion during the anabolic phases of sleep. Lowered chronic GH secretion directly affects cardiac and skeletal muscle function because the process of autophagy is made less efficient as our life continues. Lowered GH and the sex steroid hormones at sleep lead to loss of cardiac function. This is why heart failure is strongly associated with low IGF-1 and low sex steroid hormone levels. When growth hormone is not released in normal amounts, it also decreases our lean muscle mass and increases our body fat percentage in all our organs and in our body. This leads to slowly declining organ dysfunction and poor body composition. We can measure this process clinically by looking for falling DHEA level (bad) and a falling Growth Hormone level (also bad) as we age.
Look at this 8/3/2012 blog by Joe Mercola. It appears his staff is reading my site now with this recent advice:
He says, “Too Much TV Linked with Thicker, Weaker Kids”
“There can be little doubt that our modern lifestyle is at the heart of the problem. We eat poorly and don’t exercise enough. The results of this sedentary, under-nourished lifestyle are evident in today’s children. Today, one-third of all American children ages 2-19 are overweight or obese. Most of these children will become diabetic.
Spending hours in front of the TV or playing video games is, of course, a hallmark of a sedentary lifestyle.
If you needed any more proof that too much time in front of the TV is not good for kids, then you’ll be interested in a new study that not only affirms that TV-time is linked to sleep problems and weight problems, but also to weaker muscles [4]. The new study, published in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity [5], shows that the number of hours in front of the TV during preschool years is linked to increased waist size and decreased leg strength.”
According to the authors:
“Watching television excessively in early childhood may eventually compromise muscular fitness and waist circumference in children as they approach pubertal age.”
This is significant, the study’s authors said, “because it not only could affect performance in sports activities, but also cardiovascular health and susceptibility to injuries. TV programming also exposes your children to commercials promoting health-harming junk foods; literally programming them from infancy to have a skewed understanding of what to eat. Just as you don’t want your child exposed to ads for cigarettes during Saturday morning cartoons, neither should your kids be bombarded by non-stop commercials for sugary foods and snacks.”
Here is a link to the blog:
What Dr. Mercola believes is at the source of the obesity, is the fact that they are sedentary. This what Mrs. Obama is saying too in her campaign against obesity. In my opinion, neither one has the science correct. This is the wrong reason they are getting fat. We know that just sitting around does not make you fat from many studies done on hunter-gatherers and from studies on many predatory mammals in the wild who are sedentary for most of their day. In my opinion, it is all about the blue light from these new LED HD TV’s, iPad, and iPhones they use to access this technology. These are massive circadian disruptors to the eye and skin.
KEY POINT: This statistic may shock you, but every ten percent increase of spending on technology we measure corresponds to a 10% spike in obesity in our population. I spoke about this months ago, in the Paleo Summit talk I gave earlier this year. Cycloset is a medication that works to help restore altered circadian signaling in the brain. Blue blockers are better options than pills. It is time, we all realize that blue light is worse then any diet might be for us when the animal is a mammal with a large brain and our largest organ is our skin to support the brain’s energy needs.
SO HOW SHOULD LEPTIN AND GROWTH HORMONE DANCE WHEN LIFE IS GOOD?
NON GEEK REVIEW: So you might be wondering how does leptin enter this circadian equation with food and light? The first step is leptin levels rise slowly for fours post dinner. At midnight leptin then enters the hypothalamus. Once it binds to the receptor two things occur. The first is a second messenger is sent to the thyroid up-regulate free T3 production to stimulate uncoupling protein 3 in muscles to burn fat liberated as we sleep at a higher metabolic rate. These fats are burned not as energy but as free heat at the muscles. We do this as well, in the cold, as I taught you in the CT series.
They key take home is it requires leptin sensitivity and ideal thyroid function at the muscle level. How do we maintain ideal thyroid function? The Epi-paleo template should be the obvious answer to you now. The reasons should be even more obvious. The Epi-paleo Rx makes sure that everything the brain needs and thyroid needs are in the same evolutionary food packages. It also lowers inflammation and leptin levels best. It also provides ample iodine resources to maintain your free T3 levels regardless of your carbohydrate intakes.
Seafood has the optimal nutrient density for humans. When one talks about nutrient density of foods, you are just studying the food values against other foods. It is really useless information that can lead to bad conclusions, when you do not consider the main metabolic actions of the mammal in question. We hit this topic in Brain Gut 12. With regards to humans, the human brain is a complete energy hog and it requires all the nutrients in seafood and not those in offal. If offal or skeletal meat were critical to forming a human brain, then we should see other predatory mammals that eat meat and offal routinely walking this planet with massive brains. In fact, we see the opposite effect. Eating meat and offal does not make a brain. Nutrient density of food must take into account, the metabolic energy requirement unique to the animal into consideration to make any claim on what is optimal for it. When people talk about the nutrient density of food, it rarely incorporates this foundational insight.
GEEKS : The second effect of leptin is via another second messenger: the coupled receptor with leptin bound to it, sends a message to the anterior pituitary to release prolactin from 12-2 AM. The prolactin release is required for proper control of sleep stages and yoking sleep and metabolism…..but the real benefit is this is the signal the hypothalamus uses to release pulsatile growth hormone release from 2 AM to 5 AM during sleep stages 2-4. This allows the process of AUTOPHAGY to be of maximal efficiency as we sleep. At sunrise, cortisol rises and so does ghrelin, a gut hormone. What does ghrelin do during the day to growth hormone secretion? It stimulates it pulsatile release during daylight hours. This means that proper growth hormone release is completely tied to proper circadian signaling. It is also means that an IGF-1 level is instructive to a mismatch to a clinician. When IGF-1 is low, this usually signals an alteration in the cortisol/DHEA/melatonin axis. This is why a lowered AM cortisol is tied to T2D and most neolithic disease states. T2D have some of the lowest IGF-1’s measured in clinical medicine. When IGF-1 is low this means the person body composition is also dramatically altered. Low growth hormone levels signal higher body fat levels (especially visceral fat) and lowered levels of lean muscle mass. People with low IGF-1’s tend to also have sleep disorders like obstructive sleep apnea. When your AM/PM cortisol levels are off because of artificial light you can not make growth hormone and your body composition declines rapidly. This is why people get fat and lose muscle mass when their light cycle is off.
IS LIGHT OR DIET MORE IMPORTANT TO T2D OR A PM WOMEN? A REVIEW:
Light is most important and it is not close. Why? Simple. Neurobiology of light is the answer because of how the human brain is wired to light via the eye and skin.
NON GEEKS AND GEEKS UNITE: Recall that autophagy is the process of cellular renewal. When we recycle proteins, we are able to learn much better, and retool our brains from yesterday’s oxidative damage. Think back to earlier in the blog.
People who have sleep apnea are generally obese, inflamed and leptin resistant and never get their pulsatile GH release at the correct times of the day and as a result, autophagy/mitophagy are poorly functional in them. If autophagy is poor, they suffer more diseases and age faster because their sleep is uncoupled from their metabolism. They are chronically using old proteins enzymes that have not be renewed by sleep. When you use old proteins and enzymes chronically you have altered cell signaling and this favors neolithic disease generation.
Moreover, these people can never burn their excess calories they take in from their diet or altered flora, as pure heat because the initial message of leptin was blocked from entering the brain so they remain fat. They can’t lose the weight either until they become leptin sensitive and lower inflammation. If you want to know why you are not losing weight look at your inflammation levels as for why that is the case. When they do begin to lose weight, they notice a tremendous change in sleep efficiency. Sleep is designed to be restorative and is critical for weight loss.
Prolactin is the trigger for GH release at night. GH decreases abdominal fat cells and simultaneously increases your lean muscle mass and allows for major protein synthesis because it optimizes mitophagy and apoptosis to self-regulate mitochondria with melatonin during darkness. Its levels fall off a cliff for most women after age 40 and for men after age fifty and there is a corresponding drop in the efficiency of sleep and autophagy. This is why older people sleep less than younger people. It is also why babies sleep so long, because they are in a massive growth phase body and brain wide. This is when their GH is being released when everything is working optimally. This also fuels their brain growth too with optimal progesterone and cortisol levels. When these hormones are off our brain function takes a direct hit.
