Wellness

Body + Mind + Energy + Emotion

When the elements of life are in balance, wellness happens naturally. It is normal to have an affinity towards some but not all of the elements of wellness. Wild Free Organic is here to guide you on your journey towards a balanced healthy lifestyle and provide new paths of exploration.

Reprograming your DNA

An important aspect of being human and overall health is electromagnetic. What that means is that humans interact with electric and magnetic fields bioelectrically. The resonant vibration of DNA to the strongest electromagnetic field frequencies is a key determiner of DNA signaling. By changing the electromagnetic environment of the body DNA expression can be optimized towards health.

DNA reprograming is not only possible, it’s a key evolutionary feature

An important aspect of being human and overall health is electromagnetic. What that means is that humans interact with electric and magnetic fields bioelectrically. The resonant vibration of DNA to the strongest electromagnetic field frequencies is a key determiner of DNA signaling. AKA which section of DNA is vibrating the most, attracting to it RNA and other transcribing molecules.

By changing the electromagnetic environment of the body DNA expression can be optimized towards health. This is still a very new understanding in science, and the best evidence that exists corroborating this effect comes from earthing and the cellular actions of herbs.

Learn more by watching my video below:

*Note - this page is under development

Earthing and the Earth’s Magnetic Field

What is Bioelectricity?

Herbs that Improve Bioelectricity

What’s the Evidence?

Stefan Burns 11/22/22 Stefan Burns 11/22/22

Fasting for Beginners

Fasting is the process of abstaining from all food, and by activating different aspects of human biology, fasting is an incredible healing tool that can be used to reduce inflammation throughout the body, lose weight, heal the gut, reset the microbiome, improve the immune system, and much more. Get started on the first foot with this beginners guide to fasting.

Article by Stefan Burns - Updated November 2022. Join the Wild Free Organic email newsletter! Stefan Burns YouTube

I have done my best to make this a complete guide on fasting for beginners. As part of a 10 year gut health journey to great gut health I have researched extensively into the gastrointestinal system, cellular biology, and human health, and I found through experimentation that fasting was incredibly effective in healing my gut, improving my digestion, and resetting my microbiome to work with me instead of against me. My complete advice on this subject of gut health and fasting is the Holistic Gut Health Guide. For everyone new to discovering fasting and gut health mindfulness, you will get started on the right foot with a foundation of good information with the guide below. Everything that I have written on fasting I have tried, and research fills in the rest in regards to disease states such as obesity and diabetes, the full reference list is at the end.

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Holistic Gut Health Guide eBook

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Together the digestive system and microbiome are the foundation of health from which everything else is dependent on.

The Holistic Gut Health Guide contains all the information you need to identify and understand the gastrointestinal and microbiome problems you may have while also providing you the most effective natural methods you can use to heal your gut. No gut health problems are unsolvable, give yourself every possible advantage along your gut health journey by reading an implementing the advice shared in the Holistic Gut Health Guide.

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If you haven’t discovered already, a lot of what is written on the internet is by robots, so welcome to my authentic human website backed by common sense and forward looking science. Based on the popularity of my Use Fasting to Reset the Digestive System article, I know this is going to help so many of you which is very exciting! Welcome!

Fasting: Abstaining from food or drink

Water fasting is not consuming any food or caloric beverages, and dry fasting is not consuming any liquids. Dry fasting can be done in different ways, and as it removes the vital resource of water, it is not for beginners and won’t be discussed in this article. Everything written below is for water fasting.

Fasting helps with (1):

Digestive upset and gut health problems
Weight-loss and excess body fat
Autoimmune issues and active infections
Metabolic conditions like diabetes
Neurodegenerative problems along with mental fatigue and brain fog

Fasting is able to help with most heath problems because of how it reduces inflammation throughout the body through the activation of autophagy. There are many possible reasons you have heard of fasting and why you may find it of interest, and it’s beyond the scope of this beginners guide to explore every avenue. Instead we will look at how fasting benefits health by examining some of the universal health actions it promotes, discuss the most popular applications for fasting, and cover the important considerations that need to be made with fasting.

This most common reason people find initial interest in fasting is for losing body fat. Since fasting removes all caloric inputs and forces the body to metabolize body fat, fasting is an effective weight loss technique. Cyclical weight loss is typically not healthy, and a better way to consider fasting than as a weight-loss tool is as a metabolism-enhancing tool. A number on a scale is not as important as a healthy metabolism. Typically having a healthy metabolism means you’re at your perfect body fat percentage and weight, as fat loss and having a healthy body composition is causative from metabolism, but misalignment between the two can occur at times and therefore this is an important mindset distinction to make if seeking best long term success.

Fasting for Metabolic Health

Metabolism: The near infinite number of life-sustaining reactions that occur within the body cellularly every second

Having a healthy metabolism means you have all the normal components needed to complete all the metabolic reactions required for optimal health every day. The largest component of metabolism comes down to human thermodynamics, but there are other pieces that are useful, like using herbs which contain compounds that beneficially facilitate and stabilize chemical reactions throughout various parts of the body.

Fasting is so useful for improving metabolic health because it changes genetic expression. Activating the regenerative state of autophagy requires the stimulation of those parts of your DNA that govern the process, and as DNA expression changes so to does cellular protein production. Mitochondrial function improves, and in the first two days of fasting you often experience an energy surge as the body’s energetic burden from digestion has been lifted. As the gut regenerates, future periods of food consumption will yield greater metabolic resources through improved digestion, the result being better metabolism and being in a better fat burning environment. More energy, resources, and healthy connective tissues means more activity and greater NEAT (2).

Fasting for Weight Loss

Approximately 75% of adults aged 20 and over are overweight or obese. The obesity rate for this age group in the USA is 40% (3). For anyone in either of these categories, the most effective way to improve metabolic function. which is the primary object over simply weighing less, is to improve body composition. Shedding body fat and increasing lean body mass (muscle) does this most effectively. Fasting reduces body fat percentage quickly and can be done safely with proper knowledge and experience, and with proper refeeding and exercise afterwards, fasting has no discernable effect on lean body mass in my experience. Lean body mass have even been shown to improve with repeated bouts of a calorie restricted “fasting mimicking” diet (4).

Let’s say you have twenty pounds (10 kg) to lose. An effective way to lose that weight in order to improve metabolic health and overall wellness is to complete a 48 hour fast once a week, with a 2 meal a day intermittent fasting schedule in-between. This is a 5:2 schedule:

Five days 16 hour intermittent fasting with a daily eight hour eating window
Two days of fasting (i.e. a 48 hour fast)

That weight could also be lost rapidly in a few weeks or a months time if a good diet is eaten and an overall caloric deficit is maintained. That weight could also be lost over time though not as quickly with a daily intermittent fasting or one meal a day (OMAD) schedule. The most rapid way to lose weight is to not eat for 3+ days, and many people who are overweight or obese are successful in multiday/seven day/10+ day fasts. More important than losing excess body fat once is keeping it off, and thus I think it better to take shorter more frequent fasts while improving diet quality in-between than it is to do a mega-long fast and then possibly binge afterwards, which is just another form of yo-yo dieting but riskier.

Croatia, 2021. I was swimming a lot and practicing yoga. Diet of rice, beans, tofu, eggs, and abundant fruits and vegetables. Occasional intermittent fasting as guided by intuition and gut health.

How to Activate Brown Fat

There are two main types of fat in the body. White fat is metabolically inactive, and these stores of calories do not activate easily. Brown fat is metabolically active and generates body heat. White fat is long term calorie storage and can accumulate to dangerous levels that increase risk of disease and all-cause mortality (5). Brown fat on the other hand has active energy in-flows and out-flows. Cold therapy activates and increases brown fat, and having a greater brown fat percentage is correlated with improved metabolic health (6), better heat regulation, and less energy volatility.

As the phytochemicals of herbs like flavonoids have metabolism boosting effects, it’s possible that the metabolism of these plant compounds by the liver and/or microbiome also stimulates brown fat creation and usage, most likely due to selective DNA activation.

Fasting also stimulates brown fat simply because it is advantageous. Brown fat can be activated for energy needs faster than white fat, and a healthy metabolism can shift between carbohydrate metabolism to brown fat metabolism to white fat metabolism (if any exist) with few interruptions in-between. As body composition and metabolism improves, the body is better able to manage its energy requirements and white fat is selectively reduced in favor of keeping a tighter budget in brown fat and if physically training, bigger muscles which can store greater amounts of glycogen.

Eating a higher-fat diet in-between fasts composed of unoxidized fats, primarily monounsaturated fats like you receive from olive oil and avocados, will broadly improve fat metabolism and therefore brown fat activation.

Fasting for Diabetes

Diabetes: Dysfunctional glucose processing and utilization which causing excess blood sugar

As fasting improves blood glucose utilization, it can be useful for those with diabetes, but care should be taken to avoid dangerous moments of too high or too low blood sugar. If you have diabetes please consult with a health practitioner knowledgeable in fasting before scheduling any long fasts. There are two types of diabetes, type 1 and type 2.

Type 1 Diabetes: An autoimmune condition where insulin-producing cells in the pancreas are destroyed by the bodies immune system. About 10% of people who have diabetes have Type 1. Often diagnosed in children and young adults.

Type 2 Diabetes: The body doesn’t make enough insulin and/or the body’s cells don’t respond normally to insulin. Type 2 diabetes occurs most often in middle-aged and older people.

Diabetes and its mismanagement once developed has serious consequences, being stressful much of the body, including the heart, kidneys, and nervous system. As fasting helps with autoimmune conditions and also the normalization of pancreatic function and blood glucose levels, fasting can help type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

If performed safely and with many safety fallbacks, like having food always available on hand, fasting can be useful for diabetics to improve their condition and overall health. By clearing the digestive system of food, or at least by spacing the time out between meals more, fasting relieves stress on the pancreas and allows for insulin levels and blood glucose sensitivity to normalize back to optimal. For those with diabetes, intermittent fasting can reduce insulin requirements and aid in weight loss (7).

If you begin to notice increased energy volatility characterized by too low or too high blood sugar levels, fasting is an effective way to reset the functioning of the pancreas. Insulin is the main anabolic hormone of the human body, and it’s only produced by the pancreas, but this only accounts for about 1% of pancreatic functioning. The other duties of the pancreas that make up 99% of its purpose is secreting pancreatic juice and digestive enzymes into the first part of the small intestine known as the duodenum, which neutralizes stomach acid and aids in the breakdown of food and it’s digestion. And its fasting’s digestion improving effect which is really quite amazing.

Not eating to eat better, who would have thought?

Fasting for Gut Health

There are many ways to relieve stress on the digestive system, from adopting a liquid diet to removing intolerant foods from the diet via an elimination diet. There is no question though that the simplest and most effective way to reduce digestive stress and inflammation is to simply not eat. The epithelial layer of the digestive system regenerates about 20% per day, and this rate is increased even further when the regular stress of digesting food is alleviated via fasting.

That’s right, it is stressful to eat! Eating and digesting requires the production and secretion of many different chemicals from a bunch of organs like the liver, gallbladder, and pancreas. The immune system has to be active to ensure nothing unwanted penetrates through the gut-blood barrier into the blood stream. Digestion requires energy, which is why eating a big meal often induces sleepiness, but the reason we do it is because if we eat nutritious foods we get more out of digestion than we put into it. Fundamentally that’s how life exists.

For some people this isn’t the case though, either because their diet is such a poor nutrient quality that the body puts more into digestion than it receives out of it, or the body does its best to digest food but other issues are causing malabsorption of nutrients, like diarrhea, damaged/destroyed villi, or poorly functional glands which fail to release adequate enzymes and biles vital to proper digestion. An “easy” fix for these problems is to fast.

Evolutionarily it’s in our physiology to fast, it’s another “default mode network” the body that has developed over millions of years of evolution. In fact the body wants you to fast every now and then, it’s the most efficient way to active autophagy, the cellular process that repairs and regenerates the tissues of the body. Fasting also changes the composition of the microbiome quickly, an important aspect of proper thorough food digestion. If you fast off a meal for a day or two, your microbiome will be better at digesting those particular foods than they were when you first ate them.

The most obvious effect that fasting has though is that it reduces inflammation in the gut.

Fasting for Gut Inflammation

The role of the digestive system is to take food, which is made up of animal, plant, or fungal cells which contain complex macronutrients like starches, long-chain fatty acids, and protein chains, and break everything down into the smallest most usable and absorbable compounds. Food is often first broken down and made easier to digest through cooking, and chewing mechanically breaks food down into smaller components. From there stomach acid and digestive enzymes erode and break apart the molecular bonds of food, transporters are utilized to facilitate certain chemical reactions, and as you can imagine the digestive system becomes a very busy environment chemically. Within the chaos of digestion there is an order, but there is no avoiding the inflammation created from the digestive process.

When you are in good health, the inflammation created during digestion is easily mitigated and is no cause for concern, but if a health imbalance exists, then gut-based inflammation can tip the body over into a state of over-stress, which isn’t good over the long term. You may be interesting in fasting as a way to heal the gastrointestinal system and reduce gut inflammation, and fasting is very effective in achieving these objectives. All of chapter 8 of the Holistic Gut Health Guide is how fasting is useful for gut health.

Fasting is one of the best ways to repair the gut because the absence of food activates widespread autophagy.

Autophagy: Body’s cellular recycling system that processes the reusing of old and damaged cell parts

The necessary inflammation of the gut causes the cells of the digestive system to experience rapid turnover, with intestinal digestive linings experiencing about a 20% daily turnover rate. By strongly activating autophagy, fasting increases the digestive systems regenerative systems and cellular resources are better recycled and reused, which places less of a resource drain on metabolism.

It takes time for food to transit through the digestive system, and food spreads out in the digestive system after eating, so the longer the fast and the more time is allowed for food to completely clear out and pass, the more effective the anti-inflammatory and regenerative effects of fasting.

Drinking zero-calorie herbal teas aid greatly in the inflammation-reducing and gut healing fasting process. Well-known and safe herbs like chamomile and dandelion contain abundant antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial flavonoids and other phytochemicals, and drinking a 1:1 ratio chamomile flower and dandelion root tea throughout a fast and on normal eating days improves digestion, quells excess gut inflammation, and helps shift the microbiome towards symbiosis and away from destructive pathogenesis. Endotoxin-producing pathogens can be a large potential source of gut inflammation, and fasting helps to limit their presence in the digestive system.

Herbal Teas and Fasting for Gut Health

Fasting for Microbiome Reset

The microorganisms that live in the human digestive system have a very short life-cycle and cannot survive nutrient deprivation as long you can. By removing food from the system, fasting influences the composition of the microbiome.

Most of the microbiome lives in the large intestine, which food begins to reach at about 6+ hours of digestion. Food is then further digested by the microbiome and body in the large intestine for 24-36 hours typically. To change the composition and diversity of the microbiome in a substantial way with fasting, a complete emptying of the large intestine and a subsequent zero-digestion period are required, which necessitates a longer 48+ hour fast.

Still it’s been found that short fasts, like the 16 to 20 hour fasts common to intermittent fasting can also favorably shift the microbiome over time (8), especially when paired with favorable dietary changes like the consumption of more fiber. Intermittent fasting also helps the body achieve better circadian rhythm through modification of the gut microbiome (9).

There are two main strategies for improving the gut microbiome, and the first is to diversify the microbiome with more symbiotic microbes and to support their growth, and the second is to select against and reduce pathogenic microbe populations. Most effective is to pair both strategies together, and if this is done then it’s possible to shift the microbiome towards greater symbiosis in a significant way quite quickly, and fasting does this effectively especially when paired with certain herbal remedies which you can learn more about with the article on the other side of this button.

How to Restore a Healthy Microbiome

Fasting for Parasite Removal

Fasting is an effective way to reduce and eliminate parasites from the gastrointestinal system as it removes their primary food source which is what you eat, while instead you draw from your fat reserves. If parasites are a serious problem, only a very long fast 7+ day fast will completely eliminate them, so fasting is best paired with a parasite removal protocol.

This can be accomplished in a number of ways. You can fast for a period of time, say 2 days, and then in-between each fast you run an herbal parasite cleanse. If you’re overall healthy and wanting to make a faster more dramatic change, then you can fast and take the anti-parasite herbs at the same time. For both options, I recommend drinking herbal tea throughout the fasting and feeding periods as it will help regenerate the gut, favorably improve the microbiome, improve energy metabolism, and beneficially activate the immune system. A perfect tea for this would be a 1:1:1 ratio blend of chamomile flowers, dandelion root, and peppermint leaves.

The stronger anti-parasite herbs are oregano (specifically oregano oil), clove, black walnut hull, and wormwood. A good premixed supplement I used before which worked great was SCRAM, and I followed those dosing instructions while also taking oregano oil twice a day. To learn more about parasites and parasite removal, you can read my following article.

How to Best Remove Parasites

Fasting for Immune Health

Beyond weight loss and gut health, fasting has been shown to have powerful effects on the immune system. The majority of immune system activity is centered around the gut, as vigilant defense against pathogens and unwanted compounds from entering into the blood stream is needed. When the immune defense requirements of the gastrointestinal system decrease due to less food transiting through (which also means less microbial growth at that moment), the immune system is able to regenerate, recharge, and reset its functions.

Case reports abound from medically supervised fasting clinics of people who have seen complete remission of an autoimmune disease by undergoing long multi-day water fasts (10), usually exceeding two weeks in length. Autoimmune diseases are characterized by the immune system mistakenly attacking parts of the body, and this destructive cellular behavior has the potential to be eliminated and the immune system reset towards normal function through fasting.

Severe calorie restriction (50% and greater) and fasting changes immune function by altering the distribution of immune cells throughout the body, with memory T-cells for example accumulating in bone marrow as a protective mechanism (11). The adaptive immune system enhances survival in the face of infection because it allows the host to rapidly respond to and control infections as they arise. Immunological memory enhances this protective ability especially if new infections are the same or similar in nature to infections previously experienced.

Fasting in effect regenerates the immune system to a more youthful state that is better at fighting pathogens and cancer and less likely to turn on healthy cells of the body.

One reason appetite typically decreases during a cold, flu, or covid is because of the immune-boosting effect that calorie restriction and fasting has. By activating autophagy, the body is better able to fight infections and repair the cellular damage caused by them.

Fasts of different lengths have different effects on the immune system, so if you are interested in fasting to improve immune health, I recommend starting with intermittent fasting, and then trying OMAD, and then trying a 2-3 day fast, making careful self-observations during each fast of how you feel and how your symptoms improve (if you have any).

If you have a serious autoimmune condition and want to try a longer water fast to help with the condition, contact a fasting clinic near you and consult with your health practitioner.

The Simplest Types of Fasting

Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent fasting is the most popular type of fasting, typically scheduled as sixteen hours of fasting followed by an open eight hour feeding window (16:8). This ratio of fasting to feeding can be shortened to and 12:12 ratio or lengthened to a 20:4 ratio, with the longer intermittent fasts taking the body deeper into autophagy.

It’s easier to maintain caloric balance or even a caloric surplus with intermittent fasting than it is with multi-day fasts. Intermittent fasting is useful for athletes who want to improve their insulin sensitivity, hormone profiles, and improve their digestion, all while still increasing in strength, stamina, and possibly lean body mass.

Intermittent fasting is the easiest form for fasting to do for the average person, and overtime it can dramatically transform one’s health.

Intermittent fasting is most effective done consistently day after day, and the daily increase in autophagy intermittent fasting stimulates as compared to a normal 3-4 meals & snacks a day eating schedule is helpful for healing the gut, reducing inflammation throughout the body, and improving energy metabolism.

OMAD Fasting (One Meal a Day)

Fasting for twenty-four hours is also known as one meal a day or OMAD fasting. The most common type of OMAD fasting is eating dinner every night, though it’s not uncommon to do breakfast or lunch OMAD. OMAD is similar to intermittent fasting in that food is still eaten every day, and OMAD is typically done consecutively or for a certain number of days per week.

Since OMAD takes the body deeper into a fasted state of autophagy across twenty-four hours than intermittent fasting, it’s a good way to begin experimenting with longer fasts and to examine one’s relationship with eating behaviors. Physiological hunger is quite different than a psychological food craving, and if struggling to make healthy dietary choices, consistent OMAD fasting is a great way to reset psychological eating behaviors and patterns.

The gut-brain axis is beneficially altered with OMAD and each fast will have you become better at identifying when you’re truly physically hungry or when you simply have a psychological food craving.

48 Hour Fasting

Fasting for longer than 24 hours reduces the body’s glucose sugars stored in muscle cells and the liver, and around the 48 hour mark is usually when all the stored glucose is depleted in the body which forces the body to shift into ketosis.

Ketosis: Metabolic process that converts fatty acids into energy molecules known as ketones.

The brain runs exclusively on simple sugars, or if those are not available, ketones. When carbohydrates are in short supply, either from fasting or from eating a high-fat ketogenic diet, the body begins producing ketones to keep all the metabolic systems running smoothly. Some people with neurodegenerative diseases see a massive reduction in symptoms and their disease state when their brain runs on ketones instead of simple sugars.

Just as fasting is another default mode network for the body, switching from sugar metabolism to ketone metabolism is another metabolic state change that can be used to improve health and diagnose health issues. A 48-hour fast is useful because it takes the body deep into autophagy, deeper than most people have ever gone in their lives except maybe during a bad illness like the flu (hint hint a protective mechanism from widespread viral inflammation and damage). Forty eight hours of fasting really provides the digestive system time to rest and regenerate by greatly reducing stress and takes the body to the edge of or into ketosis.

A 48-hour fast is short enough to be easily completed by most people without serious health issues as long as they have the willpower. a 2 day fast doesn’t require too much planning, and it’s also long enough to bring about noticeable differences in digestion, energy, and weight. Undergoing a 48 hour fast allows for valuable health observations to be made on digestion, metabolism, mental health, and more.

3 Day Fasting

A longer 72-hour fast will take the body fully into ketosis and the autophagy healing effects are even stronger than they are for shorter fasts. It’s recommended to break a 72 hour fast with a small fat-heavy meal, like a mixed green salad with avocado, as this reduces the shock of reintroducing food to the digestive system while also keeping fat metabolism high and ketosis activated. If a fast that has induced ketosis is broken this way, you have a choice with subsequent meals to stay in ketosis or revert back to carbohydrate metabolism.

Your experience may vary, but I have found through personal experience that I don’t need to concern myself greatly with electrolytes during a 48 hour fast, but that electrolytes becomes more important with a 72 hour fast.

