Discover How Moon Phases Affect IBD

Summit Introduction and Speaker Welcome 0:00

Welcome to the Reversing Chronic Crohn's and Colitis Summit. I'm your co-host, Dr. Christine Schaffner, and I'm here with my dear friend and colleague, Masami Covey. We're going to be talking about her approach to reversing inflammatory bowel disorders. So welcome Masami. I'm so glad you are. I'm attributing to the summit. Your perspective is always so insightful. Thank you so much. I've been really curious and putting all these things together because I have worked with clients and I still have clients who are struggling with IBD, right?

So this is like near to my heart. And it's a very tough conditions that people have to go through. And I've been so intrigued and excited to share my perspectives on how the lunar cycles, the moon phases impact, and how you can live with it to make your journey towards healing and health even more connected to nature, to your own inner nature as well. So oh, I love it. I love that you made this connection. And so Masumi has a special slide presentation for us. So we're going to allow her to share slides.

And I'm just going to learn with you all. And then we're going to, regroup. So Masumi, take it away. All right. So let me know. I think it's on gas. Okay. So the moon's influences on IBD, and I'm sure this is kind of a new topic for most of you. So I'm very excited to share this. And it comes from long years of working with clients. I've been working with clients groups and one on ones now coming up to 25 years. It makes me really, really old. But in that journey, I started to feel into this like a bigger cycle of things.

IBD Causes and Environmental Triggers 1:58

And, you know, when you work with clients that long, you begin to start to see this patterns. So I'm going to just quickly go through, because I'm sure many of the presenters and speakers have talked about the causes of Crohn's and colitis. So I'm not going to spend too much time here because exact, exact causes of Crohn's and colitis remain unclear, right? But it likely involves a combination of the following. So interaction of genes, microbiome changes, especially like dysbiosis is. And so that's the microbiome imbalance is happening in your gut.

Your whole system could be as well. And compromised immune system environmental factors. And this is where I will be coming in to talk a little bit more between the environmental and circadian misalignment and disruption. That's where like the moon comes in quite a bit. So I'll be talking about that. And when it comes to environmental factors, you know, we are looking at modern terrain that Dr. Christine and I talk about it pretty much every time we talk, we talk about the modern terrain. And I love the moon cycles and moon rhythms to be a part of kind of the maybe universal terrain as well.

And of course, you know, pollutions and toxicity, stress and wheel stress is not just what where you work or your family or relationships, but, you know, having having heavy metals in your bodies and, you know, your teeth or a health that is not great. Your sinuses are infected. I mean, those can all cause stress as well. So just going the list of poor nutrition, antibiotics usage and long term oral contraceptives and NSAIDs and other things as well, and and nutritional imbalances are definitely here, especially too much omega sixes versus not enough omega threes.

But I'm assuming many, many of the people that you're going to be listening to have gone through this. So I'm going to go ahead and start with I was sitting there and I came up with this kind of a mission. It's a long mission statement, but this is what I would love for all of you to get out of is the unpredictable cycles of flare ups, and reactivation of IBD can drastically lower one's quality of life. That's a huge issue with the clients that I've worked with and I work with as well. We just don't know when is this happening.

But what if we could support our health by following the natural cycles, especially the moon's ebb and flow, that influence our total well-being? My goal is to provide a sense of the rhythms and cycles that you can pay attention to, to support your journey of managing your IBD symptoms and improving long term health and healing. So my goal is to educate you on where you are monthly, monthly cycles and see maybe you can work with that. This powerful lunar influence in your life, body, mind and spirit.

So just briefly, there are four phases of the moon starting from the new moon. You barely see the light here. And then goes to the darkness again. It takes New Moon to New Moon 29.5 days or so. So many of you probably know the four phases. I'm not going to be able to go through all four phases today, but I'm going to focus on this second line of the phase, which is starting from the first quarter moon to about the film, because there's a lot that can happen during this time. Moon has a quite the influence on our biology during this time, other phases as well, but I just purposely choosing not to talk about that one instead.