I hope this helps you understand why humans need to be quite aware of what the light might do to us when its fake. People who attended the August webinar will be able to now use this blog post as a review. Please consider turning the lights off . The next 30 days are going to pass whether you like it or not, so why not think about something you have always wanted to try and give it a shot for the next 30 days? You might get some of your health back.
Next up: Brain Gut 12…….a real eye opener.
Great blog, Dr. Kruse. Thanks for tying together the elements of diet, light, sleep and its effect on hormones. I’m motivated and will recommit to cleaning up my environment. Absolutely no electronics after dark anymore, even with the blue blocking glasses! Might be a bit tricky to get my family on board, but I’ll manage it. Will work harder at cold adaptation too. Thanks.
@Kathylu When you really understand how the brain is wired to light and how it is wired to electrons from food……you begin to see a new perspective develop. And the science is beginning to trickle out to support these observations in neural anatomy.
Prolactin, IGF-1, cortisol/DHEA/melatonin axis, andropause, all mentioned in my consult with you not long ago. All tied together in a way that fits my condition perfectly.
Not matter if you’re a T2D, heart patient, obese, or a skinny, little biotoxin guy like me, this is KILLER information. It helps set one’s resolve in making changes in our living that are deeply rooted in our evolutionary biology (I’m starting to sound like Kruse!)
This was also written for my wife, although she doesn’t know it yet. Menopausal, bad sleep, poor body comp, trashed PG/E2 ratio, migraines, apnea, all in her world. Soon?
Nice work, Doc. Changing the world.
@Martin one problem at a time. I side tracked the BG series for this because of the webinar. Many people asked for a written recap of the webinar so here it is. I think when we hit brain gut 12 and forward even more will become clear. Question everything and keep an open mind.
Thanks Doc. Worth waiting for!
I have renamed it
Fake Light will kill you quicker than Fake Food
@Wally That is quite catchy!
This blog couldn’t have come at a better time… In the past 3wks I’ve seen a direct impact of artificial light on me. It SUCKS. I now work in a windowless building w/massive amts of artificial light… as the weeks progressed my sleep has gone to crap and I leave the office with a headache at the end of the day. 2wks ago I ordered “Fashionable” blue light blocker & anti glare glasses. the finally came in yesterday morning – I wore them for the full day in the building – what a difference. No headache at the end of the day, and I slept great last night. I get outside 3-4x/day for 15-20min breaks to get natural light on my SCN – and it does help.
I don’t think we realize how much we’ve come to accept that artificial light is ok. AFter the past 3wks its cemented in my brain its not a good thing.
Now I just need to be cognizant of it when I get home, and leave the lights off as we move into fall/winter.
I guess the one outstanding question I have is – what does the artificial light do to the cells that aren’t protected from it during the day? I’ve protected the brain and the SCN w/the Blue Blockers/antiglare, but what about that which isn’t protected (skin)- (mostly arms/head/neck/legs depending on what I’m wearing)?
for alliteration purposes 3F’s. Fake light will kill you Faster than Fake Food. @Gretchen. u tipped my decision point. i”m heading to Amazon to research those blue-blocker glasses. (What if Amazondotcom was just a front operation for Amazon Lady warriors and there were men in orange jumpsuits with iron collars driving forklifts around inside. Rick Riordan- Son of Neptune. a good yarn)
@Sandra. Alzheimers and light is now being linked too! We already know that T2D and AD are strongly associated. This blog makes the case why T2D and light are linked…….so draw your own conclusions. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-19487092
@Gretchen we do not know that answer yet, but my bet is it is not going to be favorable.
@Wally
I use the UVEX orange glasses at home – but couldn’t get away w/wearing them in a professional environment requiring business suits – so I adjusted to make things work. I’m getting complements on my “Fashionable Blue blockers/antiglare” Glasses. Whats interesting where I work I’ve been seeing a select few running around in their WileyX (USG issued) Blue blockers in the building…so I’m not the only one….
This blog hit me right between the eyes and got my attention. If anyone has been subjected to artificial light, I have. My career has been in computers and for many
years I would stay up until 2-3am. Currently I wear at night the red laser glasses that are supposed to block blue/green light. Have there been any studies done to show the
efficacy of wearing blue blocker glasses? Probably should do no computer work after sundown. Man, what a big adjustment.
@Al If I rolled this out a year ago would you have had the perspective to even understand it? Nope. That is why these blogs are written well in advance of when I release them.
Yeah, Shilohman, that’s why he’s rolling this all out a piece at a time.
@Gretchen: +1 on blue blockers helping migraines…..
If one has low brain ATP production for whatever reason would that affect sleep?
I read that the low ATP level during the day would make one feel sleepy during the day and low BG-ish often while actually being hyperglycemic…. but what happens once it gets nighttime and there is also less accumulated adenosine from breaking down less ATP? Isn’t the cellular signal then missing that we are supposed to go to sleep?
@ Soul Dramatically!
I want to be able to talk to my family about light, hormones, cold and epi-paleo using non-geeky vocabulary…these webinars, blogs and QandA’s are really working together well for this kind of education. Our household is going into this winter with a very different daily rhythm. Thanks once more.
Actually I want to be able to get the geeky cellular biology too, but that’s my own mission.
@SeaHorse just keep reading along and going back and cross linking you knowledge as I direct you. Read the links……they connect dots.
DR Kruse,
I love this blog. And I am amazed. I knew how important gut flora is to health. But that light is so important for that a good flora I couldn’t have imagined in my wildest dreams. Thinking from nature it is all so logical. Just leave the house, suffer the cold, go to sleep when it gets dark en find your food on the beach.
I will work on the light!
@Andre we are products of our environment. Our genes are the first draft of what we are but experience (epigenetics) is how the novel is written. This blog is about that experience. Light is a major driver of epigenetics.
This ties together so many things in one neat package, with lots of links for further digging (for the new readers, as well as for re-reading older posts and getting the aha moment!). And here is a story about the “junk DNA” on our genome not being junk (gee wonder where I read about this first…!) http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-dna-encode-20120906,0,7798745.story – Now they just need to realize what turns on the switches – diet, light, mismatches…..
@SHari: Brain gut number 2 for those who dont know is where that junk DNA is located!
This one is just mind blowing.. the dots are connecting more and more and more. Thank you for this great information. I’m printing it up to highlight the stuff that I want to share with my doctor. I feel like when you wrote this, you were talking about me. Thank you for the map!!!
Bravo, Jack. Thanks so much…frothing at the mouth for #12.
@NittDan BG 12 was fun to write. I edited it a bit last night but it is a critical blog in the Quilt.
In this statement”Artificial light by itself, makes us insulin resistant, lowers our sex steroid hormones, destroys vitamin D levels, and alters our gut flora so we do not make enough Vitamin K2. Chronic lowered vitamin K2 also makes us more IR too and pushes us closer to T2D as well.”, if someone has all of these symptoms already and is eating epi paleo and taking supplements and so forth, and wearing the blue blockers, what more could we be doing to reverse this(meaning the IR)? If this is a consult question, please just slap my hand.
@Dannielle a lot. Re engineering a human is tough detailed work. That is why it takes time. People dont like spending time or the money to do it until they are sick n tired of being sick n tired. Me…….I learned all this fixing my fat ass. I had patience with me and my attitude, dogma, and personality. Over time I changed. And then I discovered things about me I did not know I had. I found my sixth sense. The power to thin slice. And now I use it to improve my former self.
