Reimagining the Meaning of Health

When people talk about health, they often assume it's a straightforward and easily definable concept: either you're healthy or you're not. But the moment you try to explain what health actually is, the idea becomes much less clear. Is it how you feel? Is it how your body performs? Or is it something broader that includes how you live, think, and function in the world?

There is a recognized field called the philosophy of medicine, or the philosophy of health and disease, but there isn't one dominant, universally accepted philosophy of health in the same way there are recognizable schools like Stoicism, utilitarianism, existentialism, or pragmatism. The closest thing we have to an official global definition comes from the World Health Organization, which defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”

The WHO definition falls short as a complete philosophy of health and instead acts more like an ideal. It says health is more than “not being sick,” which is important, but it doesn't fully explain how a person should live, what tradeoffs matter, what the body is for, how much responsibility belongs to the individual versus society, or how to judge health when someone has pain, disability, disease, aging, trauma, or chronic stress.

A better way to frame it is this: there are many different ways to think about health, but no single definition or perspective fully captures what it means in practice.

The main reason is that health sits between biology, morality, culture, medicine, politics, economics, and personal meaning. It isn't purely objective, nor is it purely subjective. A blood marker can be objectively abnormal, but whether someone is healthy cannot always be reduced to that marker. A person can have perfect labs and still be miserable, addicted, socially isolated, weak, anxious, and unable to function. Another person can have a chronic condition but live with strength, purpose, connection, resilience, and high function.

This is why philosophers and physicians distinguish between disease, illness, and sickness. Disease can refer to biological dysfunction, illness to the lived experience of being unwell, and sickness to the social role or recognition of being unwell. Those categories overlap, but they are not identical. Someone can have disease without feeling ill. Someone can feel ill before a diagnosis appears. Someone can be treated socially as sick even when their deeper problem is environmental, psychological, relational, or behavioral.

The major split is usually between two views.

One view is the biological view. In this view, health means normal biological functioning. This is associated with thinkers like Christopher Boorse, who treated health as a theoretical biological concept. The strength of this view is that it keeps health grounded in physiology instead of preference, ideology, or vague wellness language. The weakness is that normal function doesn't fully capture pain, meaning, adaptation, environment, social conditions, or human flourishing. You could describe this view as functional, in the sense that it focuses on whether the system is operating as it is supposed to.

This view becomes more complicated when applied to aging, disability, or chronic conditions. If health is defined only by normal biological functioning, then many predictable features of aging or disability can be treated as straightforward defects. But that misses something important: a person may have limitations, adaptations, or medical realities and still possess a high degree of health in the lived sense if they can function, adapt, participate, and pursue a meaningful life.

The other view is the holistic view. In this view, health is about the person’s ability to live well, pursue meaningful goals, participate in life, and adapt to challenges. This includes thinkers like Georges Canguilhem and Lennart Nordenfelt, and it fits better with real life because health isn't only about whether the organism is working, it's also about whether the person can function in the world they inhabit. A useful parallel term here is integrative or adaptive, since this view looks at how different factors come together and balance to make health possible, rather than focusing only on isolated biological function.

That is why more recent definitions have moved toward health as adaptability. A widely cited proposal in the British Medical Journal defines health as “the ability to adapt and to self-manage” in the face of physical, social, and emotional challenges. That gets closer because health isn't a perfect static state — it's dynamic, requiring the capacity to respond.

So if we had to build a generally recognized philosophy of health from the broad consensus, it would probably be something like this:

Health is the cultivated capacity to function, adapt, and pursue a meaningful life through the integration of body, mind, behavior, environment, and community.

Or put more simply: Health is the capacity to live well in reality.

It's not endless optimization, perfect biomarkers, visible leanness, or total control. It also isn't static or universally experienced in the same way across all people, stages of life, or environments. A real philosophy of health would probably rest on a few core principles that account for both its biological realities and its lived complexity.

First, health is functional. The body should support life, not become the entire purpose of life. Strength, mobility, energy, sleep, digestion, cognition, and emotional regulation matter because they increase someone’s ability to act.

Second, health is adaptive. A healthy person is not someone who never experiences stress, illness, pain, or disorder. A healthy system can respond, recover, reorganize, and continue functioning. This is why the ability to adapt and self-manage is such a useful model.

Third, health is multidimensional. Physical, mental, social, and environmental health cannot be fully separated. The WHO definition gets this part right by refusing to define health as merely the absence of disease.

Fourth, health is both personal and collective. Individuals have responsibility for their habits, but people do not choose all of their conditions. Food access, income, stress exposure, education, neighborhood safety, healthcare access, and culture shape health. One criticism of the self-management model is that it can accidentally blame people who have fewer resources or lower capacity to adapt.

Fifth, health isn't the same as morality. Being healthy doesn't make someone virtuous, and being sick doesn’t make someone a failure. This matters because modern wellness culture often turns health into a moral hierarchy.

Sixth, health exists to support a good and meaningful life. The purpose of health is to expand what life allows: to love, work, think, create, endure, contribute, enjoy, and participate.

Part of what makes a philosophy of health so difficult is that health is too broad to belong to one discipline. Medicine wants diagnosis. Biology wants function. Public health wants population outcomes. Psychology wants resilience and behavior. Philosophy wants meaning and value. Fitness wants performance and body composition. Spiritual traditions often want wholeness, discipline, or harmony.

But the closest modern synthesis would be this:

Health centers on capacity rather than perfection. It reflects a person’s ability to meet life with enough physical function, mental clarity, emotional resilience, social connection, and environmental support to pursue a meaningful existence.

That is the most defensible starting point for a philosophy of health, but it still feels incomplete on its own. A philosophy of health cannot stop at defining what health is in theory; it also has to extend into practice. It needs to account for how health is actually built over time, how it's maintained, how it breaks down, and how it can be restored when it is lost.

Health, to me, isn't just the absence of disease, and it isn't something that can be fully understood through lab numbers, body fat percentage, or appearance alone. It is a state of bodily function, movement quality, emotional steadiness, and physiological resilience that gives a person the freedom, confidence, and capacity to live the life they want.

Someone can look fit and still be unwell. Someone can have impressive numbers and still lack energy, stability, strength, clarity, or peace. Real health is when the body works well, adapts well, and supports a high quality of life without constant limitation, discomfort, or dependency.

This is where my view becomes more specific. I believe health is built by living in alignment with what human beings fundamentally need. That includes movement, sunlight, connection, quality food, sleep, stress management, purpose, time in nature, and daily habits that work with our biology rather than against it.

I don't see the body as a machine that simply needs to be medicated whenever symptoms appear. I see it as a living system that needs to be understood, supported, and respected. Symptoms are not random inconveniences to suppress. They are often signals that something deeper may be out of order. That does not mean medicine has no place. It means medicine should not be the only lens. Real health, in my view, comes from addressing causes rather than only managing consequences.

This also means that health cannot be separated from behavior. The body is shaped by what it repeatedly experiences. The food someone eats, the way they move, the sleep they get, the stress they carry, the relationships they maintain, the light they see, the environments they inhabit, and the standards they live by all become information to the body. Over time, those repeated inputs either support function or erode it.

That is why I do not view health as a temporary intervention or a short-term fix. I see it as a way of living. It is built through sustainable habits, standards, and identity, not through quick fixes or temporary bursts of motivation. A diet only matters if it can actually be lived. A training plan only matters if it can be recovered from and repeated over time. A strategy only matters if it helps someone become the kind of person who can carry it forward.

Therefore, health is not just about what a person does once in a while. It is about what they repeatedly choose, what they value, and who they're becoming.

But health should also lead somewhere. It is not the final goal in itself. It is the foundation that gives a person the ability to act, choose, lead, and live with greater purpose. Good health allows someone to be more present, more capable, and more fully themselves. That is part of why confidence in one’s body matters. It reflects freedom, self-respect, and the ability to move through life with strength and agency.

In this sense, health is both biological and philosophical. It is biological because the body has real needs, real limits, and real consequences when those needs are ignored. But it is philosophical because the point of health is not merely to survive, optimize, or avoid disease. The point is to create the capacity for a fuller life.

Health is not perfection. It isn't a number, a look, a supplement stack, or a temporary state of discipline. Health is the cultivated capacity to live well in reality. It is the condition of the body and mind that allows a person to meet life with strength, adaptability, clarity, and purpose.

And if there is a philosophy of health worth building around, I think it's this:

The body is not the destination. It is the foundation. Health is the practice of building that foundation well enough that life can be lived with more freedom, presence, and meaning.

The Toxic Burden We Pass Down

Toxic exposure is usually discussed as an individual issue. A person is exposed to a chemical, heavy metal, pollutant, or environmental stressor, and the concern is how that exposure affects their health.

But the deeper concern is that toxic exposure may not stop with the individual.

The amount of a toxin a person is exposed to at any point in their lifetime may influence future generations through epigenetic changes. This does not necessarily refer only to a person’s present toxic load, or total body burden. The concern is that exposure itself may leave biological information that can be passed forward through the epigenetic code.

Epigenetics refers to changes in how genes are expressed. It does not change the underlying DNA sequence, but it can influence which genes are turned on or off, and how strongly those genes behave. In this way, the environment can affect biology in ways that may extend beyond one lifetime.

That means a toxin may not only affect the person directly exposed to it. It may also affect their children, grandchildren, and future descendants.

