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Speaker 0 asks: Should we stop wearing sunglasses? Speaker 1 responds: Yes. Except we should be wearing them indoors and at night, not outdoors during the day. When you wear sunglasses outdoors, they block the UV, and that's kind of what most people wear them for. Things are bright. Well, reason things are too bright for most people is because they don't get out at dawn to see the sunrise. And if they did, their eyes would adjust to the sun and they wouldn't need sunglasses. We've been told forever from optometrists and doctors that UV is bad for the eyes. And in fact, our eyes have receptors to read the ultraviolet light. And when we cover them with sunglasses, we cannot read how much UV is in the sun, and so we get sunburned. Speaker 0 asks: So you are an expert in all things circadian rhythm and light diet. So what time are you waking up, and what time are you going to bed? Speaker 1 answers: So this eight hours of sleep a night, I think is bull. I wake up with the sun. I actually need to sleep less in the summer and more in the winter, and that's how we're biologically designed. We are a light poisoned population. The light that we're exposed to is highly intense in the blue color of light. There's no infrared, almost zero red light, very little yellow, and a ton of blue light. Blue light in itself is not bad, but blue light becomes toxic when we're exposed to too much of it. It messes with our circadian rhythm. It is actually associated with cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and obesity if we see it after sunset, and macular degeneration during the day because we have so much of it hitting our eyes causing free radicals.

