The Power of Light: How to Reset Your Circadian Clock | Dr. Stacy, N.D.

00:00 - Michaela (Host)

Welcome to the Wave Forward, the podcast that dives deep into how technology shapes our health and well-being. From digital wellness to tech innovation, to the effects of electromagnetic fields, we cover the environmental, social and physical implications of technology. Ready to navigate the digital landscape with confidence, set your dial to discovery and tune in. You're listening to the Wave Forward, dr Stacey. Thanks for joining the podcast, hi.

00:27 - Dr. Baker (Guest)

I'm so excited to be here. Thanks for having me.

00:30 - Michaela (Host)

I feel like you are the perfect guest for our podcast right now because I think like we've touched a lot on EMF, but there's just so many different aspects to health that's related to technology outside of EMF as well Like EMF is a big topic, but then there's also all these other things like circadian rhythm and lights, and you know how that's affecting us. So I'm excited to jump into that with you. But I want to start with a little bit about you first and kind of like your background and how you came to where you are now.

01:02 - Dr. Baker (Guest)

For sure. I get asked that all the time because I think I have somewhat of a unique perspective on healing and health and I will say, like a lot of people are like, where did you train? And it's like, well, I was sick for most of my life, Most of my wisdom comes from that and trying to heal myself. So that's a part you can't really train for, right, it's just experience that helps that. But I'm a naturopath, traditional naturopath, so I'm very much rooted into nature and trying to help bridge the gap between this modern lifestyle and how we continue to connect back to nature, as we are going to talk about.

01:37

A lot of these man-made diseases are because we are living in these artificial environments, right, and we have a lot more exposure and things like that that we never had in our primitive years. So, for me it's been a lifetime of being sick. I come from a family of doctors. There's three MDs in my family and just finding that conventional since I wasn't in a disease state yet, which I was on my way there, Right, but um, conventional just didn't move the needle for me at all. So I just really um, I've been in the health and fitness world for such a long time and it was just a natural transition to learn more and more and more as I was trying to heal myself, and it took me getting a doctorate in functional medicine and all of these extra things, Um, but it's been an amazing ride and you know, I've healed myself. I get to help. You know, people heal every single day. It's the way it's meant to be. It's great.

02:32 - Michaela (Host)

Okay, can you talk a little bit about your personal healing journey, like what was going on and what did that look like?

02:39 - Dr. Baker (Guest)

Yeah, of course. As old as I can remember I've had debilitating anxiety. I think there was a lot going on with my gut because I just had ear infection after ear infection when I was little, so amoxicillin was like on repeat over and over again. So a lot of issues, a lot of just environmental issues. The way I internalized everything as a child to like that, that was a big piece of it.

03:05

But yeah, debilitating anxiety started the ball rolling and as I got to, you know, be older, it would. It would now be panic, right, panic attacks, and then just weird autoimmune hormonal issues Like we all hear about and experience. And then breast implants were in my, you know, college years. So that was another thing. That was like the straw that broke the camel's back. So it wasn't the causative effect, but it certainly was more than my body can handle. So just kind of like you know, heal, I'm blessed because the breast implant illness kind of opened my eyes to functional medicine.

03:47 - Dr. Baker (Guest)

It helped me kind of fill in the void there. But um, yeah, so learning, like I said, learning all about these things helping my body detoxify, changing the lifestyle, the habits, all the things that have, you know, really moved the needle for me, are things that I can pass on now, so it's great.

04:02 - Michaela (Host)

I love that so much.

04:03

I feel like the breast implant thing has been that wake up call for a lot of people Like I have seen so many interviews where it's like they get the implants and then like just start, like it's like a cascading effect down and they just like there's no other way to like there's no other thing that I know that this could be than this and it like just really wakes people up to like what we're putting in our bodies and how that's impacted, Cause I think, for a long time with anxiety.

04:31

I really struggled with that, especially in my early twenties, and I didn't really realize the impact that food and alcohol and all of the things that I was indulging in at the time was having on my, on my like, you know, emotional body and mental body, until I went through my own like physical healing, like through just having chronic sinus infections and all this stuff where it was like okay, I have to cut out sugar, I have to cut out all of this stuff, because these six rounds of antibiotics and steroids and all this stuff that they're giving me.

04:58 - Dr. Baker (Guest)

It's not working.

04:59 - Michaela (Host)

That's kind of where the same thing like you get really sick, it's not working. Okay, I'm going to try something else. So I went completely. You know, at that time that was kind of the thing to do. I did like completely raw and then, you know, cut off all the sugar and stuff and that's when I discovered the impact that food was having on my mental health.

05:15

Then, you know, you start incorporating those things back in. You start having a couple of drinks with your friends and then, like three days later, you're realizing like I'm in, like I'm depressed, right now. Like what is going on and how many people just do that through college or are using it as a coping mechanism for their anxiety and it just makes it worse.

05:32 - Dr. Baker (Guest)

Right, it was a cycle.

05:35 - Michaela (Host)

I can definitely see how alcoholism happens, because it's like when you're in. When you're in, you know you're drinking and you're having fun and you're like you know you feel free, and then it's like three days later that starts kicking in and your body starts responding to like trying to detox all of that and like your liver is having a having a time and yeah. So it's just super interesting, um, to have gotten that understanding but having already gone through the healing process and then realizing like, oh, like I'm severely impacted by sugar and alcohol and like these things, that I really just can't do.

06:05

So did you ever get into like this is kind of a segue before we get into the circuit but did you ever get into like the MTHFR and like, did you ever find out? If that was, what are your, what's your take on that?

06:20 - Dr. Baker (Guest)

I did, I tested myself, I tested my son, and you know I'm into it, but not because here's the thing. It's like over 50% of the population, genetics load the gun. Our environments, our habits, our lifestyles are what pull the trigger, and so I think it elicits a lot of fear. I see a lot of people like I think it's almost like a scapegoat, right when people are like oh well, I'm just sick because I have the MTHFR, and it's like no, you're sick because your blood pressures or your blood sugar is on a roller coaster. You're in your blue light all day long, you're being bombarded. You know what I mean? Yeah, I feel like it's a cop out. I really do, because, um and I hate to say that, but um, I I just don't see it being of much value for people to know what could go wrong.

