Ep 041: Change Your Lightbulbs, Change Your Life? Meredith Oke & Kelli Ritter On Why Circadian Rhythms Matter So Much
Sep 14, 2023
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Meredith Oke and Kelli Ritter discuss the importance of circadian rhythms and light in our health. They share Meredith's journey to quantum biology, recommend small lifestyle changes like smart light habits, and emphasize following intuition. The conversation explores the Quantum Biology Collective's role in understanding the impact of light on our well-being.
Embracing a circadian lifestyle involves aligning with natural rhythms through smart light habits and adapting to change based on intuition.
Understanding the profound impact of light exposure on well-being can lead to significant improvements in sleep quality and overall health.
Deep dives
Embracing Change and Intuition for a Circadian Lifestyle Journey
In this episode, the speaker discusses her journey towards a circadian lifestyle, emphasizing the importance of following intuition and adapting to change. Starting in her early 30s, she shifted from rigid planning to intuitive living, focusing on behaviors aligned with her inner needs. Despite feeling uncertain at times, she embraced a lifestyle outside the norm, exploring different locations worldwide and collecting diverse experiences.
Discovering the Impact of Light on Health and Chronic Fatigue
The episode highlights the speaker's realization of the negative impact of artificial light on her health, especially while living in Hong Kong, leading to chronic fatigue. Through various attempts at conventional treatments and lifestyle changes like naturopathy and nutrition, she struggled to combat the overwhelming fatigue. By reevaluating her environment's circadian influences, especially light exposure and screen time, she gradually found the key to improving her well-being.
Transitioning to a Light-Centric Approach for Well-Being
The speaker shares insights on transitioning to a light-centric approach for well-being, stressing the significance of natural light exposure and minimizing exposure to harmful artificial light sources. With adjustments like using incandescent bulbs in the evening and aligning meal times with optimal circadian rhythm, she experienced notable improvements in sleep quality and overall health. By incorporating light-focused habits into daily routines, she discovered the profound impact of light on holistic wellness.
Role of Quantum Biology in Shifting Paradigms for Health
The episode explores the emerging field of quantum biology and its transformative potential in redefining health paradigms. Speakers discuss the link between circadian biology and quantum processes, highlighting the role of subatomic particles and environmental light on cellular functioning. Embracing a quantum perspective reveals the interconnectedness between light exposure, mitochondrial function, and overall well-being, offering a new framework for understanding and optimizing health practices.
We're doing something different this week by airing an interview that the lovely Dr. Kelli Ritter of the Nourished Soul podcast did with our own Meredith Oke. Listeners have been asking for an episode that covers the basics of starting in a circadian lifestyle, and this episode does a great job of sharing Meredith's very own journey.
Meredith realized that traditional health advice wasn't working for her. So she decided to look into alternative ways to improve her wellness and address her chronic fatigue. This search led her to quantum biology and the important role of light in our health.
During the episode, Meredith discusses the core elements of a lifestyle that aligns with our body's natural rhythms, which includes smart light habits. She also talks about living in different countries and how she managed to stay healthy despite various challenges. Throughout the episode, Meredith encourages us to keep an open mind and follow our gut feelings. She encourages listeners who are ingesting lots of health and wellbeing content to be patient with themselves and start with small, easy changes like spending more time outdoors and using softer lighting in the evening to better align with our body's rhythms.
This is a great episode to learn more about following your intuition, and using excellent resources, like The Quantum Biology Collective Podcast and leveraging resources like the experts within the Quantum Biology Collective to help you understand the powerful impact of using your natural circadian biology to enhance your health.
Quotes:
"I somehow decided to just hand my life over to my intuition and not to that part of our minds that wants to plan everything and make it fit in boxes." (02:34 | Meredith Oke)
"I didn't become protective of my indoor light till I learned really more about the circadian biology and understanding quantum biology." (27:18 | Dr. Kelli Ritter)
"So we just started very slowly making videos and interviewing as many experts as we could find on the topic and organizing the information for people who were not in a place where they were going to spend like hundreds of hours sifting through." (31:48 | Meredith Oke)