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Hey, everyone. Dr. Josh Axe here. Welcome to the show where each and every week we dive deep into the science and principles behind how you can heal physically, mentally, spiritually and take your health and your life to the next level. There is a very popular term today, and there's something I have to admit, I absolutely hate it. It is biohacking. So I'm really not a fan of that word. But today I'm gonna dive into how to go beyond biohacking and live in tune with nature in order to heal yourself. And so did you know that that red light therapy, that idea came from the sun? Okay, so what is more beneficial, laying in a red light bed or laying out in the sun and getting sun on your body? So I'll go through this today and walk you through all of these different biohacks, the original of where it came from, and how you can get even more benefits by doing the real thing. Before I dive in though, make sure to subscribe to the channel and hit the link in the show notes to subscribe to my weekly wellness newsletter to get to get my top tips for natural healing delivered straight to your inbox. So let's first start off by rethinking this popular term, biohacking. The thing I don't like about it is the term hack is essentially manipulating or sort of like hacking into a computer to achieve better health. And I really think it's a very mechanistic term, looking at our body like we are a piece of machinery, that we're metal, we're made of parts. Where I really like the think about us more in this biblical sense of we are a creation of God, we're a piece of artwork. It is something that's more relational, something that's more harmonious, something that's more organic in nature than us hacking into this piece of machinery. And again, the reality is that we are fearfully and wonderfully made, and we are designed by God and we're meant to live in sync and harmony with nature. So here's the big thing. If you're living in tune with nature and if you're eating whole foods that the earth is putting forth, if you are moving regularly, spending more time outdoors, maybe even with your hands in the dirt and soil, you don't need to hack anything. You just need to live in harmony with environment and your body will heal. Here's a few instances. Rather than using interventions like blue light blocking sunglasses to mitigate screen time, why not just reduce screen exposure in the evenings and spend time outdoors during the day? And even into the night. Instead of boosting your energy through caffeine, why not get enough sunlight and sleep and take a walk outside? One is a quick fix, which in some cases, there are some benefits there. Okay, don't get me wrong, I want to say this. There are some benefits of biohacking. However, they aren't as powerful as the real thing. Here's the truth. I want you to take some vitamins and supplements. I personally take vitamins and supplements, but if I try and take those in replacement of food, you're not going to do very well. I was talking to a friend recently who had said that they had a period in their life where they tried to eat protein shakes for almost every meal and they literally got sick. Very, very sick. Because the body isn't meant to live off of just protein shakes, okay? Eating real meat, real raw, organic, fermented dairy, real eggs, eating real sources, you're always better off. And then you can supplement here or there for little deficiencies. But what I'm gonna go through today in this episode is go through how you need to be getting the real thing, what the real things actually are. And then you could sprinkle in red light therapy, hyperbaric chamber, PEMF machines, blue light, sun blocking glasses, those sort of things, and still get some of those benefits. So I believe that the healthiest people, if you're trying to reverse a condition, everything from low testosterone to hypothyroidism to infertility to PCOS to diabetes to every other condition you can imagine, autoimmune disease, cancer, diabetes, that if you want to truly heal, one of the greatest things you cannot ignore is living in tune with nature. Now, I really believe if you're going to be healthy, you need to be deeply connected to three things. Deeply connected to God, deeply connected to other people, and deeply connected to nature. And if you have the right relationships in those three areas, you are going to be physically healthy. And if you also think about this, when we think about nature is when you look at the largest three world religions, and specifically you look at the Judeo Christian faiths, both of those in the book of Genesis, you read about that we were formed from the dust and from the mud. We literally came from the earth. And then we were called by God to steward over and be deeply connected to the Earth. If you're going to steward over something like parent something, you're going to be very connected to that thing. And so that's something we are called to do today and we need to do. If we're going to be healthy. Now, there is a quote from the BBC, and I want to mention this. This is in terms of natural design. Here's what it says. Today, many parents may secretly wish their children had the chance to pick up a bit of grime. With the rise of urbanism and the allure of video games and social media, contact with n is much rare