And this is. We're in that cycle right now as we're talking tonight. Exactly what you said that quarter. Yeah, we just had the quarter moon. And I just thought, you know what? Why not do that? Because I often talk about the other phases

Moon Phases and Waxing vs Waning Cycles 5:55

and I thought this would be a good time. Yeah. You picked up on it. Okay. So this is just, you know, you can see how the sunlight hits. And this is also a slide that I love using in a lot of my presentations as well. But moon phases were impact trees and animals and other living beings. And so waxing is when you're adding the light. So that's where we're at. We're heading towards the Foma. This is when the energy and the nutrients are being gathered and they're rising up. So if you harvest like peaches or apples during the full moon phases or phase, you can have lot more like juicier and plump fruit as well.

So just a side note, right. And this is when the energy is rising gathering. And then you are using that energy to grow to expand. And other one is the when you're going towards the new moon, that's the waning time. You're starting to lose the light on the the surface of the moon from the Earth. You know, Earth perspective. This is when the energy and nutrients gather to descend for rest and restoration and further healing. So think of waxing as like adding light, adding more things to it. You will be doing more things.

You'll just be called to be more extroverted. Let's if you were to use that word. And so it's more of an inhale and an awakening. Think of it as more of a removing and exhaling. Okay, so then I'm like I said, I'm going to go into mostly the waxing phase, especially this week that the Dr. Christine and I'm talking here and during this time, this is just a small list, okay. There are a lot more that's happening, but I didn't want overwhelm you with the list. But physical, physically, we're getting a little stronger.

There's a lot more like excitement in our lives as well that that you can feel energy is definitely heightened. And then thinking and perception of information can improve. So you can actually retain more things during this time. So if you have kids and you know, if you're struggling with all brain fog and things like that, that's one of the symptoms as well from IBD that you may want to use this time to work on your memory and improvements as well. Absorption is up, activity is up. It's a doing and adding time.

However, this is the key part that is definitely connected to this summit is that this is the time when the melatonin production decreases, both in pineal gland production as well as in your gut production as well. And melatonin levels vary significantly around and across the lunar phases. So for instance, like during the new moon, melatonin production goes way up as well, both in gut and through the pineal gland as well. And this is the time that you're going to experience disrupted sleep, shorter sleep and restless sleep.

And the circadian disruption is happening here. I will go into that circadian disruption and misalignment a little bit more here. And circadian abnormalities have now been known to worsen the inflammatory bowel disease and circadian misalignment in modern society is a big influencer of the flare ups. So circadian misalignment is common with you know, people who are being exposed to light, the blue light, the TV,

Waxing Moon Effects on Sleep and Circadian Rhythm 9:20

the phones, all that kind of things, but also traveling. So a lot of kind of like the jet lag symptoms are happening in the minute. Your jet lag kind of a sensations can happen during this full moon period, because almost all of us really do lose quality sleep leading up to the full moon. And circadian misalignment is an important possible risk factor for disease flare ups in IBD. Like I've said, and especially if you're a night shift workers, they have studied the Crohn's or, you know, other, like a gut issues, gut inflammatory conditions with the workers that work as a shift workers, night time workers.

So, you know, paying attention to what is my sleep like during this time will be very important. If you are struggling with colitis or, the Crohn's. And also circadian disruption Can has been known to worsen the intestinal microbial microbiota by, health. And like the maybe the the amount that the you can have or the variety as well. And creating more dysbiosis, especially leading up to the full moon and people with unbalanced nervous system, people who are not paying attention to the natural cycles of the moon also, or even like the sunrise sunset kind of a circadian rhythm, suffer from irritability, aggressiveness, increased conflicts between people within yourself as well.

Moodiness. And these are some of the signs and symptoms that we see with the IBD as well. And as a side note, people suffering from high blood pressure can really go through some, hard times leading up to the full moon with the increased blood pressure, possibly heart attacks, strokes. So, you know, pain, attention to the lunar cycles really will be beneficial to all of us. And mitochondrial production of Ros goes up during this time. So these unstable molecules can damage the gut lining and trigger the release of inflammatory proteins.

