Circadian Magnetism

Ok, thats not exactly true.

We all know LIGHT and DARK are the main controllers of circadian rhythm but a key enforcer or disruptor of your circadian rhythm that most people forget about is the Earth's magnetic field and even any man-made magnetic field if you hang around in it long enough.

Let me quickly show you how....

The Earth has a giant, invisible magnetic field that forms the shape of a torus.




The crazy thing is that you have cryptochrome in your retina and these special magnetic sensing crystals inside of your brain. Millions of them. These crystals are called magnetite and allow you to have magnetoreception or the ability to sense magnetic fields and use the Earth's geomagnetic field to help entrain your circadian rhythm. This shouldn't be too woo woo to you, if magnetism didn't effect the brain then transcranial magnetic stimulation wouldn't work.



In some parts of the brain there are 100 million magnetite crystals per gram.


Here's the thing.

The Earth's magnetic field is not static. 

There is a night and day cycle to it just like there is a night and day cycle with light.

During the day the sun and its solar winds press down on the Earth's magnetic field and compress it! So just imagine one side of the torus in the Earth picture above getting smaller during the day. This makes the magnetic field stronger during the day with a peak around mid morning. While at night, the magnetic field elongates and stretches out further which weakens it back to baseline, this is called the magnetotail.



And the amplitude of the magnetic field is also seasonal. Weaker in the winter and stronger in the summers.



So there is a distinct rhythm to the Earth's magnetic field and guess what? Your brain and body pay attention to this magnetic field rhythm.

Among many other things like gene expression, immune function, organ function, HRV and more, the rhythm of the Earth's magnetic field subtlety influences your circadian rhythm. It helps to support and keep various circadian rhythm related rhythms, like your melatonin and cortisol rhythms, intact and on time.


Look at the typical rhythm of cortisol throughout the day. It matches the magnetic rhythm pretty well.


So what do you need to take from this?

LIGHT is the main zeitgeber or cue to keep your circadian rhythm on track but there are lesser zeitgebers and magnetism is one of them. One hundred years ago, you wouldn't have to worry about this. Your days were bright, your nights were dark and you were mostly in tune with the Earths magnetic field 24/7.

BUT HERE'S THE BIG PROBLEM FOR YOU....

First the good news is that you are rather resilient to magnetic field changes IF you are healthy. The older you get and the more sicker or stressed you get the more these changes seem to affect you. There are also magnetic therapies, like transcranial magnetic stimulation or PEMF, that can help you with a whole bunch of different diseases.

But the big problem is that Earths magnetic field is weakening and manmade magnetic fields are getting stronger. There are now so many unmitigated and warped manmade AC magnetic fields surrounding you all day and night. Your body was not built to deal with this nonsense.

A side effect of all electric fields, wiring and electrical devices are the electromagnetic fields created and pushed out during operation. The health of any living thing in this field is going to be affected because your cells did not evolve to operate with these kinds of artificial technology induced magnetic fields. Epidemiological and experimental data suggest, among many other things like disrupting metabolism and vitamin/mineral levels and having a deuterium-like effect in mitochondria , that these extreme low frequency (ELF) magnetic fields created by power lines and electrical devices and even high frequency electromagnetic radiation emitted by electronic devices, have a negative influence on circadian rhythm.





These manmade magnetic fields are turning the Earth into on giant low level MRI machine that is always turned ON!

So what you have to do is start detecting and measuring the invisible magnetic fields around your workspace, bedroom and wherever else you spend a lot of time in one place. The good news is that metering your environment for hidden magnetic fields is simple to do and once you know where they are, you either have to block them, shut them off or increase your distance from them.

The two magnetic field meters I suggest are the Trifield 2 and the Alpha Labs UHS2 3 Axis AC Gaussmeter.

The Trifield 2 is more of a low cost intro meter and not very precise but it will show you where the hidden magnetic fields are in your house or office. You can use the code "bluelight" to get a discount on it here or find it on my Amazon page at http://www.bluelightdiet.com/links 

The Alpha Labs UHS2 3 Axis AC Gaussmeter is the pro magnetic field meter and well worth the $400 price tag. You can use the code "bluelight" to get a discount on it here.

Another strategy to help is Earthing or grounding. Earthing refers to making direct contact with the Earth while barefoot or lying down. Grounding is kind of like Earthing except you connect yourself to a grounded electrical circuit (this is trickier than Earthing because of things like dirty electricity so make sure to really learn and do it right). 

You want to Earth or ground because big cities, rubber shoes, modern building materials, non native EMF and living high off the ground distort or disconnect you from the natural electromagnetic field of the Earth. It makes it harder for your body to receive the proper signal from the magnetic field. Before you think earthing is woo woo, realize there is much research on the subject.





You can find Earthing and grounding resources, like the book Earthing by Clint Ober, on my Amazon page at http://www.bluelightdiet.com/links