Let’s look at the first preventable cause of newborn jaundice: lack of hydration and subsequent dehydration and constipation
Lack of hydration, or dehydration, is a common problem in pregnancy and breastfeeding. If a mama is dehydrated, can her baby who is dependent upon her also be dehydrated? Of course! And then what happens? Her baby can get constipated and have less pee… leading to increased bilirubin circulating and possibly a jaundice diagnosis. What is the prescription?
It’s important for newborns to make lots of wet and dirty diapers… otherwise, they are at increased risk for jaundice.
Here’s our first paradigm shift.
Current wisdom says mama needs breastfeed more to help relieve their baby’s constipation.
Current wisdom says to support herself by drinking lots of water and electrolytes, and avoiding diuretics.
^All good advice and great places to start.
But, that advice completely overlooks the way cells are hydrated. Cells are not actually hydrated by the water we drink—at least, not very well.
How does cellular hydration really work?
Cells are better hydrated by the water made inside mitochondria by the electron transport chain. This is a bit of biochemistry, but here’s what you need to know:
The electron transport chain is inside our mitochondria. Mitochondria are often dubbed the “powerhouse of the cell.” This process does more than make energy—it also makes water on the inside of cells!
The same cellular process that creates ATP energy is also simultaneously creating water out of Oxygen and Hydrogen and Electrons, INSIDE of cells.
For the mama who always drinks but is never hydrated, and for the babies who are growing from them, this mitochondria-made water (variously called EZ water or structured water or 4th phase water) is the true key of hydration.
This process is not only ignored in conventional jaundice treatment, but it is directly interfered with! The artificial light phototherapy and the electric incubator environment both decrease EZ water.
How can the environment decrease EZ water and cause dehydration?
EZ water responds positively to light, and particularly benefits from infrared (warm) frequencies. These warm frequencies are exactly the ones that are cut out of modern, energy-efficient bulbs and the blue-specific lights used in jaundice phototherapy.
Lack of warmth in today’s lighting contributes to cellular dehydration because it LACKS the warm frequencies that fuel EZ water production inside our mitochondria, while containing excess blue light frequencies, which damage mitochondrial DNA (and remember that the electron transport chain is housed in the mitochondria).
Additionally, electrons from the Earth were historically a major source of electrical energy humans received. Ever since rubber-soled shoes replaced leather-soled shoes, we have had a much harder time accessing this source of electrons.
Wearing rubber-soled shoes has changed our basic electrical state from negative (aka alkaline aka healthy) to positive (aka acidic aka inflamed).
Instead of the natural flow of warm sunlight from the Sun and abundant electrons from the Earth, we spend most of our time bathed in man-made light and electricity. While many argue these fields don’t affect “biology,” no one disputes they affect circadian rhythms and voltage gated channels in the body. Cells need a net negative charge to function well, and man-made electricity opens the gates that flood cells with positive charges. Here’s how that relates to cellular hydration:
the electron transport chain is located inside of mitochrondria
the electron transport chain is a bioelectric system that runs on free electrons obtained from the earth and the food we eat to combine with the air we breath (H+, O2+) to make EZ water and ATP inside of cells
the electron transport chain runs well on Nature’s ubiquitous electrical frequencies (e-)
the electron transport chain is disrupted by electrical frequencies that don’t match those found in Nature
for example, machine-made electrical frequencies open voltage-gated ion channels in the brain and throughout the body
excess positively charged ions (+) from manmade electrical frequencies adds positive charges to cells, which is another way of saying it increases the oxidative stress load which is undesireable
when cells have an overly positive charge, negatively charged electrons can’t make it through the electron transport chain and excess reactive oxygen species result (cue oxidative stress and inflammation)
when electrons can’t make it through the electron transport chain, it impairs the creation of ATP and H2O
Thus, the family who wants to avoid jaundice will also want to care for their body’s powerful bioelectric water and energy generation system. In the protocols at the end of this course, we will look into all the things we can do to nourish our mitochondria, electron transport chains, and ability to generate water INSIDE of cells regardless of the water we drink.
Here are some foundational papers to dig deeper into these topics and understand how light is responsible for so much more than just allowing us to see.
Additionally, helping baby relax and enjoy themselves (and same for the mama), can help with flow… flow of breastmilk and flow of excrement. Gentle sounds, warmth, massage, and releasing fears and tensions can also be supportive.