And it's not always good or bad, okay. Mitochondrial activities do increase leading up to the full moon. So there's some positive to that. But you also need to regulate how much and how much you're adding how much you're doing, paying attention to how much you're pushing yourself leading up to the full moon will be, I think, advised at this point for anybody that's struggling with this condition and the parasites and other biological organs get more active during the full moon phase and they produce more during the full moon.

So and there's an increase in potentially harmful bacterial bacteria during this time that can kind of come out of the dormancy. So paying attention to that can be really, you know, I think vital for anyone that is struggling with flare ups and blood sugar dysregulation can come in because we are not sleeping very well during this time. So when you don't sleep, your fatigued, you're tired, then your choice of nutrition, your food will be a little bit more towards carbohydrates or simple sugar. Right. So it creates a vicious circle.

So paying attention to that will be also important. Important too. And let me just quickly read just the bolded part of the quotes here for you. So circadian misalignment by Rest activity cycles were associated with a more aggressive IBD disease history. Increased intestinal permeability increased pro-inflammatory cytokines and by dysbiosis. And so a potential factor for disease flare that has been increasingly recognized as important in IBD is sleep. Poor sleep patterns, even when their, their disease is inactive and at least patients with CD and inactive disease but poor sleep are at increased risk for mucosal inflammation and disease flare.

So sleep, sleep, sleep very very important. The sleep does get disrupted and through the full moon cycles especially leading up. So 3 to 4 days prior to the full moon and on the full moon. And I would just quickly mention this because I don't want to read the whole quote. And I have a lot more to share here. So so blood stimulated by the phases of the moon. And there are multiple studies now coming out that that there's an increase in number of administration's admissions, I'm sorry, admissions related to gastrointestinal hemorrhage in our bleeding unit during the full moon.

And so there are many, many studies here. But this study was really, really interesting to me. It's in the same study, there was a 59% chance of an admission on a day without a full moon and a 104% chance of admission during the full moon, so it just doubles. So how fascinating is that? Do we really, really know the reason for it? I'm not quite sure. Nobody quite knows, but the moon definitely is influencing in some ways. Okay, so it could be, you know, different, maybe geomagnetic, maybe it's not necessarily the light either.

So we will see, you know, that's to be to be continued in that sense. But I just found it very interesting that the bleeding, the intestinal bleeding can go up during this time. And sleep deprivation really is a big, big deal when you're dealing with Crohn's and colitis as well. But fatigue is a common symptom associated with CDD, particularly in patients with active disease. While the cause of fatigue can be multifactorial, sleep quality is considered a likely contributing factor. So I think sleep getting good sleep, understanding the moon cycles will influence the quality of your sleep will be very, very important to pay attention to.

And I will go to the next slide. And, you know, I encourage you to go back and past those lies and read some of the quotes that I put up there as well. But, our monthly sleep cycle is synchronized with the lunar phases. Regardless of your socio cultural background and where you live. So this is happening all across the globe. It doesn't matter where you at, because they've done multiple studies on indigenous people and communities around the world, and they notice that they also struggle with shorten to sleep, not going to bed early during the full moon time.

So during the full moon phase, it takes longer for all of us to fall asleep. People go to bed later, we all sleep less leading up to the full moon. And in fact, during the new moon phase. So when you're not waxing the waning moon, you do sleep 45 to 75 minutes longer. So you're kind of catching up on your sleep here, too. So pay attention to the moon cycle, and deep sleep decreases by 30% during the full moon. That's quite a bit. I mean, if you are having flare ups or you are,

Full Moon Risks: Inflammation, Bleeding, and Fatigue 16:50

you know, newly diagnosed or you're really struggling with IBD, I really encourage you to pay attention to how can I add a little more rest? Maybe not. You may not be able to sleep longer because there's a bigger cosmic level. Influences here, but maybe find ways to not overcommit during this time and melatonin production decreases. Both gotten brain, which I've mentioned before, and more toxic buildup within a central nervous system as well due to the moon cycle influences and increased inflammation due to that as well.

