Jack Schroder ☀️🧬

This thread will explore decentralized approaches to improving overall androgen (testosterone/DHT) status, as well as how to enhance overall hormone status, and optimizing health in general. With less effort than you think—going deeper than just surface-level diet and exercise advice. Digging into biochemistry, biophysics, circadian biology, nutrition, biomechanics, and more.

Just quickly—my health story: —Poor health: anxiety, depression, addiction, fatigue, low libido. —Saw doctors: put on medication, didn’t solve any issues, made worse. —Tweaked my curiosity: lots of personal research and learning from others. —Optimal health: beyond hormone status, I feel the best I’ve ever felt.

And just for the record, prior to my labs: —I took basically no supplements. —I drank my water out of a plastic barrel daily. —I eat whatever I want (within reason). —I was eating 1800-2200 calories/day, ~500 calories less than is required to 'maintain' weight. —I was eating ~1 meal cooked in seed oils most days. —I wasn't eating organic food or meat at all (availability issue). —I only did strength training, in the form of bodyweight/calisthenics 3-4x/week. —I was drinking 2-3 coffees daily, usually one on an empty stomach in the morning. Okay, now let’s dive in.

Starting with circadian biology, one of the most important concepts to get right—both personally and for my clients—it’s by far the biggest needle-mover. All your hormones run on a 24-hour rhythm, they are finely tuned to light, temperature, nature, and both meal timing/seasonality of nutrition. As a general guideline of decentralized health advice; copy nature and mitigate the effects of the modern world.

Light is the most important one to get right, as we are surrounded by non-native EMF sources (tech devices, LEDs, Wi-Fi, bluetooth, etc.) that negatively impact our biology on various levels. I’ve written about this here: https://x.com/jack_schroder_/s... Native-EMFs (Sunlight, Schumann’s resonance) is what our biology best responds to, and is balanced/quantized by Mother Nature in the right wavelengths and frequencies—our biology pays deep attention to this. This directly influences our circadian clocks, thus hormone cycles, as well as our overall biology. So blocking artificial light at night, limiting exposure to nnEMFs, lots of time outside for sunlight/grounding, and embracing darkness for sleeping well—all contribute to optimizing circadian biology.

Touching on sunlight, it’s important to get out at every solar phase transition to ensure correct circadian signalling, as well as the unique effects that each wavelength has in itself. Remember—sunlight/native-EMFs are dynamic, artificial light/nnEMFs are static. It starts with infrared/blue light at sunrise, the inclusion of ultraviolet-A in the AM, followed by ultraviolet-B around midday (seasonal/latitude dependent), and back down again. Darkness is also considered a light phase and must be prioritized for optimal hormone cycles and circadian function. This all positively influences POMC biology and caters to optimal hormones/health (https://x.com/jack_schroder_/s... More in-depth info here on breaking down the light phases: https://x.com/jack_schroder_/s... Now, let’s touch on how we can increase testosterone synthesis.

It’s also important to note that—mitochondrial function is fundamental to the first step in steroidogenesis, converting cholesterol into pregnenolone. Pregnenolone then forms testosterone downstream. Infrared light is like rocket fuel to your mitochondrial colony, alongside everything mentioned above in this thread.

Other considerations that optimize mitochondrial function, bioenergetics, and health in general: Addressing stress/trauma/mindset, fixing biomechanics/breathing, seasonal nutrition, your geographical location, environmental toxins, gut/liver health, optimizing sleep architecture, and human connection. Let’s quickly touch on dihydrotestosterone (DHT) and how easy it is to optimize.

DHT is a testosterone metabolite that is up to 4x more potent at the androgen receptor. 5α-reductase is the enzyme that drives the conversion of testosterone into DHT. 5α-reductase utilizes NADPH as a cofactor, which uses quantum tunelling mechanisms (https://x.com/jack_schroder_/s... Optimal redox status, as well as mitochondrial and pentose phosphate pathway (PPP) function leads to optimal NADPH status, which allows for efficient conversion of testosterone into DHT. Various nutrient cofactors are involved in this too. Eating seasonally, with an emphasis on animal foods, seafood/shellfish, dairy/eggs, fermented foods, raw honey, seasonal fruit/vegs, and fresh herbs/spices is all you need to know when it comes to nutrition. See below for all the info: https://x.com/jack_schroder_/s...

Receptor sensitivity is very important too, which again, is best optimized through a decentralized approach, and not so much the best supplement/diet. https://x.com/jack_schroder_/s...

We have to understand that there has been a gradual decline in testosterone status over the last few decades—by design. The easiest way to create a population of sick, weak and unhealthy men is to drive cortisol production over testosterone (stress, pregnenolone steal syndrome, blue light/nnEMFs). Whilst any testosterone being made becomes aromatized into estrogen (inflammation, blue light, lack of sunlight, stress/trauma) and DHT conversion is dampened (low redox/electrons, low NADPH). This also destroys the positive feedback loop of testosterone/DHT and dopamine. This is further exacerbated by artificial dopamine-depletion (drugs/alcohol, blue light/nnEMFs, porn, processed foods). Once you see it—it's hard to un-see what's really going on here.

On top of environment (light, location, toxins)—mind (emotions, trauma, stress) and body (biomechanics, breathing, balancing flexibility/strength/mobility, myofascial release, posture) are another 2 important concepts to address. These have huge effects on hormone status, both directly and indirectly. They both tie in with sympathetic vs. parasympathetic tone. A chronic sympathetic state leads to hormonal dysregulation. More information on biomechanics here and how it ties to the quantum body: https://x.com/jack_schroder_/s... And also stress/trauma/emotions: https://x.com/jack_schroder_/s...

I know I mentioned above what I was doing prior to my labs, that are somewhat meant to be not great health-wise; However, these are the things I was doing: — I got tropical sunlight for at least 4-8 hours/day. — I was very strict with light after sunset, almost darkness most nights. — I slept at least 8-9 hours/night. — I ate my meals outside & at sensible times. — I was grounded & exposed to nature most days. — I was feeling very stress-free. — I prayed to god daily. This basically covers all of the above. Optimizing these means you can get away with a lot more when it comes to your health. It also depends on where you are on your health journey, and what kind of resilience you have.

I’m incredibly grateful for my health journey—it has unlocked levels of curiosity, drive, and purpose I never thought possible. If you're feeling low right now, remember that this is part of YOUR unique health journey. Even reaching the end of this thread shows you’re on the right path. Your mind, body, health, and hormones will be healed and optimized sooner than you think. Keep going.

Original post to bookmark: —https://x.com/jack_schroder_/s... Work with me to optimize your health: —http://jackschroder.com— I will be starting a skool community soon on Men’s Decentralized Health Optimization, please stay tuned so you can learn more soon.