Category Archives: Vitamin D

Circadian clocks, entrainment, and health

Posted on December 3, 2018 | Leave a comment

Summary of a presentation by Orie Shafer titled “Circadian timekeeping and entrainment in neuronal clock networks.”

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From the classic Wever study, which put participants in underground dungeons to study circadian rhythms in the absence of sunlight…

and showed there are multiple inputs, both external and internal zeitgebers.

 

 

In this study, in the absence of sunlight, the human circadian rhythm in locomotor activity, bed movements, and rectal temperature was about 25.8 hours:

The study wasn’t perfect, but still cool.

Most people like to simplify and say light is the input, and while it may be the main one, we now know there are also other important inputs such as food intake for the food-entrainable oscillator and exercise for the skeletal muscle clock.

“Behavorial rhythms are driven by molecular rhythms. Molecular  clocks are required in small islands of the brain for behavorial, endocrine, and physiological rhythms.” Search for genetically modified models of virtually any clock gene and it’s going to influence a wide variety of processes. Like, circadian rhythms are important for certain aspects of nearly everything. “60% of the time, it works every time” lol

For the rest of this article and I promise it doesn’t suck 🙂 head over to Patreon! Five bucks a month for full access. It’s ad-free and you can cancel at any time.

If you’re interested in setting up consultations with me, reach out: drlagakos@gmail.com.

Affiliate links: Still looking for a pair of hot blue blockers? TrueDark is offering 10% off HERE and Spectra479 is offering 15% off HERE. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, read this then this.

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20% off some delish stocks and broths from Kettle and Fire HERE. 

If you want the benefits of  ‘shrooms but don’t like eating them, Real Mushrooms makes great extracts. 10% off with coupon code LAGAKOS. I recommend Lion’s Mane for the brain and Reishi for everything else. 

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Posted in angiotensin, Bromocriptine, Cabergoline, chronopharmacology, circadian, Dopamine, melatonin, mortality, sex, sleep, Sun, vasopressin, Vitamin D

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Deleterious effects of artificial light at night on health and the environment

Posted on November 25, 2018 | Leave a comment

Evidence summary on how our increasing exposure to artificial blue light is putting us at risk. And actionable steps on what you can do about it.

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It’s not blue light per se, but rather underexposure to natural sunlight during the day and overexposure to artificial light at night (ALAN). Step 1: Do the opposite of that.

 

 

“Bright light occurs naturally as part of sunlight and moonlight and, like all living things on Earth, we have evolved to respond to the daily cycle of light and dark. There is growing concern that the increased exposure to artificial light at nigh is having an effect on our health, wildlife, and the night sky.”

Your eyeballs are pretty awesome. Rods and cones and these crazy cells that respond specifically to daylight. The crazy cells, ipRGCs, respond to light, particularly in the green/blue range of visible and serve, in part, to entrain the central component of your circadian clock in the SCN. This is important and influences many body functions such as sleep, metabolism, immune system, mood, and even certain disease processes.

If you’re more interested in the environmental impact of artificial light (eg, street lamps), book recommendation: The End of Night: Searching for Darkness in an Age of Artificial Light. If you’re more interested in the human effects: Lights Out: Sleep, Sugar, and Survival.

ALAN-induced clock disruption is said to have “flow-on” negative health effect — there’s no “good news / bad news” to this story (it’s all bad news).

Rock hot blue blockers at night. Use blue light filters on your devices like f.lux and Iris. Sunlight during the day; darkness, moonlight, or firelight at night.

Note those spectral sensitivities – we can see more green/blue than any other colors. Maybe there’s a reason for that?

For the rest of this article and more, head over to Patreon! Five bucks a month for full access. It’s ad-free and you can cancel if it sucks 🙂

If you’re interested in setting up consultations with me, reach out: drlagakos@gmail.com.