Mitochondria activities can, you know, and then other things are increasing your inflammatory conditions and lymphatic system congestion. So brain actually weighs more during the full moon phase than leading into the new moon. So, you know, it's very important that you pay attention to lymphatic flow. You do lymphatic drainage, use the lymph flow cream. The doctor Christine, you know, talks about a lot and I'm sure, Kelly Kennedy is involved in this as well. But you know, her work as well. All those things, movements become very, very important.

But luckily our bodies are so in tune, naturally, that leading up to the full moon, we actually want to move. We don't want to sit at home. So that's a good sign. And this I've already mentioned, the melatonin level goes down during the full moon phase. And you know, I think it's important to remember that it's happening all throughout the entire body. And what's really cool about the melatonin, this is the quantum biology and quantum, you know, connection that we all have with one another is that all living creatures, plants, animals, even algae share the daily ebb and flow of melatonin.

And we share the moon rhythm, moon cycle of the melatonin productions and the decrease and increase of these cycles. So, dark and light, we are sharing melatonin production. We are sharing and so are internal ties that protects and heals us through the melatonin productions and other things that we share all across all species. I just find that to be the perfect example of one of the perfect examples of quantum coherence. So we are all moving through our lives and sync and vibrating and oscillating together.

So if you are out of sync with the nature or with the moon cycles, it will be harder. And I've seen this with my clients. It will be harder for you to bring your physical back to the natural state, in the healing state, and to support your healing, you have to bring it back to that, to synchronicity and that synchronicity. More synchronicity too, but in sync with the natural rhythm. Okay, and couple more quotes. You know, I didn't want to bombard you with too many, but there just so many great studies coming up.

I'm loving it because this came out just 2024, in April. So how awesome is that? So melatonin enhances the integrity of the intestinal mucosal barrier, regulates the immune response, alleviates inflammation and attenuates oxygen of stress. So how you know the melatonin is importance is always been there. People are studying about this continuously. But I love the fact that newer studies are also coming out. And I'm putting that together with the moon cycles. And this is just, recent experiments have shown that the melatonin also acts as an immune system modulator and ameliorate these systems.

Those are basically the rats that, artificially, they're being they're given certain ways to cause colitis in the lab. So RDS colitis in mice. Numerous studies have indicated that the melatonin affects the permeability, motility and barrier function of the intestine, improve GI tract diseases such as irritable bowel syndrome, IBD. So the melatonin treatments can improve your IBD as well. So that's the key that the, you know, takeaway here. And paying attention to the ebb and flow of melatonin productions throughout the month, throughout the month.

And I'm not going to go through all this, but melatonin supports and effects all these. And I highlighted some of them in red that I found them to be partially connected to. And then maybe not just partially, but directly connected to the lunar cycles in the moon cycle. So I've definitely talked about the gut healing that comes from the melatonin. I think I've seen many people heal much more easily during the moon. Cycles are leading up to the new moon, because you do produce a lot more melatonin during that time, and that the sleep and energy cortisol level, all these things or, you know, the the melatonin supports, but also being affected.

Okay. So through the lunar cycles. So lunar cycles are affecting melatonin production in your body. I don't think we can deny that anymore. And I recommend that you all really look into how can I support that. Whether you know you're working with your health practitioner, you're working with your doctors, talk to them about melatonin usage, especially leading up to the full moon. You know, I'm a huge fan of not doing everything all the time, the same amount. And just a couple more slides. Christine.

So I'm almost there actually just two more slides. So it's awesome. Okay, so this is just that I decided the you know, what are some of the symptoms and impacts of Crohn's and colitis targeting heightened by lunar cycles. And I started listing them and I started listing more and listing more and and I decided, oh my goodness, I'm going to just write as many as I can. So I put the full moon icons here to show you these are the things that you will most likely be experiencing if you are experiencing some flare ups during that moon full moon time, which is the first quarter moon into the performance.