than in the past. For many, there is simply no opportunity to get muddy. The dirt outside is teeming with friendly microorganisms that can train the immune system and build resilience to a range of illnesses, including allergies, asthma, and even depression and anxiety. And I can tell you that I wrote a book called Eat dirt, which went through so many studies on how spending more time outdoors, spending, having everything from having a pet to having your own home garden to just walking outside is tremendously beneficial to your health. And this disconnection from nature contributes to stress, poor sleep, chronic disease. And we're going to get into this and so much more. On today's episode, how to naturally not biohack, we'll call it. Harmonize yourself with nature in order to heal yourself. You know, one of the things I often reflect on is what the life for most kids is like today versus when I was a kid. So I grew up just north of Dayton, Ohio, in a city called Troy. And my grandparents lived about an hour north of us, and they owned a campground and a swim park. And so, like, my childhood was when I was at home in Troy, I grew up being outside until dark every single day. I mean, I was never on a device. I mean, maybe I played video games once a week, maybe Super Mario brothers on Nintendo or whatever it was. I mean, that was kind of it. But outside of that, I was just outside all day, every day once I got home from school playing sports or games with kids in the neighborhood. And when it got dark, all the kids from the neighborhood went back home for dinner. And then in the summers, I would go up to my grandparents and I would run around in this forest. My cousin and I would catch frogs and snakes, and we would fish all day and we would swim all day, and we were just in nature all day, all day long. Well, today, most kids, and maybe what I just shared was very similar to your childhood growing up is being outside in nature all day. Well, today, most kids spend so much time on their devices, they often spend very little time outdoors. They're under fake lights. They're eating processed foods. They're living disconnected from other people and from nature to a really, I think, devastating degree. And so I truly believe the more disconnected we are from nature, the more unhealthy we are in almost every instance. And as I mentioned in my book Eat Dirt, I really go into how to truly live in harmony with nature in order to heal yourself. And for instance, when I have patients that have insomnia, trouble sleeping, which most people do not sleep nine hours all through the night straight. And that's what you should be doing. Okay, think about it. When the sun. I want you to pay attention to something today. When does the sun go down? Okay, that's when you should be starting to fall asleep or at least winding down for most people. And when is the sun coming up? That's when you should be waking up. Those are the natural rhythms today. People are getting so much less sleep because of modern light after dark. And so we need to be able to living in tune with what's going on in nature. So I talk about this in that book as well, and so much more. We really have these things called circulation rhythms where we should be living in tune with what's going on around us here on planet Earth. All right, let's dive in here. I have really eight big ways, eight things that are better than biohacking. Okay, the first one here is what I've been talking about. Spending more time outdoors. Being outdoors exposes us to various microbes, which trains your immune system to recognize and respond to pathogens. And when we avoid nature, we miss out on small exposures that build resilience. And here's an example. One study found that skin exposure to soil microbiota. So you getting your hands in dirt can elicit changes in something called your cell mediated immune response. This suggests that simply putting your hands in dirt boosts your immune system and it acts as a natural vaccine for your body. Here's a quote from a medical journal called LiveScience. It says this. The old friends hypothes suggests that the greater the range of microbes we're exposed to, especially early in childhood, the more diverse our microbes will be, and thus the better our immune systems will be later on in life. And your body will be better off recognizing your friends versus your foes. So this term, old friends, refers to helpful microbes that live on and in your body without harming a person. So, you know, when I was a kid, I would spend all this time in a certain area of Ohio. And when I go back there, I'm probably more protected against seasonal allergens and other things because I developed that immunity when I was a kid. Now here's a few other things. Fresh air plays a key role in our health. You know, I remember I had someone on the show recently, we were talking about air quality and when you, I remember reading a medical journal saying our indoor air is something like in most cases, I mean, five times, maybe 10 times more toxic than our outdoor air. So when you're indoors, you're just constantly being bombarded with way, way more toxins, whether it be the glue that's used to keep your carpet down or the VOCs coming off of paint that might even be a year old. I mean, you have these chemicals that are constantly bombarding you versus