Dr. Alexis Cohen (Jasmine Cohen) and the host discuss a wide-ranging view of health, science, and society, centered on mitochondria, light biology, and decentralized approaches to knowledge and healing. - On science, health, and authority: - Cohen argues that “we really haven’t been doing science for about seventy years now” and that modern science has become scientism, with people looking to scientists and doctors as authority figures over personal health, even though no one can fully know another’s lived body experience. - She emphasizes that aging is a reflection of mitochondrial heteroplasmy and that there are ways to slow or speed that burden, but contemporary living habits harm mitochondrial health. She asserts there are incentives to promote lifestyle advice that is not monetizable (outdoor activity, barefoot grounding, seasonal eating, movement), which she says slows research and access to information. - The conversation asserts a need to reclaim personal authority over health and to recognize life as magical and miraculous. - Personal entry into Bitcoin and crypto curiosity: - Cohen notes she and her partner became interested in Bitcoin in 2018, with a continued engagement including taking a cryptography course to understand the underlying proofs rather than accepting information at face value. - Background and work: - The host introduces Cohen as a Princeton-trained molecular biologist, a PhD focusing on metabolism, gut health, and circadian biology, who shifted from academic research to helping people rebuild health through nutrition, movement, mitochondrial function, and light exposure. Cohen shares that her own childhood illnesses, weight issues, and colitis prompted a pivot from academia to health coaching, emphasizing ownership of wellbeing through science and practical lifestyle strategies. - Cohen highlights that she values rigorous science but seeks practical lifestyle strategies to empower clients to understand their biology and take ownership of their health. - Dance, embodiment, and biology: - Cohen describes taking up social dancing (salsa, bachata, merengue, fox trot, hustle) and training intensely. She explains dancing challenges the brain in novel ways, requires being guided by a partner, and expands neural connections. - The host shares similar experiences with dance, noting body memory across decades and the importance of movement, rhythm, and social connection for health. - Mitochondria, heteroplasmy, and light: - Cohen explains mitochondria as the battery of the cell, with their own circular DNA and multiple roles in ATP production, biosynthesis, and epigenetic regulation. Heteroplasmy, the mutation burden in mitochondrial DNA, reflects dysfunction that can lead to energy production deficits across tissues. - She notes three key mitochondrial outputs: - ATP production powers cellular processes and metabolism. - Metabolic water production (including deuterium-depleted metabolic water). - Biophotons, photons largely in the UV range, emitted by mitochondria and nucleus during electron transport; older, sicker individuals emit more light due to increased permeability of the system. - Cohen argues aging mirrors mitochondrial heteroplasmy and mutation accumulation, with higher mutation burdens in tissues like immune cells, gut, liver, and brain associated with disease. She also discusses that mitochondria contribute to energy, water, and biophotons, and that modern life elevates heteroplasmy by lifestyle choices. - She argues heteroplasmy can be slowed or sped, and that there are actionable interventions—though the exact list is not exhaustively enumerated in this segment. - Why mitochondrial health isn’t the central target: - Cohen says mitochondrial health research is less profitable because it emphasizes lifestyle and environmental changes rather than drugs, which affects funding and research direction. She describes a system where focusing on broad environmental and lifestyle changes could be financially less lucrative than drug-centered approaches. - She expands on historical dynamics in science, including siloing of scientists and the development of a paywalled academic publishing model, suggesting that the system discourages holistic, integrative approaches that would unify mitochondrial biology with systems biology. - Light, circadian biology, and UVA/UVB: - The discussion shifts to light as a regulator of mitochondria. Cohen divides the sun’s spectrum into ultraviolet (UVB and UVA), visible light, blue light, and near infrared (NIR). She emphasizes that near-infrared light penetrates deeply and stimulates mitochondria, while UVB promotes melanin production via POMC and MSH peptides, affecting energy balance, mood, and metabolism. - UVB light triggers alpha-MSH and beta-endorphin production, the latter contributing to mood and dopamine support, and helps regulate energy expenditure and appetite via POMC-derived pathways; UVB exposure supports melanin synthesis, redox balance, and photoreception across tissues. - UVA light activates Neuropsin receptors on eyes and skin, aiding circadian entrainment and nitric oxide production, which improves vasodilation and nutrient delivery. Neuropsin is present in skin and testes; its stimulation is linked to testosterone and fertility enhancements. UVA also helps anchor local circadian rhythms in tissues. - Cohen discusses the misperception that UV light is universally harmful and argues that melanin is not only protective but can facilitate energy capture from high-energy photons to support energy metabolism in humans. Melanin’s roles extend beyond protection to potential energy transduction, with POMC, MSH, and alpha-MSH linking light exposure to metabolic regulation. - The My Circadian app is recommended as a tool to track sunrise, UVA/UVB rise, and lux (brightness) to optimize exposure. Cohen notes indoor environments rarely exceed 1000 lux, while outdoor brightness can reach 60,000–60,200 lux, significantly impacting serotonin production, mood, and cognition. She emphasizes the importance of bright daytime light for circadian alignment and melatonin suppression at night. - Infrared, LEDs, and indoor lighting: - The conversation covers lighting technologies, noting fluorescent tubes and LEDs minimize near-infrared and maximize blue light, which disrupts circadian rhythms and flicker, stressing the eyes and sympathetic nervous system. Cohen argues that modern lighting deprives people of infrared and UV radiation, both critical for mitochondrial function and circadian health. - She criticizes the push for energy efficiency that reduces thermal and infrared energy, arguing it contributes to systemic health issues. She emphasizes the importance of incandescent and near-infrared-rich lighting for indoor environments and sun exposure to sustain metabolic health. - Grounding, EMF, and environmental exposure: - Grounding (direct contact with the earth) is presented as a way to discharge excess positive charge in tissues, reducing inflammatory burden and supporting mitochondrial function. Cohen shares practical grounding instructions—grounding directly to the earth when possible, wearing natural fibers, and using grounding footwear. - Non-native electromagnetic fields (EMFs) from Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 5G, and other sources are discussed as contributors to mitochondrial dysfunction and inflammation. Cohen cites Robert Becker’s historical work on non-thermal EMF effects and Havana syndrome as context for potential biological risks. She suggests practical mitigation, including reducing EMF exposure, using Ethernet where possible, and using tinfoil to shield exposure in certain situations. Plant life can absorb EMF, and grounding, sunlight, and strategic use of red and infrared light are recommended to compensate where exposure is high. - The discussion includes practical home strategies, EMF-blocking window panels, EMF-blocking paint, and even temporary shielding (e.g., tinfoil) as a do-it-yourself mitigation approach. - Travel, circadian disruption, and protocols: - Cohen outlines travel challenges: high altitude cosmic radiation exposure (non-AVMF exposure), cabin EMFs, circadian misalignment, and sedentary behavior. She suggests pre- and post-travel strategies such as grounding, sun exposure, hydration, lymphatic support, and blue-light management to ease time-zone transitions. - She promotes an ebook protocol focused on lymphatic support and circadian realignment, available for purchase, with a holiday discount code holydays. Blue-light blocking strategies and red-light strategies are included to facilitate adaptation to new time zones. - Health, mental health, and pediatric considerations: - The hosts discuss mental health concerns, including PTSD, anxiety, and depression, emphasizing circadian regulation, light exposure, sleep hygiene, and reducing screen exposure. Cohen notes the importance of bright daytime light and a dark, cool sleeping environment for sleep quality and mood. She mentions a study showing even small nighttime light exposure can influence daytime metabolic markers, emphasizing the importance of darkness at night. - Birth, medications, and vaccines: - They touch on birth experiences, epidurals, and how early life interventions can influence long-term health and microbiome development. Cohen discusses pain as a portal to healing and critiques reliance on certain pharmaceutical approaches. - On vaccines, Cohen describes observed adverse effects post COVID-19 vaccination, including histamine issues, barrier permeability, and rapid cancer reports linked to vaccine exposure, while underscoring the lack of widespread funding to investigate these relationships. She mentions turbo cancers and batch variation as topics already discussed by researchers like Kevin McKernan and a need for independent inquiry. - Decentralization, science, and Bitcoin again: - Cohen envisions a decentralized health system in which multiple modalities (acupuncture, Chinese medicine, Ayurveda, allopathic medicine) can be tested for proof of work, with outcomes guiding what works best for individuals. She believes decentralization is necessary for genuine innovation, with a future vision of a decentralized, funded light research lab and a retreat model to study circadian biology, mitochondrial function, and nature-based health in diverse environments (North America and equatorial regions). - She sees Bitcoin as a tool that enables financial sovereignty and autonomy, providing an opportunity to fund decentralized science and publish findings on blockchain to protect against censorship. She highlights the potential for Bitcoin to support a lab through deflationary funding and to empower researchers and patients alike. - Closing: - The conversation closes with practical resources: Thinkific-hosted classes, an online book club, and a QuantumU course that reframes science education around decentralized, nature-based principles. Cohen emphasizes accessible contact options (Instagram and email) and a holiday discount for courses and ebooks. The participants express enthusiasm for ongoing collaboration, travel and events, and continued education in Bitcoin, science, and holistic health. Overall, the episode centers on mitochondria as a foundational health driver, the essential role of light and circadian biology in energy, mood, metabolism, and aging, and a call for decentralized, nature-aligned science, with Bitcoin framed as a funding and governance tool to empower individuals and researchers to pursue health innovation beyond centralized institutions.