Fasting and Electrolytes

Electrolytes such as sodium, potassium, chloride, magnesium, calcium, phosphate, and bicarbonates are required for the basic functions of life like transmitting nerve signals and keeping cells electrically neutral. We derive electrolytes from our our food and drinks, and high or low electrolyte imbalances are health disruptive and can be life-threatening (12).

By removing all food from the metabolic equation, fasting changes electrolyte inflows, outflows, and overall ion balances in the body. For intermittent or OMAD fasting, there is generally little need to concern oneself with electrolytes as food containing electrolytes is still consumed daily. Making sure you acquire sufficient electrolytes and in the right ratios is important during longer fast.

I have fasted many times for 48 hours without taking any electrolytes with zero problems, so “wiggle room” exists. Your experience may vary, and it is better to do the following if fasting for greater than 24 hours:

Add a pinch of sea salt to the water you drink. Sea salt contains an abundant assortment of salts and ions, like potassium (K) and magnesium (Mg), whereas land-derived table salt contains just sodium (Na) and chloride (Cl) ions.
Drinking herbal teas throughout a fast will provide the body a natural and varied assortment of electrolytes. Dandelion root is especially good for this as it contains abundant micronutrients (13)

Pre-made electrolyte fasting mixes exist, often called snake juice, and can be useful if used properly, but I urge caution in using them because they are often dosed incorrectly which results in symptoms like cramps and sudden diarrhea (as you’ll hear from the “never trust a fart” fasting crowd). Gross but worth knowing if you’re going to try fasting so you can avoid that embarrassing situation.

Breaking a Fast (refeeding)

I’ll conclude this fasting for beginners guide with how to break a fast, otherwise known as the refeed.

Fasting is amazing and incredibly healing if done safely and intelligently, and at some point every fast must come to an end. When it becomes more healthy to eat than to continue fasting is the hard limit.

The meals you eat before and after a fast have a dramatic effect on the ease and quality of the fast undertaken. For example, fasting off of a highly processed cheeseburger will be a much lesser experience with greater food cravings, energy volatility, and reduced cellular regeneration, than fasting off a meal consisting of vegetables, pulses (beans, lentils, etc), and a whole grain like rice. Fasting off of cake would be even worse! As it takes about 8-12 hours for food to reach the large intestine, and food can remain there for processing by the body and microbiome for 36-72 hours, the content and quality of the food eaten before a fast has a big impact on how easy a fast is.

A healthy microbiome is able to metabolize indigestible fiber and phytochemicals like flavonoids into short-chain fatty acids and beneficial secondary metabolites respectively. Fasts up to 72 hours in length does not eliminate all resource acquisition from the digestive system, it just encourages complete and thorough digestion of the remaining food while simultaneously shifting towards greater and greater activation of body fat for pure energetic needs.

A meal high in fiber and beneficial plant phytochemicals will beneficially remodel the microbiome towards symbiosis throughout the course of the fast, and then refeeding after the fast further effects the course of development of the microbiome. The final meal before a fast should consist of organic whole foods with an emphasis on vegetables, and the meal breaking a fast should consist of much the same.

For example with a 48 hour fast following this advice ensures that energy levels remain relatively stable during the fast, electrolytes are not in short supply, the microbiome shifts favorably towards greater symbiosis, and that food cravings are avoided.

This may be TMI, but I’ve personally experienced during 48 to 72 hour fasts that the last meal I eat is able to be processed down and absorbed to almost nothing if you have a healthy microbiome and the meal eaten was of a high quality. What this means is that instead of a having a bowel movement of normal volume from that meal, you may experience a much smaller bowel movement, or it’s possible that it doesn’t occur at all because your digestive system work together over the course of 2-3 days to absorb everything. Yes this is possible and really reshapes your understanding of how much food you really need to eat daily, and how many nutrients are wasted everyday, via the typical diet an eating schedule.

Get Fasting

Life has evolved to be adaptable to periods of nutrient scarcity, and fasting is not only useful but necessary from time to time. Optimal heath and longevity requires there to be a balance between anabolism (growth) and catabolism (repair). Over consumption of processed foods in addition to deleterious modern lifestyle factors has led to many of the health problems of the present day.

Fasting is an elegant solution to many of the health problems common today and it’s as old as time. Fasting allows you to experience a greater range of what’s possible biologically: from digestion efficiency improvements, to better metabolism, an enhanced immune system, and improved cognitive function.

Developing an intuition around knowing when to feed and when to fast is an important part of the heath journey and will help you to achieve your best wellness. I hope you find fasting as useful as I have, it has helped me tremendously in improving my gut health, once was my biggest health concern but now I navigate it with ease, and anytime I have the rare gut heath flareup the first thing I do is to begin fasting, whether its just an intermittent fast or I discover a 48 hour fast is needed or a longer period of OMAD fasting is beneficial. Once you have completed a few fasts for each of the primary methods 16 to 72 hours in length, fasting becomes a reliable tool you can use at any time to improve your health so long as it serves you and can be done safely.

I have written a lot more on fasting on this website, you can view the other articles here, or read chapter 8 of the Holistic Gut Health Guide.

Essential Oils for Acne

Phytochemical-rich essential oils combat acne and aid the skin’s ability to regenerate, Simplify your skin care routine and improve your skin health with essential oils.

Article by Stefan Burns - Updated November 2022. Join the Wild Free Organic email newsletter! Stefan Burns YouTube

Widespread acne is a sign of a health imbalance. It mainly originates from hormonal imbalances, poor diet, low sleep, stress, or a combination of the above.

Acne: Lesions in the skin filled with puss, a mixture of oils, white blood cells, and pathogens

To overcome consistent acne requires fixing the source of the problem, and aiding the bodies ability to clear out the infection and heal the skin expedites the process.

Essential oils from plants like peppermint contain powerful antioxidant and antimicrobial compounds (1) that aid the skins ability to heal and regenerate.

Skin is healthiest when it receives the least amount of contact with chemically reactive substances. A lot of modern body products oxidize and damage instead of support and heal due to the instability of some of the compounds they use.

A pimple is a hotspot of free-radical activity, the immune systems way to clean everything up, and applying essential oils to these micro-injuries reinforces immune activity and stimulates cellular regeneration. Cold therapy and earthing helps with skin problems too.

In my experience the best essential oils for acne are peppermint and tea tree (2). They smell nice, can be used directly (trial this first before widespread usage), and are relatively inexpensive.

You can purchase organic essental oils ate fair prices through Mountain Rose Herbs. I recommend their peppermint essential oil, their tea tree essential oil, vetiver essential oil for aromatherapy, and blue chamomile essential oil for muscle soreness, sleep, and lucid dreaming

Reducing the skin care routine to essential oils and aloe vera has saved me a lot of money and my skin health has never been better.

Skin care is made out to be more complex than it is. Treat your skin with respect, splash it with cold water and sunlight from time to time, and use minimal natural products.

Essential oils are also very useful in underarm care, acting as a natural deodorant and armpit microbiome and lymph node cleanser.

Underrarm Care Complete Guide

My elimination of most acne is mostly in thanks to great gut health, of which I share everything I’ve learned about in the Holistic Gut Health Guide.

sale

Holistic Gut Health Guide eBook

$12.95 $18.95

Together the digestive system and microbiome are the foundation of health from which everything else is dependent on.

Purchase

Improving microbiome symbiosis and diversity is a key aspect to healing and managing acne (3). In all things health make sure to consider the state of your microbiome.

With positive thoughts and consistency clear skin is possible!

References:

Tsai M, Wu C, Lin T, Lin W, Huang Y, Yang C. Chemical composition and biological properties of essential oils of two mint species. Trop J Pharm Res. 2013;12(4):577-582.
Winkelman WJ. Aromatherapy, botanicals, and essential oils in acne. Clinics in Dermatology. 2018;36(3):299-305.
Lee, Byun, Kim. Potential role of the microbiome in acne: a comprehensive review. JCM. 2019;8(7):987.

Stefan Burns 8/25/22 Stefan Burns 8/25/22

Earthing - Connect to the Earth and Heal

Are you electron deficient? Getting into contact with the Earth by "earthing" allows the human body to equalize in charge to the Earth's surface electric potential and is radically transformative for overall health and wellness. With the right know-how and tools, earthing is easy to reincorporate into one's lifestyle, improving cardiovascular, digestive, and cognitive health.

Article by Stefan Burns - Updated August 2022. Join the Wild Free Organic email newsletter!

There is a natural, free, and non-invasive health and wellness practice that exists that provides you the most benefits for the least amount of work of any holistic wellness practice that I know of.

This wellness practice, known as earthing or grounding, is as old as time, and recently thanks to the determination of a few resourceful people it’s been rediscovered from a modern scientific perspective.

Earthing is as simple as placing your bare feet on some grass or going for a swim in the ocean.

With earthing you will experience significant changes in a very subtle way. Seems like a paradox but that’s the best way to describe the effects that happen when you begin grounding often. Consistently reconnecting with the Earth’s natural energy restores to the body a vital element largely absent in your life (unless you’re already grounding often 👏).

Your bodies bioelectric system which controls every cellular function operates best when connected to the Earth’s electric field regularly, and if you ground yourself often you will experience a complete physiological and psychological renewal from your DNA up.

Earthing is one of the easiest things you can do for your health that will create more more vitality in your life, and without any negative side effects. Earthing regulates the master bioelectric switch board that controls inflammation, pain, DNA expression, nervous system activity, and so much more.

Put simply, connect to the Earth and heal. In this article we’ll discuss what earthing is, how earthing benefits human bioelectricity, earthing’s numerous health benefits, the geophysics of earthing, and methods of incorporating earthing into your everyday lifestyle.

How Earthing Affects Human Bioelectricity

While it helps to understand how earthing works in a complete sense by examining the geophysics of the Earth’s global electric circuit (covered in the geophysics section), we’ll start with how connecting to the earth affects human bioelectricity. It’s how earthing changes the functioning of the human bioelectrical system that provides it its many and sometimes miraculous health benefits.

We are Electrical Beings

The Earth and the human body are both electrically conductive. What this means is that negatively charged electrons can move easily through both. The Earth is conductive because of it’s mineral content, hydrosphere, and ionosphere, and the human body is conductive because we are made up of mostly water, have numerous electrolytes in our body, and have dedicated cellular structures like neurons and connective tissues which easily conduct electricity. Because of this we are strongly influenced by our external electrical environment. Want to measure the activity of the nervous system? Perform a simple skin conductance test. Some of the bodies most complex systems can be accurately measured in their functioning by testing simple properties like skin conductance or heart rate variability. The relationship between biology and electromagnetism goes very deep,

The human bioelectrical system starts with DNA, the blueprint and building blocks of life, and then works its way up to larger structures like endocannabinoid receptors, cell membranes, neurons, and interstitial connective tissues. The largest expression of the human bioelectrical system is the heart, brain, and human biofield (in spiritual terms, the aura).

All life evolved in the varying electromagnetic fields of the Earth and cosmos at large, from the Earth’s global electric circuit to natural energy fields like the Schumann resonances.

The Schumann Resonances - What are they?

As life evolved for millions of years saturated in these energy fields, its interactions with them became increasingly complex, at which point we reach Homo sapiens (us!), one of the most bioelectrically advanced species on the planet.

For example it appears our brain evolved to transmit to and receive information from a worldwide energy field which Carl Jung dubbed the Collective Unconscious. Our bioelectrical systems evolved for more than just ensuring the proper functioning of our body but also to connect all of humanity over space-time at the speed of light, pretty cool huh?

How to Connect your Brain to the Schumann Resonances

I lay this out because I want to impress upon you some of the amazing complexities of human bioelectricity, and how if the bioelectrical system is functioning properly, how optimizing its functioning can help us achieve amazing accomplishments. It’s the status of the bioelectrical system that determines whether one can perform incredible feats of athleticism or transcend to higher states of consciousness.

Without regularly grounding to the Earth the human bioelectrical system can never operate to its greatest potential, and some metaphysical evidence for this is that grounding can increase lucid dreaming and ESP abilities.

The Heart is the Core of the Bioelectrical System

Every heartbeat is a contraction of the heart muscle generated by an intrinsically produced electrical signal from specialized cardiac cells. This signal is measurable via an electrocardiogram (ECG) and each heartbeat also produces an nanotesla strength (nT) magnetic field that’s measurable with specialized magnetometers.

What’s recently been scientifically discovered is that the heart functions much better when grounded to the Earth. Most people know of a “ground” as a conductive object (typically an iron rod) that is driven into the earth in order to absorb or dissipate electrical charge, allowing what ever is connected to the ground to remain at the same electrical potential as the Earth. Put another way, anytime two conductive objects make contact, electrons flow from where they are abundant to where they aren't abundant, which equalizes both objects to each other. In a nutshell that's earthing, it’s simply an electric equalization to the Earth.

The heart, just like any modern electrical appliance, likewise also benefits from being grounded to the relatively stable electrical potential of the Earth. How the body operates from DNA expression all the way to each heartbeat and your brainwaves is strongly influenced by the internal bioelectrical environment of the body, and when the Earth’s stabilizing electrical reference point is present, the bioelectrical system operates better with less problems.

One way earthing has been qualitatively measured to improve the functioning of the heart is by how it improves heart rate variability.

Heart Rate Variability (HRV): The variation in the amount of time between heartbeats.

Depending on a variety of factors, most notably your breathing, the time in-between heartbeats increases and decreases over time. HRV is the most accurate predictor of sudden death and is a very good measure of stress. When the time variation between heartbeats is low, then the cardiac system is performing poorly as compared to when HRV is high.

In addition to earthing, your mental and emotional status influences HRV.

CC - McCraty R. The Energetic Heart. HeartMath Institute; 2003

By taking your rubber/plastic insulating shoes off and walking barefoot on a natural surface like a grass lawn, dirt, or rock, or by going for a swim in a body of water (the saltier the better), the entire body grounds to the electric potential of the earth due to the movement of free electrons in the body. With the body neutralized of erroneous charges, the heart is able to function better and heartbeats become coherent and regular in their pattern like shown in the graphic above.

Earthing Improves Energy Circulation

Most people live highly insulated from the Earth’s natural conductive environment. They wear insulating plastic and rubber shoes, they live and work in buildings elevated from the earth often made with insulating materials like wood and plastic, and they sleep in comfy beds with big fluffy sheets. Most people are disconnected and “Earth starved”.

More evidence for this comes in the fact that the sole of the foot contains about 1300 nerve endings per inch, one of the highest nerve densities anywhere on the entire human body. Our feet are big conductive electrical paddles meant to regularly be in contact with the conductive surface of the Earth as we go about our day, and this used to be the case up till the advent of modern human society.

Connecting to the Earth often reduces electrical imbalances in the body and improves energy circulation. Anytime you are grounded you don’t carry a built-up charge, and it’s electrical charges in the body that determine a lot of things such as inflammation, the activity of the nervous system, pain and much more. Built-up charges in parts of the body inhibit the easy flow of bioelectric energy, which disrupts overall health and wellness.

Earthing Health Benefits

As a holistic health method earthing helps the body in the ways it needs and isn't necessarily directable. That said earthing commonly helps with a wide variety of conditions and can be employed daily to help with symptom management and also to heal the underlying causal problems.

The human bioelectrical system is the base layer that influences and controls nearly every every aspect of health, and earthing are we evolved to do stabilizes the bioelectric system to the Earth’s surface electric field. As part of our evolutionary heritage, earthing has notable cardiovascular, cognitive, nervous system, digestive, hormonal, and physical health benefits.

Earthing Cardiovascular Benefits

Earthing improves circulation by reducing blood viscosity to its normal level. Red blood cells carry a negative surface charge so they are repelled from one another and don’t clump. The greater the positive charge that builds in the body by staying insulated from the Earth’s negative potential, the weaker the negative surface charge of red blood cells, known as zeta potential. How earthing improves zeta potential is one of its biggest effects.

To preventing clumping of red blood cells, blood viscosity is reduced and the heart has an easier job pumping blood throughout the body and into the small blood vessels and very narrow capillaries. By improving blood electrodynamics, earthing reduces high blood pressure and reduces inflammation. Earthing has also been shown to reduce coronary artery disease, arrhythmias, and diabetes. And as discussed already Earthing improves HRV, a very important measure of overall health.

Earthing Nervous System Benefits

The nervous system runs on electrochemical impulses, and by neutralizing any imbalanced charges throughout the body via the stream of free electrons that earthing moves through the body, the nervous system is stabilized in its functioning.

In order for electrical impulses anywhere in the body to be detected and then acted upon, the strength of the signal must stand out significantly from background bioelectrical noise. When ungrounded the bioelectrical noise of the body is higher and therefore bioelectrical signals must be stronger to be actionable, which requires more energy and resources, or certain functions are simply given up as being too costly and are not possible to do, which manifests as a limitation of potential (aka nervous system disorder or simply a reduction in physical/mental ability).

By stabilizing the nervous system and reducing bioelectric noise, earthing helps with disorders of the nervous system like Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis. Earthing activates the “rest and digest” parasympathetic nervous system instantly. Stress of any kind whether physical, mental, or emotional activates the “fight or flight” sympathetic nervous system, increasing cortisol and adrenaline secretion, and by shifting the body back towards a more balanced ratio between sympathetic and parasympathetic activity, grounding reduces stress, anxiety, and promotes a deeper more restful sleep. Sleep is when the body undergoes its daily tune-up, repairing and regenerating whatever needs to be fixed, and these natural rejuvenating processes work best when the body is a quiet calm state of nervous system activity.

How to Balance the Nervous System

The body is highly interlinked and it’s these nervous system benefits that are partly responsible for the cardiovascular, cognitive, and digestive benefits that earthing offers.

Note - If you’re really struggling from nervous system dysfunctions then alongside earthing use a natural herbal like reishi mushroom. Reishi mushroom can be used to help treat stress, anxiety, and chronic fatigue, learn more.

Earthing Cognitive Benefits

The bioelectrical neurology of the brain is incredibly sensitive, and by stabilizing the bodies bioelectrical system and reducing excess bioelectrical noise, earthing improves the functioning of the brain. Earthing helps with anxiety, depression, insomnia, and other mental health disturbances, and earthing also improves brainwave activity.

Earthing helps with Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, and other neurocognitive diseases, and in general earthing improves cognitive abilities and performance. Earthing has been linked to an increase in lucid dreaming and precognition.

Another big benefit of earthing is that it shields you from power grid, WiFi, and cellular electropollution. The body did not evolve in the presence of high frequency microwaves which cycle millions to billions of times per second, and these rapid electromagnetic oscillations disturb the brain via interactions with magnetosomes.

If you ever get into that tired but wired state, where the mind is racing but the body wants to rest and you’re unable to relax/sleep, then the best thing you can do is to ground yourself and neutralize your bioelectrical system back to the Earth’s normal electric potential.

Note - Watch my video to learn more about how electrosmog impacts the brain (YouTube link).

Earthing Gut Health Benefits

Wild Free Organic has a lot of articles on gut health, and we’re also the home of the Holistic Gut Health Guide eBook, and I mention this because if you have gut health problems then know that earthing is another wellness practice that greatly benefits gut health because of how it normalizes nervous system activity. By increasing parasympathetic “rest and digest” activity, earthing normalizes gut motility and helps the body maintain consistent and regular waves of smooth muscle activity that move food through the digestive system. In this way earthing helps with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), reduces constipation, and helps with acid reflux.

Note - If you’re really struggling with IBS, peppermint has proven useful for IBS and can be used alongside earthing to enact noticeable improvements.

Earthing Hormonal Benefits

Earthing benefits the endocrine system greatly for both men and women, mainly because it helps to reduce the release of over-stimulated hormones (in modern society) like cortisol while increasing the secretion of under-stimulated hormones like melatonin. Earthing smooths out hormonal imbalances for both men and women.

Earthing is overall helpful for periods, reducing PMS, cramps, and sometimes even period duration. For women who are perimenopausal or in menopause, earthing helps reduce hot flashes, night sweats, insomnia, and irritability.

For men earthing can help with erectile dysfunction because of how it improves blood flow, and in general is beneficial for the male hormone system*.

Earthing has also been shown to improve blood glucose through its interactions with the pancreas and insulin secretion.

*Note - If you’re a man and want to boost your testosterone and functioning down under while also improving your overall health and wellness then check out the natural herb cistanche. Average testosterone levels have been declining for decades now and cistanche boosts testosterone effectively.

Earthing Physical Benefits

Earthing has many benefits for the tissue and muscular systems of the body. Whether you’re an athlete or someone wanting to move and feel better, earthing can improve your physical fitness. Earthing improves sleep quality which aids in rest and recovery, it reduces pain, speeds up wound healing, decreases muscle protein breakdown, and has even been shown to improve flexibility.

If you have any sort of physical impairment, wound, injury, or are striving to optimize your athletic abilities to the max*, then earthing consistently everyday is an absolute must.

*Note - The endocannabinoid system is one component of the bioelectric system, and cannabinoids benefit athletes if used appropriately and responsibly.

Other Earthing Benefits

It should be clear by now that earthing has a tremendously beneficial impact on health because it targets an aspect of human biology that is at the foundation of our existence, human bioelectricity. As such it should be no surprise then that there exist even more heath benefits to earthing that haven’t already been discussed. For example:

Earthing improves renal (kidney) function
Earthing helps with glaucoma
Earthing relieves acute and chronic pain
Earthing speeds up wound healing
Earthing reduces bacterial growth
And I’ll say it once more, GROUNDING REDUCES INFLAMMATION (the main driver of 80+ diseases)

Geophysics of Earthing

You’ve now been primed on earthing, bioelectricity, and the health benefits of being grounded, but you may be asking why this is even a thing in the first place?

Well the reason why earthing is something we evolved to do naturally is because the Earth is a 6 sextillion metric ton battery continually replenished with energy from solar radiation and internal radioactivity. This energy keeps the Earth’s geologic processes going which generates a magnetic field deep within its core. From this internal electromagnetism all the other electromagnetic forces of the Earth like the Schumann resonances, telluric currents, and the global electric circuit derive from.

The Global Electric Circuit

About 100 kilometers above the surface of the Earth radiation from the Sun strips electrons from the gas molecules of the atmosphere and breaks their chemical bonds, creating highly charged ions. This atmospheric layer is known as the ionosphere, and its electric potential ranges from 250-500,000 volts. The electric potential of the Earth’s surface is about zero, so as you move up in the atmosphere towards the ionosphere the electric potential increases*. While air is a poor conductor of electricity, it can build up a static charge due to thermal heat convection and the movement of water. As this happens weather storms develop and the built-up atmospheric charge will discharge eventually either via rainfall or lightning strikes. Across the globe lightning strikes 50-150 times a second, and with each lightning bolt being a massive surge of electrons, the Earth’s surface is continuously replenished with free electrons from the constant lightning activity.