The concerning part is that future generations may not simply inherit the same level of vulnerability. They may become more sensitive to the same exposure.

For example, scientists have found that when the first generation of frogs is exposed to a given amount of mercury, they display a certain level of injury or mutation. But the damage caused by that same amount of heavy metal doubles in the second generation and doubles again in the third generation, until none of them survive.

Instead of gaining tolerance, which can happen in some biological processes, they developed a dramatically greater intolerance with each generation.

That matters because it challenges the way we usually think about adaptation. We often assume that repeated exposure might make an organism stronger or more capable of handling the stressor. But with certain toxins, the opposite may happen. The exposure may alter gene expression in a way that increases vulnerability rather than resilience.

This is the idea of generational body burden.

A toxic exposure may affect the parent, but it may also change how future generations respond to environmental threats. The same amount of toxin may cause more harm later because the inherited epigenetic pattern has made the organism less capable of tolerating it.

That increased sensitivity can make future generations weaker in several ways. They may have a harder time fighting off environmental threats. They may struggle more to recover from health challenges. They may also have a reduced ability to normalize or compensate for genetic defects.

This does not mean every exposure automatically creates permanent damage in every descendant. It does mean that toxic exposure should be taken more seriously than a single-lifetime model allows.

The body is not isolated from ancestry. Health is shaped by the environments we live in, but also by the biological history passed down to us. The exposures of previous generations may influence how resilient or vulnerable the next generation becomes.

This also means that reducing toxic exposure matters beyond personal health. The choices we make around food, water, chemicals, heavy metals, air quality, personal care products, and environmental burden may influence more than our own biology.

They may shape the biological starting point of the people who come after us.

That is why detoxification and toxic load should not be treated as trendy wellness language. The body carries information from its environment. Some of that information may be passed forward. If toxic exposure can influence gene expression across generations, then lowering exposure becomes part of a larger responsibility.

We are not only managing our own body burden.

We may also be influencing the burden inherited by future generations.

What You Put on Your Skin Still Enters Your Body

Most people pay attention to what they eat, drink, and breathe, but they often forget that the skin is also an entry point into the body.

When you put chemicals, makeup, skincare products, oils, soaps, hair products, or other substances on your skin, some of those compounds can be absorbed through the skin and enter circulation. This is one reason personal care products deserve more attention than they usually get.

A simple example often used to explain this is a garlic poultice. A poultice is a soft, moist mass of some substance applied to the body for a medicinal purpose and kept in place with a wrap of cloth or plastic. If garlic is applied to a baby’s feet as a poultice, it has been said that the smell can appear on the breath shortly after. Whether or not that example is precise in every case, the larger point is that substances placed on the skin can influence the body beyond the surface.

Medical science already understands this principle. Transdermal medications have been used for decades. Medicinal patches are applied to the skin when oral delivery is not ideal, when absorption through the digestive tract is poor, or when a steady delivery of medication is preferred.

That alone should change the way we think about skincare and personal care products.

The skin is not an impenetrable wall. It is a living, responsive barrier. It protects the body, but it can also absorb certain substances. The degree of absorption depends on the compound, the condition of the skin, the area of application, the amount used, and how often it is applied.

What makes skin absorption especially important is that substances absorbed through the skin do not go through the liver first in the same way swallowed substances do. When you eat or drink something, it generally passes through the digestive system and then through the liver before reaching the wider bloodstream. This is part of what is called first-pass metabolism.

When something is absorbed through the skin, it can enter circulation more directly, do what it is going to do, and then be filtered by the liver later.

That matters because personal care products are not occasional exposures for most people. They are daily exposures. Makeup, lotions, sunscreen, deodorant, shampoo, conditioner, soap, fragrance, shaving products, and skincare formulas can create repeated contact with chemical compounds over time.

The concern is not that every product is automatically dangerous. The concern is that most people use these products casually without thinking of them as part of their total toxic load.

If something is applied to the skin once, the exposure may be small. But if multiple products are used every day for years, the cumulative exposure becomes more relevant. The body has to process what it absorbs.

This is why personal care products should be treated with the same level of awareness as food. The skin may be external, but what you place on it does not necessarily stay external.

A better approach is to simplify where possible. Use fewer products. Choose cleaner formulas when you can. Avoid unnecessary fragrance. Pay attention to ingredients. Remember that the body is exposed not only through food and air, but also through the products used on the skin every day.

Your skin protects you, but it also connects you to the environment.

That means what you put on your body still matters to what happens inside your body.

How Blue Light at Night Affects Blood Sugar

Excess blue light does more than affect sleep. It may also contribute to inflammation and mitochondrial dysfunction, largely because of its impact on glucose control.

This matters because light is not just something we use to see. Light is biological information. The body uses light to help regulate circadian rhythm, hormone timing, metabolism, sleep, and energy production. When the wrong light comes at the wrong time, the body can receive the wrong signal.

Blue light during the day, especially from the sun, can be useful because it helps reinforce wakefulness and circadian timing. But blue light in the evening can create a different effect. Evening exposure to blue light has been shown to influence glucose levels, leading to higher blood sugar and increased insulin resistance.¹

That means your blood sugar may stay higher than it should, while your body becomes less effective at moving that sugar out of the bloodstream.

Insulin resistance is the condition where the body does not respond to insulin as well as it should. Insulin’s job is to help move glucose from the blood into the cells, where it can be used or stored. When insulin sensitivity decreases, blood sugar remains elevated more easily, and the body has to work harder to maintain normal glucose control.

Over time, this can become a problem for metabolic health.

The result is that excessive artificial light at night may increase the risk of weight gain and contribute to the development of type 2 diabetes. Research has also raised the question of whether artificial light at night contributes to the worldwide obesity pandemic.²

This is important because most people think about blue light only through the lens of sleep. They know screens at night may make it harder to fall asleep, but they may not realize that nighttime light exposure can also affect metabolism.

The body expects a rhythm: brighter light during the day and darkness at night. That rhythm helps coordinate the systems that regulate energy, blood sugar, hormones, and cellular function. When artificial light extends the “day” into the evening, the body may continue operating as if it should remain alert and metabolically active.

That mismatch can affect glucose regulation.

If evening blue light causes blood sugar to rise and contributes to insulin resistance, then nighttime screen use, bright indoor lighting, and artificial light exposure may be more significant than people realize. This is especially relevant for people already struggling with weight gain, poor sleep, blood sugar instability, or metabolic dysfunction.

The solution does not need to be complicated. The goal is to respect the body’s natural light-dark cycle.

During the day, get bright natural light. In the evening, dim the lights. Reduce screen exposure close to bed. Use warmer lighting when possible. Avoid bright overhead lights late at night. Give the body a clearer signal that the day is ending.

This is not only about sleeping better. It is about helping the body regulate glucose, insulin, inflammation, and mitochondrial function more appropriately.

Excess blue light at night is a modern problem because the body was not designed for constant artificial brightness. The more we understand light as a biological signal, the more obvious it becomes that darkness matters too.

If we want better sleep, better blood sugar, and better metabolic health, we need to be more careful about the light we expose ourselves to after sunset.

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References

1. Sarode, Bhagyesh R., et al. “Light Control of Insulin Release and Blood Glucose Using an Injectable Photoactivated Depot.” Molecular Pharmacology 13, no. 11, November 7, 2016, 3835-3841. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.molpharmaceut.6b00633

   Paul, Marla. “Exposure to Bright Light May Alter Blood Sugar.” Futurity, May 19, 2016. https://www.futurity.org/bright-light-metabolism-1166262-2/

2. Rybnikova, Nataliya A., A. Haim, and Boris A. Portnov. “Does Artificial Light-at-Night Exposure Contribute to the Worldwide Obesity Pandemic?” International Journal of Obesity 40, no. 5, May 2016, 815-823. https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2015.255

Testosterone Starts with Cholesterol

Here is the basic pathway your body uses to make testosterone:

Cholesterol → Pregnenolone → Androstenedione → Testosterone

That matters because testosterone begins with cholesterol. In fact, every single sex hormone is synthesized from cholesterol. Cholesterol is not just something to fear on a blood test. It is a raw material the body uses to build essential hormones.

This is one reason the conversation around “heart healthy” low-fat, low-cholesterol diets needs more nuance. If the body requires cholesterol to synthesize sex hormones, then aggressively avoiding dietary fat and cholesterol may create problems for hormone production, vitality, and healthy aging.

Testosterone is not produced out of nothing. The body needs the right ingredients. Cholesterol is one of those ingredients.

Research supports this connection. A 1997 study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology looked at testosterone and cortisol in relation to dietary nutrients and resistance exercise. The researchers found that men who consumed more saturated fat, monounsaturated fat, and cholesterol had higher testosterone levels than men who followed a lower-fat diet.¹

This does not mean someone should eat unlimited saturated fat or ignore cardiovascular health. It means that dietary fat and cholesterol should not automatically be treated as enemies. The body uses them for important biological functions, including the production of testosterone and other sex hormones.

The larger point is that hormones are built from nutrients. If the diet is missing key raw materials, the body may struggle to produce hormones at optimal levels. A low-fat, low-cholesterol diet may sound healthy on the surface, but if it compromises the body’s ability to make sex hormones, then it may not support vitality as well as people assume.

Cholesterol has been overly simplified in modern health conversations. It is often discussed only in relation to heart disease risk, while its role in hormone production, cell membranes, brain function, and vitamin D synthesis gets less attention.