07:05 - Michaela (Host)

Right, like well, especially if it's such a high population. I totally get what you're saying, because if it's, if it is such a high population, like if it was only like a small percentage of people, and it's a very specific thing and there's a very specific diet, but it's like it's the majority of us. It's most of us.

07:20 - Dr. Baker (Guest)

So we really should just be following these protocols anyway.

07:25 - Michaela (Host)

You know what I mean, like paying attention to, you know, folic acid versus folate or whatever all of these things that they say to do if you're MTHFR, it's like no, we all should be doing that.

07:33 - Dr. Baker (Guest)

We should all be doing that. So why spend five or $600 on a genetic test when it's all going to say you need to look at your environment, you need to look at your diet, you know it's all going to come out the same anyway, so you might as well just do it Just assume, you have it move forward.

07:49 - Michaela (Host)

No, right, right, right, exactly Okay. So let's get into the circadian rhythm, because we really haven't talked about that very much. We've touched on it slightly, but just explain what that is first off. So that for people who it's kind of new to um and how that is impacting us on a day to day.

08:13 - Dr. Baker (Guest)

Okay, so I'm just going to go into the basics for this, because a lot of people don't understand how much it runs. all of our hormonal behavior, um, including cortisol, including um thyroid and even our neurotransmitters. So when you think about the circadian rhythm in total, think about this light dark cycle that we have. So cortisol is supposed to be on a rhythm and then, when cortisol goes down, essentially melatonin should take over. And melatonin, a lot of people think, oh, it just helps you fall asleep. Well, melatonin is, it's what kind of? Does the cleanup work in our mitochondria, right? So any kind of symptom or dysfunction, just know that it's because your mitochondria has energy issues. That is what's happening. It's mitochondrial dysfunction.

08:48

So when our cells can't get into these deep reparative states at night because cortisol is out of balance, insulin is out of balance, right. There's all of these other hormonal things that need to bind and be received at night. When melatonin is strong, like leptin and other growth hormone things like that, those are all influenced by what cortisol and melatonin are doing throughout the day. So when we are trying to heal, it's very important that we are also connecting to our body's natural rhythm. In that way, we are doing things that align with cortisol waking us up, right, and then it peaks mid-morning and then slowly is on the downfall. So when we can arrange our lifestyle and our habits and all of these things to be more in tune with that, we're going to get there so much quicker because everything else is just working in opposition of this natural cycle and that is going to impact what's happening with your sex hormones, your thyroid, like I said, growth hormone, all of these other things. So it's going to impact things like blood sugar, this deep cellular healing that needs to happen.

09:47

If you're not getting a lot of people are like, well, I'm getting enough sleep, but they wake up and they're exhausted. Well, that tells me you're not getting into deep stages of sleep where you're doing deep cellular repair. So there's such a misnomer. When it's like, no, I get plenty of sleep, it's like, well, if you wake up exhausted, you clearly didn't. Know what I mean?

10:05 - Michaela (Host)

So it's kind of getting the right kind of sleep right. You didn't get the right, kind right.

10:09 - Dr. Baker (Guest)

So it's just kind of like okay, how can I honor my circadian rhythm with meal timing, my activity, my work, productivity, things like that, so that I am not working in opposition of my body's natural, you know cycle to to balance my hormones, when really your lifestyle is just working in opposition of them? You can't balance them in that way.

10:31 - Michaela (Host)

Okay, so the circadian rhythm isn't really so. It's not. When you're referring to the circadian rhythm, you're not necessarily referring to, like, the sun's light cycle, you're referring to your body's response, right?

10:43 - Dr. Baker (Guest)

Well, well, the sun is what dictates that circadian rhythm. Right, so think about it in this regard. The problem is that we have a timekeeper in our retina.

10:55

It's called the suprachiasmatic nucleus that receives light. So if we are always wearing glasses or sunglasses or contacts or all these things, we are not getting the right signals. So all of our hormones, including cortisol, including melatonin, are dictated by light signals that's received by that nucleus right that talks to the hypothalamus and either says, hey, let's generate more cortisol, or hey, let's start turning some of this pregnenolone into sex hormones, or let's start synthesizing neurotransmitters at certain points in the day. Every light spectrum throughout the day is telling your body to synthesize something different. And guess what? We're receiving artificial light signals, from blue light, which is keeping cortisol through the roof 24 seven.

11:40

And we're wearing sunglasses all day to block the light signals that we need to be getting you know. So we have the retinal receptor, but we also have receptors on our skin, and the most common example I can talk about with a mismatch is when we wear sunglasses and then we get sunburned because we're giving mixed signals. Right that that eye signal is getting a different signal than our skin. So we are not producing melanin to darken our skin when we're out in the sun. So that's the best example I can say of how we can't keep giving our body mixed signals and expect it to find balance.

12:12 - Michaela (Host)

That's so interesting. I love it.

12:17

I love your take on this, um, because in the way that you explain it, because I never really understood how the communication, like the sunglasses thing, totally makes sense. That's like your eyes need to like the communication in your eyes, need to know what is actually happening around you so that it can communicate to your body. You know, to turn signals on and off to make sure that you have what you need. And I, I like we've taken this. You know we've talked a lot about this, like I've talked to some neurologists and stuff about how our bodies are basically like electric, like electromagnetic beings and like we have.

12:51

We use signals like to communicate and and like we use light to communicate, and so I'm loving this like just kind of different way of looking at our body, being like using light to communicate. Right, Quick break in the episode, you guys, because I got to tell you about the amazing sponsor, Aires Tech. Aires Tech creates cream of the crop, top of the line EMF protection devices that do not interfere with your signal, but all of their technology is actually backed by peer reviewed, patent and published research that has been going on for almost 20 years. They were originally funded a couple of decades ago by the military to create a medical device that would help protect men and women who are working on radio signal towers without interfering with the signal, and have since become a consumer product as we have become more of a technological world. They're also used by professional athletes like Tiki Barber from the NFL Giants and Macy Barber from the UFC for performance optimization tools.

