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https://x.com/Helios_Movement/status/1970472975137726928

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George Ferman

@Helios_Movement

Oct 10

🧵The story of sunlight revealed: Understanding myths and realities.🧵

Most people today are still being greatly misinformed and flat-out lied to about the so-called dangers of sunlight.

The reality is that proper sunlight exposure is one of the most proven ways to:
-Improve your mental health
-Improve insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes
-Support the immune system
-Improve thyroid function and metabolic health
-Prevent autoimmune diseases
-Prevent muscle waste
-Lower mortality risk
-Improve hair loss
-Improve low libido
-Treat chronic fatigue
-Improve low testosterone
-Improve calcium absorption
-Improve skin conditions such as acne and eczema
-Improve gut issues, whether that's called general "bloating", IBS or a pathogen overgrowth
and much more.

Here's what you need to know to get rid of the misconceptions surrounding this topic once and for all.

Thread🧵

*Standard disclaimer that nothing in this thread should be used as a substitute for medical advice*.

It's George.

Let's talk about the importance of sunlight today.

Many ancient civilizations, if not all of them, worshiped the sun.

Ancient Egyptians had Ra, the sun God and was associated with primal life-giving energy.

Ra, embodied the power of the sun but was also thought to be the sun itself, envisioned as the great God riding in his barge across the heavens throughout the day and descending into the underworld at sunset.

As he made his way through the darkness beneath the earth, he was attacked nightly by the giant serpent Apophis (also known as Apep) who tried to prevent the sun from rising and so destroy all life on earth.

In Greek mythology, Helios was the god of the sun, embodying its radiant energy.

The Romans worshipped Sol, their sun god, who shared many traits with Helios.

"Weird stories George" you might think, but pause and think some basic facts for a moment.

Sunlight drives the foundation of Earth’s food chain, producing oxygen and energy for nearly all life forms.

It shapes climates, seasons and ecosystems, dictating everything from plant growth to animal behavior.

Without the sun, everything will die.
Period. The end.

Every plant, every animal and every human being will stop existing in a matter of weeks.

Sun is what allows growth to happen on this planet.

Read 20 tweets

George Ferman

@Helios_Movement

Oct 5

I've studied, used and sold almost any supplement you can think of over the years.

From using harmful supplements and choosing the wrong forms all the way to falling for smart marketing claims, most people do not know how to use supplements effectively.

Here's how you can change that to stop wasting your money and harming your health.

Thread 🧵

*Standard disclaimer that nothing in this thread should be used as a substitute for medical advice*

Note: This is about supplements indeed but if you do not get sunlight, exercise, eat whole foods, try to avoid vices such as excessive alcohol consumption and so on, then supplements will not save you.

Plenty of foods have more benefits than not only compared to the supplements at a low/medium price point but a very high as well.

If a supplement, had the history and benefits of kefir for example, it would sell a lot.

It’s just that you can only make so much profit from foods.

I can’t sell you for example a $30 bottle of kefir yet i can very easily sell someone a $30 bottle of probiotics.

The right supplements CAN be useful and maybe even life saving. I am not dismissing them. At all. This is why we will talk about them.

This is just about having the right priorities.

Also, every single one of these supplements that are mentioned here will backfire for some people.

It's mathematically impossible not to.

If only 1.000 people read this and out of them 100 choose to use one, it's impossible for one of them to not react badly to it.

Does this fact make the supplement bad? No.
It makes it bad within a certain context.

Just as it's not ideal for people with histamine intolerance to eat aged cheeses, it kind of the same here.

Aged cheeses aren't that bad, but they are harmful within a certain context.

So, read the studies that are linked.

Point being, get educated on the topic of supplements in general and then just pick the ones that work for you.

Also, more contextual advice has been given in previous posts and threads so use the search function after reading this thread.

Now let's talk about how you can use supplements properly.

Part 1: Basic realizations.

Number 1: The supplement industry is way more shady than someone might think.

Take the kind of recent AG1 bs for example.

You know that these stories are very common if you've been in the space for a fair amount of years.

And it's not hard to understand why.

The supplement industry is a multi-billion dollar industry.

And if you don't think that money is a decent motive for shady actions, just pause, think for example about the amount of people that would betray for just 2K and realize that we're not talking about thousands here but billions.

There are plenty of tricks in the books that are used in order to mislead people.

A common one for example is using cheap forms of B6, B12, vitamin C and magnesium in supplements.

Why is this a problem?

Because they're toxic.

So they capitalize on the fact that most people think that vitamins and minerals come in just one artificial form and not multiple.