That narrow view can lead people to avoid foods their body may actually need.

A better approach is to think about quality, context, and balance. The body needs enough dietary fat to support hormone production, cellular health, and metabolic function. This includes saturated fat, monounsaturated fat, and cholesterol from nutrient-dense foods.

Testosterone starts with cholesterol. That does not make cholesterol good in every context, but it does make it necessary.

And necessary nutrients should not be feared. They should be understood.

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Reference

1. Volek, Jeff S., et al. “Testosterone and Cortisol in Relationship to Dietary Nutrients and Resistance Exercise.” Journal of Applied Physiology 82, no. 1, 1997, 49-54. https://doi.org/10.1152/jappl.1997.82.1.49

Vitamin D and Testosterone: Why Sunlight Still Matters

One of the many problems with the Western diet is that it often lacks key micronutrients the body needs to create hormones. One of the most important is vitamin D.

Vitamin D is essential for testosterone production, and this matters because many people are now deficient in vitamin D. A major reason for this is our overavoidance of UV light. Sunlight is one of the primary ways the body produces vitamin D, but many people have been taught to avoid the sun as much as possible.

That avoidance may come with a cost.

Low vitamin D status is likely one factor involved in declining testosterone levels. Testosterone is not only important for male reproductive health. It also plays a role in muscle mass, strength, energy, mood, libido, motivation, and overall vitality.

A study published in 2010 looked at the vitamin D and testosterone levels of more than two thousand men over the course of a full year. The results showed that men with healthy vitamin D levels had more testosterone and lower levels of sex hormone binding globulin, commonly known as SHBG, than men who were vitamin D deficient.¹

SHBG matters because it binds to hormones, including testosterone, making them less available for the body’s cells to use. If SHBG is elevated, free or bioavailable testosterone may be lower, even when total testosterone does not tell the full story.

In simple terms, vitamin D status may influence both how much testosterone the body produces and how much of that testosterone remains available for use.

This is important because hormone health is often discussed as if it only depends on age, genetics, or medication. But hormones are built from and regulated by the body’s environment. Nutrient status matters. Sunlight matters. Lifestyle matters.

The body cannot produce hormones properly when it is missing the raw materials and signals those systems depend on.

Vitamin D is one of those signals.

The point is not to worship the sun or ignore the risks of burning. Too much UV exposure, especially repeated sunburn, can damage the skin. But avoiding sunlight entirely creates its own problems. The body evolved with regular exposure to natural light, and vitamin D production is one of the clearest examples of why that exposure matters.

A healthier approach is not total avoidance. It is intelligent exposure.

Get sunlight in a way that respects your skin type, season, location, and tolerance. Avoid burning. Use shade, clothing, and protection when needed. But do not forget that sunlight is part of human biology, and vitamin D is part of hormonal health.

If testosterone, energy, strength, and vitality matter, then vitamin D status should not be ignored.

Sometimes supporting hormones begins with the basics: better food, better sleep, strength training, and enough sunlight for the body to make what it needs.

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Reference

1. Wehr, E., et al. “Association of Vitamin D Status with Serum Androgen Levels in Men.” Clinical Endocrinology 73, no. 2, August 2010, 243-248. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2265.2009.03777.x

How the Body Uses Carbs, Fat, and Protein for Energy

The body needs a continuous supply of glucose to fuel energy metabolism. To keep blood glucose stable, the body works to maintain tight glucose homeostasis within a narrow range, roughly 70 to 90 mg/dl.

It does this in more than one way. The body can convert digested carbohydrates into cellular energy, or it can synthesize glucose in the liver from fatty acids and amino acids through a process called gluconeogenesis. These systems complement one another and provide backup in case one raw nutrient, such as carbohydrates, fats, or protein, is temporarily unavailable.

While fasting and at relative rest, a 155-pound, or 70-kilogram, person requires approximately 200 grams, or about 7 ounces, of glucose over a 24-hour period. The formula used to calculate this demand is 2 mg of glucose per kilogram of body weight per minute.

That 200-gram number is approximate. The actual amount changes depending on the person, body temperature, outside temperature, physical activity, intellectual activity, and other factors. “Additional” activity means anything above and beyond the body’s regular baseline functions, such as heart function, breathing, walking, vision, hearing, and thought.

Any additional activity increases energy needs. This is why both physical and intellectual exertion can increase the body’s energy demand and contribute to weight loss when energy intake is controlled.

Beyond the glucose needed for energy metabolism, the body also needs a continuous supply of fatty acids and amino acids. These are used to build new cells and synthesize hormones, enzymes, vitamins, and other critical substances. These are sometimes called plastic, organic, or replacement needs because they help rebuild or replace dead cells and substances lost through feces, urine, perspiration, and exhaled air.

In simple terms, the body does not need calories only for energy. It also needs raw materials for repair, replacement, and maintenance.

If you consume more than the approximate 200 grams of glucose needed daily, the body can convert the excess into body fat. That is one way fat gain happens.

The rate of conversion is approximately 1 gram of fat for every 3 grams of glucose. This comes from the difference between 9 calories per gram of fat and 4 calories per gram of carbohydrate, with additional allowance for the energy required for consumption, digestion, and conversion.

If you consume less than 200 grams of glucose, the body compensates for the shortage by using fat at a rate of about 1 gram of fat for every 2 grams of glucose. That is one way fat loss happens.

Dr. Atkins incorrectly referred to this process as ketosis because ketones are intermediary products of the biochemical reactions involved in converting fatty acids into cellular energy. The more accurate name for the breakdown of fat is lipolysis.

Before the body converts stored body fat into usable energy, it will use fatty acids derived from food. This means that if dietary fat intake is too high, the body will use fat from the diet before turning to its own fat stores.

According to this framework, consuming above 75 grams of dietary fat can stop the loss of body fat because the body must first dispose of the fat coming from food.

If you consume less than 75 grams of fat, the body will draw from its own fat stores to produce enzymes, hormones, vitamins, cell membranes, and other essential substances. That is another way fat loss occurs.

If you consume more than 75 grams of fat, the excess can be stored under the skin as body fat. That is another way fat gain occurs.

Protein works differently.

If you consume less than 53 grams of protein, the body will break down muscle tissue into amino acids needed for building cells, neurotransmitters, hormones, digestive enzymes, and other essential structures and substances. This process is called muscle wasting.

You can lose weight this way, but it is not desirable weight loss because it is not primarily a loss of body fat. Losing muscle tissue weakens the body, lowers functional capacity, and can negatively affect metabolism.

If you consume more than 53 grams of protein, the body can use the excess amino acids to support muscle tissue. The stronger the muscles, the more protein they can use. In this case, weight gain can occur, but that weight is not from fat. It is desirable weight because it reflects the building or maintenance of lean tissue.

However, if someone does not have strong muscles or does not provide the body with a reason to build muscle, excess protein may not be used for muscle tissue. Instead, some of that excess can be converted into glucose. If the glucose exceeds the body’s energy needs, it can then be converted into body fat.

That is how body fat can be gained from overeating protein.

The larger point is that the body is always trying to solve three problems at once. It needs energy, it needs stable blood glucose, and it needs raw materials for repair and replacement.

Carbohydrates, fats, and proteins all contribute to these needs in different ways. Glucose provides immediate energy. Fat provides stored energy and structural material. Protein provides amino acids for tissue repair, hormones, enzymes, neurotransmitters, and muscle maintenance.

Fat gain and fat loss are not random. They are the result of how the body handles incoming nutrients relative to its current energy needs, replacement needs, and storage demands.

When glucose intake exceeds demand, excess can be stored as fat. When glucose intake is below demand, the body can use fat to compensate. When dietary fat intake is too high, the body may use incoming fat before stored fat. When protein is too low, muscle tissue may be broken down. When protein is adequate and muscles have a reason to use it, protein supports lean tissue. When protein is excessive and not used for muscle, some of it may be converted into glucose and eventually stored as fat.

This is why body composition is not only about calories. It is about how the body uses each nutrient, what it needs at the time, and whether the diet supports energy, repair, and the maintenance of lean tissue.

Happiness Is More Productive Than Pressure

Most people think success creates happiness.

The assumption is simple: once you become more productive, make more money, reach the goal, earn the promotion, build the business, or finally become the person you said you wanted to become, then you will be happy.

But the research suggests the relationship may work in the other direction.

Happy people tend to be more successful than people who are less happy. That may sound like an exaggeration, but it is not. Research discussed by Shawn Achor in Harvard Business Review found that happy people, on average, have 31% higher productivity than their less happy peers. Their sales are 37% higher, and their creativity is three times as high.

That matters because it challenges the way many people approach achievement. They assume happiness is the reward waiting at the end of success. But happiness may actually be one of the conditions that helps create success in the first place.

This does not mean people should ignore discipline, effort, skill, or responsibility. Happiness is not a replacement for competence. It is not a shortcut around hard work. But it does seem to change the way people think, perform, relate, and solve problems.

When someone is happier, their brain is likely operating from a better internal state. They are not wasting as much energy on stress, resentment, fear, or constant dissatisfaction. They are more open, more creative, more resilient, and more capable of seeing possibilities. That improved state can influence how they work, how they communicate, how they sell, how they lead, and how they respond to problems.

Sonja Lyubomirsky, Laura King, and Ed Diener explored this idea in their paper, “The Benefits of Frequent Positive Affect: Does Happiness Lead to Success?” Their research supports the idea that happiness is not merely the result of successful outcomes. Positive affect may help produce the behaviors and conditions that make success more likely.

