I field a lot of questions about extreme latitudes. What if the sun doesn’t rise until 9 AM? What about minus 40 degrees and many months of darkness?
To answer these, I invited Musings of a WiseWoman—a birth worker and quantum biology practitioner at 52° north in Saskatchewan—to share what actually works for truly extreme winters.
How to thrive in the cold and dark winter
The sun in the high latitudes rises at 8:30 AM right now, heading toward 9 AM by solstice (or later for those even more North). Historically, humans thrived in these climates. Today? Polar latitudes correlate with type II diabetes, menstrual dysfunction, mood disorders and cancer.
We breezed past these issues in this conversation, but if you want to dig deeper into why all these things are so important, I recommend some of Musings of a WiseWoman’s deep dives:
What changed after the industrial revolution that life at the poles is now so difficult?
Historical studies show human sleep naturally becomes biphasic in short photoperiods—first sleep, wake period, second sleep.
Musings of a WiseWoman is one of the rare people still living this traditional (and biological) way.
Chatting with her personally was another reason I invited her on the show, as I have found the circadian polyphasic unlock to be truly amazing, but have blessed few people to share about it with.
What Circadian Polyphasic Sleep Can Look Like
Musings of a WiseWoman stumbled into this sleep pattern naturally last year by:
• Sleeping in
• Eliminating artificial light after sunset
• Embracing cold exposure
Here’s how she described her routine, and doesn’t it sound so cozy?
The sun sets at 4 PM. I come home from work at 2, sit with my cat, and fall asleep. Ninety minutes later, I wake naturally, make dinner, go back to bed later—no trouble.
The key? Awareness of natural sleep and productivity cycles. No overstimulation. No TV. No LED lights signaling tropical noon.
Where biological night lasts 15+ hours, using bright artificial light to fight sleep is not a winning battle.
Here’s some more of that science:
The Melatonin-Vitamin D Dance
I actually didn’t know we’d end up talking about Vitamin D supplementation, but I’m glad we did because it is such a big topic these days.
I was surprised to hear she has never routinely supplemented vitamin D, and neither did her parents, because these days it seems like everyone I talk to has at least tried it.
I loved how she explained the dance of season and hormones like this:
“Melatonin and vitamin D are like two little buddies”
So simple, but really profound in the science.
In winter, your body can shift certain vitamin D functions to melatonin pathways—if you let it.
Sunlight also provides benefits completely independent of vitamin D, and foods containing Vitamin D also contain cofactors not found in supplements.
This is why you need actual sun and actual food, not just supplements.
Winter foods? You’ll have to listen to the whole recording, but we chatted about fatty fish, wild mushrooms, organ meats, and slow cooked and roasted meats. Foods northern populations always ate.
Not 50,000 IU bolus doses of isolated Vitamin D that interfere with natural storage and recycling!
Birth in the Dark
Since she attends birth in hospitals, at home, and as a birth keeper, I asked what she has noticed about how birth unfolds depending on the light environment.
It’s rare to meet a birth worker who not only attends such diverse situations, but who is also aware of the impacts of light on birth physiology.
She said she’s noticed women timing contractions with apps in early labor sometimes stay there for days! Could it be the blue light flash from their phones shutting down the hormonal cascade?
In hospital births, Jenel immediately turns off all lights, covering LED indicators with towels.
In home births? There’s never any light.
And it seems like women in darker environments show completely different pain tolerance, energy, and labor progression.
I can definitely attest to that, too!
Cold Exposure for Beginners
Even through we were focused for this conversation about winter, we couldn’t help but stray into talking about summer extremes, too.
Saskatchewan swings from super low winter to super hot in the summer. The seasons provide natural counterpoint for this lifestyle:
No air conditioning in summer.
Progressive cold exposure in fall.
By winter, your body is prepared for the cold.
But what if you are trying to start all of this mid-winter? A few ideas we talked about:
When starting out with cold acclimation, look for that rush of warmth as mitochondria fire up—not prolonged shivering that deplete you and cause stress. For example, you could try:
* Hand in ice water for two minutes
* Window open while driving
* Head and hands exposed taking out garbage
Ok, we covered a lot more than this, but you’ll just have to listen in to hear more about the realities of circadian rhythms with a teen, the inspirations from history, more about birth keeping, and why ketogenic diets matter so much more at the Poles than the Equator.
For now:
Two Take-homes for Tonight:
1. Candlelight dinners
Watch the children take their time and eat everything. Hear your family actually talk. No probing or cajoling required when you set the ambiance up right. “If you’re going to do one simple thing—this.”
I actually shared about this in one of my earliest posts ever (wow, four years ago!):
2. Snow angels
Mammals without houses maintain cellular resources by laying on winter earth. Snow conducts energy. It’s why igloos worked. Plus: hello, fun! I look forward to our first snow fall so we can get out there for this.
Anyways, I hope you all really enjoy this conversation.
I really can’t wait to hear more about @musingsofawisewoman’s upcoming snow fort! And hibernation retreat. I’m so grateful she made time to share her insights with us. Perhaps I’ll have to invite her back for the endless summer edition of this talk. If her approach resonated with you:
Connect with Jenel:
for consultations, northern living wisdom, and her annual December hibernation retreat.
And make sure you are also subscribed to my work for research-backed quantum biology protocols and more expert guests like this.
TLDR: Winter isn’t something to survive. It’s something to remember how to live inside of—and it can even be fun.
Also, thank you Eva, Caitlin Deane, and many others for tuning into this live video with Musings of a WiseWoman! Join my next live in the app.
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