outside. You're breathing in more oxygen rich air. And so the more time you spend outdoors, the better. You know, there's something in Japan, it's called shinrin yoku and that means forest bathing. And it's a traditional practice characterized by visiting a forest and breathing in its air for mental and physical benefits. Think about this for yourself, spending time outside, are you in a more relaxed state? I mean, really think about this. Are you in a more relaxed state when you're going on a walk in nature, when you're sitting outside enjoying the sun, when you are swimming in a lake, when you are standing with your feet in the sand in an ocean, when are you more relaxed? Right. And so for almost everybody is going to answer, when I'm outside. So what happens when you're outside? Your entire nervous system just comes down a notch and you are more stress free. So there are so many benefits of being outdoors. We know from the air you breathe to the sunshine, to the microbes you're exposed to, there are just loads and loads of benefits. There's one study that was done on this forest bathing, by the way I want to mention, or being just in a forest. And so even just going on a walk in a group of trees. And they found that's associated with increased activity of something called NK cells. That stands for natural killer cel, which help fight infections in tumor cells. And a study demonstrated that forest bathing trips resulted in significant increases in NK cell activity, helping you fight cancer and infections. So if you have cancer, but also if you have a cold or flu, but also if you have mold issues, Lyme, cmv, Epstein Barr, Long Covid, any type of infect parasites, any type of infections at all, your body is fighting it better and healing better when you're spending time outside. Okay? Your body heals at a higher level when you're outside. You know, one of the studies that was done on forest bathing Found that there was a massive, massive decrease in cortisol when you spent time outside. In fact, the study found after spending two days immersed in a forest environment, like if you went camping for two days. Participants in a study showed reduced stress markers, including lower salivary cortisol levels and lower hrv. That's heart rate variability, which is a big sign of lower stress levels. And so the more time you spend outside, the better your body heals. In the same study, they found great reductions in depression and anxiety. So for many people that have depression, anxiety, it's a nature deficiency. They're not low on SSRI medications. Okay? They're actually depleted in sunshine. And so the reality is this, the sunshine and time outdoors is the greatest antidepressant, anti anxiety medication there is, and maybe the greatest medication for almost every condition we could think about. And that's how all of these things work. As I go through, I'm just on number one right now, but as I go through these eight ways of healing that are more powerful than biohacking, these are more powerful than almost any medicine you could take. So here's some things you can do. Number one, just get outside daily to walk, to rest, to play. You know, one of the things I try and do in the morning, I just try and walk. I try and do a 20 to 30 minute walk around breakfast, around lunch, and around dinner. Okay? And let's say maybe you only have five minutes. Well, just do that. Do whatever you can to get more time outside. Play with your kids. You know, we bought a swing set, and we have this big swing set in our yard now. And so Chelsea and I are constantly out there with our two daughters, playing on the swing set outside, riding bikes on the scooter, taking our dogs on walks. These are things we're constantly doing. So do more of those things all day. Start a garden to get exposure to dirt, microbes. Even if it's just a little herb garden. Chelsea and I, the first thing we did is we had an herb garden and we grew parsley, we grew chives, we grew cilantro, and we would just do a bunch of herbs. And so maybe you start there, but do a mini garden at home and then plan more vacations and more weekly playtime around. Going on a hike together, going to the beach, going to a park and playing. These are great for the health of yourself and for your kids. Number two, biohack is sunlight exposure. While I am a big fan of infrared light and red light therapy, it pales in comparison to to sunlight. And you may Be aware of this. Red light has tremendous benefits for your health, but so does green light and purple light and orange light and yellow light. So think about the spectrum of a rainbow. You're getting all of those different colors and various wavelengths of light when you get sunlight. Now, I do want to mention this. You can have too much of a good thing or too much at once. You have to build up a tolerance. So I've also seen people say, listen, there's two groups of people I see some people are saying, get as much sun as you want. And there's other people. And I know a lot of. I'm thinking of a few women who are influencers, and I have great respect for both groups. But another group who says, if you don't want to age, never let your skin see sunlight. And I'm in this middle camp of never get a sunburn, okay? I mean, there are studies that I can show you. I saw this recent medical study that said if somebody gets