Dr K. One of my children was diagnosed dyslexic before we found you. Since spending the last 9 months changing our diet and minding light cycles (we have just gone through 5 long months of winter with only candlelight from dusk… nothing else ever), not only have all our sleep/health improved, but he has caught up 15 reading levels in this time. His teacher said she’s never seen anyone make this kind of progress. He told me the other day, “I don’t confuse my b’s and d’s anymore!” I love learning about the light cycles from you. Whereas BHRT and supplements and a heavy-seafood diet can increase the budgetary spending, there is no cost in turning off lights and computers. And it’s so simple, no context needed. Just shut it all off. Yet the results for our family have been huge. We also all get the benefit from being together, without technology, every evening. This has its own input toward increasing oxytocin for everyone in our household. Then, come sunrise, we all run outside in our pj’s, listen to the birds and smile at the sun! Thanks for your ongoing explanations. A very grateful Lauren.
@Lauren you just posted the essence of the next five blogs in this response. I think you will enjoy the quotient of why this happened to your son. My hope is when you fully get it…….you spread it all over the southern hemisphere.
@Mike I loved this so I am posting it here. Mike and I met at Paleo Fx. I told him some stuff then that few people knew. I explained to him my theory of everything and how it all tied into Factor X.
Mike dropped a TEDx on my wall last night and then linked this statement about my QUILT document. I thought it was an awesome insight. It makes me feel like I am doing right even when the haters throw hate bombs.
“The goal of teaching should be, not to implant in the student’s mind every fact that the teacher knows now; but rather to implant a way of thinking that will enable the student, in the future, to learn in one year what the teacher learned in two years. Only in that way can we continue to advance from one generation to the next.”
-Edwin T Jaynes
Mike said, “Very appropriate for back to school week. Never stop learning.”
Another question about sleep cycles. You’ve talked about Stage 3 and 4 sleep and GH, but what is the importance of REM sleep? I’ve noticed that 2 in our family struggle with nightmares and the other two don’t. Are you aware of the factors in dreams/bad dreams? Gut flora? NT’s? Thanks.
@Lauren…….sleep has its own levee…….and that is much later. REM is huge for brain building.
Thanks Dr. Kruse. I enjoy your blogging quite a bit.
@ Fred thanks for the kind words. I hope some of it can help you and yours. We all need to be starfish.
This great blog points to the whole problem with the health care debate. The politicians and the vast majority of the health care system and patients don’t even recognize the true causes of the health problems that this nation faces.
It is our very “lifestyle” that is causing this exploding health care crisis but few people can recognize this ironic fact.
Ironically, our “lifestyle” creats hugh amounts of wealth from the Burger King franchisee to the Hi-tech apple computer company, but at the same time that wealth creation is killing all of us who blindly lives the “American dream” of excessive technology consumption.
Batten down the hatches, It ain’t gonna get any better in the near future for health care and this nation.
@D Ray…….it will get better. Because as the sand in your hour glass runs out you begin to sharpen your focus like a hawk closing in on its last meal. My site is for the tired weary broken and tired. Eventually all of modern life brings our species to that point at some time.
Not much to add to the conversation. I just wanted to thank you for your time and dedication to this blog. It is helping so many people. I am also tickled to be learning so much and enjoying it at the same time.
BTW, I took your advice and gave up the dairy, and guess what – I lost my last five pounds that I have been trying to ditch for the past eight months! Now, if I can
just let go of that morning cup of coffee. I am down to just one cup in the morning.
Susan M.
@Susan that is awesome news!
Dr. K,
Just wanted to thank you for all of the work you put in. This is indeed the best blog concerning health out there by far, and it has opened my eyes to something that I never realized.
Regarding sleep and prolactin/hormone surge, what do you think about polyphasic sleeping? Often I eat dinner at around 7pm, find myself falling asleep on the couch around 9-10pm, and then wake up again around midnight or 1am and then brush my teeth, wash up, etc. I then go back to sleep after about another 30 min. Would this affect the hormone surge in any way, or is it best to try to stay awake til say 10pm or 11pm and then sleep the rest of the night til morning? Thanks so much!
@Pete Some people have no trouble with it at all while others have major issues with it. When you examine your panel it tells you a lot.
Light is the key that starts/stops the engine. (circadian cycles)
Food & hormones are the fuel
CT is the accelerator
The Brain is the navigator
Optimal requires all systems working in concert, if one is off the entire system doesn’t work properly or efficiently
So for those of us who’ve been struggling & seeing minimal if any success w/out paying attention to light should begin to see changes when we pay attn to it. However we must remember we have to turn back our epigenetics switches that have been on for Xyears. We also have to contend with the reversal of disease and illness as a result of our own personal mismatches
This isn’t going to happen over night. I’ve been working on my health in one way shape or form since 1999 only now am I getting some where Each success peels back another layer. Each layer brings me that much closer to cracking the code w/in me.
While we’d all love to have the BodyRock.tv bodies in 30 days we’re broken for most of us that isn’t going to happen over night. Once we get our stuff straightened out & flying right the possibilities are endless. While its not fun hearing it’s going to take time it’s the truth. That’s because we’re each working on our own personal masterpiece. And those things just don’t happen over night. They take time effort an love and many of us have to balance working on the masterpiece with the rest of our lives b/c they are integral
Remember what your masterpiece looks like today is not the final product. Think about the following question and how it relates to your journey: How long did Michael Angelo work on David to get it to its final phase???
@Gretchen This is an awesome Summary of BG 11!
Jack: is the educational consult listed on the members page the same as a health consult? Thanks
I was told 10 years ago not to have any electrical outlets plugged in near to where I slept, and to get rid of any electrical clocks in my bedroom. But, I have a real problem turning the light out after dark because I would be totally alone — just me sitting there for hours with myself. With knowing how sensitive I am to fake light, my hope is that the blue blockers are doing their job.
Also been having a problem giving up coffee, but it seems that this might be changing since eating fish everyday. I sleep one to two hours longer now and am starting to feel stronger in my resolve. I admit that I have been self destructive all my life, and sabotaging myself isn’t new, but is starting to be a thing of the past. For the first time in my life I feel hope. The biggest improvement I have seen, EVER, is when I started to eat fish everyday. I may not be “the sharpest knife in the drawer”, but intuition told me after reading your blog for about a year that diet wise, Epi-Paleo was the way to go. Know doubt this diet can heal a very unhealthy brain. To what extent I have no clue.
Dr Kruse, I am starting to see why you have the patience and fortitude to be up for the job you have tasked to yourself. I pray some day for the opportunity to consult with you, but not until I am capable of being totally honest with myself and you. Hot damn, it’s hard to turn around a life-time of bad habits.
@Carol You last sentence shows me you are going to get better. You are beginning to see why you really are in the shape you are and the first step of transformation is a realization of what is really hindering you.
I just got thinking about what my adoption papers say about the first 3 months of my life. Daily schedule
6 a.m. – Bottle feeding, 5 oz of formula plus 2 teas of Lederplex
9:30 am – bath
10 am Cereal with 2 teas formula. *Glue*
2 pm – Feeding- Bananas and bottle of formula
6 pm – Bottle 5 oz plus 1/2 tablet of ascorbic acid crushed. Also 5 drops of Percophorum
Formula was starlac and Carnation evaporated milk.
In other words, I was given sugar, and glue. I didn’t have a chance.
@Carol Most modern humans start off on a rut……problem is few know it. They think it’s called progress. Everything new is not a gilded rose as we are socialized to believe.
Doc, another great post.
Recently read the Mood Cure by Julia Ross which recommends certain aminos during key parts of the day (l-tyrosine in the AM to help beat coffee addiction and kick off creation of catecholamines – Dopamine, Epinephrin, and Norepinephrin, 5HTP in the early afternoon to help with Serotonin, GABA before bed to help with sleep, etc. etc.). I’m on this personal regimen and feeling better than I have in a long time. I get tired when the sun goes down and I wake up almost EXACTLY 8 hours after falling asleep with no alarm.
What do you think of this idea?
