Staying Grounded While Coping with Cosmic Disruptions

0:00 Welcome back to the women's mental health podcast. I'm Randy and I'm Jess and we're two licensed psychotherapists. And this is a safe space where we talk about mental health, well being and strategies for coping with life's challenges. And how it's all normal and you are not alone. In today's episode, we're going to explore the idea about the phases of the moon, Mercury in retrograde, the Northern lights, solar flares, all these mystical sun and moon things, and how they can have an impact on human emotions, behavior, and your mental health. Find us and more resources. on womensmentalhealthpodcast.

0:40 com. So let's jump into our have you ever had these thoughts questions. Does the moon really affect our mental health? Can the phases of the moon impact sleep patterns and our mental health? Is there a scientific basis for the moon's effect on human behavior? How do solar flares affect our mental health or our daily life? Can I manage? Sorry, can I manage? No, I can't manage. No, we can't. We're a hot mess. today. How can I manage any negative effects I perceive during certain moon phases or solar flare phases or the northern light issues?

1:24 Do certain moon phases, like when people say mercury is in retrograde, have a more pronounced effect on you with your mental health than other phases. Why might some people be more sensitive to these different astro, is it astrological? Geometric. Geometric! What are they called out there? I don't know! Wait, wait, wait, hold on, hold on. Geomagnetic Disturbances! Geomagnetic disturbances. Disturbances out there. can the phase of the moon or the solar flares really exacerbate certain mental health conditions? are there any mindfulness or wellness practices that we can use during these phases to help us?

2:08 So let's jump into that. So the idea that phases of the moon or that geomagnetic disturbances can really affect your mental health. Okay. dates back centuries, and it's deeply rooted in folklore, mythology, and cultural beliefs. But so much of our history is, and I feel like in storytelling, sometimes we find the truth in that, and that leads us to research and find deeper answers. In college I took a class on the Bible, the New Testament of the Bible as a history. It was only history. And it was a really interesting class to go through because he said, we're not talking about religion.

2:52 We're just doing historical facts, just history based upon this. And he said, I'll never tell you what my beliefs are. That's so interesting. Because I feel like a lot of times we interject our own beliefs and ideology about historical documents it's interesting to see how you can find. Yeah. Truth and history and basis and not let's look at it from a mental health perspective. Some people feel that they are affected by this. The energy levels, sleep patterns, everything changes when all of this is going on. I know when it's a windy day. That is going to be a shitshow in therapy.

3:33 I don't know what it is about windy days there's just some correlation that you've noticed, like a pattern. And that's why when we're approaching this topic and talking about it, we really want to do it with an open mind and kind of a sense of curiosity because everybody has different beliefs around this, but we're really delving into the scientific side of it and how it affects us. as individuals, especially as women with mental health conditions, even though it varies so much across different cultures and religions. we have to be honest, both our homes, we've had the solar flares going on. the Northern lights, what last weekend we're out watching them. Solar flares.

4:14 the last two days. And Both our houses to this morning have been complete shitshows. Shitstorm. Shitstorm, yes. Literally. I left, I left mine coming over to Randy's and I was like, ooh, it's here too. And then she walked into my home office and it was chaos ruling and Jess was like, my anxiety is so high and I don't know why. And I'm like, I don't know. I don't know what's happening either. And then we were already planning on talking about this. And then we were just correlating more information and scientific studies about how this really does affect us. And there have been a lot of scientific studies lately because people are so interested in this and they're seeing that.

4:54 About 30 percent of people can be affected by these shifts and these geometric disturbances, especially if you already have mental health issues or you already have a physical illness. even when you're stressed, just stressed at work or in traffic, yeah, it can impact you even more. So what are some things that we can do to counteract those stressful peaks that are happening? Part of it is getting some good coping skills because obviously we're finding that it does affect our sleep It affects our circadian rhythms, let's pause a minute and explain a little bit if people don't understand what circadian rhythms are. Sorry. Sorry.

