The Four Environmental Signals That Drive Healing and Biological Repair

Connecting With Nature’s Elements to Strengthen Circadian, Metabolic, and Stress Biology

Kendall Toerner

Published: December 6, 2025

Most health advice focuses on chemistry—nutrients, hormones, and supplements. But chemistry only works when something more basic is in place.

Living systems run on electricity.

Every cell depends on the steady movement of electrons to make energy, send signals, and repair damage. When electrical flow weakens or becomes disorganized, biological systems lose stability. When it improves, many problems begin to resolve without forcing them.

Human biology evolved in an environment that continuously supported electrical current. There are four main sources of that current, all of them natural.

Electrical Flow Comes Before Chemistry

Electric current in the body is not the same as electricity in a wire. It moves through structured water and connective tissue, especially collagen, which acts as a semiconductor.

Health depends less on how much energy the body has and more on whether that energy can move smoothly, in one direction, with minimal loss.

When current slows or becomes noisy, cells lose timing and coordination. When current flows well, systems regain order.

Sunlight

Sunlight is the primary source of electrical charge for the human body.

Infrared light expands structured water inside and around cells. This expansion separates electrical charge, creating stored potential energy that cells use to do work. This process happens every time skin and eyes are exposed to natural light.

Ultraviolet light adds another layer by interacting with melanin. Melanin plays a role in charge transfer and electron availability. It is present not only in the skin, but also in metabolically active tissues throughout the body.

Together, infrared light increases the body’s ability to hold charge, while ultraviolet light helps supply it. Artificial lighting lacks this balance and cannot support the same electrical environment.

Long-term avoidance of sunlight reduces cellular electrical charge well before obvious deficiencies appear.

Cold Exposure

Cold exposure improves how electrical current is handled.

Lower temperatures tighten energy gradients inside mitochondria, which reduces electron loss and improves efficiency. Electrons are more likely to stay on useful pathways instead of leaking into stress reactions.

From a biophysical standpoint, cold reduces noise in the system. This supports clearer signaling and better control over energy use.

The benefit comes from improved efficiency, not from adding more energy.

Movement

Movement generates electrical current directly.

Collagen, fascia, and bone have piezoelectric properties. When they are mechanically loaded—through walking, lifting, or any form of physical movement—they generate direct current.

This current moves through the living matrix of the body and influences cell polarity, protein folding, and repair signaling. It is a primary reason movement is required for tissue health.

This effect is not caused by circulation or lymph flow. It is an electrical consequence of mechanical stress acting on semiconductive tissue.

When movement is absent, this source of current disappears. Over time, tissues lose electrical stimulation needed for maintenance and repair.

Grounding

The Earth carries a large supply of free electrons.

Direct contact with the ground allows electrons to enter the body, helping stabilize electrical gradients and redox balance. This supports nervous system regulation and reduces electrical stress.

Modern environments block this contact almost completely through insulated shoes and buildings.

Grounding restores an electrical input that human biology evolved to expect.

Direction and Coherence Matter

Healthy electrical systems require direction, not just charge.

Natural magnetic fields help organize electron movement and reduce resistance as current travels through tissue. Indoors, these fields are often weakened or distorted.

Some people use tools like the Magnetico sleep pad to restore a stable magnetic field during sleep. This does not add energy. It helps existing current move with less interference, which matters most during nighttime repair.

Why These Inputs Are Often Missing

Modern life removes nearly all of these conditions.

People spend little time in natural sunlight.

Cold exposure is avoided.

Movement is limited.

Contact with the Earth is blocked.

Electrical noise increases indoors.

The result is a loss of electrical coherence at a basic level.

What This Means in Practice

Restoring electrical current does not require extreme measures.

Regular outdoor sunlight, daily movement that loads the body, brief cold exposure, time spent barefoot on natural ground, and attention to the sleep environment all help restore foundational electrical flow.

These inputs support one another. Removing one weakens the others.

Closing Perspective

Before biology becomes chemical, it is electrical.

When charge separation is maintained and current can move smoothly through semiconductive tissue, systems regain stability. Sunlight, cold, movement, and contact with the Earth provide the conditions required for that stability.

This is not optimization.

It is returning biology to the environment it was built for.

References

Pollack GH. The role of aqueous interfaces in the cell. PMID: 24056005
Karu TI. Mitochondrial mechanisms of photobiomodulation. PMID: 17980535
Fukada E. Piezoelectricity of biological polymers. PMID: 11683438
Ahn AC, Grodzinsky AJ. Mechanical signals and collagen piezoelectricity. PMID: 19898764
Chevalier G et al. Grounding and blood viscosity. PMID: 22757749