That distinction is important.

If happiness only comes after success, then people are forced to live in a constant state of postponement. They tell themselves they will feel good once they get somewhere else. Once they reach a certain number. Once they become more accomplished. Once the external world finally gives them permission to relax.

But if happiness helps create success, then learning how to cultivate a better internal state becomes more than a luxury. It becomes part of performance.

This does not mean pretending everything is fine. It does not mean forcing positivity or ignoring pain, stress, grief, frustration, or responsibility. Real happiness is not denial. It is a healthier relationship with life. It is the ability to experience meaning, gratitude, connection, progress, and emotional steadiness while still engaging with difficulty.

Pressure may push people for a while, but it often comes at a cost. Constant dissatisfaction can create urgency, but it can also narrow thinking, reduce creativity, increase stress, and make success feel like survival. Happiness, on the other hand, seems to broaden what people can access within themselves.

A happier person may still work hard, but they are not only being driven by what is missing. They are also being supported by energy, clarity, connection, and a better emotional baseline.

That may be why happiness is linked to higher productivity, better sales, and greater creativity. People perform better when their internal environment supports performance.

The point is not to chase happiness as another achievement. The point is to stop treating happiness as something that must be earned only after everything else is accomplished.

Happiness is not the opposite of ambition. It may be one of the things that makes ambition sustainable.

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References

Achor, Shawn. “Positive Intelligence.” Harvard Business Review, January-February 2012. https://hbr.org/2012/01/positive-intelligence

Lyubomirsky, Sonja, Laura King, and Ed Diener. “The Benefits of Frequent Positive Affect: Does Happiness Lead to Success?” Psychological Bulletin 131, no. 6, November 2005, 803-855. https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/bul-1316803.pdf

The Gut-Skin Connection Behind Sun Sensitivity

Melanoma rates have increased alongside the increased use of sunscreen. That does not prove sunscreen causes melanoma, but the correlation raises an uncomfortable question. If sunscreen is supposed to protect us from the harmful effects of the sun’s rays, why have melanoma rates continued to rise while sunscreen use has also increased?

One proposed explanation is that the problem may not be sunlight alone. The connection may involve the way modern chemical exposure interferes with the body’s natural ability to protect itself from the sun.

One chemical often discussed in this context is glyphosate, the herbicide used in Roundup. The concern is that glyphosate may disrupt the skin’s natural sun-protection mechanisms by affecting the gut microbiome.

Gut microbes normally help produce tryptophan and tyrosine, two amino acids that serve as precursors to melanin. Melanin is the dark compound found in tanned or naturally darker skin. Its role is not cosmetic. Melanin helps absorb ultraviolet light and protect the skin from the damage that excessive UV exposure can cause.

In a healthy system, the body has built-in protective mechanisms that help it respond to sunlight. The skin darkens, melanin increases, and the body becomes better equipped to tolerate sun exposure.

But if food is exposed to glyphosate, the theory is that glyphosate may negatively affect gut microbes. When those microbes are disrupted, they may not produce enough of the amino acids involved in melanin production. As a result, the body’s natural mechanisms for sun protection may become less effective.

From this perspective, dangerous sunburns and possibly even melanoma may not be caused by exposure to the sun alone. They may also reflect a deeper issue involving chemical exposure, microbiome disruption, impaired amino acid production, and weakened melanin formation.

That does not mean sunlight is harmless. Too much sun exposure, especially when the skin burns, can damage the skin. But it does suggest that blaming the sun by itself may be an incomplete explanation.

The body is designed to interact with sunlight. Sunlight helps regulate circadian rhythm, vitamin D production, mood, hormones, and many other biological processes. The issue may be that modern lifestyles and chemical exposures have changed the body’s ability to handle sunlight appropriately.

If glyphosate interferes with the gut bacteria needed to support melanin production, then the problem is not simply that people are spending time in the sun. The problem may be that people are entering the sun with weaker biological defenses than they should have.

Diet may matter here as well.

The body also needs plenty of polyphenols, compounds found in brightly colored plants, to support healthy skin and melanin production. Melanin is made out of cross-linked polyphenols, which means the quality of the diet can influence how well the skin builds its natural protective pigments.

This gives us a broader way to think about sunburn.

Sunburn is not only a problem of too much sun. It may also be a problem of too little internal resilience. If the gut microbiome is compromised, if amino acid production is impaired, if polyphenol intake is low, and if chemical exposure is high, then the skin may be less prepared to respond to sunlight in the way it was designed to.

That does not mean sunscreen has no place. It does mean sunscreen should not be treated as the entire solution.

A better approach to sun protection would include both external and internal factors. External protection may include shade, clothing, gradual exposure, and sunscreen when appropriate. Internal protection would include supporting the gut microbiome, reducing exposure to chemicals that may harm it, eating a nutrient-rich diet, and consuming foods rich in polyphenols.

The larger point is that sunlight may not be the villain it is often made out to be. The body’s relationship with the sun depends on context. A healthy, well-nourished body with a strong microbiome may respond to sunlight differently than a chemically burdened, nutrient-depleted body with compromised skin defenses.

Glyphosate may be one piece of that larger conversation.

If chemical exposure disrupts the gut microbes that help create the building blocks for melanin, then modern sun sensitivity may be less about the sun itself and more about the loss of the biological systems that help us interact with the sun safely.

The question is not only, “How do we block the sun?”

The better question may be, “Why are our bodies becoming less able to handle it?”

Viruses Are Just Information

Imagine a situation where the human community is confronted with a new toxin.

This toxin can only be neutralized by an enzyme that human beings do not usually make. But one member of the community has a randomly generated mutation that allows her, and only her, to make the toxin-neutralizing enzyme. She does well, while others become sick and some die because this mutation gives her an adaptive advantage.

According to the theory of genetic mutation and natural selection, her genes would slowly spread throughout the population. Over time, the adaptive mutation would become more common because it helps people survive.

But what happens if she is a sixty-year-old postmenopausal woman? What if she is a man who does not have children? In that case, the helpful gene dies out.

If we are lucky, maybe the carrier of the gene is a thirty-year-old man about to get married. He and his wife have six children, and three of them carry the autosomal dominant mutation. One of those three dies in a car crash. Another becomes sterile. The third passes the adaptive gene on to her two children.

In ten thousand years, that adaptive gene may have spread throughout the population through natural selection. Unfortunately, by then, the toxin has either killed everyone off or is long gone, making the mutation useless.

This creates an important question.

Can the theory of natural selection following random mutations fully explain how humans and animals adapt to new situations quickly enough for those mutations to be useful?

If adaptation only happens through random mutation and reproduction across generations, the process may be too slow to explain real-time biological response to rapidly changing environments. Life often has to respond faster than that.

So how do organisms adapt in real time?

One proposed way to think about this is through exosomes. When cells are threatened, they can produce exosomes containing DNA and RNA. These tiny packages of genetic material are involved in communication between cells. They carry information from one part of the body to another and may help coordinate biological responses to changing conditions.

From this perspective, what we call “viruses” may be understood differently. Rather than thinking of viruses only as hostile invaders, this view suggests they may function as physical-resonance forms of genetic material that code for changes happening in the environment.

In that interpretation, viruses are not simply enemies. They are carriers of biological information.

They may represent a system of real-time genetic adaptation. Instead of waiting thousands of years for a useful mutation to spread through reproduction, genetic information could move more quickly between cells, organisms, or populations. This would create a much faster way for life to respond to environmental pressure.

That is the larger idea behind the claim that viruses are information.

Unlike bacteria, which can be grown in a petri dish and are clearly living organisms, viruses are not alive in the same way. They do not independently metabolize. They do not reproduce on their own. They are pieces of genetic material packaged in a protein coat, dependent on cells to replicate.

In simple terms, viruses can be thought of as packets of information.

They carry instructions. They interact with the genome. They may influence which biological switches are turned on or off. In this view, viruses are not merely agents of disease. They are genetic messengers that may participate in how organisms respond to environmental change.

This way of thinking also changes how we interpret sickness.

If someone becomes overtly sick, one possibility is that the body could not handle the “download” of information. Another possibility is that the new biological instructions did not match the person’s internal health, lifestyle, or external environment. In other words, the issue may not only be exposure. It may also be the condition of the terrain receiving the signal.

This does not mean illness is imaginary. It does not mean viruses are harmless. It means there may be more to the story than the idea that viruses are only hostile forces trying to attack us.

The conventional model often treats viruses as dangerous invaders that must be fought. But if viruses also function as carriers of environmental information, then a total war on viruses may reflect a misunderstanding of their role in nature.

A virus may not be alive in the way bacteria are alive. It may be closer to information. A signal. A message. A set of instructions.

The role of viruses in nature, from this perspective, is to help recode genetic material in response to changes happening in the environment. They may provide a mechanism for real-time genetic adaptation.

That is a very different way to understand biology.

Instead of seeing life as a battlefield where organisms defend themselves against endless microbial enemies, this view sees life as a communication system. Cells communicate. Organisms communicate. Genetic information moves. The environment changes, and biology responds.

Viruses may be part of that communication.

The question is whether we are willing to look at them through a wider lens.

If we assume viruses are only hostile and dangerous, then our only response is fear, suppression, and war. But if viruses are also information, then we may need to rethink the relationship between illness, adaptation, genetic expression, environment, and evolution.

