The Science of Sunshine & Beach Days: The Curious Clinic 1/10

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:41

Welcome to the Curious Clinic, Rethinking Health, Science, and Summer with me, Dr. Nicole. Welcome to our summer excursion where we bring everything outside into curiosity, into life, into sunshine, maybe some rainy days. I don't know where you live, where you're listening to this, but here in sunny Bonita Springs, Florida, it's usually sunny. I mean, we do have a rainstorm once a day, but that's normal for Florida. But I want to dive into just telling you the intro to why I came up with this series, right? So things about life, we get in the mundaneess of collecting information and studying, studying, studying. That's been my whole life. And I forget to go outside. I forget to live life. I forget to do life with my family, with my friends. Um, I kind of am more of a serious person unless I make myself get back to my curious, childlike self. So the reason why I thought about this and wanted to do a series that brought the lab outside is because of those reasons. I don't know if you're like that. Um, do you ever find yourself kind of going to work and just really being focused on work or you're a stay-at-home mom or stay-at-home parent, and you're really focused on gotta get my chores done, gotta get this rhythm done, gotta get, and you check the boxes and you forget to go, wait a second, I need to smell the roses, I need to dig in the sand, I need to go outside, I need to play, I need to relax and laugh. And so I'm like, how can I do this? anyways, so this is geared towards entrepreneurs who need a break, longevity seekers who need more grounding, um, and anybody who's got chronic illness, right? All of us listening to this podcast, doing this podcast, um, experiencing this from the inside out, the Curiosity Clinic is made to get you to ask why. It's made to turn the world into your classroom. It's it's going to help you, whatever you've been learning, to put it into play, and maybe even think above and beyond that. So I'm gonna give examples, I'm gonna go through a lot of things in each of my episodes. I do have 10 for this summer, and I will be dropping them and recording them um throughout the beginning of summer. Hopefully, I can get them done. I've been getting very busy. You know, this is not the only thing I do. If it was, these podcasts would be a lot better. They'd have sound effects, I'd have guests on here all the time, which I would love to do. So if you want to, you know, you have a topic you want to talk about, and reach out to me. But, anyways, this Curiosity Clinic series is really geared towards getting the entrepreneur, the longevity seeker, and the chronic illness patient something else to look at, something else to discover, a way back to our youth that allows us to also progress in whatever realm we are seeking. Okay, what you should expect in this summer series, we are gonna take the science out and make our world our lab, right? So we're gonna take it hopefully into the sunshine, like I was saying before. Not everybody has sunshine every day. Florida is very sunny, and sometimes I have to put on my sunglasses, it's that sunny. Not often, but I do. But each week we're gonna break down complex medical research, physics, and biology into fun, bite-sized lessons that fit seamlessly into your real life. From the circadian biology into your morning beach walk to the neuroplasticity of family and road trips, which, if you're like me, we're gonna be taking a road trip this summer, so this might come at the best time. I might drop it when I'm taking a road trip and listen to it a few times myself. Um, this podcast turns everyday moments into powerful opportunities for growth and healing. Expect high-level cutting-edge science delivered into warmth, humor, and clarity. The content is engineered to help high-achieving adults. I don't know, you're probably more high-achieving than me, but biohack your routine. It's also clean so you can engage the kids, you can listen, you can learn, and you can be amazed right from your car and the road trip. So there's many things that we're gonna touch on, and in a moment, we are gonna talk about our first episode. So that's the intro to what we're doing. All right, let's get into episode one: the science of sunshine and beach days. Today we're gonna do exactly that by exploring the biology of a beach day. Let's start with the magic of morning light. For my fellow entrepreneurs and chronic illness warriors, getting outside before 10 a.m. is a massive biohack. Have you ever wondered why? Sunlight wakes you up for a reason. It's not just uh you know, like we wake up. No, but why? Why do we wake up? Right? This is something that we talk about a lot in my clinic. But viewing sunlight before 10 o'clock without sunglasses for 10 to 15 minutes, it hits your retina and signals your brain's clock to optimize your cortisol. That's a hormone. Okay, for all of you out there, that's a hormone. When we optimize a hormone, that means we help regulate it, we help get it into either a rhythm or the right amount of what it should be. This allows for the proper daytime energy. It's kind of like eating breakfast. When you wake, you break your fast by eating breakfast. There's a lot of science behind that, but that is not what we're talking about today. So daytime energy gets triggered when you have 10 to 15 minutes before 10 a.m. of the sunshine hitting your retina. That's in your eye, right? So that optimize your cortisol for the day, right? So when we start talking about cortisol, we start talking about a rhythm. A rhythm happens usually in a set amount of time. The circadian rhythm is a 24-hour clock. It is what sets your wake and sleep cycles. So this is important for a lot of people who have chronic illness. This is important for a lot of entrepreneurs who like to wake up early and start the day and really get motivated. Um, stepping outside after your 