So it's like a second week of the moon cycles. You might be experiencing fatigue, brain fog. Well, of course, because we are having disrupted sleep. Right? And that's going to cause the stress levels to go up. Then. Then you're going to have a stress level. The reactions that the vicious cycles, the feedback loops

Melatonin, Quantum Biology, and Gut Healing 23:35

just going back and forth, back and forth throughout. And malnutrition can happen during this time because we tend to kind of overstimulate ourselves. We are not sitting down and calming down. That's a lot easier to do, like mindfulness is a lot easier to do leading up to the new moon. So if you're going to sign up for like a, you know, meditation retreats and things like that, I would definitely look at the moon cycles. But all these things I've talked a lot about, you know, from circadian misalignment that can happen due to not sleeping, due to the moon cycles impacting that's impacting the circadian rhythm as well.

So your day to day cycles and mood swings. So these are some of the impacts on the right side. It's like when you're struggling with Crohn's and colitis you are going to be experiencing mood swings. It's tough. You know from one one day to the next you can't really predict. Some days are great, some days are just in so much pain and that can create anxiety. You could get very angry at yourself and then start to blame yourself. You start to get depressed. You can start to feel guilty for what have I done?

What did I do? What did I do to trigger the genes perhaps? Or my, you know, choices up to this point you can experience embarrassment. So, you know, I've worked with clients that's like, I'm so embarrassed to go outside because in NB, in social settings, because I just don't know when even like leakages could start to happen. Right. And that can lead to misunderstanding relationships because, you know, sometimes people don't understand what what is what is wrong with you. You cancel on me last minute.

You didn't show up to this recital that you said you were going to come, or you know that that kind of a that that can lead to so much guilt and depression, right? So just it's really hard because unpredictability is there. That's why I want to teach you to have a little more predictability within the unpredictable conditions that this is, and missed work and financial burden. Right. Say no more. And this is the last slide where I just kind of created a short list, though. I didn't want to overwhelm you, but lifestyles leading up to the full moon and maybe self-care, right.

So that that you are paying a little closer attention to this is become aware of lunar phases. So important, so important. Minimize artificial lighting because you're going to sleep less anyway. So why are you burdening yourself even further, creating more stressors and exposure. So if your eyes or forehead to morning sunlight super important, right? Wearing, orange tinted or yellow tinted glasses at night, especially leading up to the phone is very important. And practice circadian hygiene that I'm talking about.

All this increase digestive support. I've noticed that the people tend to, kind of over consume leading up to the full moon. They were studies showing that there were more food waste and actually during the new moon, meaning people ate less, leading up to the new moon and people ate more leading up to the full moon. But that's going to be a little bit tough if you are dealing dealing with Crohn's or colitis. Right? So pay attention to the amounts you're eating, the support it through. You know, I'm a huge fan of hydrochloric acid, but also maybe proteolytic enzymes.

Things like that. And prioritize your blood sugar balance, which I've already talked about the lack of sleep exhaustion, stress. You're going to choose things that are just quick sugar. So don't fall into that. Pay attention to it, put a diary through it again, and know that when to pay attention to blood sugar balance, especially during this time and up nutrient dense foods. I am a fan. When you're leading up to full moon to, you know, carefully add a little bit more protein so that the your inner gut lining can heal.

Because there's a lot of healing power involved in this time and strength training. So exercise wise, and I'm sure that the some other speakers have talked about the importance of movement for anybody with IBD, but also, you know, any, maybe not during a major flare ups, but to prevent flare ups, exercising can be really important, but exercise needs to be changing, even flowing, waxing and waning depending on the moon cycles. You want to do different kinds of exercises, but leading up to the full moon, your body's naturally build up and add up.

So it's a great time to do muscle, muscle and weight training and resistance training. And I would do less of kind of a, maybe cardiovascular, you know, cardio kind of a workout during this time and oxytocin, you know, this is the time we want to be with others. We are opening our hearts. We want to be social. This is when you do support. You can support oxytocin production. Oxytocin can be very powerful in managing your blood sugar and also microbial health as well in your gut. But there's a little big butt, right?