Also, on the bromocriptine front, as a direct D2 agonist, it’s supposed to significantly help with body recomposition (helping both leptin and insulin sensitivity) but what about lowering prolactin levels? Will it have worn off by the time the normal prolactin surge is supposed to hit? And is low dose metformin used in combination with bromocriptine? What about nausea and blood sugar issues with a ketogenic diet?
Last but not least, a question on metformin, is it ever a bad idea for an obese person to take it? Seems to me that there are nothing but upsides to it.
@Gretchen, can you provide a brand name or a link for those glasses? Or even search terms?
@Cody my thoughts for you to thin slice. Two tyrosines plus iodine = T3 and T4. Prl is only important with relation ship to leptin and IGF1 and melatonin. Tie the ideas together……before BG 12. BG 12 is going to light you up.
There was something about this post that made me both laugh and cry. When my sexual desire first started to diminish, I freaked out. I couldn’t imagine my life without it. My doctor at the time’s response — I should just be happy that I don’t have hot flashes and other menopausal symptoms like other women — SAY WHAT!!! Following your guidance Dr. Kruse, eating epi-paleo and wearing my blue blockers even when I’m out in the evening, has caused me to turn a corner and this post seems to have tied it together. The best news — my former sexual, sensual and salacious self is reemerging, and I know it’s only going to get better!! Thank you Dr. Kruse!
@Cody the blue blockers I wear at home are made by UVEX and you can find them on amazon.com for under $10
As for the fashion glasses for working in a professional business suit environment I went to my local eye glasses shop – told them what I was looking for – stylish frames w/ blue blocker lenses and anti-glare to block out the fluorescent. I used my FSA to pay for those
@Gretchen
fashion glasses for working in a professional business suit environment
———
I could use refresher on desirable light conditions.
My understanding is that from sunrise to sundown we should have exposure to full light, UV, blue, and all. The higher the light intensity, the better. Preferably natural sunlight, but otherwise the best light we can muster. No need for any special glasses during business hours (if they are within sunrise-sundown period)
After sundown, normally we would have just a starlight and moon light.
Allowing for today’s times, I thought that we should minimize light intensity and block blue light.
Hence, this lenses should be worn after sundown.
Uvex S0360X Ultra-spec 2000 Safety Eyewear, Orange Frame, SCT-Orange UV Extreme Anti-Fog Lens
http://www.amazon.com/Uvex-S0360X-Ultra-spec-SCT-Orange-Anti-Fog/dp/B003OBZ64M/ref=pd_bxgy_hi_text_y
No UV or blue blocking lenses during sunrise to sundown.
====================
May be I have missed something, please help.
.
@Jansz you did not miss much. Sunlight has a fraction of blue light that your LED TV has in Jersey. Think back 70 yrs ago when you were in Poland…….did you face any blue light then? Now replicate it.
@Jansz. I work in a windowless office building lit up by fluorescent light – The only time I get natural light is when I go out side to get fresh air. If artificial light is bad and it is a mismatch if it hits the SCN then I don’t want to experience it at all during the day… I can control artifical light at home I can’t at the client site I work on.
desireable light conditions would be the following – wake up w/the sun rises, look at sun, eat BAB, play outside all day, eat dinner before dark, come inside and wind down for the day in darkness – no artificial light- except for survival TV (fire) or survival flashlight (candle/torch)
however given that most of us don’t have the option for play or work outside all day…we have to make adjustments. so if artificial light is bad – I want to limit my experience w/it to a limited time frame if I must be exposed – while I can’t protect my skin from the artificial light, I can protect my eyes – and since 48% of the brain is driven by light… I want to limit bad light entering my SCN as much as possible.
EAch of us must work within the constraints we’re given… this is how I am working within an environment I cannot control.
In her 2002 book “Light Out”, T.S. Wiley referenced a study done in which subjects were placed in a completely dark room and their melatonin levels were measured. A light source the diameter of a pencil was placed against the skin on the back of the knee and the melatonin levels dropped. This study implies that there are light receptors not only in the eyes, but all over the body.
Rather than just blue light blocking sunglasses, I purchased some blue light blocking acrylic mentioned in a previous blog from a company named Acrylite (link below). Custom sized pieces can be purchased for TV’s and computers, and I ordered an additional piece and cut pieces to cover all my LED light sources.
http://www.acrylite-shop.com/US/us/sheet-5n7n4w7zmsi/acrylite-gp-cell-cast-amber-2c04-gt-o066je0lo9p~p.html
Elaine that is so interesting! And here I thought CT was great in that respect. Glad you’re doing so well.
from Gretchen Bronson annotated by me [krusian epi-biology]:
Light is the key that starts [Sunlight]/stops [Fake Light] the [human]engine. (circadian cycles)
Food & hormones are the fuel
CT [cold thermogenesis which is our mammalian heritage] is the accelerator
The Brain [and gut] is the navigator
Optimal requires all systems working in concert, if one is off the entire system doesn’t work properly or efficiently [mismatches]
Gretchen
Speaking about period from sunrise to sundown.
Unless you have backup with some research, I think that fluorescent light in windowless building is better without blue and UV light sunglasses blocking it.
I am going by salt water aquarium analogy.
To grow corrals you need high intensity white light.
There are 11000K light tubes sold for this purpose.
I have two of them over my head.
Aquariums also use actinic tubes.
That really promotes growth (invertebrates)(I am not sure how that actually affects humans).
Actinic lighting peaks in the 420 nanometer range and emits a fluorescent blue light.
Those tubes are much brighter than the light one normally have in the office.
There is very high blue content in those tubes.
Different story after sundown.
.
@Jansz you might be interested to know that invertebrates have a different circadian signal to PRL. There are over 400 signals in the animal kingdom for PRL. The effects are not to be made across species. We see rats compared to humans all over the paleo sphere. Epic fail.
@ Gretchen,
I am with JanSz about not using the yellow glasses during the day. You do actually need the blue light for your brain to sense that it is daylight. Even though fluoro lights aren’t perfect by a long shot, they do at least have some blue light in them,
here’s a link to a British studythat found the more blue light during the work day, the better ;
Some googling will turn up more.
People who get seasonal affective disorder in winter in overcast areas are usually suffering from a lack of blue light, and the use of full spectrum and/or blue LED’s – during the day only- has helped these people.
Blue LED therapy – during the day – has been used to help old folks and alzheimers patients sleep better, and they are generally more alert and active during the day
While it is clearly better to get as much natural light as possible, if you must be inside during the day, brighter light is better – dim light puts people to sleep!
Jack – great article, great series -looking forward to BG 12!
Oh man..just when I thought I was getting on track here!
@ Dr.Kruse – so ideally do we want to block artificial blue light all the time? What if the environment is 50/50? Do we then want glasses for day like Gretchen has for day time?
Thanks
@Jansz
N=1 after 3 weeks working in the windowless office w/fluorescent lights I was ending the day with a head ache every day. The only change from where I was working was natural light through windows all day to the windowless office w/fluorescent lights. My sleep also went to crap as well.
after hearing August’s webinar – I took action and got the work place appropriate blue blockers. AFter wearing them for 3days in the work place, my sleep has returned, headaches have gone away, and waking up has now become easy again.
I’ll take my N=1 and run with it as its working for me. I go outside 3-4x/day for 20min at a clip for a break. Jack says artificial light is bad. The research coming out is saying the same thing. I’m doing my best to fix my mismatches…
@Gretchen Jack is not saying it. Jack is reporting what the science is leading him too. I am just the dude with the flashlight who likes looking under rocks that too many avoid. Biology holds all the answers…….but we must look for them when we dont know why something happens.
I am sorry, I clouded the issue by mentioning actinic light. They are meant for invertebrates.
As for Gretchen, if she blocks UV and blue light in her office and in her home, then practically she is living at night time real close to 24/7.
That can’t be good. Office light, as is, however imperfect, is likely her best choice (in my opinion, at this time).
It would be real nice if you could find time to describe to us ways to go with the limited choices we have spending most of our time indoors.
————
Big thanks for brain-gut-11 and this whole projects.
.