13:45

You can go to their website, airestech.com, and check out some really amazing studies where they've done some EEGs to show how these devices are affecting your baseline brain activity. It's really, really cool. I personally have one on me right now, because I have my phone, my computer, my camera, everything going on all at once in an office building where everyone has their own Wi-Fi, so I don't mess around. Check them out. Ariestech.com, Use code INTUNE I-N-T-U-N-E 30 for 30% off your entire order. Okay. So talk about ideally, like what is the right rhythm and like what are those signals that we're needing throughout the day? And like what are those signals that we're needing throughout the day?

14:24 - Dr. Baker (Guest)

Yeah, that's a good one. So I always start people to bare minimum. If this is the only sun exposure you're getting during the day is to view the sunrise, because most of our hormonal issues are caused by cortisol creeping up and up, and up and up throughout the day and, like I said, when it's, your body will always prioritize survival over optimization, right or reproduction or all of these other things. So when you view the sunrise and that's the first light exposure you have of the day, um, that tells your body okay, I know where you are, I know it's safe, the sun's coming up and I can stop making cortisol. Now you're actually awake right Now. The problem is most of us grab a device first thing in the morning. That light from that device is going to be about 10 times brighter than the sunrise would be. So that's telling us to go straight from that ease into you know, quelling the cortisol response into - bam, it's solar noon in Costa Rica. You need to make that much cortisol, right? Yes?

15:25 - Michaela (Host)

What was that measurement that you talked about?

15:43 - Dr. Baker (Guest)

So Kelvin is a unit of measurement essentially just heat and light. Okay, that's how we measure, like the brightness of temperature, light temperatures. So sunrise, 1500 Kelvins on average. A screen is going to be anywhere from 7,000 to 11,000 Kelvins.

16:01

So if you're waking up to that, your body it's telling the blue light. When you were isolating blue light, now there is blue light in the sun spectrum. Right, and rightly so. When cortisol should be at certain levels throughout the day, blue light's going to activate it, it's going to tell the hypothalamus to make cortisol. But when we isolate blue light, which is like all of our screens, all of our devices, is this isolated spectrum of blue light. We're only getting cortisol. Right, we're not doing any of the other hormones, we're not doing any of the other neurotransmitters. It's literally just cortisol, cortisol, cortisol. And that's why we can't find balance, that's why we're not, and that's going to start impacting that melatonin synthesis that needs to start from sunrise on.

16:45

You’ve got to be synthesizing it all day and then activating it at night. So I usually have people start with the sunrise, and be outside sometimes an hour. A lot of people are like, oh, you're so lucky, you just go to the beach and blah, blah, blah. But you don't have to be on the horizon to view it, right, just be outside sometime within the hour. I haven't always been on the beach, but I've always prioritized sunrise. Do that, right, do that, and I would say phase two is cut the sunglasses Unless you're on reflective water during the day, where obviously you could have some retinal damage. You have to break the habit. I know we're light sensitive if we're so used to it.

17:26

It was a sad goodbye for me because I was a collector of some nice sunglasses, but when I realized how much damage they were doing I'm just like okay, boat days, only boat days only.

17:39 - Michaela (Host)

Yes, it's so funny because I never did sunglasses. I mean, obviously I wear glasses, so I didn't like take them off to get that light, but, um, I never wore sunglasses and people were always like, why don't you wear sunglasses?

17:49 - Dr. Baker (Guest)

It's so bad, I don't know, I just have to break the habit.

17:52 - Michaela (Host)

Okay so let me make sure that I'm understanding this right and like, communicate it back to you so you can tell me. So the spectrums of light are what is going to tell our body, the certain hormones to produce Like, so like for example, blue light's gonna, you know, tell you to produce cortisol. And then the Kelvins are going to tell the body how well, it's, yeah.

18:25 - Dr. Baker (Guest)

So it's the spectrum of light, but it's also the brightness of it.

18:28

Brightness is going to elicit even more cortisol. So some people are like I'm, you know, I'm turning my screen red and this and that, but it's still the brightness that can be working in opposition or creating more cortisol too. So just kind of recognizing and and and just kind of making sure the first thing you see is natural light to start your day. Otherwise you're starting on this hormonal chaos to start and we wonder why we can't find balance right. I'm getting kicked in the butt.

18:56 - Michaela (Host)

Right now I'm getting the good kick I need. What produces melatonin? Is it red light?

19:04 - Dr. Baker (Guest)

So yeah, you know, the full spectrum, essentially. So the red light, sun, sunrise is going to start that red light production, absolutely so, red light, I prefer it from the sun. I know red light therapy is an option. I have a device too for cloudy days and things like that. But even on a cloudy day, you're still going to get UV, you're still going to get red light from the sun. It's still, you know, it's bouncing off everywhere, right?

19:33

But yeah, that red light that starts at sunrise and then ends up at sunset, that's always going to be available during the day. That's what helps us, you know, produce melatonin and then, when we view the sunset, that's going to help us kind of synthesize and get into those. And I mean body temperature has to drop all these things, which is another reason why I'm such a huge proponent and move your dinner up. I can't express that enough, because every time, not only is it competing with all the hormones you know things that need to happen at night but it's, um, it's also raising your body temperature when you eat and your body temp has to lower to get into these deep states of sleep. Right, just think about it like a mini hibernation that needs to happen every night, and so doing something like a warm therapy, sauna therapy, things like that are better at night because it's going to help drop your core temp. Um. So when you're raising it by eating too late, you're also competing with melatonin and those deeper stages of sleep.

20:25 - Michaela (Host)

Okay, and how do you? I know you've talked about this before, but what's the best way to identify the right time for you to eat?

20:35 - Dr. Baker (Guest)

Yeah, this is a great question and it's so individual. So I usually start people by saying, like, four hours before bed, don't eat. Four hours before bed, Right. But then, like some people push that a little too much and so it's like definitely don't eat after sunset because that's when melatonin really needs to be. You know, moving in and moving onto the scene, you don't want to compete with that, but what I find to be the easiest visual is for when people track their blood sugar and I'm like do do what you can to finally get the stable blood sugar. You're not getting into those deep states of sleep, You're not.