Credit: NSF, Jeffrey Forbes - University of Colorado at Boulder

To explain how this works a bit more, as a storm system grows, a positive charge builds in the ground surface underneath, and once the electric potentials of the Earth’s surface and storm clouds reach a critical point, the resistance of the air is able to be overcome and the opposite electric charges of the two systems equalize via a lightning channel (see right side of graphic above). These massive surges of electrons create conductive ionized gas channels which they flow through, always moving along path of least resistance which is either in-between points within the storm system or downwards towards the ground.

*Note - At 1.5 meters up (about head level) the electric potential is around +350 volts, but since air is such a poor conductor of electricity you don’t get zapped from the voltage gradient that exists in-between your feet and head. Since the human body is conductive, if you’re grounded the near-zero electric potential of the Earth rises up to your head and creates a protective umbrella effect that shields you from EMFs and electropollution.

Variations in the Earth’s Surface Electric Potential

The earth’s surface electrical potential isn’t always the same, as discussed above it changes based on atmospheric activity and during storms, its primary rhythm though is that it increases during the day due to solar radiation and decreases at night as the Sun’s energetic influence is removed.

In this way grounding is one of the primary signals the body uses to stabilize its circadian rhythm, in addition to the diurnal fluctuations in visible light and temperature. Having a in-sync circadian rhythm is of course vital to good health and wellness.

When the Earth’s surface electrical potential changes rapidly, like during a powerful thunderstorm, bioelectrically sensitive people sometimes experience symptoms like fatigue, anxiety, headaches, and just overall instability. This can also happen during a full moon. Every 28 days the moon lines up with the Earth and Sun and is positioned inside Earth’s magnetotail, accumulating electrical potential from the Sun non-stop and also from plasma waves from within Earth’s magnetotail. At night on Earth this built-up lunar charge discharges down Earth’s magnetic field lines to our planet’s surface and has a measurable influence on the Earth’s surface electric potential causing it to become more volatile than usual.

I found this Earth-full moon electromagnetic interaction fascinating so I made a video on it which you can watch below to learn more!

The Science of How Full Moon Electromagnetism Affects your Body

How to Ground Yourself

The beautiful thing about grounding as a wellness practice is that it requires almost zero effort, just awareness of whether you’re grounded or not. Overtime grounding will become second nature to you and won’t require any special planning or willpower to accomplish. Below are the easiest ways to practice earthing.

Walk Barefoot

Our feet our loaded with nerve endings, we evolved to walk barefoot and remain in grounded contact with the Earth at all times, and walking barefoot is therefore one of the best ways to ground yourself. When at the park, beach, or in nature kick the shoes off and spend time with your feet in direct contact with the surface of the ground. Wet sand at the beach or wet grass are especially conductive and also simply feel wonderful.

This advice goes beyond just barefoot contact with the Earth. Laying down or meditating in lotus posture in a natural environment will also ground your body, though it may not be as quick in effect. Do some yoga in the park(!), the more time you spend grounded the better.

Go for a Swim

Water can be an excellent conductor of electricity depending on the amount dissolved ions. Ions from salts like NaCl assist in the transfer of electrons, so going for a swim in a salty body of water like the ocean washes you in free electrons and beneficial minerals. The nice thing about swimming is that the entire body is immersed and grounds simultaneously from the outside in. When standing barefoot a wave of free electrons will travel upwards from the feet, and it can take 30+ minutes for the entire body all the way up to the head to become grounded, whereas with swimming the effect is much quicker.

There’s a reason why going for a swim, laying out on the beach, and sunbathing feel so good…you’re earthing the entire time and while also charging your body with solar radiation!

Using a Grounding Mat or Blanket

When unable to spend time outside you can ground yourself using a grounding mat or blanket. Grounding mats and blankets are made of electrically conductive materials and are either connected to the ground port of a building’s electrical system or are connected directly to a ground rod placed outside. I personally only recommend using a grounding mat or blanket if you connect it to a grounding rod you yourself place some distance away from the building. The standard ground rod for a building is placed along its side and its wires run alongside the electrical wires, picking up the electrical field from the power system.

Find a spot of ground far removed from any electrical equipment, lines, transformers, etc and drive in a ground rod there. Connect your grounding mats and blankets to that ground rod using a shielded wire and check the connection occasionally to make sure it hasn’t been broken.

Sleeping grounded is one of the best things you can do for your health, so I recommend sleeping with a grounding sheet connected in this manner. If you want to go all out and purchase a grounding sheet for the bed, a grounding mat, a grounded pillowcase, and grounding patches (for localized pain relief), as well as learn more about Earthing, then you can purchase the Earthing Starter Kit from Earthing.

I want to be clear that grounding sheets and mats are not required to incorporate earthing into your life, but if an honest examination of your lifestyle reveals that you’re unlikely to spend as much time outside as would be needed for best effect, or you have a mental or physical disability which limits your ability to ground naturally, then earthing products are an excellent way to enjoy all the benefits of earthing from within your home or office. Because earthing is so foundational to health, any money spent on earthing products that actually gets you grounded daily will turn our to be one of if not the best health investments you’ve ever made (alongside the Holistic Gut Health Guide 😉).

Interact with an Electrically Conductive Object

Another way to ground yourself not discussed often is to interact with an electrically conductive object that has a neutral charge. This can be the metal railing outside a building, a metal water pipe, or even something as simple as a chunk of metal.

For example I have small sphere of pure copper than I’ll hold occasionally if I’m inside and on the computer for a longer period of time than normal. Since copper is so conductive, any excess electrical charge that I have built-up will flow to the copper sphere, and then when I put it down, it’ll slowly discharge back to neutral ready for the next time I use it. Something like this is great for localized pain relief, I personally use it most for hand or abdominal pain.

Don’t be Electron Deficient Any Longer

As you can see, earthing doesn’t have to be complicated. Once you have a good fundamental understanding of the biophysics and geophysics involved, which I hope this article provided you with, then you begin to see the simplicity of earthing and how staying grounded throughout the day only requires the slightest lifestyle adjustments.

References:

Ober C, Sinatra S, Martin Z. Earthing. Second Edition. Basic Health Publications, Inc.; 2014.
Chevalier G, Sinatra ST, Oschman JL, Sokal K, Sokal P. Earthing: health implications of reconnecting the human body to the earth’s surface electrons. Journal of Environmental and Public Health. 2012;2012:1-8.
Chevalier, Gaétan et al. “The effect of earthing ( grounding ) on human physiology.” (2005).
Chevalier, Gaétan and Stephen T. Sinatra. “Emotional Stress, Heart Rate Variability, Grounding, and Improved Autonomic Tone: Clinical Applications.” (2011).
McCraty R. The Energetic Heart. HeartMath Institute; 2003
Bevington M. Lunar biological effects and the magnetosphere. Pathophysiology. 2015;22(4):211-222.

Stefan Burns 4/11/22 Stefan Burns 4/11/22

How to Balance Sympathetic and Parasympathetic States

The sympathetic “fight and flight” nervous system and parasympathetic “rest and digest” nervous systems are part of the autonomic nervous system which controls the bodies mostly unconscious actions like heart rate, respiration, digestion, and more. Maintaining balance between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems is incredibly important for health. Learn how with this guide.

Article by Stefan Burns - Updated April 2022. Join the Wild Free Organic email newsletter!

The autonomic nervous system is the part of the nervous system that regulates the various mostly unconscious functions of the body such as digestion, heart rate, respiration, and sexual arousal. The two main divisions of the autonomic nervous system are the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems, and to a large extent these two divisions of the nervous system are antagonistic to each other.

Function of Sympathetic Nervous System

The responsibilities of the sympathetic nervous system are most easily described by the common fight or flight phase. When the body is primed for action the sympathetic nervous system is dominant. Exercising, stressful high-stakes situations, fighting, or fleeing are all examples of when the sympathetic nervous system is dominant. The release and presence of cortisol and adrenaline is another easy way to identify a sympathetic state from a parasympathetic one.

Function of Parasympathetic Nervous System

The responsibilities of the parasympathetic nervous system are most easily described by the common feed and breed and rest and digest phrases. The parasympathetic nervous system is dominant when the body is in a relaxed state. Relaxing, sleeping, and low-effort activities are all examples of when the parasympathetic nervous system is dominant. The parasympathetic nervous system also governs sexual arousal, though the autonomic nervous system may begin shifting to a sympathetic state if sexual activities become especially energetic.

While most people are aware of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system, their functions, and the importance of keeping the two balanced, many people still have unbalanced nervous systems. Using everyday examples this article presents an easy to grasp methodology of how to stay balanced between sympathetic and parasympathetic states. First let’s examine the symptoms of an overly-active sympathetic and (less commonly) an overly-active parasympathetic nervous system.

Adrenal Fatigue

The entire nervous system is highly complex being composed of many different parts, from various glands of the endocrine system, to an assortment of chemicals and neurotransmitters, to neurons themselves and the ion balances they maintain in order to discharge (known as a neural spike). Whenever the nervous system is interacted with it is stressed to some degree, and this impact will tax the resources available to the system. The larger the stress to the system the larger the depletion of required components like vitamins, minerals, and neurotransmitters.

For example endurance exercise like running will causes the adrenal glands to release the hormone cortisol and also vitamin C (both useful for performance purposes_. Post exercise the adrenal glands now will replenish cortisol levels to normal by synthesizing it from cholesterol and other chemicals. A 20 minute jog will stress the adrenal glands much less than a 90 minute run. If adequate recovery and nutrition is not provided after the exercise, the body suffers but will adapt to the new reality, reducing performance capabilities. Overtime after many bouts of exercise if such disregard of keeping the natural systems well fueled and in balance continues the result is adrenal fatigue, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome. The body underwent long term adaptations (like low-energy sluggishness) to the stresses of an overly active sympathetic nervous system in order to provide the body the best chance of recovery through unconscious behavioral alteration. Said another way, you’ll be less likely to exercise if you don’t feel high energy to begin with, which gives the adrenal glands a better chance of restoring themselves to proper function.

Note - For those who practice herbalism taking ashwagandha before the exercise, or later as part of a recovery protocol, could have helped prevent adrenal fatigue from developing in the first place (though certainly a good diet, enough rest, and the right mindset are the most important factors).

The adrenals are one gland of many in the endocrine (hormone) system, and the endocrine system is one part of many of the nervous system. For this reason, if balance isn’t maintained between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems, the imbalance can manifest in a nearly limitless amount of ways, from reduced immunity to the development of a chronic disease.

Visualizing the Activity of the Autonomic Nervous System

In the example above with the constant endurance exercise causing adrenal fatigue it’s important to note two things. First, exercise which is a sympathetic activity is good for health and wellness when done to the proper limit which causes a beneficial adaptation. Second, after this exercise occurs it’s most advantageous to rest and refuel fairly soon afterwards.

Let’s visual various states of sympathetic and parasympathetic activity using waves. Each wave has a positive (peak) and negative (trough). A wave cannot be a wave without both parts. Sympathetic waves will be colored pink and parasympathetic waves will be colored green.

Example 1 - Laying in bed all day

If one was to wake up and continue lying in bed all day until it was time to sleep again, the wave would actually look like a straight line going deeper and deeper into parasympathetic activity.

Example 2 - Hectic day with no rest

If one was to wake up and immediately afterwards be crazy active all day fueled throughout with a few cups of coffee and no rest is taken then the wave would look like a line going upwards further and further into sympathetic nervous system activity.

In both of these simple examples we’ll note that in order to return to balance the person who slept all day should be fairly active the next (and they should have the energy for it), whereas the over-active person should rest and relax most of the following day (and they should be sufficiently tired). If these steps are taken then the full up and down of the autonomic nervous system wave would be balanced over a two day time scale rather.

Example 3 - Lazy day with run then rest

Now let’s visualize a lazy rest day with a run in the middle. They’re doing some chores, some relaxing, it’s a fairly good balance of sympathetic and parasympathetic activity up to the run.

As shown, the run caused a spike in sympathetic activity and then because they rested afterwards a corresponding dip into parasympathetic activity, a healthy balance over that few hour timespan.

Now let’s visual a hectic workday fueled by a couple cups of coffee followed by a run immediately after work. After the run two main options are present. Does the person rest enough to recover from all the go-go-go activity for the day, or do they continue around being busy and stressed? Here’s what each of these options looks like.

Example 4 - Hectic day with run & no rest

This graphic shows the person accumulated a net sympathetic balance which the body will require to be balanced out at some later point in time, the sooner the better. While that day may have been stressful, with sufficient rest the following day (like shown in the 2 day version of example 2) the body will adapt to the whole experience and health is maintained. If that day is never recovered from, and in fact that type of lifestyle continues on day after day for a couple years, then the tide that eventually flows out (deep parasympathetic rest) will be just as large as the tide of sympathetic activity that flowed in unbroken for weeks/months/years.

The required parasympathetic recuperation that the nervous system requires might finally be triggered by the onset of an illness or disease…or if the person is conscious and checks their ego they’ll catch it early and make the necessary lifestyle adjustments in order to return to optimal health and wellness.

Example 5 - Hectic day with run then rest

This graphic on the other hand shows that sympathetic and parasympathetic balance was reached on that day and no long term health effects will result. Having recovered sufficiently, the person adapted to the run and improved their future performance slightly.

The point of these examples is to impress upon you the importance of having a lifestyle that maintains sympathetic and parasympathetic balance and to typically keep the waves small. Larger waves have the potential to create more problems, so don’t create large waves yourself as life will do that for you already in abundance. If a large wave of stress comes in, like from being fired or the death of a family member, if you’re already riding a large wave of sympathetic activity then things can go south quickly.

Note - All these examples made the assumption that the person slept a restful 8 hours after the day was done. If sleep is poor then parasympathetic recovery will be reduced correspondingly and will add further complications to the matter. Learn more about the importance of sleep.

Easy Recovery Methods

We’ll return to the example of a bout of exercise to outline the strategy I follow to maintain sympathetic and parasympathetic balance across a short time scale in order to parasympathetic debt to accumulate.

Ease into a workout with a warm-up. This primes the body for better performance by allowing time for the metabolic systems to warm up instead of being quickly jolted into a demanding sympathetic state.
Rest after a workout with a cool-down. Once the main working sets of a workout are complete, take a short period of time to rest afterwards, whether it’s a minimum of five minutes of shavasana or a more complete thirty minute stretch session. The yogic systems teach this well, every yoga session is followed by some time lying down in shavasana (corpse pose) and deeply relaxing. Increase the efficiency of a post workout rest with healthy sun exposure if possible in order to replenish vitamin D levels in the body (important after a workout).
If a workout is one hour long, set aside one hour of rest afterwards or later in the day. This can watching a show, reading a book, light conversation, etc. Three hours of hard physical fitness is best served with three hours of rest. This 1:1 ratio is a simple rule of thumb that can be followed, the intensity of an activity (fitness or rest) will determine exactly how much is required to balance out the demands of the other.

Sympathetic and parasympathetic fluctuations over longer time spans are harder to measure unless careful observations are continuously made. For example the demands and stresses of the first 3 months of a new job would build over time, and to recover from the sympathetic stress that accumulated would require a longer period of rest and recovery, such as a long weekend spent camping in nature and grounding. Or that stress could have been balanced out by starting a new recovery practice like grounding alongside the job.

One final relevant example would be if drinking coffee daily for 4 weeks (which increases sympathetic activity through the release of cortisol), then coffee consumption should be reduced or cycled off completely for 4 weeks or so. If that proposition sounds difficult, read my caffeine usage and tolerance reset guide.

If taking an herb like cistanche (which raises testosterone levels and therefore sympathetic activity) for performance or health reasons cycle off the herb for as long as you were using it for. This on/off strategy holds true for most supplements. Creating longer fluctuations of sympathetic and parasympathetic activity can be useful for certain endeavors, whether health or career related, just be aware that certain risk factors will increase and the proper steps should be taken to maintain balance as best as possible.

Over-active sympathetic nervous system activity is far more common than experiencing too much parasympathetic activity, so learn more useful recovery methods you can use to maintain balance by reading through our recovery focused articles:

Empower Yourself with Recovery Methods

Balancing Stress and Rest

The equation is simple, the addition of new stresses requires the addition of new recovery practices. Likewise, if lazing and grazing about all day (parasympathetic), then it would be best to introduce some sympathetic activity like walking, yoga, calisthenics, strength training, running, heat therapy via a sauna or steam room, etc into the daily routine.

The recommendations given in how to balance sympathetic and parasympathetic states is not intended to be viewed through the lens of limitation but instead seen opportunistically. Lifestyle changes may be required to better maintain a state of autonomic nervous system balance, but when those waves of beyond-our-control stressors eventually roll in, better adaptability to these challenges more than makes up for any slight conveniences that may have been sacrificed up until that moment. With time and practice, the flow of maintaining balance is felt intuitively pretty easily, and it’s not difficult to keep activity balanced with recovery. In addition to being a very important factor in the maintenance of good health, being in the flow of balance requires minimal thought and consciousness which frees up time, cognitive power, and resources for other desires and ventures.

The information presented here is a combination of biological science and my own experience learning how to maintain nervous system balance. When I was in my mid to late twenties I went through a multi-year phase of heavy strength training coupled with a disregard of performing an equivalent amount of recovery practices. I pushed my sympathetic system further and further until I was jolted to the realization that I needed to practice better management of my energy systems. I experienced adrenal fatigue and it took me about a year to really reset my nervous system back to point of health and balance by moving away from weights and by practicing a lot of yoga, meditation, and grounding. I am thankful I learned he lesson of maintaining balance when I did rather than many years down the line after greater unnecessary hardship.

Too much or too little stress/activity is a large causal factor in serious health problems like obesity, infectious diseases, and chronic diseases, so if you respect your physiological and psychological need for both activity and rest and you’ll have solved for yourself one of the largest wellness problems that effects humanity.

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Posture, Stretching, and Muscle "Jumping"

Have you ever experienced an internal clicking or jumping of your joints or muscles? If you have that's a sign of postural imbalances which left unaddressed can eventually lead to dysfunction and pain. Postural imbalances can be remedied fairly easily with stretching, strength training, and some spinal alignment practices such as seated meditation. Learn how

Article by Stefan Burns - Updated March 2022. Join the Wild Free Organic email newsletter!

The human body is a highly complex system of organs, muscles, bones, connective tissues, and more all held together and able to express movement through networks of tension that exist within the body. It’s remarkable and a truly beautiful phenomenon when witnessing the graceful movement of a dancer, athlete, or model, and the prerequisite for this is good posture and balance across these tensional pathways. When postural and tension imbalances exist how the body can express movement through space and time is limited and may lead to problems such as acute and/or chronic pain, fatigue, and injuries. To correct postural imbalances bodily tissues that are shorter than optimal must be lengthened, and tissues that are longer than optimal must be tightened. Scar tissues need to be loosened up, certain muscles are best to be developed, and proper spinal alignment is a must. This article is a jumping off point for starting a postural realignment and optimization protocol and some key factors that are useful to know.

The Effect of Stretching on Posture

Stretching is the process of lengthening muscular and connective tissues. Some common and effective methods of stretching are:

Dynamic Stretching
- Active Warmups - Priming exercises performed by athletes which incorporate a slight 0-5 second stretch into them are a form of dynamic stretching that are good form warming up and preparing for exercise.
- Vinyasa Yoga - By flowing from one pose to the next and with each breath reaching a little further into the pose of the moment makes vinyasa yoga a form of dynamic stretching that can be quite demanding but overtime with regular practice results in noticeable flexibility and postural improvements.
Static Stretching
- Passive Stretches - Holding a simple stretch for 20-60+ seconds is the easiest way to perform static stretching at a low skill level. It’s good to perform static stretching for the movement patterns that felt stiff after exercising.
- Yin Yoga - In yin yoga poses are held for 60+ seconds, often for five minutes or greater, and the intention is to breath into tight spaces releasing any tension present in order to sink deeper into the stretch. Compared to hatha yoga, yin yoga stretches musculature more than connective tissues.
- Hatha Yoga - In hatha yoga poses are held for long lengths of time like in yin yoga though typically the stretches target the flexibility of connective tissues (such as the femoral-hip joint) instead of muscular tissues.

Short dynamic stretches are good for warming up and getting ready for movement or strength training but they do little for fixing postural imbalances as they rarely result in long term flexibility improvements. To make fundamental changes to tensional patterns throughout the body, long deep stretches are best, and doing them consistently a few times a week will result in the greatest velocity of change in flexibility and posture. It is possible to get injured during stretching if pushing past a safe limit, so listening to the body and the ample warnings it provides is very important to reduce risk of injurious damage as much as possible.

When contracted and tight tension lines in the body are opened up and stretched to more optimal positions, a few things occur. First the newly lengthened range of motion (ROM) of that particular posture will be weaker than the limited posture that proceeded it. With a greater ROM newfound possibilities exist, such as new bodily positions, greater potential for muscle hypertrophy, and a higher ceiling on maximal strength potential, but care must be taken at the onset of this new freedom in flexibility to strengthen the body slowly so injury is prevented. If performing strength training while also performing fundamental postural adjustments via stretching, reduce exercise weight significantly and focus instead on movement quality. The central nervous system will require retraining which will take time but the long term rewards are well worth it.

Secondly energy flow throughout the body will be improved. Bioelectric currents that may have become “stuck” in parts of the body will flow better, as will force generated or load placed upon the body. As a quick metaphysics aside, the flow of kundalini chi energy through the bodies bioelectric/meridian/chakra system will be improved and may result in some quite noticeable and striking bodily and mental phenomenon to occur or awaken. It is important to be aware that embarking upon a postural optimization journey will be quite transformative and demands attention and respect.

Third the release of tension in certain parts of the body will bring awareness to other postural dysfunctions that may have been hidden before. For example, the hamstrings limited ability to stretch may have hidden the fact that the lower back was chronically tight, and now with hamstrings looser the muscles and connective tissues of the low back begin to speak up letting you know they require stretching and realignment.

Before turning the discussion towards how strength training can improve posture and also a simple test you can perform to assess the quality of your posture I want to discuss a useful indicator of where and what to stretch via a phenomenon I have labeled “muscle jumping”.