melanoma, skin cancer, it has nothing to do with someone getting more or less sunshine. In fact, if you get more sunshine, generally, your risk of cancer goes down significantly, according to some medical studies. However, if you just get intermittent light and you get burnt five or six times a year, that is terrible for your health and skin. And so the biggest thing you want to be able to do is you want to get a few minutes. And by the way, it only takes 20 minutes of moderate sunlight for your body to get, I believe, somewhere close to like 20,000 IUs of vitamin D. So your body, or at least in the summer months. And so if you are getting just 20 minutes of sun on your skin, that can go a long, long way. Now, again, for me, my goal is I go out, I get plenty of sun, but I don't ever get burnt. That is my goal. Never get burnt. And so when I start getting exposed to myself, it's just a little bit at a time working my way up. But the reality is, sunlight is probably the most powerful thing you can do to boost your immune system, to boost your mood and improve sleep patterns. I mean, think about it. If you're. If you're a person who. I was actually texting with a friend yesterday who is thinking about moving to Florida. And she said, I'm just so depressed because she grew up, I think, in Southern California, and now she lives, I think, in Colorado. And she just said, I'm depressed because I just don't see the sun as much. And it's not as warm there. And most of us know there's seasonal affective mood disorder, Right? There are a lot of people that get depression when they don't get the sun. And so the reality is that sunlight is the greatest antidepressant medication ever. And think about, I mean, I'm just even thinking about a rainy gray day and being inside, if that happens for a few weeks, versus that moment that you step out in the sunlight and you just sit there. There's something that's mood enhancing about it. And sunlight does so many things. One, it regulates your circadian rhythms, which controls your sleep, wake cycle. Morning sunlight signals your body. It's time to get alert and active. And so cortisol starts to rise in the evening when that sun starts to drop. We know that cortisol drops, melatonin increases. That allows you to better sleep at night. And also I do want to mention cortisol, where that's at. And melatonin have such a dramatic effect on all the other hormones in your body. If cortisol is high, it typically can cause insulin to stay high. When those two hormones are high, that's gonna throw off your thyroid hormones. It can cause hypothyroidism, it can throw off estrogen, progesterone causing infertility, can throw off testosterone. Keeping that low, especially in men, causing infertility as well, or lack of motivation. And so all of this is from the sun. So the sun is the greatest hormone. In fact, we know this, right? Vitamin D is called a pro hormone, not just a vitamin, because it's that important to all of your other hormones. It also regulates serotonin, which is what allows you to overcome conditions like depression. And so the reality is this is that while I love infrared light, and you should get it okay, you should supplement with it, especially in the winter if you are not getting sun. But in addition sunlight, you are getting red light. You're getting all the wavelengths, you're getting all of those benefits and so much more from the sun. And there's a study published in the Journal of Health Psychology, and they found that morning sunlight reported better sleep quality later on that night because it really is what sets your circadian rhythms into motion. So really, when you wake up in the morning, one of the first things you should do is step outside and get natural sunlight, even if it's not that nice out. Just going for a 15 minute walk is tremendously beneficial for circadian rhythms and hormones. And of course, there are so many studies on vitamin D fighting cancer, fighting heart disease, fighting diabetes, fighting obesity, and improving mood. So it is incredibly powerful for Healing the body when we're talking about sunlight. So here's the big thing. Try and get at least 20 minutes of natural sunlight exposure a day, especially in the morning. Here's another big one. Open your windows, take a walk and enjoy your morning coffee or beverage outside. And avoid bright screens at night which disrupt your melatonin production. But remember, red light therapy is awesome. Sunlight even better and more powerful. Number three, eating locally and seasonally. You know, it is great that we can get superfood shipped in from all over the world. It is great that we can doordash and have foods at our house in seconds. However, eating foods that are locally grown or locally raised have additional benefits for our immune system. Okay, this is why we've heard this. But local honey is better than eating honey from somewhere that's thousands of miles away. When you eat local honey, it has hundreds of microbes and pollen and other things that acts as a natural immunization. Strengthen your immune system. So when allergy season rolls around, your symptoms will not be as severe. And the same goes not just for honey. It goes for root vegetables, it goes for lettuce, it goes for your grass fed beef. Any food that's grown or raised locally will have more immune enhancing effects