The speaker explains that you can reset your sleep pattern in just two days by controlling your circadian rhythm with light. The key factor in sleep quality is the circadian rhythm, and light is the best controller of that clock. The recommended practice is thirty minutes of natural daylight exposure first thing in the morning. This exposure should be through unfiltered daylight (not through filtered windows or sunglasses) and is best done outside. Do not look directly at the sun; the morning light needs to hit your eyes indirectly for twenty to thirty minutes. When this light reaches the cells at the back of the eyes, it signals the brain that it is daytime, triggering a wake-up response with a surge of cortisol and insulin, and you’re off and running. About fourteen to sixteen hours later, the body naturally releases melatonin, the sleep hormone. Without adequate morning light, the brain doesn’t receive the signal, and the sleep cycle can drift, leading to difficulty falling asleep on time or waking up groggy. The guidance also suggests getting a small amount of evening light as dusk approaches, which helps reinforce the sense that the day is ending. For practical implementation, tomorrow you should step outside for a stroll or simply sit near a clear window and sip your coffee, with no gadgets, no supplements, and no cost involved. This routine aligns with what humanity has done since the dawn of time to sleep deeper, longer, and better. Additionally, if you wear a smartwatch or activity tracker that monitors sleep, you may see positive changes as you manage light. The speaker emphasizes that using and managing light is very good for hormones and is one of the most critical parts of sleep hygiene.

Melatonin, produced by the pineal gland, is the body's natural sleep aid. As darkness increases, melatonin levels rise, signaling the body to prepare for sleep. Blue light from digital devices can suppress melatonin production by tricking the brain into thinking it's daytime. Switching off screens an hour or two before bed may improve sleep. A good night's sleep is a cornerstone of health, so respect melatonin.

When the body's stress response is imbalanced, the pineal gland produces melatonin, which pulses strongly in the afternoon and evening to prepare for sleep and lower cortisol levels. Healthy circadian rhythms and cortisol-melatonin cycles are essential for feeling calm and sleepy at night. However, high cortisol levels in the afternoon or evening can lead to feeling tired and wired, making it difficult to sleep. One might fall asleep from exhaustion but then wake up between 1 and 4 AM. This can occur when someone is constantly busy and working until bedtime, leaving the body in a stressed state with elevated cortisol levels.