@Jansz if you have lived your entire life in the oxidized state of modernness you really think live a few decades in the reduced state will hurt? Or might they bring back to allostasis after your walk through modern life. As an old Pole you should get that introspection and insight.
@RobH Thanks for this. Everyone reading BG 11 needs to read this: http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE8861A420120907?irpc=932
@Gretchen
” sleep has returned, headaches have gone away, and waking up has now become easy again”
That is big argument.
.
Jack,
great article, as usual! There are electrical lights out there “bio light”, “full spectrum light” etc. which claim to mimic the full and natural sun light. They have very little blue light. Would these lights solve the problems you are describing?
@Werner yes they are. I a testing some now. I dont believe their claims so I am checking my labs while using them. We’ll see in 6 months if they are true or not.
Doc, is this what you were referring to?
http://ebm.rsmjournals.com/content/224/3/152.full
PRL bumps up leptin levels at night. Got that. Bromo inhibits prolactin but improves leptin signaling (by reducing insulin resistance among the other things you mentioned), so it must not be a concern, otherwise you would not be using it in some patients. Plus it only has a 12 to 14 hour half-life, so I’m guessing it would only be a real concern if you took it after around noon.
@Cody If you look at cycloset package insert it must be taken as soon as you rise. Literally as soon as your eyes open you should use it. It is best if it is the same time every day but after a while people begin to wake up the same time without an alarm clock when LS is working in the brain. It is another sign inflammation at the brain level is moderating. I tell people to keep it on their night stand with a glass of water if their doc uses it with them when they have a low AM cortisol.
“If you want to know why you are not losing weight look at your inflammation levels as why that is the case.”
Other than HsCRP and Cortisol, what other markers show inflammation levels?
@Primal Pam……those are conversations for an educational consult. Details. The devil is there and it takes putting your labs in that context because everyone’s answer is not yours. That is the greatest mistake I see in medicine and in paleo advice. Not everyone gets the same mileage with the same activities or behaviors.
Dr. K. – Great answer. Thanks! And BTW, please stop writing so fast. I haven’t eaten enough seafood yet to undo all the years of bad habits to keep up! LOL. Seriously…thanks SO much for all you put into your blog. With Epi-Paleo, CT, and now getting in bed by 9, I’m sleeping 8 straight hours, losing weight, and just got a HsCRP reading of .15. As I get more labs together, a consult may just be in order to fine-tune!
Dr. Kruse,
Do you suggest using F.Lux all day long on LCD displays, now as well? I wear glasses, is there an Rx type blue blocker available, or will any tinted sunglasses block blue light?
Also, would getting rid of the “daylight” 5500k color temperature fluorescent lights help and replacing them with the lower color temperature “warm white” i.e. 2700k help as well?
@BenG I try to limit all artificial blue light……wearing googles or using f. lux is not a bad idea. In daylight I am out in sunlight most often negating my risk.
@Jack,
This may be a minor detail, but I am wondering if the taste of sweet can have the same inhibitory affect on the prolactin surge that eating carbs too late in the evening will.
The reason I ask is because one of the last things most of us do before we go to bed is brush our teeth. Presently, even the non-fluoride, “alternative” brands incorporate some type of flavoring that is generally sweet.
Will the taste receptors fire off signaling that will ultimately mess with the prolactin surge and the proper hormonal cascade we should experience during sleep? Thanks.
@The Kid. yes it can.
I had a consult with Dr k yesterday and connected more dots about light cycles. Pay attention to this . We are truly GUIDED BY LIGHT!
Does it matter what time you CT? The best time me is at night before bed when the kids are all in bed…. but am I interrupting any of the hormone signaling?
(apologies if this is covered somewhere else and I missed it.)
@Doug not when you’re oxidized. More you do the better. But if you had to pick a time use darkness as your headwind. This is when we are designed to be reduced chemically and that is precisely what CT does to us as well.
This is very helpful to me. Thanks to Ron. I ordered the acrylic for my TV and computer screens. I have been checking my low blue lights with a CD. There is a little green with some things I check. My home looks like a cheap nightclub. I got some strings of opaque orange halloween lights. It works to give an even low light. I got some yellow rope lights at the electrical surplus store. $5 bucks cheap. There was too much blue light from them so I covered them with strips of an orange $1 plastic table cover. No blue and no green. when they are on at night you can’t tell they are covered in plastic.
I bought some Oakley glasses $120 and got some magnified stick ons for the bifocal area as I can wear them in artificial light situations for shopping and work situations. They also have prescription strength. Check with Lenscrafters in USA, they have Oakleys. I also upped my Melatonin and after two weeks i do feel better. It’s a little tricky trying to remember to take glasses off when outside and put blu blockers on when I have to turn white lights on inside. Since NM has a 97% light factor I do wear sunglasses when I drive due to glare.
“..The science of this area involving neurons mitochondria is quite complex but I may tackle it down the pike for you if you guys decided you want your head to hurt even more…”
Great post, Jack..! and please do not worry about our heads hurting..!!
Growth is facing the reality, encountering the fact, whatsoever it is. Pain is simply pain; there is no suffering in it. Suffering comes from your desire that the pain should not be there, that there is something wrong in pain.
Watch, witness, and you will be surprised.
You have a headache: the pain is there but suffering is not there. Suffering is a secondary phenomenon, pain is primary. The headache is there, the pain is there; it is simply a fact. There is no judgment about it – you don’t call it good or bad, you don’t give it any value; it is just a fact.
The rose is a fact, so is the thorn. The day is a fact, so is the night. The head is a fact, so is the headache. We just simply take note of it.
Keep it coming… 🙂
I had to prove it for myself, but I have come to realize that when I was told that one must exercise to keep or build up muscles, (use it or lose it), I was told wrong.
When we exercise, let’s say the biceps, the body will later repair and strengthen that particular muscle, if it is able to do so. It will use resources that are in reserve to do so, or it will steal resources from other parts of the body. Or increased hunger will lead to hopefully more good nutrition to fill that need. Conversely, if the biceps is used minimally, the body will steal resources from that muscle to be used in another area, if resources are scarce.
However, if the body is receiving good nutrition (seafood) and the hormones and cells are optimal (cold and good circadian rhythm) it has plenty of resources to go around. Organs become optimal, bones, hormones, muscles, everything becomes optimal.
The body maintains or builds sufficient muscles naturally. Now that I think twice about what I learned long ago, it doesn’t really make sense that the healthy body would automatically start tearing down needed muscles as soon as they weren’t being stressed regularly.
@Nonchalant-Nice. I am experiencing this and also grappling with the concept. Beautiful explanation. Even though I am living this I cannot believe it. We can have great bodies and not have to exercise chronically. This concept elicits the most resistance when I tell people it’s possible.
@ Rob http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9533249/Using-iPads-before-bed-can-lead-to-a-poor-nights-sleep.html
@Dan This link shows how incredibly important limiting light is for cancer generation. Blind people have less cancer than those who can see light……how is that for amazing support for BG 11.
http://m.medicaldaily.com/articles/7369/20111011/cancer-sleep-cancer-epidemiologist-steve-jobs-antioxidant-melatonin-cortisol-hydrocortisone.htm
Dear Dr. Jack,
I found your site and liked what you said. I have been Epi Paleo for 8 weeks, very strict. I also have been doing ice baths three times a week for the last two months. I also installed blackout shades on my bedroom for complete darkness. In other words, I’m into it and I go 100%. Also my baseline is that I am very healthy, although 20 pounds heavy, 56 years old male.
I haven’t yet done a consult, although I hope to soon. My girlfriend signed up for it and I am awaiting her results.
My question: I cut my finger with a kitchen knife and it got infected 7 weeks ago, right around the time I started your diet. It got infected and the docs put me on Keflex for 10 days and then Bactrim for 10 more. They say it didn’t work and now I have osteomylitis. They want to do surgery on Friday. I realize you don’t have enough information, but should I do the surgery or is there a better way? Obviously I don’t trust doctors or surgery and don’t want to do it.