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 a.m. routine before 10 o'clock to get some sunshine in your eyes is going to really change that rhythm. And the reason why that's so important is because when you get outside for that sunshine, it starts your clock, it starts your clock countdown for the opposite hormone, which is melatonin. So, those of you kids who are sitting in the back listening to this and going, oh, another podcast, learning something new. Guess what? A circadian rhythm is super cool. If you look that up with your parents today, you can just look up circadian rhythm, you're gonna come up with a lot of images, you can come up with a lot of YouTube, you can explore it yourself this week. But when you do that, you're gonna see your melatonin when it is high, you sleep. When it is high, growth hormone is also high. That's the cleanup crew. So if you're in the morning and you get sunshine for 10 to 15 minutes before 10 a.m., what happens? You start triggering the countdown for your sleep. So if you have trouble sleeping, this is the number one thing you can start doing. And don't look directly in the sun, okay? Parents, don't let your kids look directly in the sun. You also do not look directly in the sun. Just being out in the sun is plenty. But that 14-hour countdown begins when you really get that high amount of early sun. That's the circadian rhythm that I'm talking about. If you want more information on that, we can definitely dive into that in your discovery call with me. But today we're just talking about biohacks. Today we're talking about the easy and simple road trip, summer ideas that we can go to the beach and we can really enjoy these things together as parents and children. So biohacking is basically doing things that are lifestyle-based that can really optimize what you're doing. For example, if you were to go out at two o'clock, it's not going to do the same thing. Well, it kind of you'll get activation of your mitochondria, you'll get all those things, but it doesn't optimize because it's not in the circadian rhythm at the right time. So our bodies have timing, right? Our rhythm, our releases of hormones have timing. So it's best when you biohack to do things at the right time and the right way because you're teaming up with your body to optimize what the body is already created to do. So that's where biohacking comes in. Biohacking is basically the most bang for your buck, the most um, the best way and the most um efficient way that you can do something so you don't have to do it as long. It's like working out, you know, the big craze, high intensity interval training, everybody does it. Well, yeah, it's great when you're doing it the right way and for your genetics. The sun, having it 10 to 15 minutes, oh, it doesn't matter what time of day. Actually, it does. Because if you're gonna optimize hormones, right, you're gonna optimize sleep cycles, then you want to look at doing it before 10 a.m. So when you have a beach day, you can be like, hey mom, hey dad, I really want to go to the beach because we need to optimize our circadian rhythm. You know, nine times out of ten, as a parent, I'd be like, oh my gosh, my kid's listening to me. Let's go to the beach, and that's what we would do. Well, if we can, some of us have to work, but that's where it's like if you kids want to get your parents to do something, you gotta outsmart them, right? This is the what do they call that? Oh, it's gonna come back to me. The art of negotiation, right? There's a book on that. So, kids, if you want to outsmart your parents, you just gotta use these biohacks on them. Hey, you know, you're not sleeping at night. Maybe it's because we didn't do a beach day today. Let's optimize that tomorrow. Okay, we're gonna jump into sandcastles when you're at the beach. What happens when you're at the beach and you see the sand and and you're like, wow, I really want to make a sandcastle? Did you know that there are actually physics behind this? A certain amount of water per a certain amount of sand is the optimal amount of water. It'll hold it together like glue, it'll actually make the best sandcastle. And I think that's the number one thing that these sandcastle um competitors use is they have to learn the science. I think they go to a physics lab and they learn the science of sand to know and feel and and be able to um with their eyes closed, understand, okay, this sand's too wet, this sand's too dry, this one's just right, like the Goldie Goldilocks and the three bears. Um, so sand works the same way. Physics says H2O plus whatever the sand is made out of. I don't know the chemical makeup of that. It can vary per beach. But when you mix one, what is it? One part yeah, one part water to eight part sand, that is the perfect mixture. So, kids, if you have like a little cup, you would take eight cups of whatever cups you are in the sand there, and you'd pile them up in a bucket, let's say, or a bin, I guess, or on the ground. That's how I do science. But um, and then you take one of those same cups and you pour water on it, if it's not already wet, then you mix it all together. That is supposed to be the mixture, that is where it doesn't fall apart and it holds together. It is the perfect glue for the sand. It's called surface tension. When we create the perfect surface tension on anything, like you've seen it, or spiders jump across the water, you've seen that, you know. Like, how do they well, the surface tension of the water and the spider, it can hold them up either because of how they're spread out, how they land on the water, um, so they spread out their weight or how light they are or what's in the water. Um, different water has different surface tension, I believe. Don't quote me on that, I'm not a physicist. However, those are the surface tensions that can happen. So when you mix something, you have a mixture, you have a tension that's built on it, right? So when you push on the sand, there's a certain tension that it can