5:34 Yeah Yeah Circadian rhythms are the sleep patterns that we have as we go into sleep into sleep. We don't just go and do one level of sleep. We have different levels. There's like light deep. they call it REM sleep when you're really in deep sleep. So yeah, it affects your whole sleep rhythm. And so that's what it is. It's a rhythm. A lot of people are finding that if we can incorporate mindfulness and really good, here's this word again, guys, self care practices we can do meditation, we can do yoga spending more time in nature, grounding yourself in nature. Randy and I like to go and walk on the grass barefoot, actually barefoot to connect with nature.

6:19 It just helps you pause and take a breath. really trying to find some balance as to what is going on and understand that during these times, you might be somebody who is affected by the wind or by solar flares or by the northern lights. Yeah. Another scientific study I was reading said too that it can also affect your nervous system, your heart rate, your blood pressure, and it also reduces. Cognitive function, which I was like, Oh my gosh, this is so bad for Jess and I, because we're neurodivergent. We're ADHDers. so we already have low executive function. So if you feel like your thoughts are scattered and all over the place, it does impact that.

7:05 And that could be why my hallway is a hot mess right now because everything is everywhere and I can't get my brain to focus. Yeah. It also causes. Social behavior triggers like social unrest. And we've been noticing that too in social media. We've seen a lot of, colleges having protests. Yes. there's a whole movement right now to like block celebrities. So people are feeling the need to go to battle because when there are these disturbances, whether it's you feel like the moon is pulling you one way or another, or there's a flare in the sky. Okay. There is increased anxiety, and that leads to impulsive behavior as well. we already have issues with anxiety and impulsive behavior, so oh my gosh, so now it's going to be even worse.

7:49 Does the moon really affect our mental health? Absolutely. I'm going to go with absolutely. We're finding that so many people report more tense and emotionally heightened moods around a full moon. also when you look at some of the evidence of oh, it happens on a full moon. If you talk to law enforcement, they'll say that more people are out on full moons because you can see more, so people get into more trouble as well. I think even if there isn't hardcore statistical scientific basis for some of this stuff, I feel like what we believe, Can really manifest for us.

8:30 So if we really feel it's the moon or Mercury is in a retrograde or something is happening, it can come to fruition. I don't think we can discount our Intuition. Intuition. Yes. on how we're feeling. It's just a way to listen in to our bodies and our emotions and being self aware about it. Just listen to those cues. Randy, can the phases of the moon impact sleep patterns? Yes. So We are seeing, especially in the studies that we have read, that a lot of people have sleep quality decrease during different phases of the moon or the solar flares or when the northern lights just happened. poor sleep impacts your mental health.

9:12 It impacts your cognitive function. It impacts your ability to think straight so that makes us more irritable. It makes us have higher anxiety. It makes us more susceptible to depression. it's really important to, again, like we said, take those into consideration and take care of yourself even more so during these flare ups that are happening. Well, that's like when we do the time change, every time we do a time change, can we be done with that? There's an increase in heart attacks because we are not getting the sleep. And again, we're tired, we're cranky, we're trying to adjust to a different sleep schedule. it's just really interesting that, yeah, that does affect us.

9:53 Yeah, it does. is there any type of scientific basis that the moon or these solar flares really affect our human behavior? I think it's still really divided. Some of the people will say yes, some of them say, no, there's not enough evidence. Some of them say totally could be a lot of studies. Some studies do suggest that there is an influence again, because it affects our sleep quality and some of them are saying, no, there is no direct correlation. And so it's hard when everybody is saying, this is what must be going on. then other people are saying, no, it's not. Well, there's there should always be counter arguments for things. That is what leads us to more understanding.

10:35 But I don't think that we can discount that. There's also these physical disruptions that happen, especially with solar flares, satellites go down. Cell phones fail, there's a lack of that communication I feel like when those things go down, it can also impact mental health. Oh, yeah. ask my teenager, if she can't get on her phone, oh my goodness, what happens? That's always the threats it could be that maybe the influence on all of these is really more Psychological well culturally influenced like what you were talking about and like you were saying with the time changes it affects our daily routine and when it's unknown and we're thrown off that just leads to more anxiety and more worry and you get in this cycle of oh crap, and you're led down a negative rabbit hole.