Speaker 0 uses a clock metaphor to explain how light, darkness, and temperature regulate our biology. Light and darkness are compared to the hour and minute hands, with sunlight equated to the hour hand and nighttime darkness to the minute hand. Temperature is likened to the second hand. Each hand is important to tell the time, but one is more important than the others. The hour of the day is described as critical because it roughly indicates when it’s time to eat meals—dinner or breakfast. The minute hand indicates, within that hour, what the issue is. The second hand—temperature variation—is a huge factor. The speaker emphasizes that this is the reason melatonin works better when you’re colder. They state that when you sleep at night, the hypothalamus typically must drop about four degrees Celsius in and around itself for better sleep. The discussion then connects temperature to its broader role: it augments the circadian mechanism, which is linked to autophagy and apoptosis, processes that help keep you healthy at night. The speaker uses an example: if someone drinks beer at night, in the presence of light, they may fail to drop their melatonin or their temperature enough to trigger melatonin release. This is presented as an explanation for sleep problems such as sleep apnea and for ongoing weight gain, implying that bad timing of the three “hands” disrupts overall health by breaking the synchrony of these signals. The metaphor expands into a larger framework: every mitochondrial disease is described as a metronome tied to light, dark, and temperature. By organizing known biochemicals within this metronome framework, the listener can feel that things start to make more sense. The speaker suggests that adopting this framework makes the listener a much smarter patient compared to many doctors they might visit, aligning with the speaker’s goal for podcasts of this type. In summary, the talk presents a cohesive model where light (hour hand), darkness (minute hand), and temperature (second hand) regulate circadian biology, sleep, and health. The temperature signal, in particular, potently interacts with melatonin, sleep regulation, autophagy, and apoptosis, and lifestyle factors like alcohol and light exposure can disrupt this system, contributing to sleep disorders and weight gain. The overarching message is that understanding and aligning these three signals can enhance health and empower patients.

Imagine going into a clock store with every clock is an alarm clock and they're on different schedules. It boosts a number of chemicals that need to be released early in the day. That morning sunlight coordinates all the cellular and organ systems of your body. And it sets a timer on some other clocks in the body, including the one that releases melatonin about sixteen hours later to make you sleepy and fall asleep easily. If you don't do it for two days or three days in a row, what happens is that morning increase in cortisol still happens, but it starts getting pushed out towards the afternoon. And that is strongly associated with depressive symptoms, anxiety, and sleeplessness at night, which then just makes it harder to function during the next day.

Exposure to screen type light between the hours of 11PM and 4AM activates a specific circuit in a brain area called the habenula that lowers dopamine and creates a sense of disappointment. So it's pro depressive. That's straight from the discussion that followed: “from 11PM to 4AM, if you're on your phone, if you're looking at a TV or iPad or screen consistently, it's going to make you more depressed.” It was noted that “in theory, yes,” but in practice you would have to do that pretty consistently. The conversation also clarified that it’s the brightness of light, not the color of the light, that matters. Measures to mitigate include dimming it way, way down, or wearing glasses or using biohacking stuff. The claim was reiterated: “the studies by multiple groups are showing that from 11PM to 4AM, if you're on your phone… it’s going to make you more depressed.” The response added that there isn’t just one exposure; rather, “it's not like one exposure,” and “it's going to dim dopamine” or “blunt dopamine.”

Balanced cortisol levels, high in the morning and low at night, along with stable blood sugar, are crucial for healthy sleep. Imbalances in cortisol disrupt the pineal gland's melatonin production, causing strong pulses in the afternoon and evening, hindering the body's ability to calm down and sleep. When cortisol remains high in the afternoon or evening, individuals may experience feeling tired but unable to sleep, or they might fall asleep from exhaustion only to wake up between 1 and 4 AM. This mid-night awakening often occurs when individuals engage in high-activity levels before bed, leaving the body in a stressed state with elevated cortisol.

The circadian clocks are more sensitive to light, and light is the most dominant time giver. When daylight saving time changes or we travel across time zones, we feel kind of crappy because our daily activities are out of sync with our internal clock.

Let's talk about the bad effects of light. Nowadays because of screens and artificial light, we have access to light at times of day and night that normally we wouldn't. The longer you've been awake, the more sensitive your retina and these cells are to light. You want as much light as is safely possible early in the day, morning and throughout the day, including blue light. So take those blue blockers off during the day unless you have a real issue with screen light sensitivity and you want as little light coming into your eyes artificial or sunlight after say 8PM. And certainly you do not want to get bright light exposure to your eyes between 11PM and 4AM.

Blue light from devices, TVs, and indoor lights signals to the brain that it is daytime. Even when it's dark outside, this light exposure prevents the brain from increasing melatonin production, which is necessary for rest and sleep. The light tells the brain not to produce melatonin because it perceives daylight, hindering the body's natural preparation for sleep.

Sleep regularity is a greater predictor of all-cause mortality than sleep duration, and circadian rhythms impact every cell, tissue, and organ. Circadian misalignment is a major problem in modern society because humans haven't adapted to blue light exposure after sunset or eating large meals before bed. When internal preferences are ignored, cells don't communicate effectively, which is the basis for aging and disease. Consequences of circadian misalignment include increased risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, and psychiatric disorders. To achieve an 85% sleep consistency score, sleep-wake variability must be within 45 minutes. The average sleep consistency score on the platform is 66%, indicating members vary their sleep by about two and a half hours. In collegiate athletes, just one hour of sleep-wake variability leads to declines in HRV and increased resting heart rate.