Maybe the body is not simply being attacked.

Maybe it is receiving information.

Maybe sickness is sometimes the cost of a system trying to adapt to instructions it is not currently healthy enough to process smoothly.

This idea may sound strange because it challenges the standard story. But the standard story does not always explain how quickly life adapts, how genetic information moves, or why the same exposure can affect different people in different ways.

Viruses may not be the enemy in the way we have been taught to imagine them.

They may be part of the language life uses to communicate with itself.

Gene Expression Is Based on Context

The news continues to report that genes are the cause of this or that. One gene is linked to alcoholism. Another gene is linked to obesity. Another gene is linked to depression. Our first instinct is to label the gene as “good” or “bad” based on what it is said to produce.

If a gene is associated with something negative, we assume the gene itself must be negative. It becomes a “bad” gene. It becomes something to fear, avoid, or blame.

Psychologists have traditionally described this through something called the diathesis-stress model. The basic idea is that if you have a genetic vulnerability and you encounter enough stress in life, you may be more likely to develop a disorder such as depression, anxiety, addiction, or some other unwanted outcome.

In that model, the gene is treated like a risk factor waiting to be activated by stress. If you have the “bad” gene and life becomes difficult enough, the assumption is that the gene may push you toward a negative outcome.

The problem is that this way of thinking may be incomplete.

Recent discoveries in genetics have challenged the simple good gene versus bad gene model. More and more, the evidence points toward environmental context. The same gene that may create problems in one environment may produce advantages in another.

Psychologists call this the differential susceptibility hypothesis.

The idea is that some genes do not simply make someone more vulnerable to bad outcomes. Instead, they may make someone more sensitive to their environment. In a poor environment, that sensitivity may lead to worse outcomes. In a supportive environment, that same sensitivity may lead to better outcomes.

This changes the whole conversation.

The gene itself is not automatically good or bad. The outcome depends on the input.

A simple way to think about this is with a knife. The same knife can be used to hurt someone, or it can be used to prepare food. The knife is not inherently good or bad. Its value depends on how it is used, who is using it, and the context it is placed in.

Genes may work in a similar way.

One example is the DRD4 gene. Most people have the standard version of this gene, but some people have a variant called DRD4-7R. This 7R variant has been associated with ADHD, alcoholism, and violence, so it has often been thought of as a “bad” gene.

But the story is not that simple.

In a study by Ariel Knafo, researchers looked at which children would share candy without being asked. The children were only three years old. Interestingly, the children who had the 7R variant were more likely to share than those who did not have the so-called “bad” variant.

That raises an important question: why were the children with the “bad” gene more inclined to help, even when nobody asked them to?

The answer is that 7R is not inherently bad. Like the knife, it depends on context.

Children with the 7R variant who were raised in rough environments, especially environments marked by abuse or neglect, were more likely to develop negative outcomes such as alcoholism or bullying behavior. But children with the 7R variant who received good parenting were seen as kinder than children who had the standard DRD4 gene.

That is a radically different way to understand genetics.

The same genetic variant that may be linked to negative outcomes in one environment may be linked to positive outcomes in another. The gene is not destiny. It is a sensitivity. It is a responsiveness. It is a potential that can express itself differently depending on the environment around it.

This is why context matters so much.

The body does not express genes in a vacuum. Genes respond to signals. They respond to stress, nutrition, parenting, relationships, sleep, movement, trauma, safety, toxins, light, and the broader environment. The question is not only, “What genes do you have?” The better question is, “What environment are those genes being asked to respond to?”

That distinction matters because it gives us a more useful way to think about health, behavior, and human development.

If we believe genes are fixed causes, then people become prisoners of their biology. A person with a gene associated with alcoholism, depression, ADHD, obesity, or violence may begin to believe their future is already written. But if gene expression depends on context, then the environment becomes part of the story.

Lifestyle matters. Parenting matters. Stress matters. Relationships matter. Inputs matter.

This does not mean genetics are irrelevant. It means genetics are not the whole explanation. Genes may create tendencies, sensitivities, or probabilities, but they do not operate separately from the conditions of a person’s life.

The good gene versus bad gene model is too simple. It misses the deeper reality that biology is responsive. A gene that looks like a liability in one environment may become an advantage in another.

That should change the way we talk about human potential.

Instead of asking whether a gene is good or bad, we should ask what kind of environment brings out its worst expression and what kind of environment brings out its best expression.

That is where the real conversation begins.

Gene expression is based on context.

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Source

Barker, Eric. Barking Up the Wrong Tree.

Time Isn’t Linear

In July 2000, Israeli doctor Leonard Leibovici conducted a double-blind, randomized controlled trial involving 3,393 hospital patients. The patients were divided into a control group and an “intercession” group. The purpose of the experiment was to see whether prayer could have an effect on their condition.

Prayer experiments are often used as examples of mind affecting matter at a distance. But this particular study is especially interesting because the story is not quite what it appears to be at first.

Leibovici selected patients who had suffered sepsis, an infection, while hospitalized. He randomly designated half of the patients to have prayers said for them, while the other half were not prayed for. He then compared the results across three categories: how long fever lasted, length of hospital stay, and how many patients died as a result of the infection.

The prayed-for group benefited from an earlier decrease in fever and a shorter hospitalization time. The difference in the number of deaths between the prayed-for group and the group that was not prayed for was not statistically significant, although mortality was slightly better in the prayed-for group.

At first, that sounds like a powerful demonstration of the benefits of prayer and the possibility that intention may influence the body through thoughts and feelings. But there is one additional element to this story that makes it even more provocative.

Did it strike you as odd that in July 2000, one hospital would have more than 3,000 cases of infection at once? Was it a very poorly sterilized place, or was some kind of contagion running rampant?

That is where the study becomes strange.

The people praying in 2000 were not praying for patients who were infected in 2000. Unbeknownst to them, they were praying for lists of people who had been hospitalized between 1990 and 1996, four to ten years before the experiment took place. The patients being prayed for had already gone through their illness years earlier.

In other words, the study examined remote, retroactive intercessory prayer.

That means the prayers were said after the medical events had already happened. The prayed-for patients appeared to show measurable differences in outcomes, but those outcomes had taken place years before the intervention was performed.

That is what makes this study so difficult to categorize.

If read literally, it seems to challenge the way we usually think about time, cause, and effect. We normally assume the past is fixed, the present is unfolding, and the future has not happened yet. Cause comes before effect. An action happens, and then something follows from it.

But in this study, the “intervention” happened years after the outcomes being measured.

This does not mean the study proves that time is not linear. It does not prove that prayer can change the past. It does not prove that intention can rewrite medical outcomes across time. A careful reading should avoid turning one provocative study into a final conclusion.

What it does show is that evidence can sometimes raise questions that do not fit neatly into the assumptions we already hold.

That may be the real value of the study. It forces us to sit with something uncomfortable: what if our ordinary model of time is incomplete? What if cause and effect are not always as simple as we assume? What if consciousness, intention, and biological systems are connected in ways that are not yet fully understood?

The study was published in the British Medical Journal in 2001 under the title “Effects of Remote, Retroactive Intercessory Prayer on Outcomes in Patients with Bloodstream Infection: Randomised Controlled Trial.” Its conclusion stated that remote, retroactive intercessory prayer was associated with shorter hospital stay and shorter duration of fever in patients with bloodstream infection.

Again, “associated with” matters. This should not be treated as proof that a later prayer caused an earlier recovery. But it is still a fascinating example of how certain findings can disturb the clean categories we use to understand reality.

Most of us experience time as linear. We remember the past, live in the present, and move toward the future. That experience is practical and necessary. It allows us to organize life, make decisions, and understand consequences.

But studies like this invite a different kind of reflection. They do not require us to abandon reason. They ask us to stay open to the possibility that reality may be stranger than the simplified model we use to navigate it.

Maybe time is linear in the way we experience it.

Maybe it is not linear in every possible sense.

Maybe the deeper point is that our perception of time may not be the same as the full nature of time.

That is why this story matters. It does not need to be embellished. It is already strange enough on its own. A randomized controlled trial was conducted in 2000 using patients from 1990 to 1996, and the group prayed for years later showed shorter fever duration and hospital stays in the original records.

Whether that points to prayer, probability, study design, consciousness, or something we do not yet understand, it challenges the assumption that all causation must move in the direction we expect.

Sometimes the most important studies are not the ones that give us clean answers. They are the ones that force us to ask better questions.

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Reference

Leibovici, Leonard. “Effects of Remote, Retroactive Intercessory Prayer on Outcomes in Patients with Bloodstream Infection: Randomised Controlled Trial.” BMJ 323, no. 7327, December 22, 2001, 1450–1451. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.323.7327.1450

The Power of Placebo

The placebo effect is usually discussed as if it is imaginary, fake, or secondary to “real” medicine. But that understanding may be too dismissive. The placebo effect does not mean nothing happened. It means the body responded to expectation, belief, context, and perceived meaning.

An interesting example comes from research conducted in the cardiac ward of a major American hospital with patients suffering from angina.

Angina is a condition where the arteries supplying the heart become restricted, producing acute chest pain. Digitalis, traditionally derived from the foxglove plant, has been used to help relieve the acute symptoms of an angina attack. Once administered, it generally brings fast relief.

In this experiment, patients who suffered from an acute angina attack were split into two groups. Fifty percent were given digitalis, while the other fifty percent were given a placebo. The second group received only sugar tablets, yet a significantly high proportion of them responded favorably and their symptoms subsided.

