Author Archives: Calley Means

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Foundational Health Principle 12: Consciously facilitate states of transcendence and awe.

My TrueMed co-founder Justin Mares published an article that coincides with Principle 12, which we discussed in the last blog.

I can say this experience of the transformational impact of psychedelic therapy with his partner resonates with my experience. I think we all get in “ruts” and patterns of behavior with our loved ones, and intentional psychedelic use is a powerful tool that my wife and I treasure. I think it is nothing less than a cultural blindspot that these tools aren’t encouraged widely for every couple. 

Selections from Justin’s article are below:  

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_{photo: Alivio Medical Center}

Foundational Health Principle 12: Consciously facilitate states of transcendence and awe.

Fact 1: 67% of the volunteers in a Johns Hopkins psilocybin study rated the experience to be among the top five most meaningful experiences of their lives – on par with the death of a parent or birth of the first child.  (Johns Hopkins)

Our brain is prone to mental illness, toxic fear, and chronic stress.

It is also predisposed to experience anxiety, paranoia, and judgment – throughout human history, these were evolutionarily beneficial feelings in short spurts.

But a state of chronic stress and anxiety (constant Instagram and Slack notifications) weakens our metabolic functions and makes us more prone to disease – both physical and mental. 

We must remind and train our brains that the torrent of negative thoughts that inevitably come into our heads are separate from who we are. Increasing research shows tapping into transcendental states — whether that be from psychedelics, meditation, prayer, or deep breathing – leads to better health.

I discussed this on Dhru Purohit’s podcast here. 

I recently appeared on Dhru Purohit’s podcast to discuss various topics, from our rigged food system to the “medicines” (food and exercise) that should be the foundation of our healthcare policy. To watch the full interview, click here. To watch the clip on psychedelic therapy, click here. 

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So what do we do now? 

As I’ve discussed the broken food system over the past few weeks, this is the most common question. 

This email covers 25 health principles we must prioritize individually to get back on track. 

But let’s keep focus: if there is one Golden Rule for how we should structure our nutrition decisions and health/food policy, it should be to reduce seed (or vegetable) oils, added sugar, and processed grains/corn from our diet. 

Amazingly, leading reporters and academics still question aloud what leads to spikes in obesity and disease. It is these three trends – and checking our labels for these ingredients is the most important thing we can do. 

Whether you are vegan or carnivore, eliminating these three ingredients from your diet inevitably leads you to more whole foods that your body is evolutionarily created to eat. 

If you’re interested, I discussed this concept recently on Breaking Points. 

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Foundational Health Principle 10: Get Consistent Quantity of Sleep

We know sleep is important, but increasing research shows it is the foundation of health – to the degree that you should sacrifice exercise and most other habits if you are not getting a good baseline of sleep.

One tip: Eight Sleep was one of my best purchases. It heats/cools during the night to regulate your temperature, leading to better sleep. 

Fact 1: If someone sleeps four hours per night for six nights, they experience a 400% increase in the number of microsleeps they experience during the day (usually without realizing it).  (UPenn)

Fact 2: In 2019, the International Agency for Research on Cancer classified night shift work as “probably carcinogenic to humans.” (Esmo)

Fact 3: The better sleep a person got, the more likely they were (on average) to have lower blood glucose the next morning. (Lund University)

Fact 4:  When a sleep-deprived doctor finishes a long shift and gets in their car to go home, they are 168% more likely to be involved in a motor vehicle incident due to fatigue. (Why We Sleep)

Fact 5: Consistent sleep is critical to preventing chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, obesity, heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and stroke. (Frontiers)

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Whenever I go to a new city, I am struck by how the largest and fanciest building is often a hospital. 

The Texas Medical Center in Houston has 2.1 square miles of buildings that can be seen from space.

OHSU (the largest hospital in Portland) has 37 major buildings.

The largest building in my town, Phoenix, is a Children’s Hospital. 

I keep wondering: are these buildings a sign of medical progress, or are people (particularly kids) just getting sicker? 

Every health condition we face is siloed into a different department and building. If your child has an ear infection, you see an ENT for antibiotics or ear plugs. If you have high cholesterol, see your cardiologist for a statin or a bypass surgery. If you are depressed, see your psychologist for an SSRI. If you’re having fertility issues, see your OBGYN for estrogen pills or an IVF procedure. But all of these conditions are getting worse. 

In years of diving into this topic, I’m convinced one of the most important health principles is that if you, your child, or your parents are thrown into this siloed healthcare system for a physical or mental condition – ask questions about the incentives and push to find the root cause of what’s actually happening. The current system isn’t incentivized to do this.

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Foundational Health Principle 9: Get Sunlight in Your Eyes Every Morning

Facts of the day: Viewing sunlight in the morning causes ~50% increase in circulating cortisol, epinephrine, and dopamine. (Andrew Huberman)

There’s been a lot of talk recently about exposure to sunlight. Stanford Professor Andrew Huberman, who has created the country’s most listened-to health podcast, has said sun exposure in the morning is his one non-negotiable health habit. 

I personally thought this habit sounded a bit frivolous, but I can say that almost every health leader I look up to says it is foundational. I have been trying to get more sun exposure in the morning, and I think it makes a difference. 

We must remember we are literally made of sunshine: the sun’s energy is converted to glucose in plants, which is then broken down by human bodies to create cellular energy, and to build structural components of our bodies. Aside from the glucose we consume being a physical byproduct of sunlight, light also acts as an energetic messenger to signal to the brain and body how and when to initiate certain metabolic pathways. 

When our retinas receive inconsistent light, the body’s sleep-wake cycle—known as our circadian rhythm— goes haywire, impacting everything from food intake, insulin sensitivity, glucose control, and energy expenditure. Our cells have clock genes, which self-regulate their expression on close to a 24-hour cycle, although light (and food) timing affects this pattern.

In rats, bright light exposure in the morning leads to lower weight and glucose levels (as well as lower anxiety and depressive behaviors). However, most of us are not getting that optimal exposure. As one paper states, current lifestyle and social habits, such as eating or working at night, being exposed to artificial light at night, and altered sleeping schedules, are among the factors that can cause circadian disruption. 

For more resources, check out my sister’s blog post here and the protocol Andrew Huberman uses here.

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