What if your skin problem isn’t hormonal… your anxiety isn’t mental… and your bloating isn’t about food?

What if it’s all… low redox?

 

Have you ever felt like you were doing everything "right" but still didn’t feel like yourself? Your skin is dull or puffy, your energy crashes mid-day, your period hits like a freight train, or you feel buzzy and anxious even after a clean meal, good sleep, and decent hydration?

Same.

I was doing sunrise, grounding, eating real food, sleeping in blackout, using the cleanest skincare on earth (literally, I make it) — and yet, my skin still felt mushy in the morning, my face would hold hat marks like memory foam, I got period headaches like clockwork, and even gentle cold exposure felt too much.

I didn’t need more supplements. I didn’t need a new diet. I needed to understand redox.

So, what is redox? (And why haven’t we heard of it?)

Redox is short for reduction-oxidation, but don’t let that scare you. All it really means is: how well your cells move electrons. And electrons = energy.

If your cells can move electrons well, they can make energy, structure water, send signals, build hormones, drain lymph, and hold voltage. That’s high redox.

If they can’t? You get symptoms.

Redox is your body’s electrical charge capacity. High redox = glow. Low redox = fog, puff, sag, and pain.

A forgotten history: Vitalism, electricity, and the body

Back in the 1950s through the 1970s, researchers like Dr. Robert O. Becker were studying the electrical nature of the human body. Becker discovered that bones heal using electric fields (they're piezoelectric). He found that the nervous system could regenerate with the right voltage. He even showed that salamanders regrew limbs using bioelectric charge.

This wasn’t fringe science. It was peer-reviewed, replicable, and revolutionary.

But it didn’t fit the pharmaceutical model. As medicine moved toward synthetic drugs and mechanistic views of health, bioelectricity was buried. Vitalism — the idea that life is more than just chemical reactions — was quietly erased.

Now, it’s making a comeback. Quantum biology. Mitochondrial medicine. Light-based therapies. They all point to the same thing:

We are electrical beings. Redox is our battery.

What low redox feels like (my case study)

Let me be your n=1.

Here were my personal signs of low redox:

• My face held imprints from hats and pillows after full days of gorgeous sun

• I have this belly pudge even now that my youngest is 2 despite eating clean

• Period headaches were regular and intense since birth of my second child 4 years ago

• Two rounds of ice water face dunks gave me brain freeze in 3 seconds flat

• I slept 8 hours but woke up tired

• I was getting amazing light exposure and still felt off

I'm not into bloodwork or doctors or derms so I can't give you a list of my relevant numbers. But why would I need that when my body is already giving me all the clues? I wasn’t deficient. I wasn’t doing anything "wrong."

I just couldn’t hold charge.

Your symptoms might not be what you think

We’re taught to blame everything on hormones, food, or stress. But what if those are just downstream from redox?

Here are symptoms people commonly misattribute — that are often redox problems in disguise:

• Mood & brain: anxiety, irritability, light sensitivity, insomnia, brain fog, migraines
• Skin: puffiness ("moon face"), sagging, dullness, rosacea (!!!), slow healing, random flares
• Cycle: clotty periods, PMS headaches, bloating, breast tenderness, mood swings
• Energy & body: cold intolerance, fluid retention, waking up tired, salt cravings, facial swelling

You can do all the right things — eat clean, take magnesium, wear blue blockers — and still feel bad if your battery is drained.

 

Where Does Ray Peat Fit In?

Another brilliant lens on health comes from Ray Peat, who emphasized what’s called the bioenergetic view of the body. Rather than seeing health as the result of food groups, hormone levels, or isolated nutrients, Peat asked:

“How well is the body producing energy?”

He focused on cellular metabolism, especially the thyroid, mitochondria, and the protective hormones like progesterone, pregnenolone, and DHEA. His approach encourages things like:

• Saturated fats over polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs)

• Raw milk, orange juice, and sugar from ripe fruit

• Avoiding stress signals like fasting, extreme cold, or overexertion

• Supporting warmth, calm, and mitochondrial function

And here’s where it overlaps with redox:
Peat wanted you to build energy. He just explained it in biological terms — not electric ones.

