Folate Part IV: Summer vs Winter Methylation Patterns
The benefits of circadian lifestyle choices compound over the years through each seasonal metabolic shift
The circadian rhythm yokes us to the seasons.
In this post, we’re going to look a little closer at the mechanism of that.
Seasonal living: yes, it’s a beautiful aesthetic.
The beauty of seasonal living for health
Seasonal living choices also influence how your body methylates / de-methylates in rhythm:
Circadian health depends on healthy folate cycles. Together, circadian regulation of the production and utilization of methyl groups leads to optimal methylation over time.
This whole process is key to epigenetic expression:
To summarize my point here, while the short-term benefits of circadian lifestyle choices pay off quickly in improved sleep and energy, over the longer term (a year or more) these habits may lead to beneficial epigenetic reprogramming.
Circadian rhythmicity drives the seasonal metabolic shift between summer and winter
Not only will circadian health give a healthier day / night expression, but also lead to a healthier winter maintenance / summer growth expression.
Is there a seasonal pattern to anemia?
Looping back in to the Quantum Anemias Theories series we’ve been working through, the body’s methylation state and the relationship to being in either a summer-type metabolism or a winter-type metabolism is going to shift the body’s overall tendency to be either dumping or gathering minerals.
The problem isn’t to currently be in one or the other metabolic state—but to not be shifting dynamically between them across the years.
This is where the circadian habit of viewing sunrise, noon, and sunset and having a dark night is one of the best things you can do for yourself not only today, but over time.
The sun’s role in driving the seasonal transition of mineral metabolism
I’ll be sharing a post soon deepening the conversation around melanin’s role in this, as melanin gathers copper and iron. Melanin seems to have the ability to gather it as a store in the summer for future use, as well as serving as a means of disposing of excess minerals when the tan skin sloughs off in the winter.
These kinds of solar-informed time cues are what tell your body when to shift its metabolism.
Day by day, the time cues send you through the seasons just like the time cues send the plants through the seasons.
While we get immediate gains in sleep in mood with circadian stability, (observationally) it seems that if you have had a very flat or disrupted circadian rhythm for a long time, it may take a couple rounds through the full seasonal cycle of the year before your body can fluidly shift gears between the different seasonal metabolic states.
Metabolic flexibility and pregnancy
One of the patterns I notice with women in their birthing years is that sometimes they are very healthy seeming and very dedicated to their health before pregnancy, but when they become pregnant, their body is not able to shift gears very well and then they have an upwelling of health difficulty (like morning sickness or irrational fears) in the first trimester.
I recommend my Nausea and Vomiting in Pregnancy Masterclass (included with all paid monthly/annual/quantum subscriptions) to dive deeper into this.
Replay: Morning Sickness, NVP and HG Masterclass
You’ll learn all about new circadian and quantum ways to support yourself or your clients through the difficult experiences of morning sickness, nausea and vomiting in pregnancy (NVP), and hyperemesis gravidarum (HG) in this nearly 2 hour masterclass.
Thanks for reading, folks! I do so enjoy putting these articles together for you.