That finding alone is interesting because it shows that the body can respond powerfully to belief and expectation. The patients were not receiving the active drug, but many still experienced relief.

The more interesting part of the experiment was what happened with the doctors.

Half of the doctors who prescribed the placebo knew they were giving a placebo. The other half believed they were giving their patients the real drug. Surprisingly, the patients who received a placebo from doctors who thought they were prescribing the real medication responded much better than the patients who received a placebo from doctors who knew they were prescribing a sugar tablet.

That detail matters.

It suggests that the placebo effect is not only about the patient’s belief. The doctor’s confidence may also influence the patient’s response. In other words, healing is not shaped only by the substance being given. It may also be shaped by the interaction, the expectation, the tone, the certainty, and the meaning created around the treatment.

This does not mean medicine is fake. It does not mean drugs do nothing. Digitalis has real pharmacological effects. But it does suggest that the body is more responsive to context than many people realize.

The belief of the patient matters. The confidence of the doctor matters. The relationship between the two may matter as well.

That should make us think more carefully about healing. If the body can respond differently depending on belief, expectation, and the confidence of the person providing care, then the clinical encounter itself is not neutral. The way something is communicated can become part of the treatment.

A dismissive doctor may create one biological response. A confident doctor may create another. A patient who feels reassured may respond differently than a patient who feels uncertain or afraid.

This is the power of placebo.

It is not proof that symptoms are imagined. It is proof that the body and mind are not separate. What a person believes, expects, and feels can influence how the body responds. The brain, nervous system, immune system, hormones, pain perception, and cardiovascular system are all connected. The meaning attached to an intervention may change the way those systems behave.

The placebo effect should not be treated as an embarrassing flaw in medicine. It should be treated as evidence that healing involves more than chemistry alone.

The body responds to information. Sometimes that information comes in the form of a drug. Sometimes it comes through confidence, trust, expectation, and belief.

That does not make placebo less real.

It may make it one of the clearest examples of how powerful the body can be when it believes healing is possible.

K2 Deficiency Might Be Written All Over Your Face

The skin is often treated as a cosmetic issue, but it may reveal more about internal health than we realize. Wrinkles, skin firmness, and tissue quality may not only reflect age or sun exposure. In some cases, they may also reflect what is happening in the bones, kidneys, and vitamin K2-dependent systems of the body.

One example comes from research on postmenopausal women. Specifically, the severity of a postmenopausal woman’s facial wrinkles appears to predict her risk of osteoporosis. Women with more extensive facial wrinkles were found to be much more likely than their peers to have low bone mass, while women with firmer skin tended to have denser bones. This relationship appeared regardless of age or body weight.¹

That matters because osteoporosis is usually thought of as a bone issue, while wrinkles are usually thought of as a skin issue. But the body does not separate itself into isolated cosmetic and structural categories. Skin quality and bone quality may be connected through deeper biological processes, including collagen, mineral metabolism, and vitamin K-dependent proteins.

A similar connection appears in research on kidney function. Korean research published in Nephrology in 2008 found that increased facial wrinkling was associated with reduced kidney filtration rate, which is a measure of kidney function. This association was found independent of age and sex.²

That finding becomes even more interesting when paired with American research published the following year. In 2009, researchers found that decreased kidney filtration predicted an increase in inactive matrix Gla protein, often abbreviated as MGP.³

MGP is a vitamin K-dependent protein. When vitamin K2 status is insufficient, MGP remains inactive. That matters because active MGP helps regulate calcium placement in the body. In simple terms, vitamin K2 helps activate proteins that guide calcium into the right places and away from places where it does not belong.

This is where the skin connection becomes more meaningful. If increased facial wrinkling is associated with reduced kidney filtration, and reduced kidney filtration is associated with higher levels of inactive MGP, then facial wrinkles may point toward something deeper than skin aging alone.

They may reflect a broader issue involving vitamin K2-dependent biology.

This does not mean every wrinkle is a sign of vitamin K2 deficiency. Aging, sun exposure, smoking, stress, hydration, genetics, nutrition, and hormone changes all influence the skin. But the research does suggest that facial wrinkling may be connected to internal health markers in ways we often overlook.

When it comes to skin, a K2 deficiency might be written all over your face.

The larger point is that the body gives clues. Skin is visible, which makes it easy to dismiss as superficial. But visible signs can sometimes reflect invisible processes. The skin, bones, kidneys, blood vessels, and mineral-regulating proteins are all part of the same biological system.

Vitamin K2 sits at an important intersection in that system. It helps activate proteins involved in bone mineralization and calcium regulation, including osteocalcin and MGP. When these proteins remain inactive, the body may struggle to manage calcium properly.

That is why wrinkles, bone density, kidney function, and inactive MGP may belong in the same conversation. They may seem unrelated at first, but they all point toward the same idea: external signs can reflect internal function.

A face does not tell the whole story, but it may give hints. Skin quality may be one of the visible ways the body reveals changes happening beneath the surface.

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References

1. Pal, L., Kidwai, N., Glockenberg, K., et al. “Skin Wrinkling and Rigidity Are Predictive of Bone Mineral Density in Early Postmenopausal Women.” Endocrine Reviews 32, no. 03 Meeting Abstracts, 2011, 3–126.

2. Park, B. H., Lee, S., Park, J. W., et al. “Facial Wrinkles as a Predictor of Decreased Renal Function.” Nephrology 13, no. 6, 2008, 522–527.

3. Parker, B. D., et al. “Association of Kidney Function and Uncarboxylated Matrix Gla Protein: Data from the Heart and Soul Study.” Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation 24, no. 7, 2009, 2095–2101. https://doi.org/10.1093/ndt/gfp024

Our Bones Impact Insulin Sensitivity

Most people think of the skeleton as structure. Bones hold us upright, protect organs, give muscles leverage, and allow us to move through the world. In that sense, the skeleton is usually imagined as a kind of living scaffolding.

But research has shown that the skeleton may be far more active than that.

In 2007, groundbreaking research published in Cell revealed that the skeleton, through the vitamin K2-dependent protein osteocalcin, has a significant impact on the body’s production of insulin and sensitivity to insulin. This finding changed the way scientists understood bone. Instead of seeing the skeleton as inert support tissue, the research suggested that bone also functions as a dynamic endocrine organ.

That is a major shift.

An endocrine organ produces signaling molecules that influence other systems in the body. We usually think of endocrine function in relation to glands such as the thyroid, pancreas, adrenals, or reproductive organs. But this research suggested that bone also communicates with metabolism.

The key player is osteocalcin, a protein produced within bone. Osteocalcin is vitamin K2-dependent, meaning vitamin K2 plays an important role in its function. According to the researchers, osteocalcin has the capacity to improve glucose tolerance and influence insulin production and insulin sensitivity.

That matters because insulin resistance is one of the defining features of type 2 diabetes. When the body becomes resistant to insulin, glucose regulation becomes impaired. Blood sugar stays elevated more easily, the pancreas has to work harder, and metabolic dysfunction begins to develop over time.

If bone-derived osteocalcin helps regulate insulin production and sensitivity, then bone health is not only about fractures, posture, or density. It is also connected to metabolic health.

This makes vitamin K2 important in a way many people do not fully appreciate. Vitamin K2 is often discussed in relation to calcium metabolism and bone health, but its relationship with osteocalcin connects it to a much larger conversation. If osteocalcin influences glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity, then supporting vitamin K2 status may be relevant to the prevention of insulin-resistant diabetes.

The larger point is that the body is not a collection of disconnected parts. Bone affects metabolism. Nutrients affect hormones. Hormones affect blood sugar. The skeleton communicates with the pancreas, energy regulation, and glucose handling.

This is why reductionist thinking often fails in health. When we think of bones only as structure, we miss their role in signaling. When we think of insulin resistance only as a blood sugar problem, we may miss the other tissues and nutrients involved in metabolic regulation.

The 2007 discovery made a strong case that the skeleton should be understood as part of the endocrine system. Bone is not just something the body carries around. It is metabolically active tissue that participates in whole-body regulation.

Our bones do more than hold us up. They help communicate with the systems that determine how well we produce insulin, respond to insulin, and manage glucose.

That means bone health and metabolic health are more connected than most people realize.

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Reference

Lee, N. K., Sowa, H., Hinoi, E., et al. “Endocrine Regulation of Energy Metabolism by the Skeleton.” Cell 130, no. 3, 2007, 456–469. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2007.05.047

Snacking Is Stupid

Prior to 1977, Americans did not just eat more dietary fat and fewer refined grains. They also ate less often.

That part of the nutrition conversation does not get nearly enough attention. Most people focus on what changed in the diet, but eating frequency changed too. There were no official recommendations telling people to abandon structured meals and start eating all day, but eating patterns changed anyway.

That shift may have contributed to the obesity crisis.

The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, or NHANES, found that in 1977 most people ate three times per day: breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Eating was organized around meals, not constant grazing. If a child wanted an after-school snack, the typical answer from mom was, “No, you’ll ruin your dinner.” If they wanted a bedtime snack, the answer was usually no again.

Snacking was considered neither necessary nor especially healthy. A snack was a treat. It happened occasionally, not automatically.

Now, the message has changed. We are often told that eating more frequently helps with weight loss. The idea is that more frequent meals or snacks somehow “stoke the metabolism,” control hunger, or make fat loss easier. The problem is that this assumption has been repeated far more than it has been proven.

