Wellness Topics I’m Currently Researching

I’m always reading about something health related. Sometimes it’s supplements, sometimes hormones, sometimes I somehow end up 12 articles deep on something I had never even planned on researching.

These are a few of the wellness rabbit holes I’m currently in.

Grounding + Earthing

I first heard about grounding years ago and, honestly, it immediately made sense to me.

I was basically a barefoot child. Shoes were optional. 😂 I was outside constantly, in the grass, in the dirt, and generally exposed to all the things kids today seem to be protected from.

I also wasn’t a very sick kid, other than having what everyone used to call a “nervous stomach,” and I’m still someone who rarely gets viruses or the flu. I’m not saying being barefoot caused that, but I do think kids benefit from being outside, getting dirty and being exposed to the natural world.

The part I find really interesting now is the idea behind earthing, which is simply making direct contact with the ground, usually barefoot on grass, dirt or sand.

The theory is that the Earth has a natural electrical charge and direct contact allows the body to interact with it. There have been some small studies suggesting possible effects on things like sleep, stress, pain and cortisol, but the research is still pretty limited and nowhere near as established as some of the other things on this list. One early study involved only 12 people, so I definitely wouldn’t call this settled science.

Still, I believe there is something beneficial about connecting with the Earth, whether every proposed mechanism turns out to be right or not.

And worst case scenario?

I took my shoes off and stood in the grass for ten minutes.

I can live with that. 😂

Meditation

Meditation is something I keep coming back to.

I’ve read The Untethered Soul and The Surrender Experiment, and both really changed the way I think about our thoughts, our reactions and how much mental noise we carry around all day.

I actually started meditating in 2020.

I started at maybe three minutes because sitting quietly with my own brain felt like an Olympic event. Eventually I worked my way up to around 20 minutes.

I know serious meditators are probably reading that like, “That’s adorable,” but for my brain, 20 minutes was a BIG deal and I was so proud of myself.

Then life happened. I’ve dabbled in it on and off since then, but lately I’ve been trying to be more intentional about getting back to it.

And this is one area where the research is genuinely pretty interesting.

A recent systematic review found that mindfulness and meditation were associated with improvements in emotional regulation, anxiety and stress resilience, along with measurable changes in brain regions involved in emotional processing.

Even very brief mindfulness exercises have shown reductions in short term anxiety in research, although the evidence isn’t perfect and researchers still want larger, better controlled studies.

I don’t need meditation to turn me into a monk.

If it can make my nervous system a little less convinced that every minor inconvenience requires an emergency response, I’m interested.

The Gut Brain Connection

This one fascinates me.

For years we treated the brain and the digestive system like they were two completely separate departments, and now there is a huge amount of research looking at how closely they communicate.

Your gut and brain are constantly talking through nerves, hormones, immune pathways and chemicals produced by the gut microbiome. Researchers are studying the gut brain axis in relation to anxiety, depression, stress and other neurological conditions.

And here is the fact that originally sent me down this rabbit hole:

Around 90% or more of the serotonin in your body is produced in the gastrointestinal tract.

Now, that does NOT mean the serotonin made in your gut simply travels up to your brain and makes you happy. It’s more complicated than that.

But the gut microbiome can influence serotonin signaling, immune function, inflammation and other pathways that communicate with the brain. That is what I find so fascinating.

There is also growing research connecting changes in the microbiome with anxiety and depression, although scientists are still trying to figure out exactly what is cause, what is effect and how much changing the microbiome can actually change mental health.

Basically, taking care of your gut may be about a whole lot more than whether or not your stomach hurts.

Morning Light + Your Circadian Rhythm

This is probably the one I’ve noticed the most in my actual everyday life.

Getting outside into natural light in the morning makes SUCH a difference in how awake I feel.

If I don’t get that morning light, I swear I’m just not as alert.

And there is actual biology behind this.

Light is one of the strongest signals your brain uses to set your circadian clock, which helps regulate when you feel awake and when you feel sleepy. Research has also shown that daytime light exposure can increase alertness and attention.

One paper describes light as “the strongest time cue” for resetting our internal circadian clock.

That one sentence explains so much.

Your body is basically looking for clues about what time it is, and sunlight is one of the biggest ones.

Something else that has started happening to me is waking up at almost exactly the same time every morning without an alarm.

Which is WILD.

If I need to wake up at a certain time, I’ll sometimes tell myself a few times before I fall asleep what time I need to wake up.

And somehow...I wake up.

I am not claiming there is magic happening here 😂, but our circadian systems are incredibly good at anticipating regular wake times.

Try it sometime. Tell yourself what time you need to wake up before you fall asleep and see what happens.

Basically, I Have Questions

That’s probably the theme with all of these.

I’m not interested in blindly believing every wellness trend I see online, but I also don’t automatically dismiss something just because it sounds a little unconventional.

I like reading the research, trying things that are low risk and paying attention to how I actually feel.

Some of these may end up becoming permanent parts of my routine. Some may just become another weird thing I researched for three weeks and then moved on from.

We’ll see. 😂

What wellness rabbit hole are you currently in?