Not little big butt, but there's a big but here is that with, any kind of flare ups, you might be saying yes to too many things. So remember to gauge that. You know, you have a heart opening. You want to reach out to people, but gauge where you're at. What was your early moon cycle like? Did you take some time off during a new moon? Were you able to rest? Then maybe you can say yes to social activities

Symptoms, Emotional Impact, and Self-Care Strategies 29:25

and be mindful of how much you are doing and saying, yes. you know, maybe just the two other nutrients that I didn't list here, but butyrate. Butyrate is really good for short, short chain fatty acid. That is really good for gut lining healing. And I like using butyrate during this time and also zinc. So those are two that may be nutrients that you can add to it. All right. So that's what I have. And I'll stop sharing. Oh I love this. So I love the connections you make. And like the first thing that came to mind is you're giving people permission, you know, to change and feel into how they're probably naturally feeling.

But, you know, we override that so much in society and especially when you're healing and recovering from a chronic illness like, you know, depending on where you are in your journey, like, you have permission to change how you are connecting with your body and connecting with these bigger cycles. because you're going to be different during, you know, the different periods of time. So I think that's a really amazing, point to connect with. yeah. And I think women can connect with this information quite a bit.

And as you know, I mean, you know, Crohn's and colitis, they do impact men and women. But women do get impacted by this a little bit more. So I think this is the time that you can reclaim connect if you're especially, let's say, menopause, post menopause, reconnect with the moon cycles again. And if you're in perimenopause or pre menopause, you know especially pay attention to the estrogen differences changes testosterone levels, progesterone levels based on the moon cycles. Really they will match up nicely with what I presented here.

Yeah, absolutely. And then I love how, you know, all roads lead back to melatonin. And I loved how you went deeper and conversation. because nobody else has had that connection with the moon cycle to see those. It shifts and ebbs and flows. And when I immediately saw the list of things that, you know, could go wrong, you know, with the body, I was like, well, that melatonin is decreasing, right? And so I just loved all those connections. And I, you know, and I'm sure some does as well. And of course, talk to your physician.

There are contraindications for melatonin, but, you know, it's a it's a supplement that I think a lot of people who are especially recovering from an autoimmune or, chronic inflammatory, syndrome really could benefit from, you know, our gut microbiome makes melatonin or mitochondria our pineal gland. It's these really key places that connect, you know, our mind and our gut and energy. that I think is really, a really awesome, not only to see this cycle, but when you might need more support or less support with that. So.

Right, exactly. So it's not you know, like I said, I'm not a fan of just always ten milligrams, you know, and about the month kind of a thing. And, you know, I was diagnosed with MS So, you know, autoimmune conditions are something that gets, you know, triggered here and there. For me, if I do stress too much or I'm doing too much or I am ignoring what I'm teaching, and then I'm saying yes to different things during the phases of the new moon, when they actually like the art of doing nothing can become such a healing tool.

And and when that happens, you know, I do use melatonin just a little bit more. Even, you know, throughout the afternoons kind of a thing, just to kind of lower that inflammatory sensations that I can feel it in my whole system. So, and there's a new study that the we're hoping, this is proposal that came out a couple of years ago that the people are wanting to study how the Ms. and the moon cycles are connected. So yeah, I, I'm stay tuned to that. And there's a lot coming out, you know, but I think ultimately we cannot ignore this.

We you know, I think we have tried to ignore the influences of the moon. We call it. That's a lunatic. Right? That's a lunacy. And call it that's craziness. But I don't think so. I really think there's so much more coming out readily. And we can't just override it. We we are not. We are powerful. Yes, we're individually amazing and we have the power to heal. But I also think that we cannot justify this bigger cycles of things that are happening. And this isn't just the moon either, and it isn't just about the sun, but in a bigger sense of seasonality of the Earth, the, you know, the movements of the Earth, different cycles are unfolding in all of us and as the cycles of our lives as well.

So how you eat and how you treat and do the self-care in your 20s and 30s are going to look very differently in your 40s and 50s and so on. So I love this, and thank you so much for your, you know, just beautiful inspiration around the connection to this lunar rhythm. And it applies to so many parts of our lives. And I just love this conversation for this audience and community. So thank you so much, Masami, for being part of the summit. You're welcome. Thank you.