Affiliate links: Still looking for a pair of hot blue blockers? TrueDark is offering 10% off HERE and Spectra479 is offering 15% off HERE. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, read this then this.

 Join Binance and get some cryptoassets or download Honeyminer and get some Bitcoins for free! 

20% off some delish stocks and broths from Kettle and Fire HERE. 

If you want the benefits of  ‘shrooms but don’t like eating them, Real Mushrooms makes great extracts. 10% off with coupon code LAGAKOS. I recommend Lion’s Mane for the brain and Reishi for everything else. 

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Posted in Advanced nutrition, angiotensin, Bromocriptine, Cabergoline, cancer, chronopharmacology, circadian, depression, diabetes, Dopamine, melatonin, mortality, nicotine, sex, sleep, Sugar, Sun, testosterone, vasopressin, Vitamin D

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Entrain all of your circadian clocks. Full stop.

Posted on October 17, 2018 | Leave a comment

Skipping breakfast shifts skin circadian clock and enhances UVB-induced skin aging and cancer (Wang et al., 2017)… ok, that’s not the real title of the paper, but it’s what the research showed. And it’s kind of amazing.

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Regarding skin cancer and wrinkles, there are two basic processes to focus on: proliferation and protection.

 

 

These processes don’t really overlap: you want endogenous protective mechanisms during the day, to protect against UV rays, and you don’t want to be proliferating at this time because that would increase the chances of a malignant mutation being passed on.


Conversely, at night when the risk of UV-induced DNA damage is considerably less, it’s a green light for proliferation of skin cells. This is healthy, anti-aging-like turnover of skin cells.

We’ve discussed the importance of co-entrainment of your circadian clocks in the path: sunlight in the morning to start up the central pacemaker, breakfast in the morning to co-entrain many of the peripheral clocks with the master clock, exercise to get the skeletal muscle clock on board… but now we have another reason for breakfast: to co-entrain the circadian rhythms in your skin!

Consequences of skipping breakfast, going to the gym at night, staying up late, and having a big dinner: increased risk of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, etc., etc…

In this study: skin aging and cancer.

For the rest of this article and more, head over to Patreon! Five bucks a month for full access and there are many other options. It’s ad-free and you can cancel if it sucks 🙂

If you’re interested in setting up consultations, email me: drlagakos@gmail.com.

Affiliate links: join Binance and get some cryptoassets or download Honeyminer and get some Bitcoins for free! And now you can mine Bitcoin from your Chromebook!

Still looking for a pair of hot blue blockers? Carbonshade and TrueDark are offering 15% off with the coupon code LAGAKOS and Spectra479 is offering 15% off HERE. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, read this then this.

20% off some delish stocks and broths from Kettle and Fire HERE. 

If you want the benefits of  ‘shrooms but don’t like eating them, Real Mushrooms makes great extracts. 10% off with coupon code LAGAKOS. I recommend Lion’s Mane for the brain and Reishi for everything else. 

Join Earn.com with this link.

Start your OWN Patreon campaign!

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Posted in angiotensin, Bromocriptine, Cabergoline, cancer, chronopharmacology, circadian, depression, diabetes, Dopamine, Exercise, melatonin, muscle, Protein, sex, sleep, Sun, testosterone, vasopressin, Vitamin D

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Artificial light at night: effects on cardiovascular disease

Posted on September 8, 2018 | Leave a comment

There is now increasing evidence that exposure to artificial light in the evening and at night increases the risk of cardiovascular disease (Moore-Ede, 2018). Because most “energy efficient” LED light are rich in blue wavelengths, the use of these lights can trigger disease processes involved in hypertension, atherosclerosis, and cardiovascular disease.

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Circadian disruption, melatonin suppression & phase shifting, and activation of chronic inflammatory pathways.

 

 

Sunlight during the day is protective; artificial light at night is harmful. Blue light filters on your smart devices and hot blue blockers on your face are protective.