for you in that local area. And that's not to say that you shouldn't consume goji berries that are grown in Japan and shipped over matcha green tea. I do that myself. We also grow goji berries at our farm in Tennessee, so I actually get local goji berries as well. But all that being said, eat locally because it actually helps enhance your microbial diversity and your gut health. Local, eat seasonal. This is why going to your local farmer's markets is one of the greatest health. Again, I hate this word hacks that have ever been created. And so again, and just put this on your schedule. I mean for Chelsea and I, every Saturday we try and go to the Franklin Farmer's Market just south of Nashville there in Tennessee and get our local produce, our local beef, our local duck eggs, and those sort of things as well. There was a study published in the Nature of Microbiology journal and they observed that the gut microbiota of the had cell hunter gatherers in Tanzia undergo seasonal changes corresponding with their diet, suggesting that consuming seasonal foods promotes microbial diversity in the gut. There's also a study published at the University of Clemson here in the United States that shows that certain vegetables such as broccoli, can have varying nutrient content depending on the season in which they are grown. For example, broccoli harvested in the fall may have nearly twice the amount vitamin C compared to that in the spring. Think about how amazing that is and what God created here that he knows that, okay, in the fall, we need more of an immune boost. So broccoli that you are growing in the fall has more vitamin C preparing your immune system for the coming season versus in the spring. There's probably a greater level of sulfurane and indole, 3 carbinol, which detoxify and cleanse the liver, which is what you need more during that time, time of year. So eat locally and seasonally. Even though there are great superfoods, again, a lot of times we think of, hey, I've got a superfood powder. And this is a great health hack, you know, maybe even a form of biohacking. The reality is this eating locally and seasonally, including from your own garden, your own local farmer's market, is more powerful than superfoods shipped from overseas. Number four, earthing and grounding. Now, I am a huge fan of pemf, That's Pulse Electromagnetic frequency as a therapy. Okay. I love pemf. I have a PEMF unit at home. I used it to help heal my back or painful joints and just to ground myself. I actually have grounding sheets on my bed that I love. And so I love some of these hacks that I bring into my home. However, they all pale in comparison to doing the real thing of earthing and grounding. Kicking off your shoes, walking barefoot on the soil, sitting on the ground, just spending more time in contact with the earth. Our modern lifestyles, as I mentioned, have disconnected us from the earth. By wearing shoes with synthetic soles or, you know, spending more time on blacktop or concrete, where grounding is, your bare feet are walking on natural surfaces, the beach, the dirt, the grass. And studies have shown it greatly reduces inflammation. In fact, there was a study published in the Journal of Environmental and Public Health, and they found that grounding significantly reduces pain by altering immune responses by neutralizing free radicals and balancing the body's electrical charge. Participants who slept grounded radiation also reported improved sleep and reduced stress. There's another study in the Journal of Inflammation, and they found that when you are walking barefoot or camping or just again, your body is in contact with the earth, it lowers inflammation, improves blood flow, and reduces pain and helps balance cortisol levels. Major, major benefits there of going barefoot, spending time outside, and actually physically contacting the earth and ground. And by the way, there's additional benefits of also doing this with animals. If you have chickens at Your house, if you have dogs or cats that spend time outside just touching or spending time with those animals, have great benefits as well. A very similar thing to grounding in that way. And then here are some practical tips. Again, once a day, if you're outside, kick off your shoes and just walk barefoot in the grass in your backyard, if you have one. Okay. Or go to a park and kick off your shoes. Okay. Walk in the grass or sand as much as you can. Aim to do that for just 10 to 20 minutes a day. Very similar amount of time as sunshine. If you could do 20 minutes of sun, 20 minutes of earthing or grounding, loads of benefits. Now, again, if you are not doing that as much as you'd like, get a PEMF machine, get a grounding mat where that you're standing on barefoot, indoors, get grounding sheets. Do some of these things to make up for it. But remember, those things are supplements. They're not a real meal in the main course. Here's number five. It's called hormesis. It's getting uncomfortable is actually beneficial for you doing things that challenge and stress your body. Now, that could be everything from exercise to being in environments that are too hot or cold or even emotionally challenging things. But doing things to press your body and fasting is another example of this. So there's a lot of examples I could get into. But did you know that? And by the