Red light from sunrise is essential for jumpstarting ATP production in your mitochondria.

Here's why you should never miss another sunrise for the rest of your life🧵 When Red/NIR Photons Interact With Your Mitochondria:

They're absorbed by cytochrome c oxidase's heme and copper centers.

This boosts CCO’s ability to convert oxygen into water (a key step in oxidative phosphorylation) →

Thereby accelerating electron transport, proton pumping, and ATP synthesis.

What is melanopsin?

Why is it essential to our health?

How is blue light destroying it? Masterthread🧵 First off, What is Melanopsin?

Melanopsin is a photopigment belonging to the opsin family, encoded by the Opn4 gene.

It was discovered in 1998 in the photosensitive skin melanophores of African clawed frogs by Ignacio Provencio.

2 years later, Provencio found that melanopsin is also present in the eyes of mice, rhesus macaques, and humans.

You're addicted to screens but don't know why.

Well, the science is here and it's pretty unsettling...

Let's break it down🧵 First off, let's establish Vitamin A's role in vision

(you'll soon see why this is important)

Vitamin A (retinal) is the precursor to the visual chromophore 11-cis-retinal ->

Which binds to opsins to enable phototransduction.

Are your earbuds giving you tinnitus? Here's why they might

Inside of all of our ears is melanin ->

A pigment with remarkable properties beyond its role in coloration. Why is melanin so important?

Melanin acts as a semiconductor capable of absorbing mechanical, acoustic, electrical, and photic stimuli ->

Converting them into molecular vibrations/rotational energy.

The unique functionality here helps regulate ion flow, particularly potassium (K⁺) and calcium (Ca²⁺)

The incredible benefits of Vitamin K1 and K2 for your immune system often go overlooked.

Here are some studies to give Vitamin K the immunological love it deserves🧵 Vitamin K-dependent proteins are known to play a role in the complement system

(A huge part of innate immunity).

One such protein is Protein S, which is involved in complement regulation.

This protein is involved with C4b-binding protein (C4BP).

C4BP helps to shut off 2/3 pathways in the complement system, -> the lectin and classical pathways

C4BP can also directly bind to CD40 on B cells.

This strengthens the adaptive immune response by promoting B cell growth and activation.

Melatonin floods your mitochondria with antioxidant protection.

Without it, your health would tank in no time.

Let's take an in-depth, scientific look at what makes this molecule so incredible... Melatonin is an ancient molecule found in high concentrations throughout the body, existing in two pools:

- pineal melatonin in blood and
- tissue melatonin synthesized locally.

Pineal melatonin levels display a circadian rhythm while tissue melatonin does not.

Low Vitamin B6 = Low dopamine, low serotonin, low GABA, impaired memory, and decreased neurogenesis

Here's why...🧵 Our brains rely heavily on Pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (PLP), the active form of B6, for the synthesis of neurotransmitters.

This is because PLP acts as a cofactor for enzymes involved in decarboxylation and transamination of amino acids ->

Two major steps in neurotransmitter biosynthesis.

Copper is one of the most overlooked minerals for memory, learning, and thinking.

Here's how it works to keep your brain working at optimal levels🧵 Higher copper levels are associated with better cognitive performance.

Because copper:

- Regulates catecholamines/myelination
- Prevents oxidative damage
- Supports neurotransmitter synthesis
- Facilitates energy production
- Promotes brain development

Everyone knows the gut microbiome is vital for every aspect of your well-being…

But few know how it really works at the microscopic level.

So here’s a full breakdown 🧵 Every external surface of your body has microbes on it.

Technically, one of these external surfaces is your gut.

This goes for every other part of your GI tract too, including the esophagus, stomach, and intestines.

You can almost picture it like a tube (or lumen) just going through your body

And all those surfaces are going to be covered by microbes.

Why Do Cells Stop Dividing?

Obviously cells don't grow grey hair or pee 4 times a night, so how can we tell when they’re aging?

Cellular Aging Thread ↆ Numerous markers indicate cells are getting old:

- protein aggregation
- telomere shortening
- cell senescence
- autophagy dysregulation
- mitochondrial dysfunction

Let’s start with protein aggregation...

You have over 500 lymph nodes spanning your body to fight off pathogens and keep you alive.

But most people don't know the first thing about how it works... until now.

Lymphatic system thread🧵 What is the lymphatic system?

Most broadly speaking, it is an organ system with a network of vessels and nodes (called lymph nodes) that serve three main functions:

• To return fluid to the blood
• To support your immune system
• To absorb fats and fat-soluble nutrients

How is circadian rhythm tied to neurodegeneration?

- amyloid-beta (Aβ) and tau.

The inability to remove these neurotoxic proteins is linked to lower glymphatic pathway function and altered ApoE exchange (very bad)

And what causes the impaired removal of Aβ and tau?

A messed up circadian rhythm.

Here are some things light at night does to your circadian rhythm:

• Reduces glial phagocytosis (essential for clearing Aβ and tau)
• Increases orexin levels (impairing the clearance of Aβ and tau)
• Stops melatonin release (increasing Aβ production)

What's the takeaway?

Blue light is affecting your brain's ability to filter neurotoxic proteins and increases your risk of Alzheimer's. What else gets disturbed by light at night?