What are Muscle “Jumps”

Old recruitment patterns, tight muscles, and stiff fascia may make certain postures impossible to be done correctly anatomically at specific points in movement patterns, and when those points are reached then an ultra-tightness is experienced in the affected muscles and fascia, and instead of stretching these tissues simple readjust their relative placement within the body, “jumping” to the new placement. Muscle jumping allows movement patterns to take place without interruption at the cost of quick suboptimal postural readjustments at specific points that range from minor to major in scale. The problem with a muscle jump is that it avoids fixing the postural “chokepoint” and instead the tension is redistributed to other parts of the body, where it may accumulate, causing acute or chronic pain and postural imbalances. During strength training muscle jumps are often responsible for the sudden shift in form and improper loading of force on parts of the body that shouldn’t occur.

What is Fascia?

Fascia is a band or sheet of fibrous connective tissue made primarily of collagen that can be found under the skin attaching to, stabilizing, and enclosing muscles and other internal organs.
The collagen fibers that make up fascia are oriented in a wavy pattern parallel to the direction of pull (unless the fascia has been scarred). Fascia is flexible and able to resist unidirectional tension forces which at their limit will stretch the collagen fibers from wavy to straight. Fibroblasts within the fascial tissue produce the collagen fibers.
Whereas ligaments join bone to bone and tendons join muscles to bones, fascia surround muscles and other structures as a sort of net. When it comes to stretching, postural improvement, and strength training fascia plays a very important role.

Muscle jumps are quite common and most people are unaware of their true nature, or even of their existence, but if you pay close attention to how a movement pattern feels you will notice them. A muscle jump might create a small sound or create a feeling of quickly clicking or jumping within the body. Doing slow vinyasa yoga is a great way to feel and identify reoccurring muscle jumps that you have, and once identified further investigating the nature of these postural imbalances is easy. Muscle jumps occurs when a movement is faster than the tissues can optimally move and stretch through the movement, so when a muscle jump is felt reset position to the beginning of the movement pattern it was felt in and slow the movement down dramatically.

For example, standing tall with arms straight overhead sweep the arms downwards on each side making a big circle. Let’s say a muscle jump occurs at the bottom part of that sweep on one side of the body or to one arm. When that happens it’s an indication that the section of the body that jumped was stretching insufficiently to complete the movement in symmetrical perfection. Resetting the circular sweep of the arms but slowing the movement down by 5-10x when approaching the location of the muscle jump will keep the tension on that small overloaded section of muscle and fascia and the tension will now be felt. If done slowly and correctly the jump won’t occur (it may take a few times) and instead a broader zone of tension will be encountered usually in the surrounding area of where the jump occurred but rarely somewhere totally different.

Identifying muscle jumps and resetting them by performing those movements extremely slowly and with great quality will optimize posture quickly. Identifying and stretching muscle jumps is in-between dynamic stretching and static stretching in effect. It helps to improve short term performance but since the stretches are more qualitative that dynamic stretching the changes are more permanent. Tai chi and Qigong are excellent ways of smoothing out these types of fascial imbalances because they focus on slow and deliberate movement patterns.

The phenomenon of muscle jumps allows us to solve another mystery that perplexes many people when it comes to posture and stretching. For example it is common to stretch the hamstrings statically, and at a certain point into the stretch the fascial limit is reached, so a muscle jump occurs and now with tensional lines rearranged in the body, the tension that was once in the hamstrings has moved itself to the foot of the same leg. Or perhaps the neck is now feeling tight, or the hips, etc. Many fascial lines connect to and terminate to the hands, feet, hips, and skull so it is common for tension to be loaded to these regions. The bad news is that when tension is loaded in these zones it can be very painful acutely or chronically. The good news is that tension loaded into the hands, feet, hips, and neck can be worked out and released fairly easily if given proper attention.

Back to the example of the hamstring stretch having created pain and tension in the plantar fascia of the foot, otherwise known as plantar fasciitis, the practitioner at this point should stop the hamstring stretch and chase the tension out by massaging the foot, performing cross-frictional massage, etc. In a minor instance only a few minutes of active therapy may be needed to release the accumulated bundle of tension, in other instances if tension has been constantly fed to a singular location and chronic pain and inflammation has repeatedly accumulated in that area, it may takes weeks or months of consistent therapeutic work there and across the body to remedy the problem.

A quick story to illustrate the point…

Early after graduating college for my job I was walking 5-10 miles a day on concrete and asphalt. My coworker (who also did the same amount of walking) and I both developed plantar fasciitis in both feet. This was very painful and greatly limiting our ability to work and we both wanted for it to go away, but how we approached the situation differed. I was heavily into powerlifting at the time and had been using voodoo floss bands on my knees both as a warmup and as a recovery practice, so I applied the method I had learned and decided to begin wrapping my feet with the voodoo floss bands daily.

Left: latex voodoo floss band. Middle: elastic knee wrap. Right: physiotherapy ball

I mobilized my foot as best I could while it was wrapped under great compressive forces, each wrap cycle lasting about 60-90 seconds in length and I went from one foot right to the next, so wrapping both feet 3 times in that manner took about 10 minutes. I performed this voodoo flossing and foot mobilization 1-2x a day consistently and within 2-3 weeks my plantar fasciitis completely disappeared. In effect I had broken up the scar tissue that had formed and made my foot more flexible. I told my coworker of the protocol and of my success, but unfortunately he ignored my success and decided to instead rely on painkillers for symptom management before eventually opting to get surgery on his feet to relieve the pain, which required incisions and likely causes permanent structural alterations. Ouch.

All the tissues of the body have an ability to remodel themselves and regenerate, and while it may not be easy to fix certain problems, learning how to improve movement and heal the body by utilizing the natural healing mechanisms we’re all gifted with is always a step to be taken before resorting to methods like surgical and pharmaceutical intervention.

The Effect of Strength Training on Posture

In my experience it is more common for constricted and tight muscles and connective tissues to be causing postural problems than it is for loose muscles and connective tissues, but it is possible for this problem to exist. To correct for parts of the body that are too loose and stretched beyond optimal, targeting strength training is one of the best approaches. By performing exercises that constrict muscles and strengthen them, loose muscles can slowly be tightened and brought into optimal postural balance.

For example if the hamstrings are too stretched out which as a result is causing glute and lower back problems (as a result of the hamstrings contributing too little to the stabilization of the hips), performing deadlifting exercises will strengthen the hamstrings and tighten them. An exercise that targets the entire hamstring/glute/lower-back complex like a glute-ham raise would also be highly advantageous in this instance. When beginning from a hyperextended loose state and tightening certain muscles, it’s important to start with very light weight (or ideally just bodyweight) with an emphasis on great form. Once the proper patterning is established the number of reps performed per set and overall volume can be increased, and once this becomes easy then adding greater amounts of resistance via weights follows.

Just like with stretching, this process is not to be rushed in order to avoid any chance of injury, and it may take weeks or months in order to achieve proper functioning and alignment. It’s also very common to find a loose muscle paired with a tight muscle. For maximum effectiveness a posture realignment protocol will have a stretching component and a strength training component. Days of deep stretching and strength training should be separated from each other by sufficient time for recovery to occur, typically 1-2 days.

A Simple Posture Test

The hips and spine are the main structures of the body that determine one’s posture, and a quick way to determine whether postural imbalances exist is to sit cross legged in meditation for 5+ minutes. When sitting in this way with zero movement, forces naturally begin to load downwards through the spine and sits bones, and if posture is good then sitting upright in this manner is fairly effortless. If postural imbalances exist and tension patterns are thrown off as a result then sitting upright in meditation even if keeping completely still will cause the deviant muscles to fatigue which will begin causing discomfort or pain. This can happen in just seconds for some people, especially those who are untrained and out of shape. For others with lesser postural problems it may take 5-15 minutes to begin feeling the effects of inefficiently loading the weight of the body downwards through the spine.

Sitting in meditation is a great way in and of itself to bring balance to the body. Continuing to sit while deeply breathing through the discomfort will help the tension to be released, and every time upright spinal posture begins to deviate or collapse, relengthen the spine as if being pulled gently by a string from the top of the head. Tension can be released upwards through the neck and head in this manner while also strengthening the deep musculature of the spine. I highly recommend keeping a daily 10-20+ minute meditation practice as a core component of a postural optimization protocol.

Dietary Considerations for Postural Realignment

There are just a few notable things to mention as it relates to diet when undergoing a stretching and postural realignment protocol:

Drink plenty of water in order to keep all the tissues of the body well hydrated and therefore well lubricated.
Consume foods high in the amino acid glycine (a major component of collagen), or consume collagen directly.
- Foods high in glycine: Pulses (lentils, beans, chickpeas, peas), Nuts & Seeds (pumpkin, sunflower, almond), Vegetables (spinach, cabbage, asparagus, watercress, seaweed, spirulina), Fruits (bananas, apricots, oranges, avocado), Animal Products (bone broth, poultry skin, seafood, connective tissues, egg whites), Dairy (cheese, greek yoghurt, cottage cheese)
Reduce intake of added sugars and highly processed foods in order to limit inflammation throughout the body.

For a more comprehensive discussion on the topic of connective tissues and how to repair and regrow them, please read my guide:

how to repair and regrow joint cartilage and connective tissue

Stefan Burns 12/31/21 Stefan Burns 12/31/21

Turmeric Curcumin Bioavailability and Supplement Guide

Curcumin is the main active chemical of turmeric root and it is well-known for its many beneficial health effects, from reducing inflammation and improving gut health to enhancing cognition and ameliorating mental health issues. Curcumin has limited bioavailability in its raw state and therefore many different bioavailability enhancement measures have been developed, each with their strengths.

Article by Stefan Burns - Updated June 2022. Join the Wild Free Organic email newsletter!

Turmeric is a flowering plant (Curcuma longa) of the ginger family and the bright orange rhizome it grows is used as a spice, most notably in India. Turmeric has many medicinal properties due to it’s unique blend of essential oils, plant polyphenols, and it’s main active ingredient curcumin which is a pigment chemical that gives turmeric its bright orange color.

Turmeric and its main active ingredient curcumin have become popular supplements worldwide because of their anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, and antioxidant capabilities (1). There are many different ways turmeric and curcumin supplements are formulated, and some formulations are more effective than others because of their superior bioavailability.

This turmeric and curcumin buyers guide discusses the health benefits of turmeric, the science of how to increase it’s bioavailability, and the characteristics the best turmeric and curcumin supplements share.

Whole turmeric rhizome, slices, and powder

What Are Turmeric Supplements Good For?

The different active compounds of turmeric are known as curcuminoids, and for thousands of years Ayurvedic and Tradition Chinese Medicine have held turmeric root in high esteem due to its healing properties. Turmeric and its curcuminoids are helpful for a variety of health conditions such as cognitive ailments, pain, poor digestive function, and diseases that are inflammation based. I recommend incorporating turmeric spice into the diet for a generalized heath benefit and to also keep a curcumin supplement readily available so it can be used whenever pain or inflammation is experienced in excess. Curcuminoids are especially excellent at relieving pain, such as joint pain, a headache, or generalized discomfort. For those with ongoing health conditions which curcuminoids would help with, using a turmeric and curcumin supplement daily is a safe and practical option.

The drawback to turmeric is curcuminoids are not very bioavailable under normal circumstances. There have been many different attempts made to find a way to increase the bioavailability of curcumin, and this has flooded the supplement market with different turmeric and curcumin formulations some of which are well formulated and effective, and others which will have minimal health effect.

Without reading the research papers directly, detailed information regarding how to best take turmeric and curcumin supplements is hard to find, and this comprehensive guide to turmeric/curcumin supplements solves that problem by explaining the different type of turmeric supplements that exist on the market, their bioavailability and effectiveness, and the health benefits different formulations have on different systems of the body.

Curcuminoids

Curcumin is the yellow to orange pigment found in turmeric. The more alkaline the curcumin the darker the color. Curcumin has a massive catalogue of studied health benefits (2). It's anti-inflammatory, anti-depressive, a minor antioxidant, dramatically reduces symptoms of osteoarthritis, improves prostate health, reduces mucositis, and so much more. Curcumin is one of the most well researched supplements known, and more is still being discovered. It is mostly the curcuminoids in turmeric that give turmeric its noted health benefits.

Most pure curcumin supplements consist of a blend of different types of curcuminoids, such as curcumin, bisdemethoxycurcumin (BMC), and demethoxycurcumin (DMC), which all together usually total around 500 - 750 mg per serving. When analyzed, curcumin is the dominant curcuminoid at 60%, with BMC and DMC coming in around ~20% each.

The issue is that curcumin has nearly zero physiological effects on the body if taken by itself. Like turmeric powder, curcumin has terrible bioavailability, measured at less than 1%. Curcumin’s bioavailability is limited due to its poor solubility in the aqueous phase of the digestive tract. The body also rapidly metabolizes and excretes it. Bioavailability is also different between the sexes, with women on average reaching double the blood concentrations of curcumin compared to men. The reason for this difference in bioavailability between the sexes is unknown.

To fix the bioavailability problem, scientists have various methods to increase the bioavailability of curcuminoids in the body, and supplement manufacturers have created different formulations based on these scientific studies.

Turmeric and Curcumin Bioavailability

The reason so many different types of turmeric and curcumin supplements exist is because turmeric isn’t highly bioavailable in the human body under normal circumstances. If taking a supplement consisting of pure turmeric powder and nothing else, only 1-2% of the curcuminoids that make up part of the turmeric spice will enter into the bloodstream. Curcuminoids make up about 6% of turmeric by dry weight, so if taking a 1000 mg turmeric supplement, then ~1mg of curcuminoids will enter into the bloodstream, an insignificant effect.

Curcumin’s bioavailability is limited due to its poor solubility in the aqueous phase of the digestive tract. Furthermore, curcuminoids are rapidly absorbed by the tissues of the digestive system, limiting their ability to enter into the bloodstream. The digestive system, particularly the small intestine, is under constant stress from having to digest food and being in contact with the microbiome, and as a result it’s inflamed to some degree. Curcuminoids being potent antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds are quickly absorbed by the tissues of the gut for their own use.

Bioavailability is also different between the sexes, with women on average reaching double the blood concentrations of curcumin compared to men. The reason for this difference in bioavailability between the sexes is unknown.

If interested in using turmeric for its digestive healing effects, then taking plain turmeric without any bioavailability enhancement is desirable because it will specifically target the tissues of the gastrointestinal system and little else.

If curcuminoids are able to enter into the bloodstream in large quantities, then they exert their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects throughout the body, reducing pain and inflammation and enhancing cognition.

Methods of Increasing Curcumin Bioavailability

Curcumin is the main active ingredient found in turmeric responsible for its potent health and wellness benefits. Increasing its bioavailability increases its medicinal effect. That said, other compounds exist in raw turmeric that are health promoting, such as turmeric essential oils. Extracting more curcuminoids from turmeric increases the potency of its health effects, but for the complete benefits of turmeric, whole turmeric must also be consumed. The methods below describe how curcumin bioavailability can be increased, but keep in mind that the most effective curcumin supplement will also be one that incorporates some portion of powdered turmeric into its formulation.

Turmeric Dual Spectrum X:1 Extract

One way to achieve the synergistic health effects of raw turmeric while still receiving enough curcuminoids is to take a turmeric supplement concentrated through extraction.

Extraction is used to refine and purify a product. An extract is prepared using alcohol or water, and at the end of the concentration process the resulting extract is more potent. Depending on the level of extraction, curcuminoids can be much more heavily concentrated or just lightly more concentrated. With the right extract formulation, it is possible to create a turmeric supplement which retains all of the beneficial compounds of the turmeric rhizome while still increasing the potency and concentration of the main active curcumin compounds.

Curcumin with Piperine Supplements

Piperine is an enzyme inhibitor found in black pepper, giving black pepper its iconic pungency, and it has been shown to increase the bio-availability of curcumin (and by extension, turmeric) by 20x (3). Piperine works synergistically with curcumin, inhibiting curcumin's rabid absorption by the liver and intestinal wall. This inhibition allows curcumin to circulate into the blood stream for full body anti-inflammatory effects. Curcuminoids and piperine together enter into the blood stream rapidly peaking sharply about an hour after ingestion before being fully metabolized about 2-3 hours later.

When used in supplements, piperine is most often listed as biopiperine. Most studies which have researched the effect of piperine on curcumin absorption have used 20 mg of piperine per 2 grams of curcumin, and most curcumin/piperine supplements use 5 mg of piperine per 500 mg of curcuminoids, which is the same ratio.

Piperine is a bioavailability enhancer for more than just curcuminoids, and it has it’s own long list of health benefits (gastrointestinal aid, cognitive enhancer, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory) that overlap quite a bit with curcumin. Ancient Ayurveda knew this, and it’s why black pepper and turmeric spice are paired together for some many dishes in India.

Nootropics Depot sells a curcumin + piperine supplement which contains 1000 mg of 95% standardized curcuminoids and 6 mg of piperine.

Micellar Curcumin Supplements

Micellar curcumin is a special type of curcumin supplement shown to have better bioavailability that curcumin paired with piperine. Curcumin is a lipophilic molecule, meaning it is poorly water soluble, and that in large part is why curcumin is so poorly bioavailable. A micelle as shown to the left is a collection of lipid (fat) molecules that can simultaneously interact with water and lipids.

Liposome, Micelle, and Bilayer Sheet Graphics

When curcuminoids are encapsulated in micelles, their ability to enter into the bloodstream skyrockets, and they stay active in the body for much longer

Through a special chemical process, curcumin molecules can be contained inside micelles. Protected by the micelles which are able to interact with water soluble materials and membranes, the curcumin is much more easily transported though the digestive system and into the blood stream.

Micellar curcumin is incredibly bioavailable (4), more so than curcumin taken with piperine, and curcumin concentrations in the blood stream stay elevated for up to a day as compared to a few hours with curcumin and piperine supplements. This approach to increase curcumin bioavailable is completely independent of enzyme inhibition which is how piperine works.

Because the addition of micelles increases the bioavailability of curcumin so dramatically, its health effects can be too potent at times, and caution is recommended. In a study measuring micellar curcumin’s bioavailability (4), the researchers took note of the side effects observed. Out of 13 women and 10 men total, 7 women and 3 men experienced mild nausea. Since curcumin is ~2x more bioavailable in women in men, we’d speculate that more women experienced nausea than men because they received too much curcumin. 1 woman even vomited! The nausea prevalent with use of micellar curcumin did not occur when those same men and women used the other two formulations (Micronized Curcumin and Meriva® type formulation). Unless you have a serious health condition that would benefit from all day elevated curcumin blood levels, I would stick to the safer and more widely available curcumin with piperine supplements.

Nootropics Depot sells a Longvida curcumin supplement which uses micellular technology to dramatically increase the bioavailability of curcuminoids.

Micronized Curcumin Supplements

Micronized curcumin is effectively “crystallized” curcumin. The method one study used to create micronized curcumin involved mixing 25% curcumin powder with 58.3% triacetin (an anti-fungal) and 16.7% panodan (an emulsifier) and spraying and soaking the solution onto porous silicon dioxide crystals (basically glass, inactive physiologically) (5). The resulting micronized curcumin powder contained ~15% curcumin.

Micronized curcumin was found to be 9x more bioavailable than regular standardized curcumin averaged between men and women. Micronized curcumin was also shown to be more bioavailable in women compared to men. Compared to regular curcumin, the micronized version was more bioavailable, but still less so than curcumin with piperine.

Micronizing curcumin is a complex process which uses a lot of chemicals, and I would stay away from micronized curcumin supplements for these reasons.

Curcumin with Turmeric Essential Oils Supplements

As discussed, it is turmeric/curcumin’s poor water solubility that negatively affects its bioavailability. When taken with fats, curcumin’s bioavailability improves.

It is also usually the case that when an herb or root with medicinal properties is taken in its original whole form a type of entourage effect occurs. With the entourage effect, the secondary compounds which are normally standardized out can now contribute to and boost the overall health effect, and the benefits of supplements that take this into account this holistic nature are broader in their beneficial medicinal effect.

The essential oils found within the turmeric root are some of those secondary compounds, and it’s been shown that when standardized curcumin is taken with turmeric essential oils the bioavailability of curcumin improves significantly (6). This increase in bioavailability is because of the synergistic effect these plant compounds exhibit, and also the fact that the essential oils add fat to the supplement, aiding assimilation into the blood stream.

One formulation that employs this tactic is known as BCM-95 (Biocurcumax), and it’s been shown to be 7x more bioavailable than standard curcumin (7). BCM-95 is more bioavailable than curcumin with piperine, and with piperine added to a BCM-95 curcumin formulation, I think the bioavailability would be improved even further, possibly rivaling or surpassing the bioavailability of micellar curcumin due to the entourage effect.

Curcumin with Emulsifiers (lecithins)

Emulsifiers such as lecithins have also been used in an effort to increase the bioavailability of curcumin. The idea is that the emulsifiers help to carry the curcumin through the gut and into the bloodstream. Meriva is one such formulation, and overall bioavailability is improved compared to just curcumin, but not by much. In one study, a reference dose of 1800 mg of standardized curcuminoids, was compared to a Meriva formulation (8). Compared to the reference dose, the Meriva formulation was 5.5x more potent and stayed in the bloodstream for longer. Interestingly, the Meriva formulation dramatically boosted the bioavailability of demethoxycurcumin (DMC), a less prominent curcuminoid.

The specific physiological effects of just DMC are not well studied yet, and it is unknown why the addition of lecithins to standardized curcuminoids dramatically increases the bioavailability of DMC compared to the other curcuminoids.

Fermented Turmeric Supplements

Fermented turmeric is yet another supplement type. During fermentation curcumin is metabolized by bacteria into a different yet similar compound called tetrahydrocurcumin (THCC). Typically chemical reactions result in more stable compounds, and it’s been observed that THCC is more stable than curcumin. Likely as a result of it’s increased stability, THCC has a longer half-life of 323 minutes in plasma versus 111 minutes for curcumin.

One study which measured the effect of fermented turmeric observed that 36 hours of fermentation using Aspergillus oryzae at 25°C reduced regular curcumin levels from 2.0 mg/g to 0.79 mg/g (9). The reduction in curcumin in fermented turmeric is offset by the creation of THCC, though the exact ratios of how fermentation converts curcumin to tetrahydrocurcumin is unknown.

With rats, tetrahydrocurcumin appears to be more bioavailable than curcumin (10). In general its been observed that rats absorb curcumin much easier than humans. Like curcumin, THCC was found to primarily be absorbed by the intestine and liver. No studies have been performed measuring tetrahydrocurcumin’s bioavailability in humans or rats when paired with piperine or encapsulated in micelles.

Fermented turmeric is highly experimental and as of now it’s medicinal effects are poorly quantified. Fermented turmeric doesn’t appear to be unsafe in any way considering normal usage, but the effects on your body are not well researched. Below are two non-comprehensive lists laid out in layman’s terms outlining some of the benefits of curcumin over THCC, and vice versa. Nootropics Depot sells a Curowhite curcumin supplement which is standardized to 25% to contain dura, hexa, and octa curcuminoids.

