How To Do Your Own Research

Learn practical steps to find, interpret, and evaluate scientific research — from choosing studies to spotting bias and drawing sound, evidence-based conclusions.

Kendall Toerner

Published: December 2, 2025

You don’t need to be a scientist to understand your health.

But you do need to learn how to think clearly.

Most people believe they’re “doing research” when they:

Read headlines
Watch summaries
Scan abstracts
Trust authority

That is not research.

That is outsourcing your thinking.

True research is the process of repeatedly asking why until you reach something fundamental enough that it cannot be reduced further.

Science Is Not Settled — And That’s the Point

Science is not a collection of facts.

It’s a method for questioning reality.

If something were truly settled, it would no longer be science — it would be physics law.

This is why confident certainty in health science is often a red flag.

Biology is messy.

Human environments vary.

And most studies cannot control for light, temperature, magnetism, or circadian timing — the very things biology runs on.

The goal is not certainty.

The goal is better questions.

Start With First Principles

First principles thinking means stripping an idea down to its most basic components.

Instead of asking:

“Is this good or bad?”

You ask:

“What does this interact with at a physical level?”

For human health, that usually means:

Electrons
Light
Temperature
Time
Magnetism

These are the constraints biology cannot escape.

If a claim violates basic physics, no amount of studies can save it.

Ask “Why?” At Least Five Times

Most health claims collapse after the second “why.”

Example:

“Blue light is harmless.”

Why?

→ Because studies show no acute damage.

Why do those studies show no damage?

→ Because they’re short-term.

Why are they short-term?

→ Because long-term environmental studies are expensive.

Why are they expensive?

→ Because they can’t be patented or monetized easily.

Why does that matter?

→ Because funding shapes what gets studied.

Now you’re closer to truth.

Be Wary of Repeated Information

The more often something is repeated, the less likely it is to be original.

Repetition creates confidence, not accuracy.

Understand the Limits of Studies

Most human health studies:

Are observational, not experimental
Rely on surveys and self-reporting
Ignore environmental variables
Are performed under artificial lighting
Use nocturnal animals as models

This does not make them useless — but it does make them incomplete.

Over half of epidemiological findings fail to replicate when tested more rigorously.

This is not a conspiracy.

It’s a limitation of methodology.

Physics Comes Before Biology

Biology runs on physics, not the other way around.

Electrons move before chemicals react.

Light signals before hormones change.

Temperature alters reaction rates before enzymes respond.

If a biological explanation ignores physics, it is missing the foundation.

This is why understanding light, electricity, and magnetism matters more than memorizing pathways.

Be Careful With Authority

Expertise is narrow by necessity.

A biologist may not understand electromagnetic physics.

A physicist may not understand circadian biology.

When someone speaks with certainty outside their domain, skepticism is healthy.

True experts tend to speak carefully — not confidently.

Use Your Own Body As a Reference Point

Your body is a sensor.

If you hold variables constant and change one input at a time, patterns emerge.

This is how real experimentation works.

Examples:

Light timing
Sleep consistency
Temperature exposure
Diet composition

When everything changes at once, nothing can be learned.

Consistency reveals signal.

Anecdotes Are Not Proof — But They Are Clues

Anecdotes are not conclusions.

But when thousands of independent anecdotes point in the same direction, they suggest something worth investigating.

Especially when:

Mechanisms make physical sense
Observations repeat across environments
The intervention is ancient, not novel

Dismissal without investigation is not skepticism — it’s dogma.

Discomfort Is a Signal, Not a Stop Sign

If an idea feels uncomfortable, ask why.

Is it because:

It conflicts with what you’ve heard before?
It threatens an identity?
It challenges authority you trust?

Growth often feels like friction.

Curiosity should override reflexive dismissal.

Don’t Trust — Verify

This applies to everyone.

Including:

Researchers
Doctors
Authors
This book

The goal is not belief.

The goal is understanding.

When you understand why something works, you no longer need permission to act on it.

The Highest-Quality Evidence

The most reliable evidence comes from the overlap of:

Physics
First principles
High-quality observation

When all three align, confidence increases — even if consensus has not caught up yet.

History favors those who ask better questions earlier.

References

Ioannidis JPA. Why most published research findings are false. PMID: 16060722
Greenland S. Observational studies and bias. PMID: 18458205
Begley CG, Ellis LM. Drug development: Raise standards for preclinical cancer research. PMID: 22460880
Freedman LP et al. Reproducibility: A tragedy of errors. PMID: 25552691
Smaldino PE, McElreath R. The natural selection of bad science. PMID: 27658853