21:12 - Michaela (Host)

You're not receiving If you're eating right before bed, then your blood sugars are all over the place. Yep, they're all over the place.

21:19 - Dr. Baker (Guest)

And it's so. It's the best visual way to really know, like, like, for me personally, I usually don't eat after about three o'clock. Three to four o'clock gives me a super stable response, um, and I eat plenty to get to that point. I'm not worried about, you know, not having dinner or whatever. Um, so it does look different for everybody. And also thinking about everybody's on a different latitude, their sun setting at different times, right. So it's truly about tuning into your individual response and we're all in a different state of our glucose, you know insulin capability, so really, kind of honing in on that is such a I find that seeing is believing. And so people have the visuals and they know, like, okay, I'm doing this and it's getting more steady, like they'll do more of it, right? So it's all just kind of like use those tools not to make you crazy, but to help guide you on the right path.

22:10 - Michaela (Host)

Okay, I'm curious about supplementation here. Like, do you recommend people like if they are struggling with cortisol or they're struggling with melatonin, like do you recommend like supplementation or could that get in the way? Like, what does that look like when you're, when you're talking to somebody? You're like get the basics down first.

22:32 - Dr. Baker (Guest)

So no, I'm not a fan of supplementing melatonin, because there's a couple of reasons. Anytime you supplement something that the body should be making on its own, there you're messing with the negative and positive feedback loops. So you are essentially - the body has it coming in. It's like cool, I don't have to make that anymore.

22:49 - Michaela (Host)

Yeah, I don't like that. Shutting it down, yeah.

22:53 - Dr. Baker (Guest)

And no, and here's the thing too, one thing that I've noticed clinically and even in my own children um, when melatonin is taken, a lot of people will say I wake up at like three or four o'clock and I can't go back to sleep. So like you might be getting to sleep quicker, but your sleep cycle is way shortened when you are kind of used to taking melatonin, which is something that's pretty interesting, and I also have seen studies where it can cause macular degeneration when you take it long-term. So not a fan, especially when you can literally for free go outside and have it made.

23:28 - Michaela (Host)

Right, it's almost so simple. I mean, my mom is huge on getting the morning light getting grounded, like she's always preaching this, and it seems way too simple.

23:39 - Dr. Baker (Guest)

It seems too simple, it does and, honestly, if you would have told me this 10 years ago, I'd be like yeah, right, sure, yes, and I love that we're getting back to this place, cause I feel like we went through this.

23:50 - Michaela (Host)

Um, you know, I feel like everybody goes to the stage of just buying all the supplements.

23:53 - Dr. Baker (Guest)

I mean, like you have hundreds and hundreds of dollars in supplements. You're trying to figure out what to take, why to take it.

23:58 - Michaela (Host)

you know all the things and I love that we are talking about this now, about like before you do anything, get to the low hanging fruit. Like go outside in the morning, put your feet on the earth The earth is literally like a battery pack to our body.

24:19 - Dr. Baker (Guest)

Yes, I think people just don't understand it enough, and I think that's what I try so hard to educate us and make these like silly analogies as to, like you know how we are receiving that so they understand. When people don't understand why and how it's helping them, they're not going to do it Right. So it's truly like the more you can explain it to them and coach them through and tell them why they're doing that, like clearly your mitochondria is having trouble making energy from food right. You're having weight loss resistance. Using food only for energy is actually super, like, not sustainable, because every time we're making electrons through, you know, through the mitochondria, by the by way of food, we're producing free radicals. So for somebody who's already inflamed and you know having a lot of trouble with their mitochondria, one of the best things you can be doing is getting energy from other sources, right. So the sun, the ground, right, working on your structured water internally and starting to mitigate all of the things that are draining that mitochondrial energy.

25:23

That's what it's about. It's not about, what cocktail of supplements are you deficient in? Right, like it's. No, it's. It's honestly. I know it seems too simple, but remember you can't bottle these things up and sell them. That's why we're being pushed the supplement route. Right, it's, and it's. It's simple, but it works.

25:43 - Michaela (Host)

Right and it should, and, and, even if it ends up being that you need more support. It's like I. How long do you think that someone should be doing, kind of like waking up in the morning? We should maybe break that down like what that really looks like. But waking up in the morning, seeing the first morning light, seeing the sunset, not you know, eating at the right time of day and all of these things that are going to kind of help start producing the right amount of cortisol levels, the right amount of melatonin and getting you into that restful sleep, how long do you really need to be doing that for before you really look at other things?

26:23 - Dr. Baker (Guest)

Well, here's the thing I, you know, I run testing on my clients that I take in, because I, you know, to be quite honest, do I need the testing? I don't, but people need to see it. They have to see it so they know that they're about. It's that mind body connection, right, they have to know what's causing that impairment, um, and so I do run testing.

26:39

It's very selective on, based on the individual, like a Dutch test, right, let's just see when they see their cortisol is like super out of whack and their sex hormones are super tanked, that's a visual that they can take in, right, they're like I got to stop skipping meals and drinking coffee all day, like, so, things like that. Um, now some people start to do the right things, um, like seeing some of the sunlight, but then they are failing to block the rest, right, so it's a little bit of both. We got to be getting the appropriate signaling, but also blocking the ones that are causing that high cortisol state all the time. So it's a dual effort and it's got to happen, because you can't just do one and be like not working.

27:20 - Michaela (Host)

Right, there's so many different pieces. It's all simple, but you still have to do the work and you got to be consistent with it. So let's talk about blue light blockers and yellow, you know, like the tinted yellow, like what are the differences and when should you be wearing them, and all of that? Yeah, of course.

27:37 - Dr. Baker (Guest)

So um, so I tell people, of course, that the yellow ones are going to be for during the day. So, if you're like right now, my screen is red, like it's red and black, that's all it is.

27:48

So that's why I'm now. That's why you don't see me wearing them often. Now, if I have to turn that red off because I have to look at something and really see the color, I'll put my yellow ones on. So if you're under LED lighting, fluorescent lighting, you're behind screens all day, do the yellow glasses? Because yellow they don't block out all blue light because we still, during the day, we have to have some level of cortisol, right? So they just help you maintain that balance.