way, hormesis is a form of stress, okay? It's practicing stress in order to create more resilience in something. And what's pretty amazing is when you look at resveratrol, for instance, as a compound, which you're going to find in grapes, the skin of grapes, and things like blueberries. There was a study done on grapes or wine that was the most nutrient dense. And one of the things they discovered is that you want to stress grapes in order for them to have more flavor and to be higher in nutrients. So this is why most vineyards are grown on the side of a hill or areas like California, where you have these larger fluctuations in temperature. And so in California, it might get really hot during the day and then really cool at night. Well, that's stress. That's stress to a plant. And there's also something called dry farming where it doesn't have irrigation. So think about it. You don't have water, you're getting really hot, you're getting really cold. There's wind, there's environmental pressure. All of these things happening. Well, you have to. It's just like lifting weights, like in Order to gain more, you build more muscle when that happens, and you become more resilient yourself physically. Well, the same happens in plants. When plants are stressed, they have higher levels of resveratrol. So farms that follow a dry farming process, dry farm wines, they have higher nutrients. If they get hotter and colder, but still survive through that stress, they're more nutrient dense. And this, the same goes for all herbals. By the way, when you look at matcha green tea, they use certain types of shade and removing shade in order to make the leaves more potent in the healing compounds. You think about adaptogenic herbs. Adaptogens, the most potent adaptogenic herbs grow in places like Siberia, where you're talking about very cold, harsh winters at high altitudes, like Panax ginseng and rhodiola rosea. I mean, these can be grown under really stressful environments, which is how they help your body deal with stress. So when you consume a herb, you are harnessing the properties of that plant. Okay? And so that's sort of what's happening, but in a very similar way. You want to do this to your body, you want to challenge it, you want to stress it, but you want to do it in micro doses over time and not do too much, because it's like, okay, if you want to. Let's say your goal is to be able to squat with over £100. Okay, everybody's at very different levels here. But let's say right now you can't do that. Well, don't start with £100 on the bar. Start with your body weight and then add 10 and another 10 and another 10 until you finally get to 100. Don't go all the way to the 100 day one, because that increases your risk of injury. And look at fasting, for instance. This is something that was practiced by the Jews, as God commanded them in the Bible, and the early Christians, they would fast. For instance, the early Christians would fast either Wednesdays or Fridays or both, one day a week to two, and they would fast until an early dinner. This triggers autophagy and repair and healing and stressing your body in a good way. A lot of people today are doing this form of intermittent fasting, which I think can be beneficial for some people, closing down that eating window. But I think for most people, the greatest benefits would be taking one day a week and skipping breakfast and lunch and being able to go without food one day a week up until dinner. Great benefits there. We know cold exposure, we know intense exercise. These are all things that allow you to become more resilient and these are great forms of stress that's good for your body. Are you tired of doctors dismissing your symptoms? Or worse, even making you feel crazy? Even if your blood work comes back normal, it doesn't mean your health is where it should be. Think of your blood like a delivery truck carrying nutrients and hormones. But the real payoff happens when your cells open the package and use what's inside. If your cells are stuck in what's called cell danger response, triggered by stress toxins or infections, they go into protective mode. In this state, cells close off and don't properly take in or utilize the hormones or nutrients they need from the bloodstream. Now, this makes the blood work often appear normal, so doctors often miss the deeper issue, leaving you feeling tired, gaining weight, experiencing mood swings, and dealing with other symptoms while other cells remain in a state of limbo. Visit beyond BL to learn how you can start changing this in as little as 30 days. And that brings me to number six, which is contrast therapy. Hot and cold exposure. Now, one great way to do this is simply just spend more time outside in the winter, in the summer, year round, just spend more time outside and you are naturally exposed to the, you know, to the elements and what's going on there. But if you know that you are just in a comfy environment too long, you can force yourself to do this by doing things like infrared sauna or even a cold plunge. And studies have shown it improves sleep, supports circulation, supports recovery. So this form of hormesis of hot and cold have tremendous benefits as well. All right, here's number seven. Aligning with natural sleep wake cycles to support your circadian rhythms. Our bodies are biologically programmed to