Curcumin Benefits over Tetrahydrocurcumin:

Curcumin was more effective than THCC in preventing skin tumors in mice
Curcumin was more effective than THCC as an antioxidant
Curcumin induced apoptosis (cellular death) of leukemia cells but THCC did not
Curcumin, but not THCC, was effective in reducing amyloid plaque burden and amyloid aggregation (think Alzheimers)
Curcumin, but not THCC, inhibited Ca(2+) influx through CRAC for activating immune cells
Curcumin, but not THCC, inhibited entry of hepatitis C virus genotypes into human liver cells
Curcumin inhibited type A influenza virus infection to a greater extent than THCC by interfering with viral hemagglutination activity (red blood cell clumping)

Tertahydrocurcumin Benefits over Curcumin:

THCC was more active than curcumin as an antioxidant
THCC was more active than curcumin for suppression of LDL oxidation
THCC was equal to curcumin in potency for suppression of histamine release
THCC was more active than curcumin in normalizing blood glucose and improvement of altered carbohydrate metabolic enzymes in diabetic animals
THCC was more active than curcumin in increasing plasma insulin in diabetic rats
THCC was more active than curcumin for antidiabetic and antihyperlipidemic (blood lipid lowering) effects
THCC was more active than curcumin in a hepatoprotective role in CCL4-induced liver damage in rats and alcoholic liver disease model rats
THCC was more active than curcumin as an antihypertensive

Comparing Curcumin Supplement Effectiveness

Below are the different well studied curcumin supplements compared across three markers, Cmax, AUC, and Tmax.

Cmax is the peak concentration reached in blood plasma, expressed in nmol/L.
AUC (area under the curve) is the concentration in blood plasma over time, expressed as nmol/L * H
Tmax is the time it took to reach Cmax. Higher values for Cmax and AUC are typically better.

A lower value for Tmax is preferred if you are looking for a fast acting curcumin supplement for immediate pain relief. A higher Tmax value indicates a broader effect.

Cmax (nmol/L)

7.1 - 2g Curcumin
41.6 - 410mg Micronized Curcumin
489 - 2g Curcumin, 20mg Piperine
1240 - 2g BCM-95®
1765 - 297mg Meriva
3228 - 410mg Micellar Curcumin

AUC (nmol/L * H)

65.6 - 2g Curcumin (measured for 24 hours)
217.2 - 2g Curcumin, 20mg Piperine (measured to zero after 3 hours)
582.7 - 410mg Micronized Curcumin (measured for 24 hours)
1460.4 - 297mg Meriva (measured for 24 hours)
8690 - 2g BCM-95® (measured for 8 hours)
12147.7 - 410mg Micellar Curcumin (measured for 24 hours)

Tmax (H - hours)

0.69 - 2g Curcumin, 20mg Piperine
1.1 - 410mg Micellar Curcumin
3.0 - 2g BCM-95
3.8 - 297mg Meriva
7.5 - 2g Curcumin
7.5 - 410mg Micronized Curcumin

If choosing a turmeric/curcumin supplement based purely off of the blood markers above, micellar curcumin is the clear winner, with the BCM-95 formulation coming in second and the Meriva formulation coming in third.

There are other important considerations besides just Cmax and AUC values though. Anytime a drug, supplement, or food is ingested, body chemistry is altered. Care must be taken when taking supplements, as too much of even a good thing can have negative health effects. Take for example that curcumin strongly activates AMPK (adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase), an very important enzyme which governs metabolism (aka fat oxidation or fat storage).

With micellar curcumin, curcumin concentrations in the blood are elevated very strongly and for a long time, overly activating AMPK and other systems throughout the body. If using a curcumin supplement everyday as many people do, using a micellar curcumin supplement will strongly influence AMPK 24/7, and over a long duration the effect this will have hasn’t been studied yet. Positive or negative, the effects are currently unknown. The high reports of nausea from the use of micellar curcumin is also troubling. With a supplement to be used often, exerting caution is always the best approach. Start conservatively, gauge how it affects your body, both physiologically and psychologically, and tweak the dosing from there.

Micellar curcumin was the front runner based on having the highest Cmax and AUC values, but with these concerns noted, I recommend a more conservative approach, and a curcumin formulation that is more holistic in nature.

Where to Buy Curcumin Supplements

After studying into the health benefits of curcumin and how its bioavailability can be increased, the best marketplace I have found for curcumin supplements is Nootropics Depot. They carry three different types of curcumin supplement, each having their unique bioavailability differences which are worth trying separately.

Nootropics Depot curcumin and piperine 1.jpg

Nootropics Depot curcumin and piperine 2.jpg

Curcumin + Piperine Capsules

The standard curcumin supplement they sell is a blend of 1000 mg of 95% standardized curcuminoids and 6 mg piperine derived from black pepper. This is a good curcumin supplement that is readily bioavailable and can be used for a wide range of purposes, from treating headaches to joint pain or to boost metabolism.

Nootropics Depot Curcumin + Piperine Supplement

Longvida Curcumin Supplement

Nootropics Depot also carries a Longvida curcumin supplement. Longvida curcumin has been coated in a blend of highly purified fatty acids and phospholipids, which increases greatly increases curcuminoid bioavailability into the bloodstream. Each capsule contains 400 mg of the Longvida opimized curcumin extract.

Curowhite Curcumin Supplement

Lastly Nootropics Depot carries a Curowhite curcumin supplement which is a blend of tetra, hexa, and octa-curcuminoids standardized to at least 25%. These hydrogenated curcuminoids have differing effects physiologically than regular curcuminoids and are worth experimenting with.

1-2 servings of the any of the curcumin supplements sold by Nootopics Depot will be enough to use for digestive relief, pain relief, headaches, inflammatory diseases, and for general health and wellness purposes.

Mountain Rose Herbs also sells a variety of turmeric products, from the rhizome itself to different supplements and teas.

References:

Hewlings SJ, Kalman DS. Curcumin: A Review of Its' Effects on Human Health. Foods. 2017;6(10)
Kamal Patel. Curcumin. Examine
Shoba G, Joy D, Joseph T, Majeed M, Rajendran R, Srinivas PS. Influence of piperine on the pharmacokinetics of curcumin in animals and human volunteers. Planta Med. 1998;64(4):353-6.
Schiborr C, Kocher A, Behnam D, Jandasek J, Toelstede S, Frank J. The oral bioavailability of curcumin from micronized powder and liquid micelles is significantly increased in healthy humans and differs between sexes. Mol Nutr Food Res. 2014;58(3):516-27.
Schiborr C, Kocher A, Behnam D, Jandasek J, Toelstede S, Frank J. The oral bioavailability of curcumin from micronized powder and liquid micelles is significantly increased in healthy humans and differs between sexes. Mol Nutr Food Res. 2014;58(3):516-27.
US Patent 7883728B2
Antony B, Merina B, Iyer VS, Judy N, Lennertz K, Joyal S. A Pilot Cross-Over Study to Evaluate Human Oral Bioavailability of BCM-95CG (Biocurcumax), A Novel Bioenhanced Preparation of Curcumin. Indian J Pharm Sci. 2008;70(4):445-9.
Cuomo J, Appendino G, Dern AS, et al. Comparative absorption of a standardized curcuminoid mixture and its lecithin formulation. J Nat Prod. 2011;74(4):664-9.
Kim SW, Ha KC, Choi EK, et al. The effectiveness of fermented turmeric powder in subjects with elevated alanine transaminase levels: a randomised controlled study. BMC Complement Altern Med. 2013;13:58.
Pianpumepong Plangpin, Et al. Study on enhanced absorption of phenolic compounds of Lactobacillus‐fermented turmeric (Curcuma longa Linn.) beverages in rats. International Journal of Food Science & Technology 47(11). November 2012.

What are Hypnagogic Naps?

Hypnagogic naps are quick, just the time it takes to transition from wakefulness to stage 1 of sleep, everyone has done them whether they realize it or not. Hypnagogic naps are easy to perform and are great at boosting creativity, generating ideas, and enhancing lucid dreaming. Learn everything you need to know about hypnagogic naps and how to do them here.

Article by Stefan Burns - Updated November 2021. Join the Wild Free Organic email newsletter!

Hypnagogic naps are a prime example of the power of theta brainwaves.

A hypnagogic nap is one where you fall asleep and then through some loud stimulation immediately wake back up.

The classic method is to fall asleep in a chair with a steel ball in one hand and a wide metal pan placed below it. When the transition from wakefulness to stage 1 sleep occurs, the hand relaxes and the ball hits the pan, making a loud sound which wakes the user up.

The red dashed line at about the five minute mark is when a hypnagogic nap occurs. Hypnagogic naps provide a jolt of energy but the amount is insufficient if actual rest is needed. Hypnagogic naps are best performed as part of an experiment and exploration into the many states of consciousness.

Creatives such as Edgar Allan Poe and Salvador Dali used hypnagogic naps in their creative pursuits.

Transition from sleep into wakefulness is known as hypnopompic. Hypnagogic and hypnopompic are transitional "threshold consciousness" phases where hallucinations, lucid thought, sparks of genius, and lucid dreaming can occur.

Using binaural beats can make achieving a hypnagogic nap easier. Theta 4-8 Hz brainwaves are most dominant during a wake to sleep transition, so playing 5.55 Hz binaural beats primes brainwaves of that frequency. Use the video below for short hypnagogic naps or for longer theta binaural beat brainwave therapy.

How to Perform a Hypnagogic Nap

Below are the instructions on how to setup a hynagogic nap via the classic method (ball in hand).

Take a comfortable seated position and lay your arms over the top of the armrests. In one hand, place a heavy object like a stone or a metal ball. Turn on binaural beats if using. 42 Hz binaural beats is recommended instead of the 5.55 Hz track if trying to achieve lucid states and generate radical ideas.
Relax, close your eyes, and begin taking long deep breaths.
Sink deeper into relaxation by focusing on the breath and the thoughtlessness beyond. Deeper….deeper…
POW! The ball has dropped and you’re back!

Another easier way to perform a hynagogic nap is to set a timer for 15 minutes. Though you might not wakeup at the instant you transition to sleep, if a timer is set for 10-15 minutes before dozing off, it’ll start ringing while you’re still in stage 1 of sleep, providing the same benefits as the classic method. I prefer using a 15 minute timer because I find holding onto an object stops me from being able to fall asleep easily.

Entering into the nap calm and rested and a hypnagogic nap cycle takes about 5-10 minutes in total. If agitated and not at ease it can take 10+ minutes to eventually relax enough to then transition to sleep.

The best time to perform hypnagogic naps is on a quiet day free of stress. Mid-afternoon is a good time as there is a natural drowsy lull that sometimes occurs yet wakefulness is still dominant.

The Importance of Sleep

Sleeping is incredibly important for best mental health, lifespan, health, injury…every system in the body suffers if sleep is compromised. Hynagogic naps are one way to quickly rest and boost energy levels but they are not a replacement for regular deep sleep. Everything can be going great but if sleep has been poor then it needs to be the primary wellness focus.

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Stefan Burns 2/24/19 Stefan Burns 2/24/19

Daily Supplements for General Health

Micronutrients are best obtained naturally, but some vitamins and minerals are harder to obtain than others. Common nutrient deficiencies which remain untreated can lead to chronic health effects. To fortify your health in times of uncertainty and stress, supplementing with these five micronutrients will improve you wellness, alleviate the most common deficiencies, and increase your resiliency.

Article by Stefan Burns - Updated December 2021. Join the Wild Free Organic email newsletter!

Some nutrients are absolutely essential for good health, and with a healthy, balanced diet, it is possible to get enough of them to avoid any health issues. The Standard American Diet (SAD), the diet most common in the western world, is high in sugar, acellular carbs, heavily processed and oxidized oils, unknown additives, and chemical contamination; it’s a diet disaster. And if you do follow a healthier diet predominately featuring unprocessed foods, you won’t be eating as nutritious as you believe. Modern agricultural practices have reduced the micronutrient loads of most fruits and vegetables over the past 50-100 years (1). Even if you follow a healthy diet you might not be receiving the micronutrients your body needs to function at its best due to declined soil nutrition.

From left to right - Fish Oil, Zinc Balance, Vitamin D3, Borax, Magnesium Citrate

When switching from a Standard American Diet (SAD) to a healthier diet consisting primarily of organic, micronutrient-rich unprocessed foods, there is an awkward transition period that can be stressful mentally, physically, and emotionally. During periods of stress it is doubly important to make sure you are getting enough of the most commonly deficient micronutrients, as this will improve your stress response. Otherwise if your diet is overall good and you’re really trying to optimize your health, then I recommend taking the following daily supplement to cover common nutrient imbalances and deficiencies.

Again the goal should be to get all nutrients from a healthy diet over the course of a week, but with a modern lifestyle that’s not always possible. Having these supplements on hand allows you to intelligently supplement these key nutrients when needed for a healthier lifestyle.

Optimize Health with Five Supplements

All values listed for the minerals are in reference to the elemental form. The weights listed on a supplement bottle are always in reference to the elemental weight per serving, not the overall chemical weight per serving.

Take every morning/early afternoon (with a meal):

5000 - 10000 IU Vitamin D3
15:1 mg Zinc:Copper
1.5 - 3 grams EPA + DHA Omega-3 Fatty Acids (fish oil or algae oil)

Take every evening (with a meal):

200 - 400 mg Magnesium
3 -10 mg Boron

Supplement with Vitamin D

Vitamin D is produced endogenously through sunlight exposure. How long you need to stay in the sun to synthesize your daily amount of vitamin D depends on the color of your skin, but this ranges from 10-60 minutes. Darker skin colors need more time in the sun to produce the same amount of vitamin D as lighter skin colors.

Vitamin D is the most common micronutrient deficiency worldwide, affecting an estimated 50% of the global population (2). Even “healthy” adolescents are commonly vitamin D deficient (3), and that’s a big deal when vitamin D is critically important for growth and development during adolescence (4). A vitamin D deficiency can have wide ranging negative effects on your health, such as increased risk of infection, fatigue, depression, muscular pain, bone loss, hair loss, and more.

If you are experiencing very cloudy weather, live in a low-sun area, or can’t work some sun exposure into your schedule for whatever reason, supplementing with vitamin D3 is a good thing to do.

A Note on RDA’s: The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for vitamin D is 600 IU’s of vitamin D a day for adults, and 800 IU for those 70 and older. Keep in mind though that the RDA for a micronutrient isn’t set based on optimal health outcomes, but rather the bare minimum of that micronutrient required to prevent disease for 97.5% of the populace. Preventing disease =/= optimal health, as anyone can tell you. The RDA for vitamin D is the minimum amount needed to prevent rickets.

So what is optimal then? The Vitamin D Council recommends vitamin D blood levels between 40 and 80 ng/mL to be optimal. 40 to 20 ng/ml are classified as normal, and levels below 20 ng/mL are deficient. Vitamin D levels beyond 80 ng/ml are not achievable naturally, instead requiring supplementation, and levels beyond 150 ng/ml are classified as being toxic. After testing your vitamin D blood levels, use the graphic below to determine the amount of vitamin D needed to reach the recommended 70 ng/ml via supplementation.Without blood testing, most people average vitamin D levels of 15 - 30 ng/ml.

Vitamin D blood levels and the amount of vitamin D supplementation to reach them.

I recommend taking the vitamin D in the morning, as vitamin D is typically synthesized via sun exposure. Vitamin D with it’s link to the circadian rhythm is stimulating, and taking vitamin D at night might impact sleep quality. I recommend the Vitamin D3 5000 sold by Nordic Naturals . I like their supplement because they suspend the vitamin D3 in extra virgin olive oil instead of lesser quality expeller-pressed soybean oil which is common practice for most Vitamin D3 supplement manufacturers.

Supplement with Zinc + Copper

Zinc deficiency, defined as a lower intake than the RDA, can be caused through reduced dietary intake, inadequate absorption, or increased body system utilization (i.e. gaining muscle, bodybuilding). The most common cause of zinc deficiency though is reduced dietary intake, which illustrates just how little of this micronutrient most people consume. Remember the RDA is the bare minimum needed to not enter a diseased state.

Copper and Zinc are synergistic and antagonistic, and if too much zinc is consumed, a copper deficiency can occur, or vice versa.

Most common is copper excess, with zinc being deficient. In order to stay balanced, it is recommended to take a supplement which balances both minerals.

An excess of copper can lead to a variety of serious health issues (5), and a zinc deficiency leads to many of the same health issues:

Copper Excess Health Issues

Learning disabilities
ADHD, Autism
Anxiety, Depression
Acne, Hair loss
Allergies
Anemia
Poor Immune function
Sleep problems
Poor concentration and focus,
Chronic fatigue, and much more.

Zinc Deficiency Health Issues

Compromised immune system
Delayed growth
Psychological and cognitive disorders
Decreased testosterone levels
Loss of appetite
Wounds that won’t heal
Lack of alertness
Increased rates of anorexia.

Copper and zinc are absolutely essential to the proper functioning of the immune system, the endocrine system, and the nervous system, and an imbalance of copper and zinc throws those systems out of balance. The optimal ratio of zinc to copper to 10:1, but in the context of a copper rich diet, a supplement containing zinc to copper at a 15:1 ratio is more desirable. Jarrow’s Zinc Balance supplement (pictured above) contains 15 mg of zinc and 1 mg of copper, and I recommend to most people to take it daily to mitigate any zinc deficiencies and to help balance out their immune and endocrine systems. Have digestive issues? Zinc helps by healing epithelial tight junctions.

I find zinc to have a slight stimulating effect, so it’s best taken in the morning, and also with a meal. Zinc taken on an empty stomach can cause nausea. The higher the dosage, the greater then nausea, and that’s one of a few reasons why I don’t recommend 50 mg zinc supplements. 50 mg is above the tolerable upper limit (TUL) of 40 mg per day, and taken daily can quickly lead to a copper deficiency. Even with a zinc-demanding lifestyle (intense exercise, regular sex, heat therapy like a sauna), 15 mg supplemented is sufficient, and paired with a zinc rich diet, one zinc balance pill a day should balance out zinc and copper levels nicely.

Supplement with Magnesium

Magnesium is the second most common micronutrient deficiency (6) behind vitamin D, and it’s critically important for a variety of processes throughout the body, such as cognition, high blood pressure, asthma, osteoporosis, muscle cramps and twitches, fatigue and muscle weakness, and an irregular heartbeat. In fact, low levels of magnesium have often been found to be a contributing factor for people with chronic diseases.

Magnesium is high in foods like pumpkin seeds, cashews, avocado, dark chocolate, bananas, and black beans.

Magnesium Breakthrough by biOptimizers

The RDA of magnesium for adults (7) is 300 mg for women and 400 mg for men. If you exercise a lot an experience changing pressure in your ears, you have a magnesium deficiency. Magnesium citrate is a common supplemental form of magnesium, but magnesium citrate can cause diarrhea at higher dosages of 200+ mg.

Magnesium glycinate is a better alternative, and taken before bed can also help get the body relaxed and ready for sleep. Both magnesium and the amino acid glycine have been shown to increase deep restorative sleep when supplemented with.

Start with 200 mg of magnesium glycinate per night and see how you feel after a couple weeks, then bump to 400 mg and if there is a noticeable improvement, stay at that nightly dosage. Magnesium glycinate is a low-cost, widely available supplement. I recommend Magnesium Breakthrough by biOptimizers, they sell a highly absorbable magnesium supplement containing seven different bonded forms of magnesium that is highly bioavailable and easy on the stomach. If you prefer a natural food source, pumpkin seeds have lots of magnesium, with a 1/4 cup containing nearly 200 mg.

Supplement with Boron

For modern agriculture, Boron is the second most common micronutrient deficiency in plants, and therefore deficient in everything else moving up that food chain. This is very important because we know boron is essential for the growth and maintenance of bone tissue, greatly improves wound healing, beneficially improves hormone levels (estradiol and testosterone), improves vitamin D status, and is cancer protective, just to name a few.

If you want to experience some of Wolverine’s superpowers, you can easily supplement with boron yourself.

On average most people ingest about 2 mg of boron a day, which is under the 3 mg or greater ideal dietary intake. For a person with a diet low in plant products such as fruits, vegetables, and nuts, their dietary intake of boron could be lower than even 1 mg of boron per day.

As more research is done on Boron, its importance as a trace micronutrient is becoming better understood. In the meantime, take zero chances and add boron to your daily supplement stack. You can either buy a boron supplement which is mostly filler, or use borax. Borax (sodium borate) has the same safety as table salt (similar LD50 as NaCl for Rats, and by extension, humans), and since it is a salt, borax is highly bioavailable. Buy a box from 20 Mule Team which is pure and nicely refined, and save a small jar for personal use. Use a 0.5 ml scoop (G82 Ultra Small Measuring Spoon), to dose ~10 mg boron per scoop.

Most studies on boron supplementation use a dose of 3 mg of elemental boron often through a compound like borax. Occasionally boron fructoborate has been used in studies on boron, but I prefer borax as it orders of magnitude cheaper, easier to use, and extremely bioavailable. I’ve supplemented with 10 mg a day for years, and that dosage covers all the scientifically supported beneficial effects boron has, and I’ve never experienced any negative health effects.

Supplement with Omega-3 Fatty Acids

Omega-3 fatty acids are a type of polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA), and there are three main types of Omega-3 fatty acids: α-linolenic acid (ALA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). The two Omega-3 fatty acids that humans require are EPA + DHA. ALA is an Omega-3 fatty found in plant foods such as flax meal and chia seeds, and while it’s not necessarily bad for you, only approximately 5% converts into EPA and DHA, the primary Omega-3’s shown to have wide ranging health benefits.

Omega-3 fatty acids are a necessary and incredibly important fatty acid needed throughout the body, from the cardiovascular system to the brain. DHA and EPA have slightly different functions throughout the body, but overall Omega-3’s are essential for pre- and postnatal brain development, have a major influential on behavior and mood, are critical for cardiovascular health, reduce inflammation, and are required for the building of various tissues throughout the body (skin, brain, etc).

In the context of the overall diet, the higher your omega-3 to omega-6 ratio, the better. And don’t worry about an Omega-3/Omega-6 ratio that is too high. It’s very difficult to achieve a 1:1 ratio in the context of modern society, and it would be nearly impossible to consume a diet dangerously rich in omega-3’s (over 10:1 possibly). Unless you are already consuming a seafood heavy diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids and also minimize your omega-6 intake, the best way to ensure a good omega-3 to omega-6 ratio is through supplementation.