There's obviously more as you can see below in the pics.

Read 25 tweets

George Ferman

@Helios_Movement

Oct 4

It does not matter if you want to optimize testosterone, DHT, progesterone, insulin, DHEA or whatever.

Optimizing your hormones starts with implementing certain key lifestyle changes and not fancy supplements or anything similar.

Thread🧵

*Standard disclaimer that nothing in this thread should be used as a substitute for medical advice*

Obviously you are probably already that our hormones control everything from how we think, feel and our energy levels all the way to our libido, immune system and mental clarity.

The only thing i'd like to mention before diving in this thread is that these lifestyle changes have way more data behind them than most fancy supplements.

So they are not only MORE effective than most supplements but also MORE backed up.

Number 1: Fix your sleep and circadian rhythm.

Poor sleep impairs our hormones through multiple mechanisms.

For example, it reduces testosterone production in Leydig cells, downregulates AR expression and lowers luteinizing hormone (LH) pulses.

Then, sleep regulates the HPT axis, stabilizing T3/T4 production and TR (thyroid receptor) expression.

Poor sleep also increases cortisol, which represses TR signaling via GR AND impairs IR (insulin receptor) signaling through reduced GLUT4 translocation.

Not to mention that it disrupts the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis, reducing progesterone and PR expression.

Read 13 tweets

George Ferman

@Helios_Movement

Oct 2

Addressing anhedonia 101👇

Anhedonia is derived from a Greek word that means "without pleasure".

It is not just "feeling down" or "not being in the mood", but a profound disruption in the brain’s reward processing system, affecting emotional and motivational responses that makes it a core symptom of several neurological and psychiatric disorders, including major depressive disorder (MDD), bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, post-traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.

Its first sign is a diminished ability to experience pleasure, interest or motivation in previously enjoyable activities for an extended time period.

So the person loses both the anticipation of the reward (the motivator) and the enjoyment of the reward (the end product).

This is why dividing anhedonia into subtypes can be problematic, as some psychotherapists and psychiatrists.

*In case you are unaware, anhedonia is often divided into:

1. Consummatory anhedonia.
This is the reduced ability to experience pleasure during an activity.

2. Motivational anhedonia.
This is the decreased drive to pursue rewarding activities.

Now anhedonia, stems from dysfunctions in the mesocorticolimbic pathway (ventral striatum/nucleus accumbens [NAc], prefrontal cortex [PFC], amygdala, anterior cingulate cortex [ACC], hippocampus, ventral tegmental area [VTA]):

-Ventral Striatum (VS): This includes the nucleus accumbens (NAc), the epicenter of reward anticipation and dopamine release so it encodes “wanting” (motivation) and integrates reward signals.

Hypoactivity in the NAc reduces reward salience, driving motivational anhedonia.

-Prefrontal Cortex (PFC): This integrates reward signals, modulates motivation and regulates emotional responses and decision-making (it exerts top-down control over behavior and emotions).

One of its subregions is the dorsolateral PFC (dlPFC) and reduced PFC-NAc connectivity impairs reward anticipation and is common in MDD and TBI-related anhedonia.

-Amygdala: This processes the emotional salience of rewards, linking sensory input to affective responses.

Hyperactivity or disconnect from the NAc blunts emotional engagement, contributing to consummatory anhedonia.

-Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC): This monitors reward anticipation and error detection, guiding goal-directed behavior.

ACC hypoactivity in depression reduces motivation for reward-seeking.

-Hippocampus: This encodes reward-related memories and contextual cues, critical for sustaining motivation.

Hippocampal atrophy (common in MDD and TBI) impairs reward learning, exacerbating anhedonia.

-Ventral Tegmental Area (VTA): This area is also significant since it is the primary source of dopamine projections to the NAc and PFC.

Reduced VTA activity or dopamine neuron loss blunts reward signaling as noted in Parkinson's for example.

Anhedonia also involves dysregulation of multiple neurotransmitter systems, modulated by the CNS such as:

1. Dopamine: This is synthesized from tyrosine via tyrosine hydroxylase and is the primary neurotransmitter of reward.

Low dopamine signaling in the VTA-NAc-PFC pathway blunts reward anticipation, driving motivational anhedonia.

It acts through five G-protein-coupled receptors (D1–D5):

D1/D5: Excitatory, increase cyclic AMP (cAMP), and enhance reward processing, working memory (PFC), and motor control (basal ganglia).

D1 is critical for DARPP-32 signaling, amplifying reward responses.

