Bert Betterman may not have all the devices of modern convenience, but he doesn’t have any of the downside risks either. Check that…his world found a way to make them risk-free, the best of both worlds…hot ice (Rookie of the Year reference, anyone? Come on, Gardenhoser!). That would certainly be nice. Our world, though, has to deal with chronic environmental stressors, and electromagnetic fields (EMF) are stressors that I believe have flown under the radar – pun intended – for most of modern society so far.
I started reading a little of Jack Kruse’s work on his blog, especially the eight-part series on EMF discussing the effects on our biology and what we can do to limit some of the consequences as well as how we need to change our view of optimal in light of their presence. In light of their presence…well that pun was not intended. Jack is a neurosurgeon and optimal health educator that went on a quest to solve his own health and obesity problems years ago before revamping his own practice to help his patients. And I’ll tell you this, it’s been quite a mental trip for about the last week. If anyone has time and an open mind, it’s fascinating reading I’d highly recommend that just might improve your health along the way.
***Sheldon Cooper Alert***
If you’re the type of person that is thoroughly annoyed with the jargon from Big Bang Theory, Jack Kruse’s writing may not be for you, because that’s what we’re talking here, folks, quantum physics! That said, you can fast-forward to the end of this blog post and check the food implications and health to-do’s if you’re not interested in the Einstein theories in the middle.
***End Alert***
What’s fascinating to me is the new perspective of Jack’s work and that of others before him that he used as a springboard. It’s the perspective of quantum physics and Einsteinian equations (E=mc2 anyone?) rather than biology, chemistry, and old school physics (Newton and his gravity apple) to explain the mind, body, and health. It paints a very different picture about how humans receive and use energy and how the body is programmed to work and heal itself. It also means that the environment and the energy that environment provides, or doesn’t provide, means everything for genetic expression, decoupling your inherited genes from your future fate of health (if fate really exists at all).
This quantum physics theory is a huge argument for even the ancient forms of energy medicine. It helps those in support of energy medicine to explain why modern medicine and its reliance on Newton’s physics, biology, and chemistry cannot fix all of our diseases (or, more accurately, restore our health). This point is perhaps even stronger in our modern world, one that is awash in environmental toxins, whether they be tangible, viewable chemicals like chlorine or fossil fuel emissions, or, perhaps most importantly, energy toxins such as man-made EMF. The reading is phenomenal in terms of details, but I’ll try to give you my quick takeaways as short as I can make them. However, as a favorite quote of mine from Einstein goes, “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.” Here we go!
The human organism is a very complex being. It has the ability to keep itself healthy given that it has the energy to do so and is in sync with the environment (earth) for the sake of “timing” all its biological functions (our circadian rhythm…more on that later). All energy on earth essentially comes from the sun, and oxygen in combination with energy creates and sustains life.
Are you saying we don’t need food, then? All energy comes from the sun? Well, yes and no. The primary energy system, according to this theory, does not utilize food. The human body essentially has the ability to use water as a superconductor to transfer electrons (energy). We are a massive system of semiconductors! You know, those things Intel makes for your laptop? But in order for water to conduct, it needs a magnetic force to drive it, and here is where being in sync with the environment, as mentioned earlier, is important. The earth has it’s own pulsed electromagnetic field (you may or may not have heard of it, the Schumann Resonance?), and this field gives our intracellular water the ability to conduct energy like an Intel chip (sorry AMD, Intel clearly has a more powerful brand recognition). Our brain also has its own pulsed electromagnetic field that resonates (is in sync with) the earth’s Schumann Resonance (for number-hungry folks and electricians, it averages 7.83 Hz in frequency but can range from 0-30 Hz). When our bodies are able to “hear” this frequency, we are able to conduct energy and use it to perfectly time our biological processes with pinpoint precision. This is the circadian rhythm mentioned earlier.
What does man-made EMF have to do with all this? Well, man-made EMF that comes from things like power lines, household appliances, cell phones, computers, etc. resonates at frequencies different than the natural earth frequency, and the more they fill our environment, the harder it is for our brain to sync with the earth’s Schumann Resonance, thus rendering us unable to time biological functions and conduct energy appropriately. Lack of energy means our body cannot heal itself well, thus it begins to age faster and become susceptible to disease. And on top of making us out of sync with mother earth, EMF can directly split electrons from our atoms, releasing them as free radicals in our body, creating chaos and inflammation and dehydrating our cells from within like a microwave oven does to cook your food.
Furthermore, the properties of conduction state that electrons (energy) flow from an object of relatively higher electron density to an object of relatively lower electron density, thus conducting electricity, and therein lies the other issue with being disconnected from our environment (the earth, the sun). The earth and the sun are larger electron sources which then flow into our bodies as energy. When we lose that connection, though, by wearing rubber shoes, staying indoors, wearing sunblock, etc., now our bodies are more dense in electrons than our environment like our house or the open atmosphere, so electrons start to flow from us to the space around us; we lose our energy to our environment! Again, losing energy means losing health. The bottom line is that by reducing man-made EMF exposure and increasing connection with our environment (walking barefoot on the ground, swimming in oceans, exposing ourselves to sunlight more frequently), we will improve our energy and health.
Where does food come into all this then? It turns out this quantum view further supports a paleo/primal type diet as well, at least as a step in the right direction, but for different reasons. In the quantum physics world ATP (what some may now know as our main cellular energy) has a primary job of unfolding proteins and allowing for the semiconduction of electrons. When this energy pathway is compromised, however, ATP is able to switch roles into an energy source itself. It was the development of mitochondria (the powerhouses of the cells) and ATP energy that supercharged life to become more complex compared to the simpler organisms from the dawn of life. It was food and ATP that allowed life to exist on land and become mobile, and the development of fat cells further enhanced the ability, especially for humans, to become even more mobile by storing energy for later use.