11:24 So maybe it's the disruption of those things influencing just our life as we know it in that moment. so it throws us off of our game. Think about it. I don't know about your dogs, but my dogs want to know why they're not being fed at what they think is five o'clock. And we're like, sorry guys, it's only four. And they're like, no, no, it should be five. yeah. just their internal clock. And we have that too. We just don't listen to it a lot because we're so busy. We're so busy. Yeah. we have to do everything else. so maybe that's also part of it too, is that when we have these kinds of shifts, it messes with our internal clock as well. Okay. how can we kind of manage these negative effects that we are either perceiving or actually happening during these different disturbances?

12:08 I think the first thing is to acknowledge how you're feeling without any kind of judgment. No outside influence. Yeah, just notice the patterns that you have and really adjust that self care routine. If you know that when there's going to be a full moon or there's a solar eclipse or whatever it is really start looking at incorporating mindfulness or meditation or journaling, whatever it is that you do to process your emotions. Go to a friend's house and maybe her house won't also be the shit show. That's why I just ran over here today. I'm going to Randy's, bye. Or maybe it will be a shit show and you're going to go, Oh, I feel so much better about myself. There's something in the air.

12:48 Well, and I feel like it's important you mentioned journaling, but jotting down when there are these Seasons that you feel like there is a shift and noting that so you can go back and compare when this stuff happens if you do notice a pattern or a cycle so you don't feel like oh it's just this happening but you actually then have a truth like this really does affect me or it's the weather or it's the sun or it's the gray skies then you have concrete evidence for yourself it doesn't matter what science says when it comes down to it it's like how do you feel about it And then if there are issues, you can take it to your therapist or doctor and say, Hey, this is really affecting me.

13:29 What can I do if you need more help than just the additional self care? I tell people do that all the time. Randy's calendar, put it in your calendar so you know when these are happening and you can pay attention. Also what is going on that day? What affected your mood? Yeah, I love it because my Apple Watch has a mindfulness thing. So it pops up and it says, how are you feeling? And then why are you feeling that way? And you can like, just check off. Why you're feeling that way or what's happening and you can add in notes if you want to this is why it's making me anxious or this is why I'm happy and then you can go back and see the pattern. So I love that because it just be like, Hey have you recorded your mood today or your feelings?

14:09 And I'm like, Nope. Okay, you need to do that. Because then I can see Oh I'm on my period or I'm stressed out because of my kids or finances or whatever it is then I don't feel so out of control with the world. What's happening inside my body. I like that. That's I have, I read you that too. Randy, why might some people be more sensitive to these solar flares and the different geometric things. Yeah. So there can be so many factors that play into this. It can be. Psychological. It can be physiological, like your body. It could be cultural. He might be higher stress at work. also, some people just might be more in tune with their environment.

14:52 So they might notice shifts. Then it throws off your daily routine or your sleep patterns. then when all that is shuffled, it's harder to be more resilient with things and stressors that are hitting you. Yes, I feel like that all impacts with lunar cycles, hormonal cycles your mental health cycle but especially elderly people, or if you're ill, or if you're grieving, if you have other stressors on top of these things already happening, it's going to impact you even more. You might notice the shift even more so than others around you. you said people about who are more in tune, ADHD typically is more in tune.

15:35 Often I would always say before I was diagnosed that I was an empath. Yes. And I was, or I was a highly sensitive person as they called it in the 90s. And I just thought you're so sensitive, Randy. Like people would say all the time. And. Probably why I'm a therapist, but I was like, yeah, we are just very in touch with our feelings, our surroundings and how other people give off their energy. We can read the room and read others very easily. I feel more so than other people. Yeah, we have to look at the cues as best we can because we miss so many other ones. Yeah, we're not good at reading social cues. I think we have heightened senses and those other things like emotional senses because we might not always read the body language, when people come into my office, that I could feel it coming in.

16:27 And at the end of the day, it would feel like People have just flung their emotions on my walls, and they're just dripping down the walls because you could just feel it. Well, and that's why burnout rates are so high and any type of mental health or medical fields because you actually carry that. It feels like it's on your shoulders. You do carry it. Yes. so Jess, do you think the phases of the moon can exacerbate burnout? Mental health conditions. I'm gonna go with yes after our talk and what we have done. There isn't a whole lot of people saying yes, a hundred percent scientific anything. I feel like there's shades of gray with that. Like we said, follow your intuition exactly.