D2: Inhibitory, decrease cAMP, regulate impulse control, and modulate reward (low D2 density linked to addiction).

D2 autoreceptors control dopamine release.

D3: Modulates reward-seeking in the limbic system; hyperactivity is linked to compulsive behaviors.

D4: Regulates attention and executive function (PFC), linked to ADHD and stress response.

D5: Enhances hippocampal/cortical learning and synaptic plasticity.

2. Glutamate: the "gas" of the nervous system.

This is the primary excitatory neurotransmitter, acting via NMDA, AMPA and kainate receptors.

Excess glutamate causes excitotoxicity, damaging dopaminergic neurons and disrupting NAc-PFC connectivity, especially in TBI and OCD.

3. GABA: The "brakes" of the nervous system.

This is the primary inhibitory neurotransmitter that balances excitation in the amygdala and PFC, stabilizing reward responses.

Low GABA can lead to amygdala hyperactivity and exacerbate anhedonia’s emotional dysregulation.

4. Serotonin.

This one plays a minor role in this discussion, its role is to interact with dopamine to fine-tune PFC emotional responsiveness.

5. Endocannabinoids (these are often not referred to as neurotransmitters since they are not stored in synaptic vesicles (they are synthesized from phospholipids of the postsynaptic cell membrane based on the demands).

Overall, anandamide and 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG) act via CB1 (CNS, especially NAc/PFC) and CB2 (immune system, some brain regions) receptors to modulate dopamine, glutamate and GABA release.

Low anandamide/2-AG or downregulated CB1 receptors impair dopamine modulation, contributing to anhedonia in MDD and PTSD.

Read 10 tweets

George Ferman

@Helios_Movement

Oct 1

Mold and mycotoxins are some of the primary drivers behind health issues such as:

-Chronic fatigue
-Fibromyalgia
-Histamine intolerance/MCAS
-Dysfunctions of the immune system
-Skin issues
-Neuroinflammation
-Pathogen overgrowths
and more.

Here are some basic things to consider.
Thread 🧵

*Standard disclaimer that nothing in this thread should be used as a substitute for medical advice*.

It's George.

First and foremost, we are all exposed to various kinds of mold.

We are concerned with certain types that release mycotoxins such as:

-Aflatoxins such as aflatoxin B1 that are produced by Aspergillus species.

-Ochratoxins such as ochratoxin A that is produced by Aspergillus and Penicillium sp.

-Trichothecenes that encompass about 100 subtypes of metabolites from Fusarium species.

-Zearalenone that is produced by Fusarium species.

-Fumonisins that are metabolites produced by Fusarium species.

-Ergotamine / Ergot alkaloids that are compounds created by Claviceps species.

that can cause anything from cancer, infertility, G.I issues, MCAs, kidney disease all the way to mitochondrial dysfunction (fatigue to put it simply) and eczema once they are:

1. Ingested (most common route of exposure)

2.Inhalated

3. Or contacted with the skin

In case you are skeptical of this topic, here are two examples that demonstrate its importance.

Number 1: 93% of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) patients are shown to have mycotoxins in their urine.

Not 1%, not 10%, not 50% but 93%.

Number 2: A Polish study found that children exposed to indoor mold for over two years had IQ scores approximately 10 points lower than their peers.

10 points....

Read 18 tweets

George Ferman

@Helios_Movement

Sep 29

Reconsidering your lifestyle if you are depressed 🧵

Here's why: We've known for 20 years that serotonin depletion does not cause depression.

So how does low serotonin cause depression?

But it's true that some people who use/used SSRIs experience an improved mood in just the first weeks.

So what’s going on? Is it just placebo?

No it’s not. Most likely they ignore the fact that SSRIs in the short term or when used in quite low doses, boost 3α-HSD, converting 5α-DHP into allopregnenolone.

Now, if you are depressed, here are a few things that you might have to work on.

Number 1: Your circadian rhythm.

To put in perspective how crucial this is, eating breakfast is linked to lower suic*de rates.

Plus: Spending 1.5 h/day in outdoor light is associated with a lower risk of depression, REGARDLESS of genetic risk, and a 1-hour daily of morning walk outside showed a 48% reduction in HDRS.

Now if you are still not convinced, just having light in your bedroom while you sleep makes you more depressed (tap in the pics).

Number 2: Your nutrition matters, a lot.
More than you probably want to (just tap in the pics).

For example:
-A meatless diet increases the frequency of depressive episodes.
-Thiamine and B12 decrease depressive episodes

-Suic*de victims often show low levels of zinc, magnesium and myo-inositol

Read 15 tweets

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