28:12

If you're around screens and crappy lighting all day, but still take breaks and get outside, so your body knows what time of day it is and what hormone it should be synthesizing. So, and then the amber ones, I usually say start those right around sunset. So you see the sunset, hopefully, you put your feet on the ground, the body knows what time it is going to start synthesizing melatonin, and then you're blocking all blue light. And it's easier to do that by way of glasses than it is making every screen in your house red, which is pretty much impossible, right, Because even your refrigerator is going to be a blast of LED lighting you know, yeah, I see the movement of everyone putting the red stickers over everything.

28:48 - Michaela (Host)

I'm like, oh my gosh, this is a lot, this is a lot.

28:50 - Dr. Baker (Guest)

Yeah, it's too much. Just you know, um, you know, just do what you can to protect your retina. Um, you know, talking to the hypothalamus and saying, hey, let's produce more cortisol, cause that's going to impact your melatonin at night. So it's just way easier to control. And even my kids, like they wear their blue light blockers, they know like TV's not going on until those glasses are on. We're just a big dorky family with all of our blue light glasses?

29:16 - Michaela (Host)

No, but I love that, I love that and I love that it's just like because we're I don't think that I feel like this is just coming into play as far. I mean, I'm sure we've talked about this for centuries and all the things, but I feel like it's just really hitting the light because we're just now really realizing the impact of this kind of technological advancement that we experienced. You know, like we, we are really just having our first generation kind of coming up in this and seeing so much anxiety and depression and you know, like autoimmune disorders and all of these things, that we're like what the heck is going on. And the fact that the solution is so simple makes me so happy because even though, yes, it is going to require a lifestyle change, maybe you're going to have to get up earlier than you used to, maybe you're gonna have to eat earlier than you used to, but you're going to put some glasses on before you watch your TV or get on the computer or whatever it is, but it's not going to cost you very much.

30:14 - Dr. Baker (Guest)

You know what I mean.

30:15 - Michaela (Host)

Like it's not like but if you, if you wait until something's really wrong, it's going to cost you a lot, you know, right, Right, that's the thing.

30:25 - Dr. Baker (Guest)

It's like I know these and, like I said, it's just the level of understanding that a lot of people need, because, once they understand, but unfortunately, it's just in this overabundance of information, right For them. They're thinking, oh, I just need this adaptogen or I just need to fix my cortisol by taking, you know, licorice root or whatever, and it's like, unfortunately, it is becoming that way where people feel like it's so out of their hands or I don't need a medication, I need a supplement, and it, it, it really is. Just keep it simple. I can't tell you how much of the healing is found in the simplicity, right, like it's not. Um, it's not as crazy as it seems, and I'm not sure how old you are, but like when we were young and when I was young, leds, halogens, those things weren't a thing we all had incandescent.

31:13

Even our TVs were incandescently lit, right? So we have to understand not just our food supply but our environment, right? The amount of EMF, the amount of blue light exposure, all of those things are impacting hormones, neurotransmitters, um, our mitochondria, right they're. They're really affecting our body's ability to make and utilize and assimilate energy properly. And that's why I keep saying man-made is a disease, because this could be mitigated, and my goal is always to help people. Look, I live in the modern world too. I don't live in a cave, right, but I definitely make sure. Okay, I had a tech day, guess what. I'm going to ground like hell tonight, right, like, I'm going to take my minerals. I'm going to kind of try to undo some of that cellular dehydration that happened, um, I'm going to move my body more, I'm going to view the horizon, I'm going to do everything I can to mitigate the tech time that I was on, right. So it's just learning how to do that, um, and we could work so much more synergistically with our environment if we did that.

32:20 - Michaela (Host)

Yes, I love that and I feel like I got it. So the piece that I got with the sleeping was the EMF impact. So you're coming in with a kind of different approach and I think both things are important Because kind of where I was learning through the EMF route, like getting to the place where I was like, okay, unplug everything and you know, get some EMF modulation around and you know ground before bed and all those things is like that, that that our body is electrical beings. We need to get into that, rest and rest like a restoration space. I think one of the big things that we hear whenever we're talking about EMF is like oh well, emf is everywhere and if it was hard, you know what I mean Like we're surrounded by EMF, it's not new, it's like, okay, yes, you know the earth has an electromagnetic field and it's you know it resonates at seven point something, hertz, and it's you know a very very low resonance, and that's kind of where our body's supposed to kind of sit into when we're getting into like

33:11

Rest and, you know, restoration, and we don't ever really get to get there because we have all of these outside communications happening, Like if we have our wifi plugged in in the room next door and we have our cell phone right by our head and it's plugged in and it's still getting. You know, it's still getting signals, Like it's still getting people sending you messages and your Instagram is, you know, updating and all of these things are happening.

33:33

And then you have, just like, your smart devices plugged in. All of these things are sending signals to the body that the body really doesn't recognize and it's trying to. You know, it's like a language, it's trying to learn because, yes, we have, we, we use frequencies in our body to communicate, to turn, you know, to send signals, or turn things on and off, to turn genes on and off. But those signals the body resonates at such a low frequency that these manmade frequencies are millions of times faster and different than what we, our body is really used to.

34:06

So there's like that's the other part of the not being able to get into that. Rest Right.

34:13 - Dr. Baker (Guest)

Right, a million percent. And I, I think of it as in a language of, you know, when you start talking about frequency, you, you lose some people, right, because they think, and it's, and I, you know, I, I always tried to speak the science, without being like quoting study after study, to say like it truly is about thinking about your brainwave states and your brainwave patterns and where they should be. So, when you said that 7.36 Hertz of the human resonance, right, that's the, that's the frequency of the earth, that is also the brainwave frequency where we are in our theta state, where we are resting and repairing, right, the state that we all desire to get into when we're meditating and those sorts of things. Um, that is a very coherent brainwave state that tells the cells like survival, like shut down, survival, get into creation mode, right, like we let's, let's start calming and rest and digest, yeah, homeostasis.