Why Peat’s Approach Feels Amazing in Summer (But Not Always in Winter)

Where I live — Calgary — summer is high light, lots of UV, long days. And that’s the exact environment where Peat-style foods make sense biologically and electrically.
OJ, dairy, ripe fruit, honey — these are all high-light foods, rich in structured water and easy glucose that your mitochondria can burn efficiently when the solar engine is strong.

But in winter, when the light is low and mitochondrial charge is harder to build from the outside (sunlight), those same foods can feel clogging, bloating, or anxiety-inducing if your redox isn’t already solid.

Peat works best when your light environment supports his energy goals.

If you try to do tropical-fruit energy metabolism in January — indoors, under LED lights — you might feel off.
Not because Peat is wrong… but because you’re applying a summer biology to a winter redox reality. His concepts don't include light. That's what he was missing. In fact no diet includes light as an important variable. And that's a big flaw.

This is where keto or carnivore comes in — not as fads, but as seasonal survival strategies. In winter, your body naturally leans on fat for fuel. There’s less fruit. Less light. You’re meant to burn slower, store more.

Think of a bear in hibernation: it’s not broken. It’s metabolically shifting to fat-burning mode because light and food availability have changed.
Humans are no different. In fact, our insulin resistance rises naturally at the end of summer, helping us store fat for winter. That’s a feature, not a flaw. But if you keep eating like it’s July in December? Your mitochondria might short-circuit.

Circadian eating means matching your fuel to your light.

And that’s the heart of redox-aware nutrition.

So how do we rebuild redox?

There’s no one protocol. But there are patterns. Here are tools I am using to rebuild my charge:

1. Light before food. Sunrise into your eyes tells your body to make cortisol and dopamine naturally. This sets the redox rhythm for the day.

2. Blackout sleep. You can’t regenerate if you’re leaking light. Melatonin isn’t just a sleep hormone; it’s your master antioxidant.

3. Potassium + magnesium + bicarbonate. You don’t need a ton of salt if your redox is low. You need intracellular hydration, not bloating. *Important to note I'm not adding any extra salt to my homemade electrolytes. Salt is a "charged mineral" which means it actually takes energy to process it, so you want to be running a full charge before maxing out salt. I'm not cutting it in my regular diet at all, just not adding it to my electrolyte drink. I'm also doing my FATSKN magnesium (Canada Link) (USA Link) lotion on my feet every night. On cold days I even do it in the morning if I'm going to be wearing socks. 

4. Gentle cold exposure. Not Wim Hof extremes. One 15-second face dunk is enough to stimulate redox-building. I'm doing it after I've lain outside on the ground for a bit and gotten hot and charged up. 

5. Circadian eating. What you eat matters less than when and why. In summer, glucose from fruit is redox-friendly because it matches the light signal. I'm even doing imported fruits and not worrying about deuterium because I'm (I think) getting enough light to be able to properly process higher levels of deuterium.

6. Grounding. Electrons from the earth restore redox. Especially helpful after stress, EMF, or emotional waves.

7. Red light therapy. Low-level red and infrared light boost mitochondrial function. Evening use helps repair the charge lost during the day. (Honestly I'm just using the sun mostly, but if you work inside and can't open a window, I would bring my red light device to work and have it in my office on all day. Red is present in sunlight the whole day. That's why unopposed blue is "bad". It is missing the natural red to combat it).

Your body speaks in charge

That weird brain freeze when you try a second cold plunge? Redox signal. That soft skin (OMG my skin is so weirdly soft right now) that won’t bounce back in the morning? Redox. That anxiety spike at night when you already ate well? Redox. That cold sore out of nowhere? Redox.

Your symptoms aren’t failures. They’re electrical feedback.

The key isn’t to find the perfect routine. It’s to build awareness of your patterns. Your redox patterns. Your seasonal patterns. Your nervous system tells the truth before your labs ever do.

Redox is the missing language

It’s not a trend. It’s not a biohack. It’s the language of energy, timing, and light that your body speaks every single day.

And the best part? You don’t need perfect supplements or gear. You need a relationship with your environment.

Start with one thing:

• Watch the sunrise

• Sleep in real darkness (set your kids up for success too!!!)

• Eat with the season (I'll be Ray Peat-y in the summer burning glucose, and keto-ish in the winter burning fat)

• Take your symptoms seriously

And watch what happens when you start holding charge again.

Because redox isn’t a protocol. It’s a return to being electrically alive.

