We Keep Calling It MENTAL Health When It’s FULL-BODY Health!
When we see headlines about shootings, suicides, or the epidemic of depression and anxiety in young people, the conversation often stops at the surface: guns, stress, social media, trauma. These things matter, but they are not the root. The truth is that what we call “mental” illness is not separate from the body. It is physical. It is biological. It is physics. Every thought is an electrical impulse, every feeling a chemical cascade. Our moods, our personalities, even our decisions, are built on the body’s ability to generate and manage energy. When that energy system fails, the mind follows.
The brain is the hungriest organ in the body. It consumes up to 20% of our daily energy, yet it has no reserve tank. It relies on mitochondria, the tiny power plants in each cell, to keep the lights on. When mitochondria can’t produce energy efficiently, brain cells misfire. The result isn’t just fatigue or brain fog. It can look like depression, anxiety, ADHD, bipolar swings, schizophrenia, or violent outbursts. These conditions are not abstractions of “the mind.” They are physical breakdowns of the machinery that produces thought.
Light is one of the most powerful regulators of that machinery. Morning sunlight enters the eyes and sets circadian rhythm, synchronizing neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine with hormones like cortisol and melatonin. Without this rhythm, the brain cannot regulate mood or focus. Artificial blue light at night suppresses melatonin, hijacking the natural cycles that allow the brain to rest and reset. Young people who live indoors by day and in front of screens by night are essentially running their brains on scrambled wiring. Sleep falters, and with it emotional control, memory, and resilience.
Electromagnetic fields (EMFs) add another layer of disruption. While invisible, they act directly on the body’s electrical system, opening calcium channels in cells and producing oxidative stress. The brain, with its delicate electrical rhythms, is especially vulnerable. For children and teens, whose nervous systems are still developing, constant exposure to Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and smart devices is like living in static. It doesn’t just produce headaches or irritability. It destabilizes the very signaling that underlies thought and behavior.
Nutrition ties directly into this picture. Neurotransmitters like serotonin, dopamine, and GABA are made from the food we eat (along with proper light/dark exposure). Without adequate protein, minerals, and B vitamins, the brain simply cannot manufacture them. But it isn’t just about raw materials, it’s about the fats that wire the brain. DHA, the omega-3 fat found in seafood, forms the structure of neurons and allows light and electrons to flow across them. A diet devoid of DHA starves the brain of its ability to conduct thought. At the same time, processed foods, sugars, and seed oils inflame the gut and disrupt the microbiome… the very site where most serotonin is produced. The gut-brain axis becomes unstable, and so does mood.
Hormones add yet another layer of vulnerability. Cortisol, our stress hormone, is meant to rise with the morning sun and fall at night, guiding alertness and rest. But with artificial light and chronic stress, cortisol stays high, leaving us anxious, inflamed, and unable to repair. Sex hormones, estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, for example, are equally sensitive to light, dark, and diet. Estrogen helps regulate serotonin and memory; progesterone calms the brain through GABA pathways; testosterone fuels drive and confidence. When these hormones are dysregulated by poor sleep, blue light, processed food, and environmental toxins, the brain’s emotional foundation collapses. What follows are mood swings, aggression, depression, and instability that look like “mental illness” but are rooted in biology.
Grounding, the simple act of connecting to the Earth, illustrates the point perfectly. The body is electrical. Without contact with the Earth’s steady frequency, our nervous system loses its reference point. We live in sympathetic overdrive, fight or flight, with no release valve. Add constant EMF stimulation, poor diet, lack of sun, and broken sleep, and the brain is effectively running without calibration.
This is why we must stop pretending mental illness is just “in the head.” It is not weakness. It is not just psychology. It is the biology of a body out of rhythm with nature. Thoughts are physics. Emotions are chemistry. Behavior is the visible outcome of whether our biology has the raw materials, rhythms, and environment it needs to function. When those inputs are broken, the outputs, our thoughts, moods, and actions, break too.
The rise in ADHD, autism, depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, anxiety, suicide, and violence is not random. It is the predictable outcome of a society that has stripped away the very conditions human biology requires: sunlight, grounding, DHA-rich foods, sleep aligned with dark, and freedom from constant artificial interference. We have replaced them with fluorescent lights, Wi-Fi, processed foods, and 24/7 stimulation. And the result is the crisis we now face.
The good news is that biology is forgiving. The same forces that break us down can rebuild us. That is why I’m so passionate about what I do. Together, they give the body the chance to recover the energy, clarity, and stability it was designed for. People are so quick to dismiss it. BUT, I SEE IT HAPPEN DAILY!
Yes, gun control, listening and supporting each other is important BUT… Mental health is VITAL! Mental health IS full-body health. Until we treat it that way, the crisis will continue. However, if we face the truth…that the mind and body are inseparable, that thoughts and emotions arise from physics and those physics are modifiable, we can begin to rebuild the foundation of resilience in our children, our communities, and ourselves. WE MUST.