I thought that you might have an insight that helps me see WTF is going on. I’ve never had surgery before and I have never needed medical care or any kind. I’m very healthy.
Jack
@Jack I cant dispense medical advice on the net but I will tell you osteomyelitis is nothing to mess around with. It can lead to amputation. Listen to your doctors and dont put yourself at risk
How is this for more BG 11 confirmation: http://spark.qualcomm.com/salon/technology-making-us-less-human
Or this Gem: http://ec.europa.eu/health/scientific_committees/emerging/docs/scenihr_o_035.pdf
Totally amazing!! Im bringing my psychiatry research onto this field. Im studying chrnobiology and light effect on neuroendocrinology and behavior. Thank you so much for your contribution Dr Kruse!
Now im turning off my iPad, since its 9:39 pm here at Lisbon 🙂
http://www.independent.ie/business/technology/using-ipads-before-bed-can-lead-to-a-poor-nights-sleep-3225923.html
http://health.heraldtribune.com/2012/09/11/does-looking-at-computers-other-devices-before-bed-interfere-with-sleep/
tudy Shows Light From Electronic Devices Suppresses Melatonin
ScienceDaily (Aug. 27, 2012) — A new study from the Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute shows that a two-hour exposure to electronic devices with self-luminous “backlit” displays causes melatonin suppression, which might lead to delayed bedtimes, especially in teens.
Share This:
147
See Also:
Health & Medicine
Insomnia Research
Sleep Disorder Research
Mind & Brain
Insomnia
Sleep Disorders
Computers & Math
Spintronics Research
Computer Modeling
Living Well
Reference
Circadian rhythm sleep disorder
Circadian rhythm
Jet lag
Delayed sleep phase syndrome
The research team, led by Mariana Figueiro, associate professor at Rensselaer and director of the LRC’s Light and Health Program, tested the effects of self-luminous tablets on melatonin suppression. In order to simulate typical usage of these devices, 13 individuals used self-luminous tablets to read, play games, and watch movies.
“Our study shows that a two-hour exposure to light from self-luminous electronic displays can suppress melatonin by about 22 percent. Stimulating the human circadian system to this level may affect sleep in those using the devices prior to bedtime,” said Figueiro.
The actual melatonin suppression values after 60 minutes were very similar to those estimated using a predictive model of human circadian phototransduction for one-hour light exposures. “Based on these results, display manufacturers can use our model to determine how their products could affect circadian system regulation,” said Figueiro.
The results of this study, together with the LRC predictive model of human circadian phototransduction, could urge manufacturers to design more “circadian-friendly” electronic devices that could either increase or decrease circadian stimulation depending on the time of day — reducing circadian stimulation in the evening for a better night’s sleep, and increasing in the morning to encourage alertness. In the future, manufacturers might be able to use data and predictive models to design tablets for tailored daytime light exposures that minimize symptoms of seasonal affective disorder, and sleep disorders in seniors. Individuals would be able to receive light treatments while playing games or watching movies, making light therapy much more enjoyable than just sitting in front of a light box.
Along with Figueiro, co-authors of the study are LRC Director and Professor Mark S. Rea, LRC Research Specialist Brittany Wood, and LRC Research Nurse Barbara Plitnick.
Melatonin is a hormone produced by the pineal gland at night and under conditions of darkness in both diurnal and nocturnal species. It is a “timing messenger,” signaling nighttime information throughout the body. Exposure to light at night, especially short-wavelength light, can slow or even cease nocturnal melatonin production. Suppression of melatonin by light at night resulting in circadian disruption has been implicated in sleep disturbances, increased risk for diabetes and obesity, as well as increased risk for more serious diseases, such as breast cancer, if circadian disruption occurs for many consecutive years, such as in nightshift workers.
“Technology developments have led to bigger and brighter televisions, computer screens, and cell phones,” said Wood, who used the study as the basis for her master’s thesis. “To produce white light, these electronic devices must emit light at short wavelengths, which makes them potential sources for suppressing or delaying the onset of melatonin in the evening, reducing sleep duration and disrupting sleep. This is particularly worrisome in populations such as young adults and adolescents, who already tend to be night owls.”
In the study, the participants were divided into three groups. The first group viewed their tablets through a pair of clear goggles fitted with 470-nm (blue) light from light emitting diodes (LEDs). This was a “true positive” condition because the blue light is known to be a strong stimulus for suppressing melatonin. The second group viewed their tablets through orange-tinted glasses, capable of filtering out the short-wavelength radiation that can suppress melatonin; this was the “dark control” condition. The third group did not wear glasses or goggles. Each tablet was set to full brightness.
In order to accurately record personal light exposures during the experiment, each subject wore a Dimesimeter close to the eye. The Dimesimeter is a small calibrated light meter device developed by the LRC that continuously records circadian light and activity levels.”
The research team established that duration of exposure and the distance between the eye and the display, which determines the amount of light reaching the back of the eye, affects melatonin levels. Melatonin suppression after a one-hour exposure to the tablet was not significantly affected. However, after a two-hour exposure there was significant suppression.
The type of task being performed on the tablets also determines how much light is delivered to the cornea and, therefore, the impact on evening melatonin levels. As shown by the team’s Dimesimeter measurements, the range of photopic illuminance levels at the cornea from the tablets alone varied from 5 lux, which is not likely to affect melatonin, to over 50 lux, which would result in measurable melatonin suppression after a two-hour exposure. Therefore, before any generalizations can be made, it is important to measure how much light one is receiving from these self-luminous devices.
Until manufacturers develop more “circadian-friendly” electronic devices that increase or decrease light exposure based on time of day, Figueiro has several recommendations to reduce their effects on sleep. “We recommended dimming these devices at night as much as possible in order to minimize melatonin suppression, and limiting the amount of time spent using these devices prior to bedtime.”
Jack You asked the following question: “BEFORE WE BEGIN TAKE A LOOK HERE AND TELL ME IF YOU THINK EVOLUTION HAS A PLAN FOR THIS?”
yes. Yellowstone Caldera and the resulting Ice Age as the aftermath. Natural selection at its finest.
But the link there Gretchen was for artificial light…….not the ice age!
Dr Kruse, I am having a pretty easy time with no artificial light at night. I’m not sure I understand the effect when you wake before sunlight. I get that at night we want to make sure we are producing melatonin and can achieve the prolactin surge, but what steps/cellular activity are we interrupting if we wake at say 4am rather than 6 or 7am? If we can use candles and such at night to avoid the damage of artifical light, does it also work in the mornings?
If you wake up to early your cortisol will be low…..because you wont have spent you three hours in autophagy with IGF1 raising you GH GH pre dates cortisol rise in the AM.
The ice age would be the after effect of a earth made ELE. Yellowstone has blown 3xs causing mass exinctions and she’s due for another event soon (something like less than 500 yrs). There’s only been one volcanic ELE event larger than those three and that was the Mammorh caldera in the serria Nevada in CA All these events blocked light for several years. Very similar to the CT event. The difference they weren’t as devestating just moved forward the next ice age
In human existence the nearest event was the eruption in Indonesia of tonga if memory serves me that resulted in weird weather, snow I’m summer & a lack of sun for close to 2 yrs
Yellowstone would take out our practally the whole power grid in N America & wipe out the breadbasket and it would also impact Europe’s power grid and found all international travel & trade 8 from there we’d spiral down to small tight knit family groups to sustain ourselves
The only other thing that could impact the entire globe would be a sun flair like we’ve never seen before the galaxy’s version on an emp
@Gretchen The great solar flare last happened 6 months before the great influenza epidemic in the early 20th century that killed millions. The solar flare cause massive genomic reshuffling of the virus in the ocean and it wrecked havoc on humans. I agree with you about volcanism and the link to the ice age and a long winter but not sure how you see it tying onto this blog.
Jack, I took your advice. I turned down my PC monitor brightness, I replaced a couple of strategic light bulbs with incandescent, and I started turning off my computer early. Every day has differences, so it’s impossible to definitively judge these things in a short time. So far my sleep is less disturbed, so these measures appear to have an effect.