Circadian CLOCK genes, like BMAL1

Altered BMAL1 gene expression in the cortex and hippocampus leads to:

- oxidative stress
- degeneration of synaptic terminals
- aging phenotypes
- reactive astrocytosis

BMAL1 also impacts the expression of the PSEN-2 gene ->

Needed to cleave amyloid precursor protein (APP).

Proper functioning of this pathway reduces Aβ levels.

What is TNF-a? Why is it linked to obesity and inflammation?

Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha (TNF-α) is a cytokine made by activated macrophages, T-lymphocytes, and natural killer cells.

It exists in both a transmembrane form (tmTNF-α) and a soluble form (sTNF-α)

~THREAD~ What isTNF-α?

TNF-α is a pleiotropic cytokine (can influence multiple biological processes and cell types)

And a homotrimer (three identical subunits) protein made up of 157 amino acids.

It is first synthesized as a membrane-bound form (tmTNF-α) and cleaved by the TNF-α-converting enzyme (TACE) to release the soluble form (sTNF-α)

How DHA mitigates Brain Damage From EMF’s

Its well known that EMF effects us via oxidative stress.

This damages our cell membranes, calcium channels and raises inflammation.

Neuronal membranes are mainly made up of:

- Oleic acid (OLA)
- Arachidonic acid (ARA)
- Certain phosphatidylinositol esters
- DHA ->

The primary fatty acid found in phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) and phosphatidylserine (PS).

Why does this matter?

PE and PS are key components of neuronal membranes.

So the presence of DHA lets these membranes remain stable and functional under nnEMF stress.
This study found that melatonin (MEL) and omega-3 fatty acids (ω-3) can protect hippocampal neuronal cells from 900 MHz EMF-induced damage.

They protected against significant reduction in pyramidal cells seen in EMF exposed rats.

How Phosphate and Calcium Interact in the Blood

Calcium and phosphate have an inverse relationship.

This is due to their ability to form calcium phosphate complexes ->

Reducing the amount of free ions of both minerals in the bloodstream🧵 Binding Mechanism

Calcium (Ca²⁺) and phosphate (PO₄³⁻) ions have opposite charges, allowing them to form ionic bonds.

When these ions come into contact in the blood, they can combine to create various calcium phosphate compounds, such as:

- Calcium hydrogen phosphate (CaHPO₄)
- Tricalcium phosphate (Ca₃(PO₄)₂)
- Hydroxyapatite (Ca₁₀(PO₄)₆(OH)₂)

Making these compounds removes free calcium and phosphate ions from the blood.

What makes ATP so energy efficient?

The phosphoanhydride bonds between the phosphate groups are high in energy due to electrostatic repulsion and instability.

Here's the full breakdown...🧵 ATP is made up of an adenine base, a ribose sugar, and three phosphate groups.

The three phosphate groups are labeled alpha (α), beta (β), and gamma (γ) starting from the one closest to the ribose.

What are Hormones?

How do we make them? What are the differences between them? Why are there so many?

Steroids, Peptides, Glycoproteins, Amino Acids, etc...🧵 What are Hormones?

Hormones are chemical messengers produced by glands in the endocrine system.

They travel through the bloodstream to target organs or tissues and bind to specific receptors and elicit responses.

Most come from the HPA or HPG axes (but plenty of exceptions)

There is a lot of confusion about insulin and insulin resistance.

What is it? How can we prevent it? What's the best way to test for it? What's GLP-1 gotta do with it?

Here's my attempt to clear the air once and for all🧵 Let's start with the basic "What is insulin?"

Insulin is a hormone we make in the pancreas to regulate blood glucose levels.

We need it to transport glucose into cells (mainly muscle and fat cells) ->

And that's how glucose can be used for energy or stored for future use.

A Complete Blood Count (CBC) test is one of the most comprehensive tests for assessing your overall health.

Changes in your CBC can reveal a range of health issues, from infections to blood disorders.

So here's a full CBC breakdown to help you know what to look for🧵 A Complete Blood Count Test looks at:

• Red blood cells (RBCs)
• White blood cells (WBCs)
• Platelets
• Hemoglobin (Hgb)
• Hematocrit (Hct)

Kidney Failure is one of the most common diseases today.

But many people don't know what it is, or how to spot it...

So, here's a full breakdown of a kidney function panel to help prevent it from happening to you🧵 A Kidney (Renal) Function Panel will measure:

- Blood Urea Nitrogen (BUN)
- Serum Creatinine
- Electrolytes
- EGFR (Estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate)
- Albumin/Globulin Ratio
- BUN/Creatinine Ratio
- Phosphorus
- Calcium
- Glucose

To better understand why we look for these markers...

Let's first break down how the Kidney works in general

The thyroid is one of the most misunderstood organs in the body.

An over/underactive thyroid can completely tank your health.

So here's a full breakdown of a basic thyroid panel to help protect yours🧵 A typical thyroid panel will look at:

- Thyroid-Stimulating Hormone (TSH)
- Free Thyroxine (Free T4)
- Free Triiodothyronine (Free T3)
- Total T4 and Total T3
- Thyroid Antibodies
- Thyroglobulin (Tg)

Let's establish the role of the thyroid in general before diving in 1 by 1...