Algae Omega by Nordic Naturals is the best balance between price, purity, and environmental impact. Being derived from algae, each Algae Omega pills contains a higher amount of DHA Omega-3 fatty acids that is typically found in fish oil, which is better for brain health. Vitamin D3 is best taken in the morning because of it’s energizing impact due to circadian rhythm pathways.

Omega-3’s are also synergistic with turmeric and curcumin supplements, with both taken together reducing pain and inflammation more than if taken separately. For a curcumin supplement I recommend BioSchwartz Turmeric Curcumin Supplement.

Live Healthier with Five Supplements

Before starting supplementation of any of the above micronutrients, please consult your health practitioner, and ideally get blood work done for reference to see if you are below the levels suggested for optimal health. If your vitamin D, zinc, an omega-3 levels are low but your magnesium is fine, then you can skip the magnesium supplementation!

There are a few ways to implement this supplementation routine. If you really wish to feel the unique effects of each supplement, and learn the most about how each of these compounds can improve your general health, energy, and mood, introduce one new supplement into your routine weekly. Take notes of how you feel and any positive or negative symptoms you experience. I would introduce them in this order.

Week 1 - 5000 IU Vitamin D

Week 2 - 200 mg Magnesium

Week 3 - 10 mg Boron

Week 4 - 15 mg Zinc + Copper

Week 5 - 2 grams of EPA + DHA Omega-3’s

If you want to dive in head first, taking all five supplements simultaneously at their prescribed dosages and timings, will cause a noticeable effect. It will be harder to determine which supplements fixed the most glaring nutrient deficiencies compared to if you follow the weekly plan above.

References:

Donald R. Davis. Declining Fruit and Vegetable Nutrient Composition: What Is the Evidence? American Society for Horticultural Development.
Nair R, Maseeh A. Vitamin D: The "sunshine" vitamin. J Pharmacol Pharmacother. 2012;3(2):118-26.
Gordon CM, Depeter KC, Feldman HA, Grace E, Emans SJ. Prevalence of vitamin D deficiency among healthy adolescents. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2004;158(6):531-7.
Kremer R, Campbell PP, Reinhardt T, Gilsanz V. Vitamin D status and its relationship to body fat, final height, and peak bone mass in young women. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2009;94(1):67-73.
Judy Tsafrir M.D. Copper Toxicity: A Common Cause of Psychiatric Symptoms. Psychology Today.
Guerrera MP, Volpe SL, Mao JJ. Therapeutic uses of magnesium. Am Fam Physician. 2009;80(2):157-62.
Magnesium Fact Sheet for Health Professionals. National Institutes for Health, Office of Dietary Supplement

Disclosure: Amazon affiliate links are used throughout the article. Wild Free Organic makes a small commission when a purchase is made through those links. This does not affect the purchase price and the proceeds go towards the growth of Wild Free Organic.

Stefan Burns 2/16/19 Stefan Burns 2/16/19

Dairy vs Plant Protein

Protein is an important macronutrient, used throughout the body. Protein supplements are one option for increasing protein intake, with diary and plant proteins both being commonly available. Dairy and plant proteins both have their pro and cons; let's discuss!

Article by Stefan Burns - Updated January 2022. Join the Wild Free Organic email newsletter!

There are many different types of protein found in nature, but for protein supplements the divide begins at whether the protein is animal or plant based. A protein molecule is made from a long chain of amino acids, and each type of protein has a unique sequence of amino acids. Therefore, the protein chains found in broccoli differ from those found in eggs. As science had discovered the different types of protein, we have started to learn the chemical differences between different types of plant and animal proteins and how they affect the body differently. Proteins differ in their effects on muscle protein synthesis, level of satiety, and immune system response.

For both athletes looking to improve their performance or regular folks trying to look better and live healthier, protein is an important macronutrient to understand and to know how to utilize. The general recommendation for protein intake is 2 grams/kg body-weight, or 1 gram/lb. For a 70 kg (155 lb) individual, that means they should aim to consume 140-155 grams of protein daily for optimal body composition and maximum wellness benefits.

Dairy vs Plant Protein Shakes on scales in a kitchen

It can be difficult to achieve that target consistently solely from whole and unprocessed foods, especially if you follow a lower protein vegetarian or vegan diet, and protein supplements like shakes and bars can help you meet your daily protein goals. For decades the only protein supplements were dairy based, specifically casein and whey protein, but now plant proteins are more and more popular. Uncommonly used supplemental protein sources like beef and egg proteins will not be discussed. Below we examine the pros and cons of dairy and plant-based proteins so you can understand how to best use either protein source when appropriate.

Dairy Proteins

Dairy-based proteins, typically derived from cows milk, can be separated into casein and whey proteins. Before whey and casein are separated, they are known as "milk protein", and that's the type of protein Orgain uses in their Grass-Fed Clean Protein Shake (as pictured).

PROS:

Milk proteins are extremely bioavailable (1), easily absorbed from food sources and then efficiently incorporated into the proteins of an organism's body.
Milk proteins contain abundant Branched-Chain Amino Acids (BCAA's) (2), the main amino acids responsible for stimulating an increase in muscle protein synthesis (MPS). With all other factors equal, more MPS, more muscle!
Milk proteins are widely available! Due to the size of the dairy industry, milk, casein, and whey protein can all be had at a relatively inexpensive cost, with different levels of quality from concentrates to hydrolysates all having different price points.

CONS:

Any food can be allergenic, but dairy-based foods are the most common food allergy (3), and should be strictly avoided if you have a dairy allergy. Likewise, those with a lactose intolerance should steer clear, even from products from like whey isolate which contain virtually zero lactose.
Dairy protein products are derived from animals and for vegans and vegetarians looking to reduce their animal product consumption, plant proteins are a lower impact alternatives.

Plant Proteins

Plant-based proteins, once a niche product, have dramatically increased in popularity recently. Soy protein, once the plant protein of choice, has recently taken the backseat to newer options such as pea, pumpkin seed, and hemp proteins. The Vega protein drink pictured contains those three plant-based proteins.

PROS:

Plant proteins are not commonly allergic, with soy protein being the exception (4), and in my experience, it's harder to develop an intolerance to plant-based proteins. For those with sensitive guts and damaged intestinal tight junctions, plant proteins are a better choice until gut health is restored.
While plant proteins typically contain less protein per gram of product, they also contain more fiber! As it has been shown, fiber is one of the most important variables which determines the satiation value of a food (5), and a plant-based protein drink will stave off hunger longer than a dairy alternative.
Vegan friendly!

CONS:

Plant proteins, due to their structural makeup, don't have as pleasing of a texture or taste as dairy derived proteins, and often protein manufacturers add extra sugar, emulsifiers, and stabilizers to plant protein products to make them more palatable.
Plant proteins aren't as efficiently absorbed as dairy protein, having lower biological values. This means that you'll need to consume more plant protein than dairy protein to ensure you receive an adequate amount of protein for your desired goals.

Protein Recommendations

To simplify, there are two reasons you would consider buying a protein powder or drink.

Your goal is to build muscle and improve body composition as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Your want to improve protein intake for overall health and wellness inspirations.

If your goal is #1, and you are not lactose intolerant, then a hydrolyzed whey protein will be the best protein supplement for your goals. Whey hydrolysate empties out of the stomach faster, is absorbed faster, increases muscle protein synthesis the most, and creates the biggest insulin response. Hydrolyzed whey protein is the most anabolic form for protein known. Whey hydrolysate should not be used by those with blood sugar problems.

If your goal is #2, then a plant-based protein is recommended. Soy protein is not recommended because it is allergenic, contains high levels of phytoestrogens, and doesn’t stimulate muscle protein synthesis well. Pea, pumpkin, and hemp seed proteins are recommended instead. These proteins, used individually or together act as a complete protein source, digest easily, stimulate muscle protein synthesis, and come paired with plant fiber.

The best protein source though is from whole unprocessed foods. Protein supplements are a means to an end, not the end destination. Protein drinks should not be your main source of protein. Having a protein drink occasionally is OKAY, but consistent protein drink use is overall more less healthy than eating whole nutritious foods.

References:

Hoffman JR, Falvo MJ. Protein - Which is Best?. J Sports Sci Med. 2004;3(3):118-30.
Rafiq S, Huma N, Pasha I, Sameen A, Mukhtar O, Khan MI. Chemical Composition, Nitrogen Fractions and Amino Acids Profile of Milk from Different Animal Species. Asian-australas J Anim Sci. 2016;29(7):1022-8.
Milk Allergy Vs. Lactose Intolerance. Food Allergy and Research Education.
Soy Allergy. Food Allergy and Research Education.
J. Slavin, and H. Green. Dietary fibre and satiety. British Nutrition Foundation.

Stefan Burns 2/3/19 Stefan Burns 2/3/19

The Importance of Sleep

Everyone knows of the importance of sleep. Good sleep improves your health by nearly every health metric known, whether mental, emotional, or physical. If you suffer from poor sleep, or from the symptoms of poor sleep, then it is critical you understand how great sleep can improve wellness, and the steps you can take to improve your sleep.

Article by Stefan Burns - Updated November 2021. Join the Wild Free Organic email newsletter!

Sleep is a very important part of everyday life. The prevailing recommendation is that 8 hours of sleep everyday is ideal amount for health and wellness. Less or more than eight hours and negative health implications start to increase. The health effects of sleep deprivation is also well studied fact. Sleep is so important that sleep deprivation studies on rats and dogs have shown that extreme sleep deprivation can be fatal.

Table of Contents:

Health Impacts of Sleep
The Sleep Cycle and Naps
Factors that Influence Sleep
Keep Sleep Simple
Holistic Sleep Improvement Protocol
Sleep is an Advantage, Use it

Health Impacts of Sleep

Here are some quick facts from the American Sleep Association (1):

50 - 70 million US adults have a sleep disorder.
37% of 20-39 year-olds report short sleep duration
40% of 40-59 year-olds report short sleep duration
35.3% adults report < 7 hours of sleep during a typical 24-hour period.

Sleep can take many forms. Most people sleep once a day in a single unbroken event lasting, sleep involves a 5 to 9 hours in length. Others follow a biphastic sleep schedule in which there are two periods of sleep everyday, typically one long and one short. Then there are extreme sleep schedules like those developed by the famous late Buckminster Fuller (which we do not recommend you try). However your sleep schedule is divided, a total of 8 hours of sleep per day is recommended. If you get less sleep than what your body and mind require for restoration every night, then there are some health complications you should be aware of.

In a study of over 100,000 volunteers, researchers observed that cognitive performance is impaired in people who deviate from the recommended 7–8 hours per night (2). A deviation from the 7-8 hours had little impact on short-term memory performance, but reasoning and verbal skills were heavily impaired. Those who self-reported sleeping less than 4 hours per night had lower scores compared to those who slept well, and had similar cognitive performance to people 8 years older then them. In persons sleeping less than 8 hours, reduced leptin and elevated ghrelin hormones were observed (3). This skewed leptin/ghrelin ratio has been found to be responsible for increasing appetite and hunger cravings. In fact, increased body mass index (BMI) was found to be proportional to decreased sleep. Sleeping for less than 7 hours per night conferred a 12% greater risk of death (4).

Without a proper 8 hours of sleep per night you’re more likely to be cognitively older, fatter, and one step closer to death than if you had slept a full eight hours per night. Poor sleep can be avoided through! This article will guide you through the science of why you might be having poor sleep and how to counteract this. At the end there is an action plan you can follow to improve your sleep right away.

The Sleep Cycle and Naps

Sleep can be broken down into sleep cycles 90 minutes in length. When you sleep for 8 hours, if everything is normal you will go through 5-6 sleep cycles. A sleep cycle can be further broken down into the stages of sleep: Wakefulness, Rapid Eye Movement (REM), Stage 1, Stage 2, and Stage 3.

Stage 3 is slow-wave deep sleep, and slow-wave-sleep is when the body heals and the brain consolidates memories (5). Stages 1 and 2 are short intermediate stages between stage 3 and REM sleep. Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is when you experience dreams. Having adequate REM sleep every night has shown to be important for how alert, focused, and sharp you are the next day, and less REM sleep puts you at a higher risk of death (6).

While most of this article will focus on why you should get a good eight hours of sleep per night, daytime naps will also be discussed. When sleep deprived, naps can be a quick effective way to mitigate many of the effects of sleep deprivation. Longer naps have a more lasting effect than shorter naps, but the goal should be to resume a normal 8 hour sleep cycle as soon as possible. Keeping in tune with the circadian rhythm is important for many reasons, one of them being that brain waste clearance works better during sleep at night compared to daytime sleeping (7). The process of sleeping is important, but so is when you sleep. With that covered, here are the different types of naps you can take.

15 Minute Nap

If you’re feeling drowsy, fatigued, or have brain fog, a 15 minute nap can have you come feeling refreshed for 1-3 hours afterwards. The secret of the 15 minute nap is that very quickly you can descend into stage 2 sleep (see above). During stage 2 mental performance is increased, and in fifteen you’ll have gotten a mini tune-up, and the effects are immediate (8). A fifteen minute nap is too short to experience sleep inertia (that period of fatigue and drowsiness post sleep), so when you need a quick mental boost take a nap rather than reach for a cup of coffee. Naps used this way to help to improve your sleep and wellness overall.

The 15 minute nap is the best sleep option to utilize when you only have 15 minutes in the near future to catch some rest, and/or you require a cognitive boost right away.

30 Minute Nap

If you have longer than 15 minutes but less than the 90 minutes required for a full sleep cycle, then a 30 minute nap is a better option to improve mental clarity and also remove some physical fatigue. 30 minute naps enhance performance in reaction time and alertness compared to if you didn’t take a nap (9). A thirty minute nap extends your time in stage 2 sleep, improving the benefits compared to a shorter 15 minute nap. Sleep inertia will be slightly higher with a 30 minute nap that a 15 minute nap, but that should only last a few minutes at max.

If you sleep longer for thirty minutes you’ll enter into stage 3 sleep, and waking up from stage 3 sleep carries with it a lot of sleep inertia. It’s best to stick to a thirty minute nap or if you have the time go for a full 90 minute sleep cycle, and nothing in-between.

90 Minute Nap

The 90 minute nap is special because it encompasses one entire sleep cycle, from stage 1 and stage 2 sleep, through stage 3 slow-wave-sleep, and finally to REM sleep. If you need the biggest physical and mental boost midway through the day, a 90 minute nap is the way to go. 90 minute naps will boost performance for up to ten hours (10). The drawback of the 90 minute nap compared to the 15 and 30 minute options are that it creates more sleep inertia. Going through the sleep stages all the way to REM sleep takes one relatively close back to wakefulness though, and the sleep inertia from a 90 minute nap is slightly more than that from a 30 minute nap.

0 Minute Nap (Hypnagogic)

Hypnagogia is the experience of the transition from wakefulness to sleep. Ranging from a few seconds to a few minutes, this transition period takes people from conscious to unconscious experience, and unusual sleep phenomenon such as lucid dreaming, hallucinations, and sleep paralysis can sometimes be experienced during hypnagogia.

A hypnagogic nap is a nap that only lasts for seconds. To experience a hypnagogic nap without having learned to control the hypnagogia state, sit in a chair and hold an object such as a metal ball in your hand and try to fall asleep. Right before you’ll fall asleep, your hand will relax, dropping the ball, waking you up from the hypnagogia state. With practice, the balls will no longer be needed. Visionaries such as Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin, Nikola Tesla, Ludwig van Beethoven, Salvador Dalí, Isaac Newton, Thomas Edison, Aristotle, and more all have credited hypnagogic naps with boosting their creativity and insight. I personally can attest to this phenomenon. All of my best ideas and revelations come to me as I straddle wakefulness and rest, and I’ve found that if I transition back to wakefulness instead of sleep after experiencing hypnagogia, I feel rested with my mind firing at max creative capacity.

Factors that Influence Sleep

There are a many factors that influence sleep, and they range from minor to major in effect. It is important to be aware of these different factors, which range from light exposure to diet, and how they affect the circadian rhythm. The circadian rhythm is a natural, internal process that regulates the sleep-wake cycle. When making changes to improve sleep quality and/or quantity focus on the most encompassing changes that positively effect the circadian rhythm. The methods that are the most effective in improving sleep often require the biggest lifestyle changes, so expect these changes to take time. Patience will be required if you wish to make lasting change and create a lifestyle which supports quality sleep and overall health and wellness.

Below is a list of the most important factors that can influence sleep. At the end of the article is a quick-start guide that will condense this information into actionable steps.

Chemicals: It’s well known that chemicals like caffeine affect sleep, but other chemicals, some of which are naturally produced, can also impact sleep.

Exogenous Sleep Disruptors

Nicotine - the additive chemical found in tobacco, is a stimulant and disrupts sleep by increasing sleep latency (how long it takes to fall asleep), reduces quality, fragments sleep, and reduces overall time slept.
Alcohol - a depressant, the more drinks that are consumed before bed, the greater the impact on sleep quality. You might fall asleep faster, but REM sleep (which is mentally restorative) is notably reduced after a few hours.
THC/CBD - cannabinoids produced from cannabis, THC is a psychoactive chemical while CBD is non-psychoactive. Both promote feelings of relaxation but THC triggers dopamine release.

Exogenous Continued

Caffeine - a stimulant found in coffee beans and green tea leaves, caffeine promotes wakefulness and releases adrenaline. The half-life of caffeine is ~6 hours, so if you have 100 mg caffeine upon first waking, 18 hours later when it is time to sleep you will still have 12.5 mg of caffeine in your system.
Theobromine - a stimulant found in cacao, theobromine is very similar to caffeine in its effects.
Phthalates - chemicals commonly found in plastic products, phthalates are endocrine disruptors and by affecting hormones can disrupt sleep through phenomenon such as hot flashes. Bedding materials commonly degas phthalates.

Endogenous Sleep Influencers

Dopamine - a naturally produced feel-good neurotransmitter, increases in response to things that bring pleasure, and higher levels of dopamine disrupt sleep.
Cortisol - a steroid hormone, cortisol peaks in the morning when you wakeup. Cortisol is released by the adrenal glands when stressed, though the overall cortisol release schedule is dependent on your circadian rhythm.
Melatonin - a hormone primarily released by the pineal gland, melatonin helps regulates the sleep–wake cycle.

Consistency: More consistent day-night schedules improve sleep quality. The circadian rhythm is based on the light and temperature cycles of the sun, and the further you stray from these natural variations, the more disrupted your circadian rhythm becomes. All the factors in this list affect your circadian rhythm, and therefore your sleep, but what also effects your sleep is how consistent you keep these factors everyday. Changing any factor, whether for the positive or negative creates circadian rhythm volatility, so move the needle slowly, introducing one optimization at a time, and make it a lasting habit.

Sometimes it’s not possible to be fully consistent, such as with jet lack from travel or life events, and in this case do your best to stay calm and reduce the volatility to your circadian as much as you can using the different takeaways that you glean from this list.

Electromagnetic Radiation: The Earth is buzzing with electromagnetic energy, both naturally occurring and now man-made. Little is known on how magnetic fields influence our physiology. Our bioelectrical system is just as developed as any other system in the body like the circulatory system, it’s just not well understood. There is evidence that the frequency and amplitude of electromagnetic fields can impact sleep (11), and if you’re experiencing poor sleep you might consider turning the WiFi routers in your home off ever night and keeping note of your sleep patterns.

I personally have done this and I notice I sleep better with the WiFI router off.

Environment: Environment is a multi-faceted word that means many things. Environment means more obvious factors like temperature and background noise, but environment can also mean more nebulous factors. Maybe you live with other individuals with volatile schedules who are highly stressed and emotional. Perhaps a family pet needs to be let out every night to do their business, or there is temporary construction nearby that starts at 6 am. There are endless ways your environment effects your sleep schedule and quality of sleep, and you can influence these factors to various degrees.

“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.”

— Reinhold Niebuhr

This quote is very true as it relates to your sleep environment. Make the changes and optimizations you can in order to sleep better, but remain calm with what you can’t change. Getting stressed or worried about what you can’t change will only make you sleep worse.

Food: Food has a big impact on your sleep. The timing and composition of meals determines your blood sugar levels, which in turn impacts your energy level and brain activity. Depending on what you eat right before bed can have an impact on how well you sleep that night meal right before bed. Fiber increased slow wave sleep and reduced stage 1 sleep (light sleep) whereas sugar and saturated fat increased stage 1 sleep and arousals (12).

When meal timing is kept consistent, the body adapts and the circadian rhythm normalizes, even if the meals are very early or very late. When the timing of meals change, the circadian rhythm shifts and sleep is disrupted (13)

Alcohol is a well known sleep disruptor. As a depressant, a few servings of liquor might help you fall asleep faster, but overall sleep quality will be worse, with REM stages suffering the most (14).

Light: Our existence is light, so it is no surprise to find out that light has a huge impact on sleep. Light is the main input the circadian rhythm bases its calculations off of, and the intensity, wavelength (color), and timing of light all change the response of the circadian rhythm (15). The transition of dim to bright light in the morning induces an immediate rise in cortisol (16), the stress hormone, promoting wakefulness. During the day, blue and green light dominate the sky, promoting alertness through changes in brain activity (17). At night blue light suppresses melatonin production, the sleep hormone, in a dose dependent manner (18). Any light after dark disrupts melatonin production and has an influence on sleep onset and quality (19), it’s just lower wavelength light has the least impact.

Being mindful of all light, and it’s effects on your sleep, is one of the biggest things you can do to positively impact your sleep quality and quantity.

Medications: There is a chance with any drug or medication for one of the side-effects to be sleep disruption. Alpha and beta blockers, SSRI antidepressants, statins, corticosteroids, ACE inhibitors, and diuretics are just some of the drugs which can cause insomnia, daytime drowsiness, decreased REM sleep, nightmares, the list goes on.

Getting good sleep every night is foundational to good health, and every effort should be made to get off medications which impact sleep. Every holistic effort should be taken to return to a healthy lifestyle not requiring any drugs or medications, but that desire has to manifest internally as a deep seated desire.

Pain: It’s no surprise that pain can disrupt sleep, it is something everyone has experienced. Chronic pain can cause regular sleep disruptions, whereas acute pain might only temporarily disrupt sleep. The issue with pain is that it can disrupt sleep, and then the lack of sleep can cause worsening health outcomes, which serve to further increase the pain. It’s a troubling cycle, and to break it pain and anti-inflammatory supplements can be of use. Curcumin, sulforaphane, and CBD are all effective natural anti-inflammatories which can reduce chronic and acute pain depending on their application.