35:08

And so, if you think of it in the way you know, if frequency is too woo for you, even though it's a, you know, whatever um think of it, as those devices are keeping you in a very incoherent brainwave pattern called the beta brainwave, high beta brainwave state, and if you look at the differences in those two patterns alone. You can see like it looks like erratic blood sugar, right, it's just this up and down, you know, and if we were hyper focused on something and in that state it may not be the worst thing for us, but on those in those places at night where we need to be healing and restoring and repairing, to stay in that brainwave incoherent pattern causes a lot of mixed messages on a cellular level and it's really hard to pull out of and it's really hard to heal If we are constantly feeding the body incoherent frequency messages.

35:53 - Michaela (Host)

Oh, you explained that so much better. Thank you very much.

35:57 - Dr. Baker (Guest)

I mean, everybody needs to hear it in a different way.

35:59 - Michaela (Host)

Yes, but I love the way that you laid that out. Thank you so much. Okay, so can you speak into that with grounding a little bit? Can you give a little bit of insight of what is actually happening when you are getting your feet on the earth?

36:14 - Dr. Baker (Guest)

Yeah, um, I think the most explainable way to think of this is that when we just think about, when we just living life or being around things that are like our technology, emf, things like that or they're dehydrating the body but they're also building up an acidic charge in the body, right, we need a negative net charge. A negative charge means that we have energy potential in the cell. So if you're constantly building it's not good, yeah, negative is good. Yeah, we need it. So people are like, oh, positive charge.

36:47 - Michaela (Host)

Yeah.

36:48 - Dr. Baker (Guest)

No, it's not like that. We don't want too much of a positive charge. So that means um, acidity, and acidity means disease and inflammation. And um means no energy potential, right, where it means we are losing energy at that point. So, when you put your feet on the earth, you literally are discharging that, because the earth is full of negative ions and so those negative ions get transferred into our body. We are literally discharging that acidity that's built up into our body and alkalizing our body.

37:18

The second we put our feet on the ground, um, so when, when we talked earlier about food not necessarily being the most sustainable way to receive all of our energy, remember that nature has built in forms of that, and one of them is through earthing and grounding.

37:32

Those free electrons, right, those are electrons that don't have to go through these processes to be turned into energy, like food does. It literally is there. It's an energy potential that's ready to go wherever our body needs it, assuming that we are hydrated enough. Right, and I think I've shared some in my stories of like look at the difference between my grounding reading now and then when I take minerals. We have to make sure that we are hydrated, which is another reason why EMF is such a deterrent to our healing or even our grounding potential, because it is cellularly high dehydrating, right. Oh, interesting, yeah. So, like I said, it's like one of these things like if you're going to go, do it all because it's going to work for you, when you are understanding I need minerals, I need grounding, I need sunshine, right, all of these things are going to help my mitochondria and help me produce energy in lots of different ways other than just relying on food.

38:25 - Michaela (Host)

So which mineral, do you have a minerals that you like?

38:28 - Dr. Baker (Guest)

Yes, quintan minerals is my go-to. It's essentially purified seawater. It is so good.

38:34 - Michaela (Host)

Okay, my mom recommends the same one. Yeah, that's so good.

38:38

She's like yes, mom is on your wavelength right now. It's like, just call mom, she knows what she's talking about. You're like, damn it. No, it's so good, it's so good and it's the perfect.

38:49

In my personal life, and I know so many moms out there who've just like we, go through this period of time where we just kind of like brush it all aside, as if it's just normal to feel that way as a mother, like it's just normal to have no energy, it's normal to feel tired all the time, it's normal to have, you know, constant anxiety, it's normal to you know all of these things that, yeah, that's just part of you know, being a mom.

39:18

It's like sure, we have, you know, some things that we contend with being a mom and being responsible for these tiny humans, but I don't think it's natural for us to never feel ourselves. And so these little things that we can do, like getting up before your children get up and going outside, or getting up with your children and bringing them outside and that's what I love about these practices is that these are things that you, these like magic gifts, these beautiful gifts that you can give your children and you can give them now and that way when they like and they start kind of growing up with these very simple but consistent you know relationships with nature honestly.

39:49

And then they, they, their whole relationship with health is going to be so different if, if you just start yeah, just start making it normal it's normal to go outside and put your feet on the earth and it's you know it's like we're all going to go watch the sunset now, that's part of our daily routine and that's just I'm.

40:05

I love that this is happening and that children are getting this and I'm so excited to see, kind of like how, like I'm excited to see my children, you know, as adults now and like where they're going to be, having had this very fundamental, very important thing that we lost, like we lost this in society. We wake up, we put on rubber shoes, you know, we immediately look at our phone. We don't eat breakfast. I'm really guilty of that.

40:31 - Dr. Baker (Guest)

Like don't eat, not eating anything in the morning getting a cup of coffee, like going to work, like my office here.

40:38 - Michaela (Host)

You know, I was listening to your podcast. It was like crack a window. I'm like I gotta get a new office because we can't crack windows. Like there's it's just fluorescent lights everywhere.

40:47 - Dr. Baker (Guest)

No windows that can be open. You know, and, and you, then you have your whole day there.

40:49 - Michaela (Host)

Then you go home and you're rubbish. It's just like, oh my god, like when I started really learning this and then paying attention to even someone who's been kind of conscious of that, like really since I was kind of in my 20s, but still how far removed I was from it, and then like how far removed most people are from that.

41:08

It's kind of wild, like we could drive our cars windows are up air conditioning on.

41:12

We don't crack the windows to like. Let that natural light in or to let the you know, the good bacteria in you know, like all of those things that play such a huge role.

41:23 - Dr. Baker (Guest)

Yes, we're so closed off and we're losing our resilience as a human race because of it, and it's just important to know we can get that back. You know, and I think there is such a level of awareness of people that are being proactive in that way, and we may be the ones who are, like you know, out of left field right now, but eventually, you know, there'll be a greater opportunity awakening for it. I just would rather be on the side at this point.

41:50 - Michaela (Host)

Yes, it's a good time. It's a good time to be on that side. Okay, so a little bit more about, like, the role of EMF. We did, we. I want to talk a little bit about okay, so, we know, grounding is really important to kind of like discharge the positive right, like the acidic, and also making sure that you have some kind of natural minerals to kind of hydrate, is it?

42:13 - Dr. Baker (Guest)

hydrating your cells.