17:09 Follow your intuition because we're seeing that anxiety is up right now. Impulsive behavior is up right now. And we have had so many different things going on with the earth and, everything. I sound silly. Like the polar magnetic, the polar magnetic scientists. Okay we are, but not in that. No, no, no, we are not those kind of scientists. Yeah, Randy, how can we navigate? Mercury and retrograde when it affects our mental health. And actually, what does that even mean, mercury and retrograde? I hear it all the time, but I don't know what that means. Mercury and retrograde is a celestial phenomenon.

17:49 Like in the stars, it's written in the stars. But it hits a chord with people. I think because people use it as like a slang to why things are going wrong in their world or they noticing a shift. but technically and astro nomical terms, it means when mercury appears to be moving backward and it's only. orbit, and we can see that from earth. So it's purely a perspective. Okay. So it's not really happening. It's an effect that you feel like you're witnessing it moving backwards. we have noticed culturally and especially in social media, we notice shifts in communication cell phone dysfunction technology, and people are, like, traveling, and things go awry, or lots of misunderstandings happening, and it creates an inconvenience in your life, I feel like on a positive flip, we can see it as an invitation rather than an imposition.

18:49 think of it as a time to pause and reflect, to slow down, examine Our choices, like what's happening around us, and to communicate with those around us more deliberately and instill those, yeah, and instill those boundaries you have with people. So there's no direct scientific correlation in disruption to it, but I feel. Socially and culturally, we feel like there is, and that's important, because if we feel like it's true we allow that to dictate how we go about our routines. To kind of, like, maintain your mental health during these shifts. Really, practice mindfulness, practice communicating with those around you, also mindfully, take extra care in how you communicate with people maybe you're, gonna shoot off an impulsive text message, maybe pause and reread that give yourself 24 hours before you send it, and that's just That's good anyway.

19:49 That's just good anyways. Yeah. Yeah. If you're gonna, if you're heated, don't respond. Don't respond. So with that practice, you can avoid miscommunication and misunderstandings and really promote clarity and compassion in your life. And that's just good practice. And also to embrace flexibility. I know it's hard, especially a lot of us cling to routine and that can help us get through things. But when things are thrown off track and it really tests our patience. It can make our stress and our anxiety spike. When you allow yourself to just kind of breathe and go with it and go with the flow, it allows you to adapt and give yourself that grace. Some of our past podcasts we talk about our kids like failing forward there's no mistakes.

20:33 Mistakes are just learning. I feel like you can throw that this to flip it in a positive. mindset, which comes into why Jess and I are so positive about CBT therapy, is you change the way you think. So you're just exploring an alternative path to what is happening and maybe it's something better for you. It's just a gentle reminder that Not everything is within our control and that's okay. There's actually a lot that's not in our control. Like most every single thing is not in your control. Exactly. Most of this stuff is totally not in our control. Did you actually go see the Northern Lights the other day?

21:14 I didn't. Ah, okay. So we did. We took off at 10 o'clock at night. So lack of sleep. we went up to some lookout and we got to see them and it was really cool to see. We had to use our phones to see it though. We can kind of see it with our eyes, but if you had the night vision on our phone, we got to see some really cool pictures. Yeah, you took really cool pictures. So technically the Northern Lights is when the sun. Particles are colliding with atoms in Earth's atmosphere, and and it's releasing energy in the form of light. There is an energy shift happening. Yeah, there is an energy shift. it was really neat to see. They do say that you're out in nature. it's going to be good for you to see, but there's also other studies that are showing that it causes again, increased energy, increased anxiety.

22:04 Well, it happens near the magnetic poles of the earth. So again, too, there's that geomagnetic. Physicality of a disturbance happening. There is truly a shift. Atoms and particles are colliding to create this beautiful, wondrous event, but then we don't think about the aftermath, or being, like, exposed to those things, and what that does to our body and our mind. And our mental health. Yeah. Okay. So this has been an interesting podcast today. We're just a little all over the place and we hope it really inspires you to explore a little bit more about how you're feeling when these shifts are going on and how it can influence your mental health and influence those around you.

22:47 and if your house is a shit storm like ours right now, you're not alone. It's totally normal. There's something in there, as we like to say. Something in the air.