hold or that it has. And that is one part water to eight parts sand. So you go, hey mom and dad, uh, we really need to optimize our circadian rhythm. So let's get to the beach before 10 and we'll all sit there for 10 minutes, and then we'll play. And guess what? We're gonna make a sand castle and we'll leave you alone because now we know the science behind sand is eight part sand to one part water. We know how to mix it up, we know what surface tension is. Yay! And they'll go, oh my gosh, we'll be able to sit there and my kids will play in the sand. It'll be glorious. So, just some fun facts for you kids to get your parents to do what you want them to. Parents, sorry about that, but you know, we got to teach them young, right? Here is the curious fact of the day. Okay, just 15 minutes of sun produces thousands of IUs of vitamin D. This is crucial for immune health. Now, what I am gonna say is some people genetically they cannot do this. And so if your D levels are still low after you start sitting in the sun 15 minutes a day, um, let's have a conversation. But for most people who do not have these genetic SNP variants, 15 minutes in the sun produces a lot of vitamin D, which is crucial for your immune system, right? Walking barefoot in the sand, this one is what this I never could figure out why I loved walking barefoot in the sand. Why I love walking barefoot even in like the woods. Now I don't like going into a body of water and touching the bottom because I can't see it. Like that's weird for me, but touching my feet to earth, I never could understand why. Well, our body's innate system, it desires things that are usually good for it, unless you train it bad, and that's a whole different discussion. But most of the time, our body says, Hey, you need this, and it'll gravitate towards that. So when you earth or do some earthing, right? Get outside, and it has to be bare feet on the earth, it actually reduces inflammation. And heaven forbid, my major pathways that are heightened are my inflammatory pathways for genetics, and that's what allows me to go, oh, for me, this is extremely important. So when your feet are in the sand, take off your sandals and walk. And as soon as they hit that sand, they start picking up what's called um electrons. So this is kind of science-y, right? So when you have electrons, you have neutrons. So electrons are negative charges, neutrons are um neutral, and protons are positive. But electrons usually will bind like free radicals, right? And they will neutralize them. So in our body, it acts as like an anoxidant. No, it is not an anoxidant, but it acts like one. So grounding in the sand, grounding when you're walking paths of the earth that are not concrete, grounding in the earth transfers those electrons into our body. And that's all the hype that you hear about grounding. It's so good, right? Look into the sun. The sun should actually um help penetrate and help the circadian rhythm before 10 a.m. Then you go to the beach and you play in the sand, and you and you can ground with putting, you know, when you get buried in the sand. Oh, that's fun. Well, a lot of that is because it's calming and soothing to the body. And when you do that, it's clinically and scientifically um been shown to reduce inflammation. So you have chronic inflammation, you have maybe even cancer cells. I'm not saying this is a treatment like that's gonna cure you, but it's going to help get electrons to go and neutralize a lot of the um free radicals in our body. So when you go, spend some time in the sand, leave your parents alone, children. The more you leave the parents alone, typically, unless you're a cool parent, you know, that likes to play in the sand and play with your kids, which there are a few out there some days. I'm that parent some days. Um, but if you leave the if you leave your parents alone, they actually want to be at the beach. It just is when it makes it more work for them. It's really hard for us to want to be there. So the fact for the day is 10 to 15 minutes before 10 o'clock, get your face in the sun. Do not look directly at the sun and help your circadian rhythm, right? Increase your vitamin D and help your immune health. Then when you're barefoot in the sand and you earth, it reduces inflammation. So if you do those things 10 to 15 minutes every single day, you are biohacking doubly. So remember these two tips. Kids, get out there, but make sure you get your mineral sunblock, zinc oxide, slather that on, and make sure you don't get sunburnt. Some of us get real sunburnt down here in the 13 plus um UV rays. It's already at 11. So, anyways, it's been awesome and my pleasure to speak with you guys. I'm so excited for you guys to hear my next episodes to give you just kind of a pre a prequel. Episode two, we're gonna talk about road trip resilience, neuroplasticity. Woo hoo! So excited. Episode three, we're gonna go into backyard botany and the longevity garden. Four, episode four, we're gonna do the physics of water sports and hydration hacks, right? So this is gonna be packed. Episode five, we're gonna do campfire chronicles, sleep stars, and storytelling, right? We're gonna get into all of this stuff. Grill Master Science will follow. What else do we have? Theme parks and adrenaline, stress versus thrill. Um, and then episode eight, summer reading and cognitive fitness. What's next on the agenda? I get so excited about this. The science of sweat and summer fitness, and then the end of summer reset, transitions, and goal setting. So we have a packed summer. I hope that you can dive in with us. I hope to keep them short, more like 10 to 15 minutes. This one's a little bit longer because we did the intro to the whole series. But I want to give you fun facts that you can listen to in the car with your kids, that you can listen on your road trip, that you can listen in your ears while you're doing the dishes. However, that is, I hope that you learned something today, and I hope you stay curious.