Reading for Module 2:
Effects of electromagnetic fields on neuronal ion channels: a systematic review
Many aspects of chemistry and biology are mediated by electromagnetic field (EMF) interactions. The central nervous system (CNS) is particularly sensitive to EMF stimuli. Studies have explored the direct effect of different EMFs on the electrical properties of neurons in the last two decades, particularly focusing on the role of voltage-gated ion channels (VGCs).
[T]his systematic review reports significant correlation between EMFs and multiple changes in the electrophysiological properties of diverse neuronal tissues, and these results, if interpreted well, could pave the way to a new understanding of the relationship between electromagnetic stimulation and brain functions. In conclusion, we systematically demonstrate how the complex effects of EMFs in neuronal ion channels are exerted at multiple levels and how their significance in the alteration of neuronal functions is strictly dependent on different parameters relative to the type of field used and the studied cell or tissue.
This study investigates a complex field, with sometimes conflicting results. The many variables that influence the impact of EMF exposure on neural tissue, such as the physiological state of the cell, its developmental stage, and the various physical characteristics of the many fields involved, complicate the reproducibility and often impede a consistent comparison between different studies.
ABSTRACT
Recent observations have shown an unexpected feature of water adjacent to hydrophilic surfaces: the presence of wide interfacial zone that excludes solutes. The exclusion zone is charged, while the water beyond is oppositely charged, yielding a battery-like feature. The battery is powered by absorbed radiant energy. Implications of this energetic feature are discussed. It appears that the presence of this ‘exclusion zone’ may play an important role in the behavior of aqueous systems.
DISCUSSION
Six methods have so far been applied to test whether the physical properties of exclusionzone water differ from those of bulk water. They include the following: NMR, infrared and birefringence imaging, and measurements of electrical potential, viscosity and UV-VIS absorption spectra. All approaches show that the interfacial zone differs physically from the bulk zone, and that it is a distinct, less mobile, more ordered phase of water that can coexist with the contiguous bulk phase. Hence, the exclusion zone appears to behave like a liquid crystal, i.e. a phase of water in which constituent molecules are more-or-less lined up. Of the results mentioned above, a particularly significant one is charge separation. Although the overall net charge of water in the system is zero, water in the exclusion zone is negatively charged, while the bulk-water region beyond contains positive charges.
For building the charged exclusion zone, the energy apparently comes from light. We found that incident radiant energy, including UV, visible and near-infrared wavelengths, induces exclusion-zone growth. IR is especially effective: at wavelength 3.1 µm, a 10-minute exposure to incident radiation – weak enough to elevate water temperature by no more than 1°C – causes the exclusion-zone width to increase up to four times. This is an impressive increase. Apparently, photons induce some change in water that predisposes constituent OH− and H+ moieties to reorganize, the former building the negatively charged exclusion zone and leaving the bulk zone positively charged with hydronium ions.
The research on grounding or earthing summarized here is providing valuable clues about why chronic and autoimmune diseases are rampant, simple and reliable help for those with these health issues, and promising paths forward.
This article reviews Earthing, a safe therapy that optimizes (balances) each person's unique physiological functions; and that provides relief from the major diseases of the aging population; and that may slow the aging process itself. This statement is made because of the recognition that cumulative damage by reactive oxygen species (ROS), sometimes referred to as free radicals, is one of the most widely studied theories of the cause of aging. Because the continuous semi- conducting fabric of the body reaches into every part of the body, including the interiors of all cells and their nuclei, mobile electrons in the grounded or earthed person are thought to be capable of rapidly neutralizing ROS produced by oxidative metabolism taking place in every cell and tissue.
The aim of this study was to establish whether blue light is able to cause differential damage to the mitochondrial and nuclear genome and to determine whether this occurs via ROS production at mitochondria. Our results demonstrate that exposure of non-pigmented epithelial cells to blue light causes mitochondrial dysfunction and mtDNA damage and that such effects are mediated by the action of reactive oxy- gen species. We have further identified that the ROS primarily responsible for blue light-induced mtDNA damage is the superoxide radical.
In conclusion, the vulnerability of mtDNA to mitochondria- derived ROS in response to blue light strongly supports a role for visible irradiation in cellular dysfunction