function in alignment with the 24 hour light dark cycle of the Earth. This internal timing system, our circadian rhythm, governs nearly every physiological function, including sleep, digestion, hormone release and immune function and disruptions to your circadian rhythms. One of the first things it does is it alters cellular communication. Your body is believing that one thing's happening, and so it starts to naturally move in that direction. Well, when you do something radical to it, well, now it gets confused. And so it takes time for your body to send these communication signals. I'll give you an example of this. Let's say you work at night, the night shift, okay? And then as part of that, you are during the day, after you work the night shift, you're not getting, you know, you're not getting all that light from the sun. And then during the day, when you need to sleep, sleep, you're being exposed to some sunlight there, your body gets very confused by that. And so it doesn't produce enough melatonin, so you actually get deep sleep in order to heal and enough cortisol in order to run some of the functions of your body. And so your body is just running haphazardly all day if you're working the night shift. And this is the same is true if you're watching TV and Netflix too late at night, it increases your risk, according to these studies of obesity, type 2 diabetes, depression, and even cancer. In fact, research published in the Nature Reviews Endocrinology Journal found this circadian misalignments contribute to metabolic disease and inflammation and that making simple lifestyle adjustments can help you reverse these quickly in a lot of cases. And so Chinese medicine looked at this at a whole new level. They found that really every part of the day, you should be thinking about living in rhythm of what's going on with our connection to the earth. So, for instance, in the morning, that is the time of the digestive system. It's really the colon, it's the stomach, it's the lungs. So going for a walk and moving a little bit, having more carbohydrates, because that's what that carbohydrates and protein, that's what that organ system, those organ systems tend to deal with better first thing in the morning and then getting sunlight first in the morning. So that's what you should do. And you should be doing things that are more meditative at that time as well, like spiritual growth, reading a Bible, having a gratitude practice. First thing in the night. Okay. Or first thing in the morning is when you should do those things. And then during that late morning period is when the organs that are the most important for focus and concentration and creativity are the most active. So if you want to be really creative, do that right after breakfast. That time between breakfast and lunch is when you should be getting the most important work done of the day. And then during lunch, this is time to really connect with coworkers and get outside for a few minutes and have that middle of the day sunshine you're being exposed to the afternoon. That's when you should be doing more of the busy work. In the evenings, it's when you should be connecting with family. This is the time of the heart, more intimacy, more just connecting with your family members. And then after that, of course, getting to bed. So here's some really simple ways to just align these sleep wake cycles. Wake up with natural light as soon as you can get outside okay. The other thing is at night, dim the lights, listen to an audio book rather than watching a TV show, or have more of an orange or yellow light and read a book. Much, much better than watching tv. Or if you're going to watch tv, watch it right after you eat and then leave about an hour or more before you actually get in bed. Okay. Of being totally away from screen time, have a consistent bedtime. Of when you are going to bed and waking up as much as you possibly can. Listen, you can't always be perfect, but just the best you can. Obviously, like we talked about, limit the blue light. Early dinners are better. Eat your last meal, ideally three hours before bed. I mean, we try and eat dinners at like five o' clock. I mean, sometimes it's six, but we're always in bed then by eight or nine, I mean, as early as we possibly can be. And then getting up early. And so you really want to do your best to live in alignment with what's going on in nature. And number eight is this healing with natural sound and frequencies. You know, I remember driving with my dad growing up. And of course being a kid, like, I'm thinking right now this is probably like in junior high and I always wanted to be listening to music. And sometimes my dad would just be driving and he'd just, just shut it off. I'm like, why'd you turn it off? He's like, I just need silence. I'm like, okay. You know, And I literally never understood. I thought, this guy's crazy. I'm like, who doesn't want to listen to music right now? Instead, he just wants to sit here in silence. And honestly, now I understand, I totally understand why my dad just wanted absolute silence. And I think for most of us, our lives are filled with so much busyness and constant bombardment of noise and light and chaos that our nervous systems are crying out for silence. And if it's not silence, it's something else. It's crying out for nature. And sound is one of