Many type 2 diabetics get areas of hyperpigmentation, often on their backs. To me this is pretty solid evidence that a badly behaving pineal gland lies in the T2D pathway. I’m still sticking with my theory that much of the problem is caused by autoimmune reaction to lutein and zeaxanthin. Most diet and medical “experts” advocate bulking up on these nutrients because they protect retinas from blue light. But lutein and zeaxanthin also cause crazy autoimmune reactions. They not only leave the retinas with no protection against blue light. They damage retinal tissue and cause wild disturbances in melatonin release.
I’m a guy who had autoimmune diseases coming out my ear ……celiac disease, LADA diabetes and Graves disease. I treat them mostly with diet. The diet cures them. I no longer have autoimmune diseases.
As soon as elimination of wheat started curing my autoimmune diseases four years ago I figured out that the antigen attacks associated with autoimmune diseases are identical to the antigen attacks associated with metabolic diseases. The disease pathways to autoimmune disease and metabolic disease are identical, so the cures for these diseases are identical. Eliminating the opioids and lectins which attack nerves stops the attack regardless of whether or how the immune system is responding.
I thank God that I was able to recognize these simple principles, because later exposure to pathogens brought about more diseases which I was able to cure with more diet changes. I tried telling people in online type 2 diabetes communities. They responded by banning me. So I tried telling people in online low carb communities. And THEY banned me.
My journey to enlightenment and wellness is ongoing thanks to caring experts like you. I’ve absorbed so much anatomy, physiology and evolution to explain these cures that people who are interested in health and life should be interested. Sadly most are not.
This is coming down to saving myself, and watching while loved ones, friends and neighbors sink with the good ship Paradigm.
@NINE And if you dont sleep you lose your sexy: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/11/sleep-deprivation-attractiveness-approachability_n_1873434.html?ref=topbar
Another way technology ruins human sexuality.
@Bob I wont ban you……..how about you do a guest blog on what you have learned and e-mail it to me and we look it over and we post it……..pour your heart out in it to help others. Say what you think needs to be said.
“This is coming down to saving myself, and watching while loved ones, friends and neighbors sink with the good ship Paradigm.”
That’s so sad and so true, Bob.
Wish you would join us in the forum.
@Bob I am eagerly anticipating what you have to say, should you write a guest blog. I do not have much to say at this time, but the information provided on this site by both Jack and fellow members has allowed me to play soccer again at 24 after having been forced into “retirement” at 17 after a diagnosis of chronic extertional compartment syndrome and four failed fasciotomies of the laternal and anterior tibial compartments.
I found this community in April 2012 after exhausting every imaginable medical avenue only to be told that I was “physically normal” without any real examination despite being unable to walk without discomfort. I started Mauro DiPasquale’s Anabolic Diet in the summer of 2010 because I couldn’t walk and was desperate to somehow maintain fitness. Magically, after eliminating carbohydrates, I could somehow walk again. This transformation opened Pandora’s Box for me and by December 2010, I had discovered Robb Wolf’s book (and subsequently, the wheat-inflammation connection) and after implementing the Paleolithic Diet my legs would further improve. However, I still could not play sports without discomfort.
After seemingly exhausting every dietary and lifestyle solution, I was raked over the coals by my family for developing “OCD” and accused of magical thinking for daring to question the medical community that never provided me with any actionable information (apart from an expensive assortment of pain medications and NSAIDS.
In April of 2012, I discovered Jack Kruse and this wonderful online community. Epi-paleo in combination with four hours of daily CT in frigid ocean or river water has enabled me to seize what I believe to be our most fundamental right: my physical health. Through the information provided on this blog or on the forum, I have managed to systematically eliminate a mild case of periodental disease (daily green tea/tumeric rinse combined with a strict ketogenic diet) and whittle myself down to 185 pounds (my lightest ever) whilst improving my 1-repetition maximum for every weightlifting movement I do.
Thanks,
Alex
@Alex Read this more CT vascular love: http://www.varistop.com/cold-therapy-helps-venous-insufficiency/
I’m honored. I’m stamping out fires. I’ll try to work something up.
Bob, I’d love to see your guest post! To beat all those auto-immune diseases (all related to one another) on your own and with diet is just amazing. Adding the extra ‘push’ from epi-paleo, CT and circadian health is just the cherry on top!
Congrats on your road to Optimal. Sorry that those around you are not willing to help themselves. It’s always mind boggling to understand these people’s mentality even if they SEE you with your recovery…they probably start making up excuses and/or rationalizing why you are healthy again….they might say ‘well maybe he was not so bad off’ or something absolutely ignorant like that. Then they might think for some reason that they are some how exempt and that they would not benefit from such protocols and/or they might think that they are not ‘severe’ enough sick to implement such protocols…either way their arguments don’t hold up and they are losing out.
Epi-paleo!!
You know you’re Epi-Paleo when you get the collective death stare from horrified onlookers at the grocery food court whilst eating a pound of raw octopus or scaly salmon skin. I just tell people that this is par for the course in Japan and carry on…
@Jack I saw a vascular surgeon in 2005 to see whether or not I had popliteal artery entrapment syndrome following my first failed operation. This syndrome was conclusively ruled out, but following angiograph I was told that I had a significant amount of deep varicose veins and that may or may not have contributed to my inability to walk for anything beyond ten feet without having to sit down, never mind compete as an athlete.
I appreciate the link, as this particular health issue is the central reason I am here and I cannot really describe how miraculous the cold has been in finally bringing an abrupt end to an issue that nobody seemed to take seriously but myself. In all honesty, I wouldn’t have it any other way and it is my hope that someday maybe my family can see creativity where they once saw madness.
@Alex There is a line in BG 12 coming that you will like…….it resonates with what you wrote here. You will know when you read it.
Bob Smith – Please pretty please do a guest blog! 🙂
I, too, have seen such enormous changes in the past 3 years in switching from SAD diet first to low carb, then to paleo, then epi-Paleo with 5x/week CT.
Within the last 2 years: Gastroenterologist did an upper endoscopy; diagnosed eosiniphilic esophagitis due to excruciating GERD and prescribed a lifetime supply of Prilosec. OB/GYN wanted to amputate (lol) my uterus, as I was having mind-bending pain from fibroids. Endocrinologist said with my fasting BG > 100, I was pre-diabetic, and I was to go on a “lowfat, healthy whole grain diet”. Epi-Paleo + CT 5 x/week = no more uterine pain (got to keep my parts!), GERD completely gone, can swallow food like a normal person, and FBG = 82. I fired them all.
I just had some labs done; HsCRP = .15. I think all the above changes are due to reduced inflammation from taking away the grains, sugar, gluten and replacing with seafood, CO, and sat fats.
For my entire life, I’ve had nasal issues. Deviated septum (corrective surgery), lifetime mouth breather, difficulty sleeping due to chronic congestion. Discovering the Breathing strips was a lifesaver; for years, they kept my nasal passages open enough to sleep. Since epi-Paleo? Haven’t used a nasal strip for a year. My nasal passages are clear, my esophagus is clear. I can just “feel” everything in my body has clear passages. It occurs to me that inflammation was causing all my pathways to narrow; now that it’s minimized, I breathe better, swallow food better, etc.
Still a work in progress: still have a leaky gut (from my latest labs…probiotics are my new best friend), still have vitamin B issues. I was eating SAD for 48 years; it’ll take more than a year or two to correct. That’s ok…I know now I’m doing the right thing.
So Bob…please post your story. I’m outraged at the communities that banned you.
@Primal Pam. I like that he got banned. It tells me he is asking the correct questions because the answers are not present. Many in the paleo community are trying to do the same to me. See when your asking the right questions the people get a tad bit nervous their franchise might be in danger.
Dr Kruse. Why did you choose arame as one of your best sea vegetables?