42:14 - Michaela (Host)

And what are the minerals? Or just kind of.

42:17 - Dr. Baker (Guest)

Think about conductivity right. So like we're generating these free electrons from the earth, but where are they going to go if they can't flow? So think about the minerals helping with the flow aspect of that. Right. Okay, Helping with that.

42:31 - Michaela (Host)

Okay, so grounding. I think you know people say like well, how often should you ground? As often as you can, and it really is like one of those things where it's kind of instantaneous right, Like once your feet are on the earth, like it's very quick, even if you have a five minute break in work and you just go outside and you have like a little patch of grass, that's there that you can go.

42:46 - Dr. Baker (Guest)

Yeah.

42:47 - Michaela (Host)

Yeah.

42:48 - Dr. Baker (Guest)

Well the magnetism is highest sunrise and sunset. So those are the times where I'm like I'm therapeutic, telling people to view the sunrise, but also double whammy it and put your feet on the ground at those times, cause you're going to get more out of it. But anytime is good, so don't just say, oh, I missed sunrise, so I can't ground, yeah Right.

43:05 - Michaela (Host)

Um, okay, and then when it's like let's get out so grounding, and then like blocking versus modulation, like can we talk a little bit about that? And like where do you kind of see those types of things playing in? Because I think, because Aries tech, you know, sponsors this podcast people assume that that's like the only thing that we recommend or like whatever, and it's like no, there's so many different parts to this and so many like you know, there are times where Faraday comes into play, and that's important and there are times where, like maybe a grounding mat or something like that.

43:35

So where, where do you lie with all of that and what do you kind of recommend as far as when?

43:42 - Dr. Baker (Guest)

Yeah that's a good, good question. So I always recommend that you test your individual environment. Um, trifield is a great uh EMF meter that you can kind of go through your home and see where the biggest problem areas are, right. What can we mitigate? What can we turn off at night, like wifi? Right, like, if the problem is so many people get sucked into the smart homes that they are there. You know what I mean. It's so scary.

44:07

I don't want anything that needs to be running at night with wifi, right, like, I don't want to have anything to do with it. I don't care if my doorbell's on or off, like whatever. Um, get your wifi off at night, right, that's keeping your. We were talking about your brain, in the brain, that beta brainwave pattern that's. That's one that you can easily mitigate. Um, anything that's going to be on your body, wired headphones, right, you don't need to microwave your brain with the AirPods. I mean if you, but I think that's another thing like, seeing is believing when you go through your devices and you see how, um, holy crap, my watch is just as high as the microwave is. It's a little. See it to believe it, moment, right.

44:47 - Michaela (Host)

You can't put your shutters on anymore.

44:49 - Dr. Baker (Guest)

Yeah, and I held onto my AirPods for a long time. I will be honest, I did because I just was like, well, I do everything else Right? Um, let me just tell you, like me, if I ever have symptoms, it's in my sinuses. Like they will not, it's just like I just can't drain. When I finally stopped using my AirPods, it was like a day or two later. All of a sudden, years of just like I can't drain went away Like no crap, oh it is. It was unbelievable. Everything I've done, you know, through the years, it was just that hit with radiation.

45:27 - Michaela (Host)

Yeah, get your kids some wired headphones. Don't fall asleep with the AirPods in the air talking to their friends. Like it's very common. It's very common for the kids.

45:36 - Dr. Baker (Guest)

It's so common and it's kind of like a social thing, yeah, like they have them in just like all day, every day, like my nieces and nephews, I'm like get that out of your head. Well, and here's the thing, their skull obviously is not. It's not as formed right, it's not as hard and calcified as an adults would be.

45:56

So they are way more um you know, risk or, yeah, way more vulnerable. So, um, anything that's on your body, try to block right. Because, like we can't block, if we blocked everything we would go insane because it may be blocking our own uh, you know native EMF from our heart, our brainwaves, the human resonance from the earth. Like we have to have that right, we have to have that compensatory relationship.

46:17

But blocking anything that's on your body and making sure anything that's on your body is on airplane mode or wired is, is one of the top things that I can do. And even in your, in your bedroom, things like that, making sure you're not, you don't have things plugged in around like your head. Now, distance, I will say, also helps, right, Like so, if you're going around your house and you're like, okay, this, you know, this fan is pretty high, but when I move a few feet away from it, it's all good, you know. So just take that into consideration too. You don't need to be fearful, but just be aware right, sometimes just not having your bed right up against the wall moving out.

46:57

You know, six inches or whatever can make a huge difference. Yes, yes. And then you know, for the environments, like in my office, right, that's what I'm going to have, something that's going to harmonize, because I have to have wifi. You know, because a lot of places you ask them to hardwire your, they're like they go cross-eyed, like it's just not even an option anymore in a lot of places.

47:15

So, yes, I have to have wifi on at certain points in the day, but I will have harmonizer on me, I will make sure I have a hell of a lot of minerals, you know, on me, and then I am taking breaks to put my feet on the earth and get light, um, to mitigate, you know, the effects of the cellular dehydration that's being caused by the EMF exposure. So, yeah, it is. I think harmonizers are great, and especially like, let's say, you live in an apartment and you have neighbors that you can't control right, you can't control if they're turning off their wifi or anything like that or you're in your car right.

47:46

Even cars are so smart it's scary. Now, right, they have their wifi going on. So having something in a situation like that just to know that you're harmonizing with the EMF, but not necessarily trying to block everything I think is more, more doable, less fear, but still being proactive.

48:03 - Michaela (Host)

Yeah, just doing whatever you can. Yeah, I really was with the Faraday stuff because, um, I kind of went through that phase where I was really into all of like the clothing and like all of that stuff, which, like, sometimes I still have this kind of it's like a Faraday blanket that I put on the kids sometimes when they're watching. But I was thinking that through of like, oh yeah, like if we were to just put Faraday on our, you know, like those beanies that they sell and clothes and stuff.

48:29

It's like, then, what happens to your body's natural communication, like we're interfering there now rather than yes, so that's really why I came Cause, like I started as an affiliate with Aries five years ago and that's as I started learning more and more and, like you know, talking to all the different, like the neurologists, and getting an explanation of how it's working and all that I'm like. This makes the most sense to me right now, just because there's so much we that we just can't control.