As always, the effects are most pronounced in actual shift workers who see 20-40% increases in risk of cardiovascular disease, heart attacks, and coronary artery disease…

For the rest of this article and more, head over to Patreon! Five bucks a month for full access and there are many other options. It’s ad-free and you can cancel if it sucks 🙂

Consults are open, contact me if you’re interested: drlagakos@gmail.com

Affiliate links: join Binance and get some cryptoassets or download Honeyminer and get some Bitcoins for free! And now you can mine Bitcoin from your Chromebook!

Still looking for a pair of hot blue blockers? Carbonshade and TrueDark are offering 15% off with the coupon code LAGAKOS and Spectra479 is offering 15% off HERE. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, read this then this.

20% off some delish stocks and broths from Kettle and Fire HERE. 

If you want the benefits of  ‘shrooms but don’t like eating them, Real Mushrooms makes great extracts. 10% off with coupon code LAGAKOS. I recommend Lion’s Mane for the brain and Reishi for everything else. 

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Posted in Advanced nutrition, angiotensin, Bromocriptine, Cabergoline, chronopharmacology, circadian, Dopamine, melatonin, nicotine, sleep, Sun, vasopressin, Vitamin D

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Artificial light at night: effects on breast & prostate cancer

Posted on September 1, 2018 | Leave a comment

There is now substantial evidence that exposure to artificial light at night (ALAN) increases the risk of breast and prostate cancer (Moore-Ede, 2018).

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MOA of ALAN: circadian disruption & phase shifting, melatonin-suppression, and accelerated unsuppressed tumor growth.

 

 

Sunlight during the day is protective. Artificial light at night is harmful.

ALAN-induced melatonin-suppression and circadian disruption increases the risk for certain endocrine-sensitive cancers. While this is most blatantly manifested in shift-workers, it also holds for people who sleep with the lights on and those exposed to, for example, street lamps shining light through bedroom windows at night.

50% increased risk of breast cancer in female shift workers. Up to 200% increased risk prostate cancer in male shift workers.

This is a good one, so if you’re not a Patron yet you’re not gonna want to miss it! Five bucks a month for full access and there are many other options. It’s ad-free and you can cancel if it sucks 🙂

Consults are open, contact me if you’re interested: drlagakos@gmail.com

Affiliate links: join Binance and get some cryptoassets or download Honeyminer and get some Bitcoins for free! And now you can mine Bitcoin from your Chromebook!

Still looking for a pair of hot blue blockers? Carbonshade and TrueDark are offering 15% off with the coupon code LAGAKOS and Spectra479 is offering 15% off HERE. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, read this then this.

20% off some delish stocks and broths from Kettle and Fire HERE. 

If you want the benefits of  ‘shrooms but don’t like eating them, Real Mushrooms makes great extracts. 10% off with coupon code LAGAKOS. I recommend Lion’s Mane for the brain and Reishi for everything else. 

Join Earn.com with this link.

Start your OWN Patreon campaign!

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Posted in angiotensin, Bromocriptine, Cabergoline, cancer, chronopharmacology, Dopamine, melatonin, mortality, sex, sleep, Sun, testosterone, vasopressin, Vitamin D

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Intermittent Fasting and Goalposts

Posted on June 30, 2018 | Leave a comment

I may come across as harsh on Intermittent Fasting (IF) and I’d like to be clear about something. I’m not saying IF will make you gain body fat or die a slow and painful death. I am saying the quality of evidence presented in human studies suggesting it will benefit you somehow is #weaksauce. Further, I don’t really like the idea of huge refeeds. Like, how can 2000 kcals in one sitting be remotely healthy?

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Metabolic. Mayhem.

 

 

You may have noticed many guru’s sliding away from “intermittent fasting” and “skipping breakfast” and toward promoting a more circadian-appropriate feeding pattern. That’s because it’s about when you eat, not the precise duration of the feeding window.