Sex: We know that poor sleep negatively impacts your time in-between the sheets, but how does sex impact sleep? How sex can impact sleep is very individual. During sex, dopamine and oxytocin are released, which can create pleasant feelings which reduce stress, and after sex other hormones like prolactin can cause feelings of relief, relaxation, and sleepiness. These naturally produced chemicals can improve sleep, but for some sex might be too energizing. Likewise, if you’re disrupting your regular sleep schedule by staying up late and being frisky, this will only impact your sleep negatively.

Stress/Anxiety/Depression: Stress and anxiety can deeply disturb your sleep (20), and overtime this can lead to chronic sleep issues. How stress and anxiety affect sleep is similar to the pain-sleep downward cycle. Stress can disturb sleep which can worsen stress and so on. Overtime, or due to other factors, depression can become an issue, which can range from mild to life threatening.

Depression and sleep are closely linked. Decreased REM sleep can exacerbate depression, and depression can lead to insomnia.

Temperature: The temperature of the environment and your body temperature have a big impact on sleep. Finding the right balance between hot and cold is important for sleep quality. When sleep environments are too warm, slow wave and REM sleep are decreased, while wakefulness increases (21). In cold environments, shivering will negatively affect your sleep, but when bundled up the issue is mitigated. The best solution is to sleep in a cool to cold environment and then add warmth to your desired level with bedding materials.

Heat therapy which has many benefits, raises internal body temperatures and can impact sleep. Heat therapy at night (via a bath) while on the decline of the circadian rhythm was found to improve sleep onset, increase the deepest stage of slow-wave-sleep, but decrease REM sleep (22). Typically you don’t want to decrease REM sleep. The same heat therapy done during the incline of the circadian rhythm (think late afternoon) didn’t have any effect on sleep.

Keep Sleep Simple

As you can tell, a lot of the health factors which disrupt sleep end up feeding their own condition, making it worse and creating a downward spiral. When or before this happens, it is important to intervene with wellness therapies which are proven effective in helping improve sleep, reduce stress, reduce pain, and increase happiness. Unless positive change is inserted into the equation, healing will not occur. Wellness activities as simple deep abdominal breathing or time spent in nature being in awe can change the conversation, getting wellness and sleep back on track.

Countering bad sleep habits with wellness activities is especially important as you can tell there is significant overlap in the categories above. When on a quest to improve sleep quality, it is best not to pick and choose which habits you’ll change and which you won’t. A holistic lifestyle approach is needed, and once normal sleep patterns have resumed, then you can patiently experiment with what minor changes you’d like to try to accommodate.

Native Americans used dream catchers as spiritual tools to give good dreams to those who slept below them. Bad dreams are caught in the webbing and burned in the light of the morning sun.

First, lets lay out desired sleep goals:

Sleep schedule in-sync with natural circadian rhythm
8 hours sleep per night
Fast sleep onset
Reduced disruptions from elevated alertness and wakefulness.
Quality slow-wave-sleep
Regular REM sleep
Upon waking you feel alert and refreshed.

To accomplish the above sleep goals, lifestyle modifications will need to be made. These modifications are done with the best intentions and creating wellness habits out of these tips will positively impact your life given consistency and time. Some of these modifications might go against your established behaviors, so before you start the below program make sure you are 100% committed to improving your sleep. Only if you have a strong innate desire to improve your sleep and be healthier will these changes stick.

Holistic Sleep Improvment Protocol

Establish a hard bedtime 8.5 hours before when you would like to wake up every morning. If you need to be up by 4 am that means bedtime is 7:30 pm. 6 am wake-up means 9:30 pm your head is on the pillow. The extra half hour is a cushion that accounts for the time it takes to fall asleep. You need to be consistent with this. Even if you’re not tired initially, create the habit and go lay in bed. Do you best to make your wake-up in the morning coincide with the rising of the sun.
Make the bedroom a place for sleep maybe sex and nothing else. If you have a TV in the bedroom, move it elsewhere. If you charge your phone or tablet on your bed stand, move the chargers to a different room. Actions dictate how we respond in different environments, and if you want the bedroom to be a place where you sleep, then it needs to be a place of sleep and nothing more. Watching TV or being on your phone gives your mind the expectation of alertness and activity in an environment where that strictly shouldn’t be allowed. Removing electronics and bright lights from the bedroom also reduces light exposure and melatonin production will be unaffected.
Keep the sleeping environment cool and exposed to the outside temperature, even in some small way. The circadian rhythm is driven by the light and temperature cycles of the Earth and Sun, and the further you remove yourself from the natural world the more your sleep will suffer. This goes for your electromagnetic connection to the Earth too, and being grounded at night can further improve sleep and reduce inflammation.
Be conscious of light throughout the day, and when the sun starts to set, all electronics should be put away and not used. The use of electronics 2-3 hours before sleep is strongly not recommended. Bright lights in the house should be dimmed, replaced with hue light bulbs (and set to a low kelvin temperature) or candles can be used. Dim lighting at night is better for your circadian rhythm and melatonin production while also being a more passionate creative environment. I have hue color changing lights and highly recommend them for reducing light exposure at night and also to schedule them to slowly turn on with the sun. They’re a game changer. At night put on some blue blocking glasses to further reduce the effect of having lights on. It might seem like overkill, but at night its very dark outside, and even dim lights affect the circadian rhythm. I use Felix Gray blue blocking glasses and notice if I use them consistently at night I sleep better.
Cut the caffeine and other stimulants. Caffeine has a long half-life and drinking a cup every morning builds up a chronic dependence on caffeine to be alert and wakeful. Having any caffeine in the afternoon or evening is a strict no. The occasional cup of coffee or tea isn’t a problem, but don’t make it a habit. Likewise, nicotine and alcohol are obvious sleep disruptors, and for health reasons overall shouldn’t be used at any time other than extremely sparingly. Skip the claw, la croix is a better alternative, and if you are addicted to nicotine, try transitioning off cigarettes to cannabis dry vaporization, a healthier alternative which is easy to stop. The cannabinoids might help you sleep too.
Exercise in the morning or afternoon, but not evening. Besides a peaceful walk at night, exercising at night stokes the energy systems of the body to ramp up, releases cortisol, and will delay sleep onset. Exercise and movement is foundational to a healthy life, but not at the expense of good sleep. The best way to make sure you exercise in the morning is to establish a consistent morning routine. Start your morning with a movement flow, yoga, calisthenics, a run or walk, there are so many options, and if you do this you’ll feel great throughout the rest of the day.
Start a journal and keep track of your sleep. Recording when you go to sleep, wake up, and sleep quality is a good way to pair your diet, daily actions, and habits to your quality of sleep. If your mind is still spinning before going to bed, committing these thoughts to paper can quiet the storm helping you fall asleep faster.
Meditate every day for at least 15 minutes. Meditation is the best way to practice calming your mind, it increases mindfulness, and provides an opportunity to raise your level of consciousness. The act of physically doing nothing might seem counterproductive, but through meditation you can unlock many internal and external secrets and truths that would have remained hidden to understanding. Meditation will impact your life in wide-ranging ways, and it will improve your sleep a lot.
Spend time in nature every day, increasing your consciousness of the world around you while also enjoying the mind clearing and emotionally calming benefits. You can practice your meditation during this time, focus on deep abdominal breathing, and feel the stress melt away.
Eat a healthy diet rich in fruits and vegetables and don’t eat too close to bed time. Additionally, keep your meal timing consistent so as to not disturb your circadian rhythm. For your last meal, at most 2 hours before bed, have a salad or high fiber vegetable like squash. Change your dietary mindset to not seek out foods you crave but instead the nutrition your body needs. Avoid all sugar before bed.
To aid the sleeping process, there are some supplements which are known to help. 200-400 mg of magnesium glycinate an hour or two before bed will help improve sleep quality (23, 24), or simply eat 1/4 cup of nutrient-dense pumpkin seeds. 10-20 grams of glycine-rich collagen, or a meal composed of pulses (beans, lentils, chickpeas) which also contain a lot of glycine, before bed will improve sleep onset and quality (25).
Drink plenty of water throughout the day. The human body is made up of 70% water, and being in a state of chronic dehydration has serious long term health consequences. Upon waking, drink 24-32 oz pure filtered water and do the same before bedtime. Being dehydrated means your mouth and nasal passages will be more dry, increasing your chance of snoring and waking up with dry mouth. Dehydration will also increase your chances of getting leg cramps at night, an unpleasant and wakeful experience. Drink water everyday to stay healthy, skip the other liquids and aim for a gallon of water daily.

Sleeping is an Advantage, Use It

It is clear that sleep is a critically important component towards achieving optimal human health, for achieving mental clarity, and for healing your body.

Modern culture doesn’t emphasize wellness, and has yet to fully realize the importance of a well rested 8 hours of sleep. Be cutting edge by going low-tech with your sleeping habits. You’ll experience a calmer mind, less turbulent emotional states, feel stronger and be better rested, and you’ll be less likely to die. Without good sleep you will not age gracefully and experience the quality of life you want.

Updated September 2020

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Sleep and Sleep Disorder Statistics. Sleep Association
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Leary EB, Watson KT, Ancoli-israel S, et al. Association of Rapid Eye Movement Sleep With Mortality in Middle-aged and Older Adults. JAMA Neurol. 2020;
Hablitz, L.M., Plá, V., Giannetto, M. et al. Circadian control of brain glymphatic and lymphatic fluid flow. Nat Commun 11, 4411 (2020).
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St-onge MP, Roberts A, Shechter A, Choudhury AR. Fiber and Saturated Fat Are Associated with Sleep Arousals and Slow Wave Sleep. J Clin Sleep Med. 2016;12(1):19-24.
Wehrens SMT, Christou S, Isherwood C, et al. Meal Timing Regulates the Human Circadian System. Curr Biol. 2017;27(12):1768-1775.e3.
Ebrahim IO, Shapiro CM, Williams AJ, Fenwick PB. Alcohol and sleep I: effects on normal sleep. Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2013;37(4):539-49.
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Leproult R, Colecchia EF, L'hermite-balériaux M, Van cauter E. Transition from dim to bright light in the morning induces an immediate elevation of cortisol levels. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2001;86(1):151-7.
Vandewalle G, Collignon O, Hull JT, et al. Blue light stimulates cognitive brain activity in visually blind individuals. J Cogn Neurosci. 2013;25(12):2072-85.
West KE, Jablonski MR, Warfield B, et al. Blue light from light-emitting diodes elicits a dose-dependent suppression of melatonin in humans. J Appl Physiol. 2011;110(3):619-26.
Wright HR, Lack LC. Effect of light wavelength on suppression and phase delay of the melatonin rhythm. Chronobiol Int. 2001;18(5):801-8.
Al maghaireh DF, Abdullah KL, Chong MC, Chua YP, Al kawafha MM. Stress, Anxiety, Depression and Sleep Disturbance among Jordanian Mothers and Fathers of Infants Admitted to Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: A Preliminary Study. J Pediatr Nurs. 2017;36:132-140.
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Stefan Burns 1/20/19 Stefan Burns 1/20/19

Muscle Building Workout Shake

Whether you already work out, or plan on starting soon, the main goal for exercising is to get stronger and build muscle. Without the proper nutrition afterwards though, you will not build muscle and lose fat! To give your body a muscle building advantage, make sure you consume healthy macronutrient and micronutrient dense post workout meal or shake. There are five main muscle boosting ingredients used in this shake, read more to learn what they are and why they will help you get stronger and build muscle!

Article by Stefan Burns - Updated November 2021. Join the Wild Free Organic email newsletter!

Whether you already work out, or plan on starting soon, the main goal for exercising is to get stronger and build muscle. Whatever the exercises, from lifting weights to yoga, physical movement creates a stimulus for muscle growth, and good diet then builds that muscle. Without the proper nutrition before and after exercise, you’ll spin your wheels at the gym and make no progress.

To give yourself a muscle building advantage, make sure you consume a healthy macronutrient and micronutrient dense post workout meal or shake. For this purpose I recommend the following shake which contains all the building blocks needed to build strong dense muscle and improve natural testosterone levels.

Once recovery is accounted for, the main dietary building blocks needed for muscle growth are:

Protein
Cholesterol
Water
Creatine
Micronutrients

To cover all of these requirements, we create a workout shake from the following ingredients:

8 oz coconut milk
30 grams protein
6 eggs
3 grams creatine monohydrate

Four Ingredients for Muscle Building Success

Eight oz coconut milk. We start with coconut milk for the base of this shake because coconut milk contains the valuable electrolytes potassium, manganese, and phosphorus. Coconut milk is primarily water, great for rehydrating, and the healthy fats are surplus calories and make the shake nice and creamy.
30 grams of hydrolyzed whey protein. Hydrolyzed whey is the fastest digesting and best utilized greatest protein known. Considering muscle is primarily made of protein, ensuring you get at least 1g of protein per pound of body-weight is very important for optimal muscle growth. If dairy proteins don’t sit well with you, plant protein can also be used, with the benefit of including additional fiber.
Six raw pasture raised egg yolks. Six egg yolks contains ~990 mg of cholesterol, 16.2 grams of protein, and is a good source of various minerals, B vitamins, vitamin A, and vitamin D. Cholesterol is the base building block for all steroidal hormones such as testosterone, and a much needed component of muscle tissue. Add cistanche for some real muscle boosting effects.
Three grams of creatine monohydrate. Creatine is an important part of the energy production chain in muscle cells. Fully-saturated muscular creatine stores increases power output and build more muscle. 3 grams post workout ensures you quickly refill creatine stores which were depleted during exercise.

Flavor Enhancers and Raw Egg Consumption

Add flavor enhancers like cinnamon or cacao powder to improve the flavor. Cinnamon improves insulin sensitivity and is a great enhancement to add.

I recommend raw eggs for this shake because raw egg yolks will digest better and be more readily absorbed by the body. The raw eggs add no off-flavors to the shake, instead improving the consistency and mouthfeel. If you are concerned that the yolks are raw and might contain salmonella, buy pasteurized eggs which are heated in shell to kill all microorganisms. Pasture-raised eggs on the other hand are raised in more humane conditions and are much safer to consume raw than battery, cage-free, or free range eggs. Be safe and cautious regarding the raw eggs if you have a weak immune system; reset your digestive system to strengthen your immune system.

Drink this shake after every workout, taking into account your overall calorie and macronutrient targets, and I guarantee you’ll notice strong muscle building and strength boosting effects quickly

Stefan Burns 1/13/19 Stefan Burns 1/13/19

The Science of Why Hydrolyzed Whey Protein is BEST

Hydrolyzed whey protein is one of the best muscle-building proteins known to exist, and it all has to do with its pre-digested nature. While other proteins come in long chains which require longer lengths of time to break down during digestion, whey hydrolysate is already mostly amino acids, dipeptides, and tripeptides, increasing its speed of absorption, meaning more muscular gains for you.

Article by Stefan Burns - Updated May 2022. Join the Wild Free Organic email newsletter!

After finishing a workout, the standard recommendation is consume some protein to help build lean body mass. The faster the post-workout protein is absorbed the better, and as long as you have a healthy digestive system, this is true.

One of the latest advancements in the protein supplement industry is whey hydrolysate. Whey hydrolysate is absorbed by the body very rapidly because its whey protein peptides have been broken down into smaller chunks via hydrolysis.

Whey hydrolysate is rapidly absorbed by the body and it has been shown to improve the growth of muscle after a training stimulus as compared to other types of protein drinks.

What is Whey Protein?

Whey is a type of protein found in dairy milk, found to be highly bioavailable (1), and with cows milk 22% of the protein is whey. Casein protein makes up the remaining 78% of protein found in cows milk. It is almost exclusively cows milk that whey protein supplements are derived from.

Depending on the level of the extraction process, manufacturers make three different types of whey protein: whey concentrate, whey isolate, and whey hydrolysate.

Whey concentrate supplements are the least processed, still containing some fat, cholesterol, and lactose, with most modern whey concentrate supplements being 80-89% whey protein by weight. Whey isolate supplements are more processed, containing 90-99+% whey protein, being effectively lactose, carbohydrate, fat, and cholesterol free.

Whey hydrolysate is whey isolate that has been further processed to improve absorption by breaking down the whey protein chains into smaller pieces via enzymatic reactions. Whey isolate and whey hydrolysate are the same except whey hydrolysate has been predigested so it absorbs faster by the body.

For those looking to improve their health, have more energy, build muscle, and burn fat, what are the advantages to using hydrolyzed whey protein compared to a whey isolate or whey concentrate? Is hydrolyzed whey more anabolic than non-hydrolyzed whey protein?

To properly answer these questions, let’s examine more closely what whey hydrolysate is.

How is Whey Protein Hydrolyzed?

Whey hydrolysate is whey protein isolate which has been subjected to hydrolysis. Hydrolysis is a reaction involving the breaking of a bond in a molecule using water. In regards to protein, hydrolysis is the process of breaking down a protein into smaller peptides*. Protein hydrolysis typically occurs in the gastrointestinal tract after protein consumption (i.e. stomach and small intestine) through the use of acid and enzymes, but enzymatic protein hydrolysis can also be performed in the lab. Enzymatic protein hydrolysis, where food-grade enzymes are introduced to whey protein, is how whey protein hydrolysates are produced for the supplement industry.

In order to be absorbed by the body, all dietary protein is hydrolyzed during digestive enzymes to either free form amino acids or di- and tripeptides*.

*Note - Peptides are short chains of amino acid monomers (small molecules) linked by peptide bonds. A dipeptide is composed of two amino acids linked by peptide bonds, and likewise a tripeptide is composed of three amino acids linked together. A free form amino acid is a single amino acid molecule.

Any protein can be hydrolyzed, but typically only whey isolate is hydrolyzed to make whey hydrolysate supplements for economic reasons. There are three objective measures which can be used to determine the quality of a whey hydrolysate: percentage of hydrolysis, degree of hydrolysis, and average molecular weight.

Percentage of Hydrolysis

The percentage of hydrolysis is simply the amount of the protein which has been subjected to the hydrolysis process. A protein powder which is 50% hydrolyzed means that 50% of the protein has undergone some degree of hydrolysis, and the other 50% of the protein hasn't been hydrolyzed at all. Most whey hydrolysates which are sold are 100% whey hydrolysate, as they hydrolyze the whole batch of whey isolate at once.

Degree of Hydrolysis (DH)

Considering most whey hydrolysate supplements are 100% whey hydrolysate, the main determining factor in whether a whey hydrolysate is good or not is the degree of hydrolysis (DH). The degree of hydrolysis is the amount of hydrolysis that the protein has undergone, and this can range from no hydrolysis (DH0) to complete hydrolysis (DH100). A whey protein isolate which has a degree of hydrolysis of 10 (DH10), means that 10% of the whey protein has been successfully hydrolyzed (i.e. peptide bonds broken) to smaller di- and tripeptides and free form amino acids, and the other 90% of the whey protein isolate peptides are still tetrapeptides or larger. The higher the DH value of a hydrolyzed protein, the faster the whey protein is absorbed by the body.

Average Molecular Weight (AMW)

Related to the DH is the average molecular weight (AMW) of hydrolyzed whey. Molecular weights are measure in daltons (Da) and kilodaltons (kDa). Just as a whey hydrolysate with a high DH will have more di- and tripeptides and free form amino acids than a whey hydrolysate with a low DH, a more completely hydrolyzed protein will how a lower average molecular weight for the protein chains. This is important, because even if all the protein chains haven’t been completely hydrolyzed, any amount they have broken down is an improvement and will allow them to absorb faster.

Free form amino acids and di- and tripeptides have lower molecular weights than intact proteins, so the lower the average molecular weight of a whey hydrolysate, the faster it can be digested and absorbed into the blood stream. It is necessary to analyze the AMW of hydrolyzed protein supplements (if possible) because free form amino acids which have the lowest molecular weights are not as anabolic as di- and tri-peptides as they are directly absorbed by the gut at a greater rate and regulated by the liver to a much greater degree (2). Di- and tripeptides have a much easier time passing directly into the bloodstream than free form amino acids due to how they are transported (3). A low average molecular weight and a low free form amino acid percentage ensures that a hydrolyzed protein product is high in di- and tripeptides and not cheaper free-form amino acids.

To sum up, a DH30 whey hydrolysate will have a lower average MW than a DH10 whey hydrolysate.

As the DH increases, the protein which is being hydrolyzed becomes more and more bitter, and the broken protein molecules are reduced in molecular weight. A DH100 whey hydrolysate would be nearly impossible to manufacture. A typical 100% whey hydrolysate has a DH value ranging from 1-9%. A DH10 or greater is considered a high DH value, and the best protein hydrolysate supplements max out at ~DH30. If you are curious as to the degree of hydrolysis of a specific whey hydrolysate supplement, request a product specification sheet from the producer, as this information is usually not advertised.

Whey Hydrolysate Digestion

When it comes to the muscle building effects of any protein, four specific qualities must be analyzed to determine the protein’s impact on anabolism. These qualities are:

Rate of gastric Emptying
Gastrointestinal Absorption
Amino Acid Profile - Muscle Protein Synthesis
Insulin Response

The faster protein is able to exit the stomach into the small intestine for absorption, the better it is in acutely increasing circulating free form amino acids and di- and tripeptides in the bloodstream. More efficient gastrointestinal absorption also allows more protein fractions to enter into the bloodstream, creating a more anabolic environment. The level of muscle protein synthesis which is stimulated by a protein is important, and the ability of a protein to increase insulin secretion upon consumption also is important in creating an anabolic muscle building environment.

Hydrolyzed Whey has a Faster Rate of Gastric Emptying

Whey hydrolysate solutions empty with a half-time rate of 17 ± 6 minutes (4). The half-time rate is the time required by the stomach to empty 50% of the ingested meal. For reference, a standard glucose solution, which has a very fast rate of gastric emptying, has a half-time rate of 9.5 ± 1 minute and milk protein, which has a slow rate of gastric emptying, has a half-time rate of 26.5 ± 10.0 minutes (4). When it comes to quickly creating an anabolic state by delivering whey protein peptides into the blood stream, the faster the rate of gastric emptying, the better.

Hydrolyzed Whey is More Efficiently Absorbed

Whey hydrolysate is able to be absorbed by the body more rapidly than intact proteins, such as whey protein concentrate and isolate, thus quickening nutrient delivery to muscle tissues. Dipeptides and tripeptides, and less-so free form amino acids, are absorbed extremely rapidly since they are already broken down and can pass through the intestinal wall passively or via transporters. Peptides larger than tripeptides, such as tetrapeptides, cannot be directly absorbed by the body unless they undergo further digestion into smaller peptides or free form amino acids.