Jack even surmises that it was ATP that allowed some animals such as birds to survive when the dinosaurs couldn’t because they had developed even more sophisticated mitochondria to harness their backup energy in ATP. This allowed them to weather the storm after the asteroid damage severely drained the earth of electrons. This was something they had to develop to enable flying, disconnected from the earth with large ATP demands, but it also happened to come in handy after the asteroid! They can thank Darwin’s theories of natural selection for that.
If we had full, unabated connection with the earth as a source of electrons and the Schumann Resonance to support our electron-transfer semiconduction, then what we ate wouldn’t be as important, but that’s no longer the world in which we live. Our modern disconnection from the earth and the Schumann Resonance both inhibits our ability to conduct electrons for energy and reduces our sources of them, namely grounding on the earth and bathing in sunlight. Thus we now run on ATP much more frequently, and sometimes exclusively, making what we eat so much more important in the modern world. Fat is much more efficient at creating ATP per calorie than are carbohydrates, and it is also much more electron dense. This is why healthy fat is much more satiating while carbohydrates leave us hungry again an hour or two later. We have to consume many more calories in carbohydrates to get sufficient electrons for energy. Likewise it is also wise to consume abundant seafood as sea animals and plants are 100% “grounded” in their ocean home which keeps them healthy and electron dense.
What does this mean then for our life today? It means being energy efficient is of paramount importance to our health. We are in an environment where we are disconnecting from our energy sources and unable to conduct energy as well as we used to. And we’re also out of sync with the earth’s magnetic field, scrambling our brain’s sense of quantum time which ruins or circadian rhythms, our sleep, and our healing. In fact, Jack even challenges the idea to the extreme, postulating that man-made EMF, in and of, itself is at this moment causing the next extinction event on earth by being the source of all modern neolithic disease! Now a claim such as that is certainly controversial, reminding me of other environmental crises we’ve been warned of like global warming (which actually could have stronger ties with EMF than fossil fuel emissions according to Jack) and the pending crisis of fossil fuel depletion. Nevertheless, there is evidence that there are adverse biological effects, extinction or not, and we may be wise to do what we can to optimize our health. Is this unfortunate or unlucky for us as humans? Possibly, but as Jack continues to state in his blog posts, “These are Einstein’s equations, not mine. If I’m wrong, I’m in good company,” and “These are mother nature’s rules, not mine, and she doesn’t care if you think it’s unfair.”
What do we do about it then? There are many protocols on his blog, but here were my main takeaways:
1) Eat plenty of healthy fats and protein. Restrict carbohydrates, especially processed carbohydrates, that are energy inefficient and electron-poor, thus they will just create more hunger more frequently and leave you overweight and tired.
2) When you do eat carbohydrates, eat those that are in season. If you get more sun exposure in the summer, you can afford to eat a few more energy-inefficient carbohydrates since you have a smaller electron deficit to make up for than you would in the winter. Also, seasonal foods maximize the energy effect from the sun as designed by nature for that season.
3) Get as much pure water as you can to fight hydration from man-made EMF and support your body’s role as a semiconductor in energy transfer. Pure should also include a lack of fluoride, which, while it may prevent cavities, disrupts water from being able to conduct energy, even if only consumed in small, microscopic amounts.
4) Walk barefoot on the earth’s surface as much as possible, and/or swim in lakes and oceans to connect yourself to the earth’s flow of free electrons. We as modern humans are battling a constant energy deficit, so the more frequent the better.
5) Get plenty of smart sun exposure. While you don’t want to sunburn, the sun’s rays also give us electron energy and help us produce Vitamin D in our skin (I’ll certainly do a post on Vitamin D someday as it was one of the biggest contributors in restoring my health and energy!). Peak times are high-noon in mid-summer, but you can still get some effects in early spring and late fall too.
6) Reduce your exposure to harmful EMF, especially when and where you sleep. Turn off and unplug electronics when not in use. Turn your cell phone to airplane mode as much as you can. Use ethernet cords rather than Wi-Fi or at least turn off Wi-Fi before bed. Also consider your broader environment and where you live and work as your neighbors and workplace contribute a lot to your exposure as well, especially if you live in a highly-populated city. The effects also get worse the higher above ground you go, so living and working on the first floor is much better than the top of a high-rise.
There are also further measures one can take if they are serious about their concerns with EMF, though they do result in another level of inconvenience and cost. Depending on the true risk of EMF, though, they may be worth their weight in gold as an investment in increasing your lifespan and making your healthspan equal your lifespan. That is one of my favorite concepts I’ve learned lately, that of the healthspan. Just because you’re alive doesn’t mean you’re healthy, happy, and void of pain. Likewise, just because you live a long time doesn’t mean you have to live the last part of it feeling miserable. Many people don’t consider there is a grey area between life and death, and things that are “good for you” don’t just help prevent you from dying, they also help you to feel better and stay happier while you are alive.
If you’re curious and concerned, or if you live a high-risk lifestyle in terms of little earth exposure and lots of technology exposure, you can look into other biology hacks to protect yourself such as Schumann generators that reproduce the earth’s pulse, pulsed electromagnetic pads and applicators, magnetic mattress pads, etc. Jack Kruse’s blog is a good jumping-off point, but there are other resources online as well.
Keep an open mind.