 

Common Issues People Blame on Other Things — But Are Actually Low Redox:

NEURO + MOOD

• Brain fog

• Anxiety or panic (especially sudden waves)

• Depression that worsens seasonally (aka SAD)

• Insomnia or wired-tired sleep

• Light sensitivity

• Feeling overstimulated in noisy/crowded places

• Migraines or period headaches

• Random mood swings that don’t match the moment

Commonly blamed on: trauma, neurotransmitter imbalances, stress, or hormones
But actually: brain mitochondria are running low on charge

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SKIN + FACE

• Puffy face that leaves marks from pillows, hats, glasses

• Sagging or “mushy” skin despite good diet

• Skin picking or mirror obsession

• Sudden acne flares or rosacea in cold or artificial light

• Slow healing from blemishes or cuts

• Freckles or melasma darkening rapidly in spring

• Eyes that look dull or hollow even with enough sleep

Commonly blamed on: products, hormones, aging, or “bad genes”
But actually: skin can’t hold structure without intracellular water + charge

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HORMONAL

• Heavy or clotty periods

• Premenstrual migraines or swelling

• PCOS symptoms that don’t resolve with diet

• Cold hands and feet, even in warm weather

• Mid-cycle fatigue or insomnia

• Hot flashes or irritability in perimenopause

Commonly blamed on: estrogen dominance, progesterone deficiency, thyroid dysfunction
But actually: hormone signaling depends on redox — not the other way around

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DIGESTION + BODY

• Bloating that “comes and goes” with no food trigger

• Constipation or random sluggish digestion

• Food sensitivities that shift seasonally

• Water retention without eating salty foods

• Chronic sinus congestion or jaw tension

• Muscle cramps at night

• Needing caffeine to feel “normal”

Commonly blamed on: gut dysbiosis, food intolerances, “bad habits”
But actually: your vagus nerve and smooth muscle need redox to work properly

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ELECTRICAL BODY / REDOX-SPECIFIC

• Poor cold tolerance

• Overreaction to cold plunges or sauna (wired, shaky, puffy)

• Can’t tolerate face dunks without brain freeze

• Trouble adapting to altitude, travel, time changes

• Trouble waking up even after 8 hours sleep

• Feeling like your “glow” is missing — even when doing everything right

• Getting a cold sore “out of nowhere”

• PMS flares during strong light exposure (summer/spring)

These are your body literally telling you: “My charge is low. My battery’s blinking.”

Interested in reading more on Redox? Check out the next blog: Redox and Methylene Blue 

 

****As with all of my posts, this is not medical advice. Just me sharing my health journey and what I'm learning. 

 

Foundational Reading on Redox & Bioelectricity

Dr. Robert O. Becker – The Bioelectric Pioneer

1. The Body Electric: Electromagnetism and the Foundation of Life
   Becker's seminal work exploring the role of electricity in healing and regeneration.

2. Cross Currents: The Promise of Electromedicine, the Perils of Electropollution
   A deep dive into the therapeutic potentials and risks of electromagnetic fields.

3. Electromagnetism and Life
   Co-authored with Andrew A. Marino, this book examines the effects of electromagnetic fields on biological systems.

Becker's research laid the groundwork for understanding the body's electrical nature, emphasizing the significance of bioelectricity in health and healing. Can find these on Amazon or maybe even on Thriftbooks.com. His estate may have a website it sells them from too, I'm not sure. 

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⚡ Dr. Jack Kruse – Quantum Biology & Redox

1. The Redox Rx: How to Improve Your Redox Potential
   Kruse's comprehensive guide on assessing and enhancing your redox state.

2. Redox Rx 2: Biohacking Your MRI
   An exploration of how MRI imaging can provide insights into your redox potential.

3. Redox Potential Blog Series
   A collection of articles delving into various aspects of redox biology and its implications for health.

4. Always Redox, Never Detox First
   An article emphasizing the importance of addressing redox potential before undertaking detoxification protocols.

Dr. Kruse's work integrates concepts of light, water, magnetism, and mitochondrial function, offering a holistic approach to optimizing health through redox balance.

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🧬 Additional Resources

• Developmental Bioelectricity
  An overview of how electrical signals regulate development and regeneration in living organisms. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Developmental_bioelectricity?

• On Bioelectric Algorithms
  A theoretical exploration of how bioelectric patterns can be understood and modeled computationally.  https://arxiv.org/abs/1809.10046?