Studies (5, 6, 7) strongly suggest that ingestion of a protein hydrolysate results in a less efficient uptake by the splanchnic bed. The splanchnic bed is comprised of the tissues of the liver, stomach, intestines, pancreas, and spleen, and they have their own nutrient requirements. For the purpose of building muscle, the more proteins can avoid being absorbed by the splanchnic bed and flow into the blood stream, the better. With whey hydrolysate the acute increase of amino acids entering into the blood stream is greater than with protein isolate or concentrate, which should help with triggering muscle protein synthesis higher and build more muscle.

Amino Acid Profile - Muscle Protein Synthesis

Increasing muscle protein synthesis (MPS) is the main reason protein powder supplements are popular, as it leads to greater muscular gains, and compared to other protein sources such as casein and soy, whey protein is the best at acutely increasing MPS (8). The amino acid profile of whey protein compared to other proteins such as soy and casein is responsible for its greater ability to increase MPS, and the 2:1:1 ratio of branched chained amino acids leucine, isoleucine, and valine found in whey protein is responsible for this (9).

Whey Hydrolysate has a Stronger Insulin Response

Whey protein has been shown to greatly stimulate insulin release once the various di- and tripeptides and free form amino acids enter the bloodstream (10), and insulin is a major contributor to muscle anabolism* under certain conditions. The one-two punch of increased muscle protein synthesis from whey protein and increased insulin levels makes whey protein a very anabolic supplement, and considering whey hydrolysate is the quickest and most efficiently absorbed whey protein available, whey hydrolysate will stimulate insulin release to a greater degree than whey isolate or concentrate.

Compared to other versions of whey protein and casein hydrolysate, whey hydrolysate increases skeletal muscle glycogen levels to a greater degree over a similar time period (11, 12). Higher muscle glycogen stores and fast absorption make whey hydrolysate a great ingredient to use in a intra-workout drink.

*Note - Insulin allows nutrients in the bloodstream, such as whey protein fractions and glucose, to enter into a muscle cell. Insulin also stimulates muscle protein synthesis and increases blood flow to muscles.

Should you Buy Whey Hydrolysate?

Whey protein hydrolysate is more effective than whey protein isolate and concentrate, but since whey protein concentrate and isolate are already highly bio-available, the increased ability of whey protein hydrolysate to be absorbed into the blood stream, increase muscle protein synthesis, and build muscle might be overplayed.

A whey hydrolysate supplement with a degree of hydrolysis of 3, which is typical for the industry, only offers a small competitive advantage over regular whey protein isolate, but the current science shows that a DH10+ whey hydrolysate definitely confers significant anabolic advantages over regular whey protein isolate or concentrate.

Whether the increased price of whey protein hydrolysate is worth the extra premium is up to you the buyer. I personally like to afford myself every advantage I can, and whey hydrolysates are not that much more expensive than standard whey isolate.

To answer the question of whether consumption of a hydrolyzed whey protein produces a more anabolic environment compared to a non-hydrolyzed whey protein, the answer is yes (13). Consumption of a high DH, low AMW whey hydrolysate supplement has significant benefits over traditional whey isolate and concentrate supplements.

Is Whey Hydrolysate Right for You?

If you are already buying a whey protein supplement for pre, peri, or post workout nutrition, I would recommend you buy whey hydrolysate instead of whey isolate or concentrate as long as the degree or hydrolysis value of the hydrolysate is 10+.

When buying a protein powder for general health reasons, such as getting sufficient protein in the diet or to have an easy meal replacement on hand, I would stick with a less allergenic plant based protein, which also adds fiber to your diet.

Lower DH (<10) whey hydrolysates still offer unique advantages over typical whey protein supplements, but the higher price per pound doesn't make low DH whey hydrolysates worth the extra cost compared to whey isolate in my opinion.

If you are mildly lactose intolerant but whey isolate consumption causes no health issues, whey hydrolysate is a great choice. Whey hydrolysate is virtually free of lactose, fat, and cholesterol, and it shouldn't cause any adverse effects. Caution is always recommended though, and if you are unsure if you can consume whey protein safely with no gastrointestinal issues please consult with your doctor or wellness practitioner.

Whey Hydrolysate Buying Recommendations

Overall, I would give whey hydrolysate a big BUY recommendation considering you buy the right type (aka DH10+, AMW & ~10,000 Da). Below I have two brands I recommend and have tried, and there are other supplement companies which sell comparable products. Armed with the knowledge provided in this article, it should now be easy to determine whether any whey hydrolysate supplement you run across is high quality and legit or a marketing gimmick.

The high DH whey hydrolysate I recommend can be purchased from True Nutrition. True Nutrition sells dozens of different types of supplement powders and pills, rigorously third party tests them, and then retails them at competitive prices. You can even create your own custom protein blend, which is basically a combination of whichever bulk powders you want in your desired ratios. They charge extra for flavors, the bags used to hold the protein, and shipping, but even after all of that you still come out ahead.

The Hydrolyzed Whey Protein Ultra Grade sold by True Nutrition is approximately the same price as Optimum Nutrition’s Platinum HydroWhey, but it’s degree of hydrolysis is clearly listed at 13%, which is exceptional, and True Nutrition’s Hydrolyzed Whey isn’t spiked with lower quality BCAA’s like Optimum Nutrition’s HydroWhey. Optimum’s brand also uses artificial sugars which disrupt gut health.

True Nutrition powders can also be blended in the factory with other protein, carbohydrate, or fat powders for a customized shake blend, and you can customize the flavoring too, which is pretty great. Create your own peri-workout drink, meal replacement, protein shake, or more!

If you don’t care about hydrolysis, then Isopure’s Unflavored Whey Isolate is a great whey protein. I give it my highest recommendation because it is easy to digest, isn’t loaded up with any junk artificial sugars or chemicals, and comes at a reasonable price. Hydrolyzed protein can give you an extra edge, but for 99% of the populace, a whey isolate is a better choice of protein and will be just as effective in building muscle and increasing strength.

Boost Testosterone and Build Muscle with Cistanche

Whey protein confers quite an advantage in maintaining and building lean body mass compared to other proteins, and if you want to make sure every gram of protein goes to proper use and to really give yourself an extra edge with strength training, I recommend trying a Cistanche and Cholesterol Protocol.

Combining the testosterone boosting herb cistanche with high cholesterol sources of food like eggs primes the body for muscular growth by providing it everything it needs to increase steroidogenesis. Combining cistanche and eggs together caused me to increase my free testosterone levels by 53% in just 30 days. You can purchase cistanche from Nootropics Depot.

References

Hoffman JR, Falvo MJ. Protein - Which is Best?. J Sports Sci Med. 2004;3(3):118-30.
Matthews, David M. et al. Peptide Absorption. Gastroenterology, Volume 71, Issue 1, 151 - 161
Frenhani PB, Burini RC. [Mechanisms of absorption of amino acids and oligopeptides. Control and implications in human diet therapy]. Arq Gastroenterol. 1999;36(4):227-37.
Calbet JA, Holst JJ. Gastric emptying, gastric secretion and enterogastrone response after administration of milk proteins or their peptide hydrolysates in humans. Eur J Nutr. 2004;43(3):127-39.
Manninen AH. Protein hydrolysates in sports nutrition. Nutr Metab (Lond). 2009;6:38.
Kim W, Egan JM. The role of incretins in glucose homeostasis and diabetes treatment. Pharmacol Rev. 2008;60(4):470-512.
Paddon-jones D, Sheffield-moore M, Aarsland A, Wolfe RR, Ferrando AA. Exogenous amino acids stimulate human muscle anabolism without interfering with the response to mixed meal ingestion. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 2005;288(4):E761-7.
Tang JE, Moore DR, Kujbida GW, Tarnopolsky MA, Phillips SM. Ingestion of whey hydrolysate, casein, or soy protein isolate: effects on mixed muscle protein synthesis at rest and following resistance exercise in young men. J Appl Physiol. 2009;107(3):987-92.
Hulmi JJ, Lockwood CM, Stout JR. Effect of protein/essential amino acids and resistance training on skeletal muscle hypertrophy: A case for whey protein. Nutr Metab (Lond). 2010;7:51.
Frid AH, Nilsson M, Holst JJ, Björck IM. Effect of whey on blood glucose and insulin responses to composite breakfast and lunch meals in type 2 diabetic subjects. Am J Clin Nutr. 2005;82(1):69-75.
Morifuji M, Kanda A, Koga J, Kawanaka K, Higuchi M. Post-exercise carbohydrate plus whey protein hydrolysates supplementation increases skeletal muscle glycogen level in rats. Amino Acids. 2010;38(4):1109-15.
Kanda A, Morifuji M, Fukasawa T, et al. Dietary whey protein hydrolysates increase skeletal muscle glycogen levels via activation of glycogen synthase in mice. J Agric Food Chem. 2012;60(45):11403-8.
Manninen AH. Hyperinsulinaemia, hyperaminoacidaemia and post-exercise muscle anabolism: the search for the optimal recovery drink. Br J Sports Med. 2006;40(11):900-5.

Health Benefits of Heat Therapy

Heat therapy, a common pain relief method, both feels good and improves overall health. Saunas have been used for thousands of years for full body heat therapy, and science has proven using saunas can help you live longer, lose weight, improve heart heath, scavenge free radicals, repair damaged proteins, and more. Consistent sauna usage has shown the greatest results.

Article by Stefan Burns - Updated December 2021. Join the Wild Free Organic email newsletter!

Everyone knows the huge health benefits that come from exercising daily, eating vegetables, and sleeping eight hours every night. Other wellness practices that offer tremendous health benefits, like heat therapy, are lesser known. Enjoying the heat of a sauna, steam room, or hot bath has wide ranging health benefits such as reducing inflammation, cardiovascular improvements, and pain reduction.

A sauna is a room designed to stay at a high temperature in order to cause physiological effects. Regular saunas operate using a central heat source and usually range in temperature from 167–212 °F (75-100 °C), and have nearly zero humidity in order to not scald the skin. Steam rooms on the other hand have a humidity nearly at 100%, but are kept cooler at 104 °F (40 °C) in order to not scald the skin from the water vapor. Infrared saunas use infrared light to heat up the body from the inside out. While in a sauna, steam room, or infrared sauna, your body temperature will rise to 100 °F (38 °C) and you’ll begin to perspire in order to stabilize your body temperature from rising any further.

Saunas previously could only be found at spas or high-end health facilities but are now a common component of many gyms. Saunas are also available for purchase commercially though they are fairly expensive. Accessing and using a sauna has never been easier, and below are five incredible reasons why you should use a sauna regularly.

Heat Therapy Increases Longevity

Consistent sauna usage has been shown to increase longevity and improve subjective measures of well-being.

When you place your body into a sufficiently heated environment, heat shock proteins (HSP) throughout the body are activated.

In the presence of heat stress, these heat shock proteins (HSP) help protect the body by scavenging free radicals (unstable atoms that can damage cells) and also by supporting cellular antioxidant capacity.
HSPs also repair damaged proteins, helping them return to their proper structure and function. Structurally intact proteins are critical for maintaining normal functioning cellular mechanisms.

Using a sauna consistently assists the body to function smoothly on a cellular level. The stresses of daily life create cellular clutter, and heat therapy is one easy way to help clean it all up.

Brief heat exposure for yeast, flies, and worms increases their lifespan by up to 15% (1, 2, 3, 4). The triggering of the HSPs was directly shown to be responsibly for a 15% lifespan increase in these simple organisms.

To track longevity increases in humans who consistently use the sauna is more difficult than it is for simple organisms, but a few human studies have been done that have made some incredible findings:

A 20+ year study followed 2315 men from Finland 40-60 years old and found that sauna usage 4-7 times a week for sessions >20 mins on average experienced a 40% reduction in all cause mortality, aka death from anything (5). Factor out freak-accidents like car crashes and that 40% value is actually higher!
Additionally, the same study also found that sauna usage 4-7 times a week for sessions >20 minutes had a 48% lower risk of heart attack or fatal heart disease over those that used the sauna just once a week (already a healthy habit) (5).

The research on heat therapy is compelling, and it’s also backed up by thousands of years of anecdotal wisdom linking sauna usage and increased longevity.

Heat Therapy Improves Well-Being

Using the sauna will temporarily improve your well-being, and consistent use will semi-permanently improve your everyday well-being. These well-being improvements come from improved sleep and beneficial neurological changes.

Sauna usage has been shown to reliability increase sleep among people that use them regularly. One study had police officers, a very high stress job, use the sauna for four weeks. After one month, the officers boosted their sleep from 5.8 hours per night to 7.6 hours per night post-intervention (6). That’s a 30% increase in sleep quantity! Depending on your body, experts recommend 7-9 hours of sleep per night for adults. The secret to increasing your beneficial sleep comes from the release of endorphins.

After using the sauna, the body releases a steady stream of endorphins that lasts for several hours (7, 8, 9). Endorphins are opioids produced endogenously by the body, well known for their ability to ease pain, promote relaxation, and induce sleep. During the day, pursuing activities that release endorphins (exercise, sauna, meditation, sex) is a great way to prime yourself to fall asleep quickly and to experience improved sleep quality.

Sauna usage can also help manage depression. In a study with cancer patients, the patients who experienced whole body heat therapy (from a radiant heater) were markedly less depressed, angry, and tense for 72 hours post-treatment compared to pre-treatment (10).

Using the sauna is an acutely stressful event for the body, so as the heat stress builds up the body releases dynorphin, an opioid which gives you feelings of dysphoria, the opposite of euphoria. To counter the short term release of dynorphin, the body rewards the sauna user by increasing the production and sensitivity of beta-endorphin receptors, changes which are semi-permanent. Having a greater quantity of more sensitive beta-endorphin receptors means activities that do release endorphins become even more pleasurable.

Heat Therapy Increases Metabolism

With calorie over-consumption and obesity a major health epidemic worldwide, any wellness endeavor that can burn calories and kill fat cells is something worth experimenting with. And heat therapy does exactly that. Using Sauna usage results in the decrease of systolic and diastolic blood pressure as well as arterial stiffness. Meanwhile, sauna usage will increase heart rate to a level similar to mild cardiovascular exercise (11). Over a period of 30 minutes using the sauna can burn anywhere from 100 to 200 calories depending on your height, weight, and temperature. And unlike cardio, you won’t be tempted to replenish yourself by reaching for food anytime soon; using a sauna isn’t a hunger promoting activity.

Compared to control, 38 obese patients using heat therapy consistently over two weeks saw a significant drop in body-weight with both groups eating 1800 calories per day (12). But it gets even better. Burn fat, and keep it off! When exposed to heat stress, fat cells are injured and undergo cellular apoptosis (cellular death), while other nearby tissues are like the skin and muscle are more resilient (13).

While fat cells can increase or decrease in volume in response to changing levels of calorie consumption, it is very difficult to reduce the number of fat cells. The more fat cells you have, the more fat storage potential you have, which in normal context isn’t desirable. Reducing your number of fat cells through sauna usage is a great way to lose body fat and keep it off, permanently.

Also important for proper weight control and nutrient partitioning is insulin sensitivity. Sauna usage has been shown to decrease blood sugar levels and improve insulin sensitivity over a short time frame (14), and with consistent usage these results become semi-permanent improvements. With improved insulin sensitivity you gain greater lifestyle and caloric flexibility.

Heat Therapy Improves Cognition

For those who use the sauna 4+ times a week, it has been shown that they have a 65% reduced risk of developing Alzheimer’s Disease or other forms of dementia (5). When proteins unravel, they tend to clump together, forming protein plaques. It is the protein beta-amyloid which disassembles and clumps in the brain that causes Alzheimer’s disease. Heat shock proteins (HSPs), the very proteins released during heat stress help to repair damaged proteins. By using the sauna consistently, you’re releasing streams of HSPs which flood your bodily tissues and repair damaged proteins they encounter.

Another important factor for brain health is the hormone BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor). BDNF is important in the formation of long term memories through its influence on brain plasticity. BDNF has been shown to reliably increase during running, understood partly to be an effect from the increased body temperature (15) that is generated from the cardiovascular activity. Similar effects are expected with sauna usage.

Memory formation and recall is of the utmost importance for retaining a sharp mind, and there are many neurotransmitters which are responsible for memory creation. Norepinephrine is a neurotransmitter that is released during stressful moments, helping to focus, strengthen, and store new memories through its effect on brain plasticity (16). Sauna usage can increase norepinephrine levels 310% over baseline (17)! Heat exposure is an acute stressor, so the release of norepinephrine during and after sauna usage makes sense. Have something you particularly need to study or remember? Be sure to use the sauna to relax afterwards!

Heat Therapy Builds Muscle

Building muscle, a desirable goal for many, ultimately boils down to the interplay of muscle protein synthesis (building muscle) and muscle degradation (losing muscle). If your muscle protein synthesis is higher than muscle degradation, then you’ll build muscle. If muscle degradation is higher than muscle protein synthesis, no matter their relative levels, then muscle will be lost. When the two are in balance then muscle is maintained.

Sauna usage has been shown to have beneficial effects for building muscle, boosting muscle protein synthesis and decreasing muscle degradation.

Sauna usage increases muscle protein synthesis

One of the most fascinating effects of the sauna is the tremendous surge of growth hormone (GH) that it causes (18). Growth hormone is a vital bodily hormone responsible for maintaining healthy tissues, joints, skin, and hair. Downstream of GH is IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor 1), which is synthesized in response to growth hormone. IGF-1 is thought to be the main driver behind many of the anabolic effects of GH. IGF-1 activates the mTOR (a type of protein enzyme) pathway, which triggers muscle protein synthesis, and IGF-1 inhibits activation of FOXO proteins, consequently inhibiting protein degradation (19). Beneficial GH releases of 500% over baseline has been observed with normal sauna usage (17), such as two 15-minute dry sauna sessions at 212°F (100°C)! And this scales, with longer more frequent sauna sessions increasing growth hormone levels 1000+% over baseline (20).

And as mentioned earlier, improved insulin sensitivity brought on by sauna usage improves nutrient partitioning, shuttling nutrient towards muscular tissue instead of fat mass.

Sauna usage helps with recovery and reduces muscle degradation

Heat shock proteins (HSPs), due to their cellular cleanup roles, also help to prevent or mitigate oxidative stress by maintaining optimal glutathione levels (a naturally produced anti-oxidant) and through the scavenging of free radicals. When HSPs repair damaged proteins, this applies to damaged proteins found in damaged muscle fibers after injury or exercise.

When not in use, a muscle atrophies, and heat therapy using animals at 105.8°F (41°C) was shown to be dose dependent in reducing hindlimb muscle atrophy, with the 60 minute group stopping muscular atrophy by 32% compared to 20% for the 20 minute group (21). After atrophy occurs, muscle regrowth must occur to return to optimal health. If starting to exercise for the first time again in a while, this muscular reloading phase is particularly stressful and is responsible for a lot of oxidative stress throughout the body. The powerful abilities of heat shock proteins again come to the rescue, with heat therapy increasing muscle regrowth compared to control during a muscular reloading phase (22).

Heat Therapy is Great for Health

The sauna is a powerful wellness powerful that can be used to dramatically improve health, well-being, physiology, and more. These beneficial increases in longevity, increased muscle mass, reduced body fat, improved mental clarity, and improved well-being are mainly due to the release of heat shock proteins from the heat stress and the release of restorative growth hormone afterwards. Acute stressors such as exercise and heat therapy lead to improved health outcomes, whereas chronic stressors lead to disease. Heat therapy, being a wholly unique form of acute stressor, pairs synergistically with exercise in promoting abundant wellness.

Sauna usage is inherently different than exercise though because it is a very low energy activity. During the sauna you can stretch to improve your flexibility, practice breathing exercises, or meditate. One of the most important aspects is to practice mindfulness while using the sauna. Leave the cell phone outside and use the sauna with focus and intention.

As more research is done on sauna usage, I expect the popularity of heat therapy to increase. Maybe sauna usage will be just as popular as exercise one day!

References:

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Laukkanen T, Kunutsor SK, Zaccardi F, et al. Acute effects of sauna bathing on cardiovascular function. J Hum Hypertens. 2018;32(2):129-138.
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DNA reprograming is not only possible, it’s a key evolutionary feature

Earthing and the Earth’s Magnetic Field

What is Bioelectricity?

Herbs that Improve Bioelectricity

What’s the Evidence?

Fasting for Metabolic Health

Fasting for Weight Loss

How to Activate Brown Fat

Fasting for Diabetes

Fasting for Gut Health

Fasting for Gut Inflammation

Fasting for Microbiome Reset

Fasting for Parasite Removal

Fasting for Immune Health

The Simplest Types of Fasting

Intermittent Fasting

OMAD Fasting (One Meal a Day)

48 Hour Fasting

3 Day Fasting

Fasting and Electrolytes

Breaking a Fast (refeeding)

Get Fasting

How Earthing Affects Human Bioelectricity

We are Electrical Beings

The Heart is the Core of the Bioelectrical System

Earthing Improves Energy Circulation

Earthing Health Benefits

Earthing Cardiovascular Benefits

Earthing Nervous System Benefits

Earthing Cognitive Benefits

Earthing Gut Health Benefits

Earthing Hormonal Benefits

Earthing Physical Benefits

Other Earthing Benefits

Geophysics of Earthing

The Global Electric Circuit

Variations in the Earth’s Surface Electric Potential

How to Ground Yourself

Walk Barefoot

Go for a Swim

Using a Grounding Mat or Blanket

Interact with an Electrically Conductive Object

Don’t be Electron Deficient Any Longer

Function of Sympathetic Nervous System

Function of Parasympathetic Nervous System

Adrenal Fatigue

Visualizing the Activity of the Autonomic Nervous System

Example 1 - Laying in bed all day

Example 2 - Hectic day with no rest

Example 3 - Lazy day with run then rest

Example 4 - Hectic day with run & no rest

Example 5 - Hectic day with run then rest

Easy Recovery Methods

Balancing Stress and Rest

The Effect of Stretching on Posture

What are Muscle “Jumps”

What is Fascia?

The Effect of Strength Training on Posture

A Simple Posture Test

Dietary Considerations for Postural Realignment

What Are Turmeric Supplements Good For?

Curcuminoids

Turmeric and Curcumin Bioavailability

Methods of Increasing Curcumin Bioavailability

Turmeric Dual Spectrum X:1 Extract

Curcumin with Piperine Supplements

Micellar Curcumin Supplements

Micronized Curcumin Supplements

Curcumin with Turmeric Essential Oils Supplements

Curcumin with Emulsifiers (lecithins)

Fermented Turmeric Supplements

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