Quantum strategies for morning sickness
Quantum strategies for morning sickness
Accommodating the naturally pro-oxidant and inflammatory state of the first trimester
Looking back on my most recent pregnancy, the worst part for me was the morning sickness in the first trimester. I do not handle queasiness well! Even though I’ve never thrown up from morning sickness, that part of pregnancy is just the worst.
I remember thinking, “I’d rather be in labor than going through this!”
(it turns out, this labor was so fun and powerful, that longing was 100% true! but the birth is a story for another time)
In my work supporting families, the question of what to do for morning sickness comes up pretty often. For the past decade that I’ve been having babies and doing perinatal work, my experiences and advice have been pretty standard: frequent mini-meals, protein, soothing teas, plenty of rest, patience.
After being pregnant and getting certified as a quantum biology practitioner earlier this year, I decided to look into morning sickness again through this new lens.
—> Book a virtual doula visit with me to talk about your pregnancy here.
I, for one, wish I could have had this quantum information sooner!
The most rapidly actionable information I found is that morning sickness may be related to the physiological increase of oxidative force in early pregnancy1. I shared a metaphor about the quantum view of oxidant/antioxidant balance here—go ahead and read this if you aren’t familiar with the concept of redox:
To summarize, brute force application of dietary antioxidants doesn’t make sense in situations of true oxidative stress because they will never resolve the issue that is unbalancing redox in the first place. In pregnancy, the oxidation itself is part of the altered immune function natural to this process.
Since the immune system functions differently in pregnancy, and since part of that difference is related to the use of pro-oxidant states, getting rid of the oxidative force altogether would be detrimental. In reading the following excerpt, remember that inflammation is oxidative stress from the immune system:
“Implantation, placentation, and the first and early second trimester of pregnancy resemble “an open wound” that requires a strong inflammatory response. During this first stage, the blastocyst has to break through the epithelial lining of the uterus in order to implant; damage the endometrial tissue to invade; followed by the trophoblast replacement of the endothelium and vascular smooth muscle of the maternal blood vessels in order to secure an adequate placental-fetal blood supply. All these activities create a veritable “battleground” of invading cells, dying cells, and repairing cells. An inflammatory environment is required in order to secure the adequate repair of the uterine epithelium and the removal of cellular debris. Meanwhile, the mother’s well-being is clinically affected: she feels sick because her whole body is struggling to adapt to the presence of the fetus (in addition to hormone changes and other factors, this inflammatory response is responsible for “morning sickness”). Thus, the first trimester of pregnancy is a proinflammatory phase.”
Mor, G., Cardenas, I., Abrahams, V., & Guller, S. (2011)
However, the modern lifestyle tends to overload us with oxidative forces unrelated to pregnancy, while also depleting the natural antioxidant protections we should have. These come from excessive time in indoor environments, poor lifestyle choices, and pre-existing comorbidities2.
So what can we do? A way to balance the sickening effects of the increased oxidant forces could be through the body’s internal antioxidant systems (redox). This is tricky, as a lot of things that we would ordinarily turn to—mainly dietary antioxidants and anti-inflammatories—haven’t proven effective. Not only that, but antioxidant interventions can even be detrimental in pregnancy3.
I taught a class about this topic and also wrote more extensively here:
Therefore, to improve this inflammatory situation of early pregnancy, we likely need to optimize our own endogenous (made by the body) antioxidant systems, like melatonin4.
An abundance of in vitro, animal-based and clinical evidence supports a role for melatonin in the management of preeclampsia, and indeed other disorders of pregnancy. Only through ongoing investigation of naturally occurring antioxidants, such as melatonin, can we hope to safely prolong pregnancy in severe preeclampsia and perhaps, for the first time in fifty years, offer a way to improve, and save, the lives of pregnant women with preeclampsia and their babies.
Langston-Cox, A., Marshall, S. A., Lu, D., Palmer, K. R., & Wallace, E. M. (2021)
The research coming to light about redox in pregnancy is profound in its potential for improving—and even saving—the lives of women with both normal and complicated pregnancies.
From a quantum biological perspective, the first thing I think of when it comes to balancing redox is bioelectricity and electron flow.
That is because oxidant activity is positively charged, while antioxidant activity is negatively charged.
The easiest way to balance these forces in the body is through exclusion zone (EZ) water5 in the collagen network.
EZ water responds well to earthing and facilitates good changes throughout the body6.
When you charge the collagen, it increases the amount of EZ water7—and this EZ water has a positively charged side (proton-rich) and a negatively charged side (electron-rich) that can balance either side of the redox equation.
In other words, charging the collagen allows the body to move protons (pro-oxidants) or electrons (anti-oxidants) to any system.
So, unlike adding dietary antioxidants, which only donate electrons, charging the collagen increases the potential for either side of the redox equation.
Balancing forces in this way can even reach deep pockets of (potentially unknown) inflammation that can manifest as oxidative stress during the physiological rise in oxidant activity in early pregnancy.
Other modalities can’t reach these deep areas as readily because the collagen network is the only system in the body that touches every other system in the body.
The most researched ways of charging the collagen and EZ water are:
-infrared8 (ie early morning and late evening sunlight if you don’t want UV at the same time)
-grounding and earthing (for minutes to hours at a time)
While I was feeling queasy last winter, the weather felt cold and the sunshine didn’t feel so good (not to mention the days were short).
What I found worked for me was exposing my belly to the wood stove with the doors open.
I’ve heard from other mamas that they have found relief from pregnancy nausea in the bath or shower. So, EZ water might be an explanation for why this works!
Not only may absorbing electrons and infrared help reduce morning sickness, it may actually reduce the risk of negative outcomes across the lifespan for a mama and her baby!
Questions?
Mor, G., Cardenas, I., Abrahams, V., & Guller, S. (2011). Inflammation and pregnancy: the role of the immune system at the implantation site. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1221(1), 80–87. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.2010.05938.x
Toboła-Wróbel, K., Pietryga, M., Dydowicz, P., Napierała, M., Brązert, J., & Florek, E. (2020). Association of Oxidative Stress on Pregnancy. Oxidative medicine and cellular longevity, 2020, 6398520. https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/6398520
Manna, S., Ruano, C. S. M., Hegenbarth, J. C., Vaiman, D., Gupta, S., McCarthy, F. P., Méhats, C., McCarthy, C., Apicella, C., & Scheel, J. (2022). Computational Models on Pathological Redox Signalling Driven by Pregnancy: A Review. Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland), 11(3), 585. https://doi.org/10.3390/antiox11030585
Langston-Cox, A., Marshall, S. A., Lu, D., Palmer, K. R., & Wallace, E. M. (2021). Melatonin for the Management of Preeclampsia: A Review. Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland), 10(3), 376. https://doi.org/10.3390/antiox10030376
Pollack G. H. (2013). The Fourth Phase of Water: a role in fascia?. Journal of bodywork and movement therapies, 17(4), 510–511. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbmt.2013.05.001
Oschman, J. L., Chevalier, G., & Brown, R. (2015). The effects of grounding (earthing) on inflammation, the immune response, wound healing, and prevention and treatment of chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. Journal of inflammation research, 8, 83–96. https://doi.org/10.2147/JIR.S69656
Rad, I., Stahlberg, R., Kung, K., & Pollack, G. H. (2021). Low frequency weak electric fields can induce structural changes in water. PloS one, 16(12), e0260967. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0260967
Barolet, D., Christiaens, F., & Hamblin, M. R. (2016). Infrared and skin: Friend or foe. Journal of photochemistry and photobiology. B, Biology, 155, 78–85. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jphotobiol.2015.12.014