48:57

There's, like you were saying, there's so much out of our control that just giving our body like like it's similar to just taking minerals, like taking minerals and using areas is like you're giving your body that natural boost that it needs to contend with these things that are out of our control, until we can get it under our control, exactly, exactly, until we can get to an environment where we're going to help mitigate some of that.

49:20 - Dr. Baker (Guest)

Right, because my, my problem with tools is that you need the tools right but like, but don't skimp on the actual lifestyle and habit changes, because you have the tool right, just don't be like well, I don't need to ground, I got my harmonite, you know like no, don't get your feet on the earth.

49:39 - Michaela (Host)

It's not enough, but can it help?

49:41 - Dr. Baker (Guest)

Yes, a million percent, it can. I mean, I can tell you, I, I will. I swear up and down like um, using the what is it the big one? The Zone Max in my upstairs, our sleep, my sleep has changed and my sleep wasn't bad but it has changed since putting it up there. I can tell my kids sleep has changed. So there is something to it, you know. And so just kind of um, understand, and we turn our wifi off and all those things, but just knowing that there are, there are still our exposures, that we, you know, yeah, we can't control, it makes a difference, yeah, Um, okay, you, we were talking a little bit before we recorded, about where you're finding, like products that you see have a lot of EMF, so let's talk about that.

50:24

Yeah, okay, so yeah, not to elicit any fear, of course, it's always just knowing, and that's why I'm such a huge proponent in like test, test, test. Right, because it's like you can't take somebody's word for it. Right, because everybody, even our home environments, are all so different. Because, like I said, our neighbors might be right by a 5G tower, like, who knows? We're all different, so test and see what's happening. But one thing that I really like, I started out like testing the grounding shoes and stuff like that, like seeing if they're legit or not, and some of them actually really are, and I'm happy about it. But I think one thing people need to notice is like think about the depth. Like if you're thinking, oh, every time I step on concrete, I'm grounding, well, the depth of the concrete matters and things like that.

51:09

So just kind of like don't don't think that you're, you know, just be aware, test it. It's a $10 multimeter, anybody can do that, you know. But the EMF things I just don't know. Somewhere in my head I have a PEMF mat and I was like I'm just curious, like is this? It's clearly plugged into a wall. Is this doing more harm than good? Right, and because these companies say overloaded, no EMF.

51:37

And so I went through and I tested all of my healing tools and I was like holy crap, this is. There's no way this is going to be beneficial. Like there is no way, which I know is like I know it's one of those things that's probably going to upset some people. But test for yourself, right, could be my electricity in my home, but I tested it in lots of different outlets and it's generating a ton of EMF. And I'm like it doesn't make sense to think, oh, I'm grounding, I'm using this PMF mat, when the ground is clearly right outside. Like, we just use that, you don't have to worry about this dirty electricity problem, right, right, um, it's so wild it's really mind blowing.

52:22 - Michaela (Host)

I mean this whole movement of like, the, you know the, getting the expensive red lights, getting the expensive PMF, PEMF mats, getting the cold plunges, getting all of these things where it's just like or go jump in the Earth.

52:33 - Dr. Baker (Guest)

Yes, jump in the ocean.

52:34 - Michaela (Host)

Watch your sunrise, sunrise and sunset. Go find a natural spring you can jump into, literally. Yeah, it is wild, you know. Again, going back to my mom, I'm like really, I'm just going to call my mom after this, like, mom, you're really on point right now.

52:49

I mean, she was a nurse for over 20 years and so she just kind of found her way here through going healing process of MS and stuff and um. But yeah, her thing is like, yes, we could, if you want to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars, like we can get you all the equipment to have it right in your house, but also, if you don't want to spend thousands of dollars and you really just need something to do now, like the best right outside, yes, like it's, it was given to us from from the, the, the, the point of that we began and we have removed ourselves from it and now all we have to do is like invited in. Like her big thing is like just crack your window and invite it in, like invite in the good bacteria, invite in the, the lights you know, and like, yeah, let nature know that.

53:32 - Dr. Baker (Guest)

Like you know this is woo, woo and whatever, but yeah, yeah, but it's like let nature know that like, oh, you get it and, like you're here for that, that, that healing, or that, that support.

53:45

Yeah, I do something, like with my clients. Well, the ones who are ready to hear it, I will tell them, like I'm like physically create space for a change, right, like, clean out something, clean out a cabinet, a closet, something that like emotional, or like the physical clutter is emotional, mental clutter, right, and how can you say I want to create something new, whether it's a new outcome or anything else, but you, your whole environment's cluttered? That's a very mixed signal, right?

54:11 - Michaela (Host)

Yeah, so yeah that's good, like just the mindfulness of it, it really does make a huge impact. I mean, even if you don't believe the way that it sounds, there's so much research kind of coming out about the power of the mind too and having having like having such an impact on just knowing that, that you're ready for something like that, like just getting into that space where it's like, okay, I know I'm ready for that, I know I'm ready for that change. We'll have such a massive impact. Okay, where can people find you and connect?

54:39 - Dr. Baker (Guest)

Yeah, of course. So we mentioned my podcast Vibing Well with Dr Stacey. It's just a solo podcast I do. And then, Instagram is where I spend most of my energy, just because I can't tackle more than that. More social media, I try. My dad's like, “you use social media to tell people to get off of social media.” And I'm like I know.

54:59 - Michaela (Host)

Yeah, that's hilarious.

55:02 - Dr. Baker (Guest)

So yeah At drstaceyindy on Instagram and I, you know I do, I'm starting to do, I do one-on-one, but I also do some group programs like live. I love doing my group programs, live, and so, um, those are different ways you know you can reach me.

55:22 - Michaela (Host)

Amazing. Thank you so much. This was such an impactful episode and hopefully we can have you on again soon, because I feel like there's so many other things that we can dive into. I would love to yeah, all right, tune back in. If you guys want the show notes to this episode, go to wave.airestech.com and all the details and all of her contact information will be there. So, all right, thank you Bye, hey guys. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to like, subscribe and check out the show notes at wave.airestech.com.