@Will for what it contains…….it has a lot of what paleo is missing for the brain specific nutrients in food form. You cant out supplement a sub optimal diet.
I like arame b/c it’s nice thin strands too. I get all kinds of seaweeds though…from the Asian store. 🙂
Sorry to all paleo when they miss out on seafood…it’s like they keep ‘glancing’ over it…and are so heavily focused on only meat like hunter-gatherer. But hunter-gatherer was only a later step in evolution. So that method of COURSE was superior to modern SAD, but you know how people try to explain away the short lived lives of hunter-gatherers? It’s always hard to answer that ‘elephant in the room’ of a question.
So no one looks at life span of first evolving humans…fed on sea FOOD…hmmm…
Also with coastal living (or even by a lake) it’s so much easier to catch food and you don’t have to worry about hunting and gathering all the time as in survival mode. You can be way more relaxed…more food…better quality of life. Interesting, yes?
It’s funny how when a ‘problem’ arises from a faulty premise. So I think in the beginning when they were looking at ‘sat fat = bad’ they just couldn’t explain some things…so they create a problem (instead of the solution they try to give) by saying ‘eat whole grains’. I don’t think they intended to mean eat whole grains at every second….but that’s how people ended up interpreting it as. Same with paleo…when people say ‘eat meat’…people get a mixed idea and think they need to eat 100 lbs of meat ‘just because’…but you don’t NEED 100 lbs…it just gets ridiculous on how things get interpreted.
Only with seafood have I been able to be the most satisfied. I don’t think I’m 100 % optimal just quite yet…I need a bit more time. I’m getting there, but being able to at least think clearer is a huge help. Let me tell you, getting rid of old neural pathways in addition to re-building new ones is tough! When certain situations can trigger old pathways, that’s when you know how well along your path to optimal is coming along. So I know that I still have a bit of a ways to go…but I will give myself credit and I know that I am always building more and more immunity. Soon though, these new thought processes will become habit/second nature.
Thanks, everyone.
@Zorica I really think after reading this you are going to really like BG 12.
Btw, I’m eager for BG 12! 🙂
1. I mind my light cycles
2. I eat epi-paleo
3. I use CT in the form of nature (swim in lake…even though it’s not quite ‘cold’ yet…)
I just came out of the pool at 65 degrees…….after a few consults. I am feeling refreshed and chemically reduced!
Dear Dr. Jack,
Are you involved in this? (from Tim Ferris):
The Manhattan Project to End Fad Diets
Posted: 12 Sep 2012 08:24 PM PDT
Today, a dream of mine came true.
Imagine what could be done if we had an X-men-like group of the world’s best scientists, independently funded and uninfluenced by industry, tackling the most important questions in nutrition?
Starting today, we have such a group: the Nutrition Science Initiative (NuSI).
I am thrilled to be a part of their Board of Advisors, alongside a diverse group of experts including David Berkowitz (Ziff Brothers Investments) and Nassim Nicholas Taleb (of Black Swan fame), among others.
http://nusi.org/
One of their goals is to end obesity. I think they need you.
Jack
@Jack I have not heard of them. Im glad somebody is going to do it. I know Peter Attia is supposed to be up to something with Taubes.
“I just came out of the pool at 65 degrees…….after a few consults. I am feeling refreshed and chemically reduced!”
I’ve been trying to decide on a signature on the forum…and never really thought of anything that appealed to me (even if I like CT or circadian cycles…I don’t know…) But this quote ‘chemically reduced’ really speaks to me.
My signature is: Stay chemically reduced, my friends!
@Bob “This is coming down to saving myself, and watching while loved ones, friends and neighbors sink with the good ship Paradigm.”
It makes one feel very lonely at times, doesn’t it?
Most people are carb addicted, unwilling to be different from the mob and unwilling to disbelieve the medical establishment with its scientific aura. Sad!
Gee, My own blog! Thanks Dr. Kruse …….really, thanks. I wrote up my personal paleo testimony, but trash-canned it.
I was raised in a church which I consider a cult. Meetings in this religion encourage personal testimonies of faith-based healing. That’s a cult. There’s no shortage of carb-opioid addled detractors from paleolithic diet concepts frothing to paint this growing movement as nothing but a religious cult.
Yes, Zorica et al. I agree. Non-paleo friends and family try to rationalize away paleo diet successes. When a paleo concept improves health detractors tend to say it’s all in our heads. When we explain the pathway science behind the improvements the detractors say something like “Well that’s just unproven theory”.
They can’t have it both ways. If it works then there must be a solid principle behind it. If there’s a solid principle then it must work. I’m practical. When I have a problem I try stuff that ought to work. When something works I use it, and I try to discover why it works.
I’m sure lots of paleo dieters get bolstered by personal testimony. But paleo success isn’t just about positive results. It’s about the science which produces the results. The science has many pathways, and many reactions within the pathways. Dr. Kruse is the best I’ve seen at introducing the science. I’m a big fan.
Even if there are substantial pauses between Jack’s blog entries, the success of this format speaks for itself. I may decide to submit a guest blog about a particular pathway, but that’s basically what I’ve been doing in these discussions.
Again. Thanks.
Bob I was asked to slow down post the blogs because they are too much for them to swallow too quickly so I have. I posted BG 12 now and I bet you like that one……lots more to chew upon.
Apple is selling 23 iphone 5’s per second…….I am now wonder how many brain tumors and other neolithic diseases this will create in 20-40 years? I wonder how many epithelial cancers will be created by this? I wonder how many more obese will be created? Every 10% increase in technology spending increases national obesity by 1% on avg. The public health implications of modern life are just staggering when you actually ponder what is happening now, and how our brains are wired to deal with fake light.
@Jack NuSI is what Taubes and Attia were up to 🙂 They are part of it. http://nusi.org/about-us/a-letter-from-the-founders/#.UFqTSYVK6Hs
You probably already know this by now but for everyone else who hasn’t looked it up yet 🙂
http://nusi.org/about-us/board-of-directors/#.UFqTcYVK6Hs
http://nusi.org/about-us/board-of-advisors/#.UFqTfoVK6Hs
http://nusi.org/about-us/meet-our-president/#.UFqTiYVK6Hs
Jonathan Swaringen Says: “NuSI is what Taubes and Attia were up to 🙂 They are part of it. http://nusi.org/about-us/a-letter-from-the-founders/#.UFqTSYVK6Hs”
“NuSI” seems to be a consortium of hand picked professionals from vaunted universities. I’m familiar only with the work of member Gary Taubes. Taubes helped advance the public awareness about carbohydrates begun by Dr. Robert Atkins. Taubes basic theory is that all carbohydrates become blood sugar, and limiting sugar ingestion in favor of fat ingestion will cure the obesity and insulin resistance problems plaguing modern society. I agree that carbohydrate elimination is a required first step, and that mainstream diet and medicine has not even taken this first step.
But diet and medical science have proceeded far past this first step. Carb curtailment is a treatment for elevated blood sugar. It does not eliminate the cause.
Insulin resistance and elevated blood sugar are caused by both sugar ingestion and opioid ingestion. “Carbs” contain these harmful sugars and opioids. Science shows there are wide disparities in the damage potential represented by specific sugars and opioids. So the science which these prestigious scientists are proposing has not only already been done, it has gone far past the level they are apparently proposing.
It would benefit this once great society if NuSI were able to change the federal guidelines to recommend a high fat, moderate animal protein, low carb diet, because current recommendations are contributing to our obesity and type 2 diabetes epidemics. It’s apparent from the position of Gary Taubes that NuSI’s goals will stop at carbohydrate curtailment. Revising these apparent goals to include current science seems prudent. But I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say that secretly NuSI goals stop at the positions which they have already established, the positions which they have vested interests in.
Thank you very much, Dr Kruse for yet another great session—you’re so generous sharing all of it with us! For the last 6 months I’ve been discovering more and more of your site.
If I may ask, are those glasses what I need to stay away from blue light after sunset, https://phoneticeyewear.com/technology ? Thank you again.