the most powerful and primal ways our bodies connect to the world and how our body heal. Long before modern devices and we had all of this again. Noise, pollutions and all the things we have today, people would be able to just sit and listen to nature. To rustling leaves, to flowing water, to birds chirping to the wind, to a crackling fire, to water crashing. And these sounds have shaped the way our nervous systems actually have developed and regulated. In contrast, again, there's cars buzzing by, there's alarms, there's screens, there's just Constant background noise going. And these noises tend to be at wavelengths that put our body in a more fight or flight state. And there are studies that show that certain noises are better for healing in our nervous systems. For instance, certain sounds like ocean waves, streams and forest sounds lower your sympathetic nervous system and enhance parasympathetic nervous system activity, improving digestion, your heart rate, your blood pressure and even reducing stress hormones. There is a 2021 meta analysis proceedings done on numerous studies. And they found that the sounds in nature reduce pain, stress, anxiety and improve mood. Also they found this. This is interesting. Nature sounds typically entrain the brain in something called theta brainwaves along with sometimes alpha brainwaves. And these are associated with the theta with more meditation, deeper relaxation and emotional healing, where these alpha can be more being more creative in that moment and thinking more clearly. And for our ancestors, here's another big one. Music wasn't coming out of the speakers of a car or somewhere in your home. The sound was coming out of another human. There was ancient things like humming and singing together in certain rituals and praise and worship, spiritual gatherings. And these sounds also connect you to other humans and bonding to other people. Sometimes they also do this with regulating breathing. You look at, I've studied a lot of the, a lot of the old monks and even today's monks, and they do some things like Gregorian chants, which actually studies have shown stimulates your vagus nerve, promoting a calm healing by the body. In fact, if you just hum like mmm. Now of course this is done in a lot of different religious circles today. It's done both in Christian monks, but also it's done and I think in a lot of the Eastern religious practices as well. But studies have shown that that simple humming or singing at certain tones actually increases oxytocin and helps with increasing your parasympathetic nervous system so you can heal. Here's another one. I remember growing up we would camp at my grandparents all the time, or we would just be sleep with the windows open and hearing the crickets and hearing just the frogs emit this sort of rhythmic pattern is healing. Here's another big one. The sound of water. Ocean waves and rainfall tend to also promote delta waves and certain theta waves, which aid in deep rest and subconscious healing. And so for us, we are replacing healing sound with stressful sound. Stress that actually a sound that's actually damaging our brains and nervous systems and our healing patterns. And we're missing out on these sounds of nature. And so here are some things you can do. One, spend more time outside in natural landscapes, you know, spend more times in forests around streams. If it's raining, go just sit outside or open or crack the window so you hear the rainfall. Spending more time around ocean waves. Spend more time meditating, singing yourself or listening to. And again, this is more of one of those something you can do that again. It's not as good as the real thing, but maybe if you need to play something, maybe you play the sound of rain or you play the sound of ocean waves crashing. I know some people do this to help them sleep at night, but overall the real thing is always better. And even if it's just for 10 minutes, it's going to help your body get into a more relaxed state. So the reality is this, while biohacking does have some benefits, living in harmony with nature the way God designed us to, by focusing on exposing ourselves to the right type of sound, to living in tune with what's going on when the sun rises and when it sets, with balancing our circadian rhythms, to exposing ourself to hot and cold strategically to improve our hormesis and make ourselves more resilient, to walking barefoot on the ground, to eating locally and seasonally, to sunlight exposure, to spending more time outside. All of these things are more powerful than biohacking and help our bodies heal at a whole other level. I want to say thanks so much for tuning in here to the Dr. Josh Axe Show. Remember, each and every week I'm diving deep into the science and principles on how you can heal physically, mentally and spiritually. Also, thank you, all of you that are subscribed. If you're not subscribed, make sure not to miss out. We've got so many great episodes coming up. And also thank all of you for sharing what you learned here on this episode. Again, I'm so grateful. Anytime I see any of you posting on Instagram or Facebook or commenting on YouTube or texting your friends about the show, thank you so much. We're making a big change together and helping heal this entire world. I want to say thanks so much and I'll see you on the next episode.