The studies have been done:

 

Which brings me to the current IF study #weaksauce du jour and it’s implications. But for that you’re gonna have to head on over to Patreon! Five bucks a month gets you access to all articles and there are many other options. It’s ad-free and you can cancel if it sucks 🙂

calories proper

Affiliate links: It’s 2018, join Binance and get some cryptoassets or download Honeyminerand get some Bitcoins for free! And now you can mine Bitcoin from your Chromebook!

Still looking for a pair of hot blue blockers? Carbonshade and TrueDark are offering 15% off with the coupon code LAGAKOS and Spectra479 is offering 15% off HERE. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, read this then this.

20% off some delish stocks and broths from Kettle and Fire HERE. 

If you want the benefits of  ‘shrooms but don’t like eating them, Real Mushrooms makes great extracts. 10% off with coupon code LAGAKOS. I recommend Lion’s Mane for the brain and Reishi for everything else. 

Join Earn.com with this link.

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Posted in Advanced nutrition, angiotensin, Bromocriptine, Cabergoline, chronopharmacology, circadian, depression, diabetes, Dopamine, melatonin, nicotine, sex, sleep, Sun, vasopressin, Vitamin D

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Mutual influence of sleep and circadian clocks on physiology and cognition

Posted on May 1, 2018 | Leave a comment

“The 24-hour sleep-wake cycle is one of the most prominent outputs of the circadian clock systems (Heyde et al., 2018)”

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Sleep disruption and circadian arrhythmia induce metabolic, cognitive, and immunological impairments. Is it causal? YES.

 

 

Sleep is highly conserved across the animal kingdom, since the dawn of time.

Interesting comparison: unlike hibernation or a coma, sleep is highly reversible. Lots of rebound regulation: lots of wakefulness makes you tired; lots of sleep leads to increased wakefulness.

Studies have shown improved memory performance after naps and extended sleep durations. Imo, you don’t need to go from 6 to 9.5 hours overnight, but keep that “9.5” on your radar.

Diet is easy, just eat like an adult. You can go 10 days without even eating! Try that with sleep. No, don’t try that. Most definitely incompatible with survival. Sleep deprivation impairs cognitive functions.

As a marker of health: cognitive function >>> how many reps you can do at the gym.

For the rest of this article (it doesnt suck, I promise!), head over to Patreon! Five bucks a month and there are many other options. It’s ad-free and you can cancel any time.

Also, I’m open to suggestions, so please don’t hesitate to leave a comment or contact me directly at drlagakos@gmail.com.

Affiliate links: It’s 2018, join Binance and get some damn cryptoassets or download Honeyminer and get some Bitcoins for free!

Still looking for a pair of hot blue blockers? Carbonshade and TrueDark are offering 15% off with the coupon code LAGAKOS and Spectra479 is offering 15% off HERE. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, read this then this.

20% off some delish stocks and broths from Kettle and Fire HERE. 

If you want the benefits of  ‘shrooms but don’t like eating them, Real Mushrooms makes great extracts. 10% off with coupon code LAGAKOS. I recommend Lion’s Mane for the brain and Reishi for everything else. 

Start your OWN Patreon campaign!

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calories proper

 

 

It STARTS with Sleep.

 

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Posted in Advanced nutrition, angiotensin, Bromocriptine, Cabergoline, cancer, chronopharmacology, circadian, depression, diabetes, Dopamine, Energy balance, insulin, Leptin, melatonin, sex, sleep, Sun, testosterone, vasopressin, Vitamin D

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Chronobiological theories of mood disorders

Posted on January 28, 2018 | 1 comment

Another comprehensive review article: Chronobiological theories of mood disorders (Zaki et al., 2017)

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Here is my summary and opinions about it.

Tl;dr: the authors cautiously explored the bidirectional and/or causal effect of sleep & circadian disorders vs. mood disorders. I appreciated their caution but a lot of the evidence presented suggested circadian arrhythmia as a causal agent.

Tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs) and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) don’t address underlying circadian and seasonal rhythm dysfunctions, so patients are usually prescribed these meds indefinitely.

In the future, they see light therapy and melatonin receptor agonists as better treatments. I’d say an outdoor walk sunlight exposure after breakfast in the morning, blue blockers or nix artificial light at night, and instead of melatonin agonists, consider serine.

“The master clock controlling chronophysiological rhythms of theand body organs is located in the SCN…” VIP and AVP are abundant in the SCN! I knew it! LOL

“Humans’ endogenous rhythmic activity has a period slightly longer than 24 hours, hence, it needs daily entrainment to 24 hours with zeitgebers.”

Translation: SUNLIGHT AND BREAKFAST IN THE MORNING

Evidence favoring circadian and sleep disorders as causal agents in mood disorders:

For the rest of this article (or if you just like what I do and want to support it), head over to Patreon! Five bucks a month gets you full access and there are many other options.

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Also, I’m open to suggestions, so please don’t hesitate to leave a comment or contact me directly at drlagakos@gmail.com.

UPDATED Affiliate links: still looking for a pair of hot blue blockers? Carbonshade  is offering 15% off with the coupon code LAGAKOS and Spectra479 is offering 15% off HERE.
If you have no idea what I’m talking about, read this then this.

20% off some delish stocks and broths from Kettle and Fire HERE. 

If you want the benefits of  ‘shrooms but don’t like eating them, Real Mushrooms makes great extracts. 10% off with coupon code LAGAKOS. I recommend Lion’s Mane for the brain and Reishi for everything else. 

calories proper

 

 

 

 

 

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Posted in angiotensin, Bromocriptine, Cabergoline, chronopharmacology, circadian, Dopamine, melatonin, sleep, Sun, Vitamin D

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Poor sleep, “dietary disinhibition,” and weight gain

Posted on December 30, 2017 | Leave a comment

“Dietary disinhibition”

In school, the concept was taught like this: recruit a bunch of people and tell them it’s for a cookie taste-testing project. Give them a form with a bunch of questions about cookie quality (taste, texture, sweetness, etc.) and a plate of cookies.

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SWITCHAROO!

They aren’t there for a cookie taste-test. It turns out that some people experience “dietary disinhibition” wherein if they eat one cookie, they think something like “well, I’ve blown my diet for the day, so might as well just eat the whole plate of cookies” (actually, I’m pretty sure it’s way more complicated than that, but I learned it in a nutrition class, not a psychology class).

It’s not a lot of people — most would just take a bite and fill out the questionnaire — but it’s been replicated in enough settings that it’s probably a real phenomenon.

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Posted in Advanced nutrition, angiotensin, Bromocriptine, Cabergoline, cancer, chronopharmacology, circadian, depression, diet, Dopamine, Energy balance, fertility, Fish, melatonin, mortality, muscle, Protein, sex, sleep, strength, Sun, vasopressin, Vitamin D

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Brain health: more easy steps

Posted on December 6, 2017 | Leave a comment

When describing the length of one of his students’ fingers, the great classical guitarist Andres Segovia said “she has more long fingers than anyone else” — he meant longer fingers… English wasn’t his strong suit haha

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Maximize sunlight exposure, minimize artificial light (or at least get some hot blue blockers). Get at least some physical activity. Those are the basics. Moving on…

Tl;dr: Beef heart, calf liver, and maybe some supps 🙂

Coenzyme Q10

Coenzyme Q10 isn’t approved for the treatment of anything, but hear me out.

We have about a gram of CoQ10 in our entire body, concentrated in the mitochondria of highly oxidative tissues (Saini, 2011). It is found at around 60-110 ug/g in heart (eg, Ercan and El, 2011 & Aberg et al., 1992).

 

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Posted in Advanced nutrition, chronopharmacology, diet, Dopamine, Ketosis, melatonin, sex, Sun, Vitamin D

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