The scientific support for eating more frequently as a weight-loss strategy is weak. Its respectability seems to come mostly from repetition. At first glance, the idea sounds pretty stupid. And it sounds stupid because, in most cases, it is.

Snacking creates more opportunities to eat. More opportunities to eat can easily become more opportunities to overeat. This is especially true in a modern food environment where snacks are rarely just small portions of whole foods. They are usually highly palatable, easy to consume, calorie-dense, and designed to be eaten quickly.

The issue is not that a snack can never have a place. The issue is that snacking has been normalized as if the human body requires constant feeding to function well. Historically, that was not how most people ate. Most people ate meals, then stopped eating until the next meal.

That structure matters.

When eating is built around breakfast, lunch, and dinner, hunger and satiety have a clearer rhythm. You eat, you digest, you become hungry again, and you eat the next meal. When eating becomes constant, that rhythm gets blurred. Food becomes less tied to hunger and more tied to habit, boredom, stress, convenience, availability, or marketing.

That is exactly the question raised by Barry Popkin and Kiyah Duffey in their paper, “Does Hunger and Satiety Drive Eating Anymore?” The title alone points to the problem. Modern eating patterns have shifted toward more eating occasions and less time between those eating occasions.¹

This matters because hunger and satiety should mean something. They are part of the body’s regulatory system. But when food is always available, and when snacks are treated as a normal part of the day, eating can become disconnected from actual physical need.

A person may not be hungry. They may just be used to eating at that time.

They may not need food. They may just be tired, stressed, bored, distracted, or surrounded by snacks.

They may not be supporting their metabolism. They may simply be adding calories they never needed in the first place.

That is why snacking deserves more scrutiny. It is often presented as a helpful habit, but for many people, it may be one of the quiet reasons they struggle to lose weight. A handful of food here, a protein bar there, a few bites after dinner, something sweet before bed, and suddenly the calorie deficit they thought they were creating is gone.

The body does not need to be fed constantly. Most people do not need six meals a day. Most people do not need a snack between every meal. And most people trying to lose weight would probably benefit from fewer eating occasions, not more.

This is especially true when the goal is fat loss.

A simple meal structure creates boundaries. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner give the day a clear rhythm. It becomes easier to know when eating starts and when eating stops. It becomes easier to build meals around protein, whole foods, and adequate nutrition instead of trying to manage constant hunger with random snacks.

Again, this does not mean a snack is always wrong. A hard-training athlete, someone with higher calorie needs, a person with blood sugar issues, or someone who genuinely needs more food within their day may have a reason to include one. But that is different from treating snacking as a universal recommendation.

The problem is not the occasional snack. The problem is the belief that constant eating is necessary, healthy, or automatically helpful for weight loss.

For most people, snacking is not a strategy. It is a leak in the system.

If the goal is better health, better appetite control, and better body composition, the first step may be returning to a simpler structure: eat real meals, make them satisfying, prioritize protein and whole foods, and stop treating every passing urge to eat as a biological emergency.

Snacking became normal. That does not mean it became useful.

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Reference

Popkin, B. M., & Duffey, K. J. “Does Hunger and Satiety Drive Eating Anymore? Increasing Eating Occasions and Decreasing Time Between Eating Occasions in the United States.” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 91, no. 5, 2010, 1342–1347. https://doi.org/10.3945/ajcn.2009.28962

Just Take a Tylenol

“Just take a Tylenol.”

This might as well be the American mantra. It reflects the perspective many of us have been taught to adopt: that the body is full of annoying symptoms, and the easiest response is to suppress them with drugs.

The main ingredient in Tylenol is acetaminophen, which has been used in the United States for more than 70 years. It is considered a benign over-the-counter medication, used reflexively for aches, pains, and fever, and is widely thought of as safe during pregnancy. About 23 percent of American adults, or roughly 52 million people, use a medicine containing acetaminophen each week. It is the most common drug ingredient in the United States and is found in more than 600 medicines. However, this “harmless” drug has been linked to more than 110,000 injuries and deaths per year.¹

So how can Tylenol, something handed out so casually, be harmful?

One surprising part of the conversation is that researchers still do not fully know exactly how acetaminophen works.² What is known is that the drug reaches the brain, and that matters because acetaminophen can deplete glutathione, an antioxidant that is especially important for brain health.³

Glutathione helps the body balance oxidative damage and inflammation. When a medication affects that system, it should at least make us think more carefully about how casually we use it.

This does not mean acetaminophen has no place. It means the phrase “just take a Tylenol” may be far too casual for a drug that affects important biological systems and is used so frequently.

The same broader concern applies to other common pain relievers, including NSAIDs. NSAIDs are often used for pain and inflammation, but they can injure the small intestine. In one study, 71 percent of chronic NSAID users showed visible small-intestinal damage, compared to 10 percent of nonusers.⁴

Damaged intestines can contribute to intestinal permeability, often called “leaky gut” or gut permeability. This matters because gut permeability has been linked with conditions such as depression, ADHD, and allergies. NSAIDs can induce gut permeability and may also harm the microbiome, the inner ecology of organisms that supports overall wellness.⁵

This is the larger problem with our reflexive approach to pain. We are often taught to see symptoms as inconveniences to silence rather than signals to understand. A headache, ache, pain, or fever may be uncomfortable, but discomfort is not automatically meaningless. It is often information.

When the first response is always suppression, we may miss the opportunity to ask why the symptom appeared in the first place.

That does not mean every headache needs deep investigation. It does not mean pain relievers should never be used. It means we should be more thoughtful about reaching for them automatically, especially when they are used often, casually, or without considering the broader effects they may have on the body.

Once we understand the potential concerns with Tylenol and other NSAIDs, the next question becomes obvious: what can someone use for headaches and other aches and pains?

One natural option worth discussing is turmeric, the yellow root found in curry powder. Turmeric contains curcumin, a compound with anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving properties. It has been used in Ayurvedic and Chinese medicine for centuries as a treatment for pain, digestive disorders, and wound healing.

Several studies have shown beneficial effects of curcumin. Research has found that curcumin may work as well as ibuprofen for pain related to knee osteoarthritis.⁶ Another study comparing ginger, mefenamic acid, and ibuprofen found benefit for pain in women with primary dysmenorrhea.⁷

So the next time you have a headache, it may be worth considering 1 to 2 grams of curcumin, or even a turmeric latte, depending on the situation.

The point is not that natural options are always better or that medications are always bad. The point is that “just take a Tylenol” should not be the only way we think about pain.

Pain is not always the enemy. Sometimes it is a message. The goal should not always be to silence the body as quickly as possible. The goal should be to understand what the body is saying, respond appropriately, and use any intervention, natural or pharmaceutical, with more awareness.

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References

1. T. Christian Miller and Jeff Gerth, “Behind the Numbers: We Explore the Data Behind Figures Showing How Many People Die from Overdosing on Acetaminophen, the Active Ingredient in Tylenol,” ProPublica, September 20, 2013. www.propublica.org/article/tylenol-mcneil-fda-behind-the-numbers

2. Carmen Drahl, “How Does Acetaminophen Work? Researchers Still Aren’t Sure,” Chemical and Engineering News 92, no. 29, July 21, 2014, 31–32. https://cen.acs.org/articles/92/i29/Does-Acetaminophen-Work-Researchers-Still.html

3. John T. Slattery et al., “Dose-Dependent Pharmacokinetics of Acetaminophen: Evidence of Glutathione Depletion in Humans,” Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics 41, no. 4, April 1987, 413–418. https://doi.org/10.1038/clpt.1987.50

4. D. Y. Graham et al., “Visible Small-Intestinal Mucosal Injury in Chronic NSAID Users,” Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology 3, no. 1, January 2005, 55–59. PMID: 15645405.

5. G. Sigthorsson et al., “Intestinal Permeability and Inflammation in Patients on NSAIDs,” Gut 43, no. 4, October 1998, 506–511. PMID: 9824578.

6. V. Kuptniratsaikul et al., “Efficacy and Safety of Curcuma domestica Extracts in Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis,” Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine 15, no. 8, August 2009, 891–897. https://doi.org/10.1089/acm.2008.0186

7. G. Ozgoli et al., “Comparison of Effects of Ginger, Mefenamic Acid, and Ibuprofen on Pain in Women with Primary Dysmenorrhea,” Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine 15, no. 2, February 2009, 129–132. https://doi.org/10.1089/acm.2008.0311

Sugar Is Bad for Your Brain

Sugar is usually discussed in the context of weight gain, blood sugar, or diabetes, but its effects go much deeper than that. Sugar also has consequences for the brain, partly because the brain depends heavily on energy metabolism, mitochondrial function, neurotransmitter signaling, and inflammation control.

Scientists have known there is a relationship between sugar and cellular energy production for a long time. In 1927, biochemist Herbert Crabtree discovered that elevated glucose levels could lower mitochondrial function. This matters because mitochondria are responsible for producing the energy our cells rely on to function properly.

When mitochondrial function is impaired, the issue is not only about energy. Mitochondria are involved in cellular health, oxidative stress, inflammation, and the way tissues throughout the body respond to metabolic stress. Since the brain is one of the most energy-demanding organs in the body, anything that negatively affects mitochondrial function has the potential to affect brain health.

Sugar has also been shown to decrease the number of dopamine receptors in the brain. Dopamine is closely tied to motivation, reward, pleasure, drive, and reinforcement. When dopamine signaling is altered, it can affect how the brain responds to food, reward, and repeated exposure to highly palatable foods.

This is one reason sugar can be so difficult for people to moderate. The issue is not only that sugar tastes good. It also interacts with the brain’s reward system in a way that can influence cravings, habits, and the desire to keep consuming more.

While all forms of sugar can become a problem when consumed excessively, fructose appears to be especially concerning. Fructose is found in fruit, high-fructose corn syrup, and agave nectar. The context matters, though. Eating moderate amounts of whole, seasonal fruit is very different from consuming large amounts of fructose through fruit juice, sweetened beverages, processed foods, high-fructose corn syrup, or agave nectar.

Fructose can contribute to oxidative stress and may also feed less beneficial bacteria in the gut, which can promote inflammation. That matters because the gut and brain are not separate systems. Inflammation that begins in the gut can influence the rest of the body, including the brain.

Fructose has also been implicated in damaging mitochondria in skeletal muscle cells, harming the mitochondrial membrane, and impairing cellular respiration and energy metabolism. In simple terms, excessive fructose may interfere with the body’s ability to produce energy efficiently at the cellular level.

The brain will usually tolerate moderate amounts of whole fruit, especially when that fruit is seasonal and eaten in its natural form. Whole fruit comes packaged with water, fiber, micronutrients, and other compounds that slow down absorption and make overconsumption less likely.

Fruit juice is different. High-fructose corn syrup is different. Agave nectar is different. These sources make it much easier to consume large amounts of fructose without the same natural limits that come with eating whole fruit.

For that reason, a practical approach is to avoid excessive fructose intake, completely stay away from fruit juice, and avoid foods that contain high-fructose corn syrup or agave nectar.

A reasonable target is to limit fructose intake to about 20 grams per day.

This does not mean fruit is the enemy. It means the form, dose, and context matter. Whole fruit in moderate amounts is not the same thing as drinking fruit juice or consuming processed foods sweetened with concentrated fructose sources.

Sugar affects more than body weight. It can influence mitochondrial function, dopamine signaling, oxidative stress, gut health, inflammation, and energy metabolism. Since all of those systems matter for the brain, sugar is not something we should think about only through the lens of calories.

If the goal is better brain health, better energy, and better metabolic function, reducing excess sugar, especially concentrated fructose, is one of the simplest places to start.

The 17-Year Gap

When you hear something that sounds wild, crazy, or otherwise unbelievable, it is easy to dismiss it immediately. We tend to assume that if something were true, especially in medicine, it would already be widely known, accepted, and applied.

But that assumption may not be as safe as we think.

There is often a significant delay between what research shows and what becomes part of a doctor’s daily routine. One frequently cited estimate is that it takes an average of seventeen years for research evidence to move into clinical practice. In other words, there can be a long gap between what is discovered, what is understood, what is accepted, and what is actually used in standard care.

That matters because medicine’s standard of care may be evidence-based in theory while still lagging behind the evidence in practice. The existence of research does not mean it has been adopted. The existence of data does not mean it has changed protocols. The existence of a signal of inefficacy or harm does not mean it has reached the level of everyday clinical decision-making.

This is not necessarily because doctors are careless or malicious. It is because systems move slowly. Research has to be published, reviewed, debated, replicated, interpreted, taught, translated into guidelines, accepted by institutions, and then worked into the habits and routines of clinicians. Each of those steps takes time, and every step creates another opportunity for delay.

That delay becomes important when we hear information that challenges what we thought was true.

A new idea can sound unbelievable simply because it has not yet reached the mainstream. A treatment, health practice, nutritional approach, or lifestyle intervention may seem strange because it does not fit the current standard of care. But the current standard of care is not always the same thing as the full body of available evidence. Sometimes it is only the part of the evidence that has successfully made its way through the system.

This does not mean every alternative claim is true. It does not mean we should believe every contrarian idea just because institutions are slow. It means we should be careful about confusing unfamiliarity with falsehood.

The right response to something that sounds unbelievable is not automatic acceptance. It is also not automatic dismissal. The better response is curiosity, skepticism, and a willingness to look at the evidence.

The 17-year gap gives us a reason to stay intellectually humble. It reminds us that medical knowledge does not move from research paper to patient care overnight. It reminds us that what is considered normal today may eventually be revised, abandoned, or replaced. It also reminds us that good ideas can take a long time to become common practice.

When something challenges the current model, the question should not be, “Why haven’t I heard this before?” The better question is, “What does the evidence actually say, and where is this idea in the process of being understood?”

That distinction matters.

If we assume the standard of care is always fully up to date, we may dismiss important information too quickly. If we assume every fringe claim is ahead of its time, we may believe things too easily. The goal is to avoid both extremes.

Medicine needs evidence. Patients need discernment. Health requires the ability to question without becoming careless, and to trust without becoming passive.

The 17-year gap does not prove that every unusual idea is right. It simply shows that the path from evidence to practice is slower than most people realize. That alone should make us more cautious about dismissing something just because it sounds unfamiliar.

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Reference

Morris, Z. S., Wooding, S., & Grant, J. “The Answer Is 17 Years, What Is the Question: Understanding Time Lags in Translational Research.” Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine 104, no. 12, December 2011, 510–520. https://doi.org/10.1258/jrsm.2011.110180

Alternative Energy Creation

For most of the history of biology, plants and animals have been thought of in two separate categories: autotrophs and heterotrophs.

Autotrophs are organisms that provide their own food sources. Plants do this by capturing sunlight and using a process called photosynthesis, where carbon dioxide and water are converted into carbohydrates and oxygen.

Carbon dioxide + Water → Carbohydrates + Oxygen

Heterotrophs are organisms that consume other organisms for food. Whether animals are herbivores, omnivores, or carnivores, they are eating other organisms to acquire energy.

For most of biology, this has been the general framework. Plants make their own energy from sunlight. Animals consume plants, animals, or both to get the energy they need. However, there are exceptions that have been called photoheterotrophs or mixotrophs.

Most corals, for example, can both synthesize energy from sunlight and consume organisms like plankton. The Venus flytrap, along with other insect-eating plants, can derive energy from sunlight and from the organisms they consume. Other examples include certain types of non-sulfur bacteria, heliobacteria, many types of plankton, and even some insects.

Humans, however, have generally been understood as purely heterotrophic. We need to eat plants and animals of various kinds to get our energy.

That may still be true in the most basic sense, but research into light, mitochondria, and cellular energy production adds an interesting layer to the conversation.

Hundreds of studies have found that human cells, specifically the mitochondria inside our cells, can produce more ATP when exposed to red and near-infrared light. ATP, or adenosine triphosphate, is the primary energy currency of the cell.

The research goes even further than that. A study published in the Journal of Cell Science found that other organisms, including mammals that are biologically similar to humans, such as rodents and pigs, were shown to be capable of taking up chlorophyll metabolites into their mitochondria. Those metabolites were then able to help capture sunlight energy and amplify cellular energy production. The study was titled “Light-harvesting chlorophyll pigments enable mammalian mitochondria to capture photonic energy and produce ATP.”

The research suggests that some animals can use these chlorophyll metabolites to speed up the rate of energy production and increase the overall volume of ATP produced by fairly large amounts in many cases.

Here is a key passage from the abstract of that study:

“Sunlight is the most abundant energy source on this planet. However, the ability to convert sunlight into biological energy in the form of adenosine-5′-triphosphate (ATP) is thought to be limited to chlorophyll-containing chloroplasts in photosynthetic organisms. Here we show that mammalian mitochondria can also capture light and synthesize ATP when mixed with a light-capturing metabolite of chlorophyll.”

This does not mean humans are plants, and it does not mean food is unnecessary. Humans still acquire energy primarily by consuming food. However, the research does suggest that our relationship with light may be more biologically meaningful than the traditional autotroph-versus-heterotroph model makes it seem.

Another related paper, “Light Effect on Water Viscosity: Implication for ATP Biosynthesis,” explored how near-infrared light may influence ATP synthesis through effects on intramitochondrial water viscosity. The authors proposed a physicochemical mechanism that could help explain why non-destructive levels of near-infrared light have been associated with increases in ATP synthesis.

Taken together, these findings point toward a broader idea: light may play a more direct role in cellular energy production than previously assumed.

For most of biology, we have drawn a clear line between organisms that make energy from sunlight and organisms that must consume other organisms for energy. That distinction is still useful, but it may not tell the whole story. Some organisms clearly blur that line, and research into mammalian mitochondria suggests there may be more overlap than once believed.

At minimum, this research gives us a reason to think more carefully about sunlight, red light, near-infrared light, chlorophyll metabolites, mitochondria, and ATP production. Energy creation in biology may not be as simple as plants make energy from light and animals get energy only from food.

The body may be more responsive to light than the older model allowed us to see.

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References

Xu, C., Zhang, J., Mihai, D. M., & Washington, I. “Light-harvesting chlorophyll pigments enable mammalian mitochondria to capture photonic energy and produce ATP.” Journal of Cell Science 127, no. 2, 388–399, 2014. https://doi.org/10.1242/jcs.134262

Sommer, A. P., Haddad, M. K., & Fecht, H. J. “Light Effect on Water Viscosity: Implication for ATP Biosynthesis.” Scientific Reports 5, 12029, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep12029