(This article is for educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Lithium can interact with medications and is not appropriate for everyone. Do not start, stop, or change any treatment without talking to your healthcare professional.)

***

If this helped you, collect this post on Paragraph to support my work. Thank you!

***

After writing my previous article on lithium and its importance in the brain for preventing and treating mental (bipolar disorder, ADHD…) and neurodegenerative diseases (Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s…), I started wondering how exactly lithium acted in the brain and in mitochondria, and how it was possible that such a simple metal (not an essential nutrient) could be so important for our brain. I was intrigued by the fact that it could influence mood, our emotions, the generation of consciousness, and the risk and improvement of mental and neurodegenerative diseases.

As I began digging into the research to satisfy my curiosity and clear up my questions, I came across one of the most interesting studies I’ve read in recent years. The paper, published in Nature in 2021, had “slipped past” me because it is not the usual kind of health study I follow: its authors are physicists, specifically from the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Calgary (Canada).

I found this study so fascinating that I wanted to devote an article to it and share it with you. It shows how nature takes advantage of quantum mechanisms to carry out cognitive processes in the brain, which opens many new doors for future research to help us understand everything related to it. I think neurologists are going to have to catch up on quantum physics.

I hope you find it interesting too. Let’s break it down and explain it in terms that anyone can understand.

As I already explained in my previous article, lithium is a very light metal found in the Earth’s crust that has been used for decades to treat bipolar disorder.

People with this condition experience extreme mood swings: they go from a phase of high energy and euphoria (mania) to another of sadness or deep depression. Using an analogy, the bipolar brain works like a speaker that never plays at the right volume:

· Sometimes it sounds too loud (manic phase).

· Other times, too soft (depressive phase).

Lithium would act like a volume knob that stabilizes the sound — mood. But no one knew how it managed to do that.

How can something as small as lithium have such a big effect?

Mitochondria are responsible for generating energy — among other functions — as I explained in a previous article. Neurons need a huge amount of energy to function, because their energy expenditure is very high (it is estimated that each neuron can contain up to 2 million mitochondria). To generate all that energy, mitochondria use oxygen and, in the process, produce what are known as free radicals (ROS): molecules that are necessary but highly reactive and, when they get out of control, cause damage, accelerate aging, and increase disease risk.

In a healthy person, there is usually a balance between their production and their elimination; in bipolar disorder, that balance is abruptly broken, generating what is called oxidative stress.

Answering the question we ended the previous section with, lithium seems to improve bipolar disorder by reducing that oxidative stress. But this leads us to another question:

How can a simple atom like lithium influence such a complex process?

This is where this study comes in, as it tries to explain lithium’s mechanism from the perspective of quantum physics, something very uncommon in psychiatry and neurology.

Lithium exists in two natural forms called isotopes:

· lithium-6

· lithium-7

They are like twins: the difference between them is minimal. Their atoms have the same number of protons but a different number of neutrons. That is why they share chemical properties but not physical ones. In our case, the two types of lithium differ in how they “spin” internally — what quantum physics calls different nuclear spins.

When the study tested them in animals, one of the isotopes (lithium-7) turned out to calm hyperactivity more than the other. That cannot be explained by normal chemistry — because chemically they are the same — which suggests that its effect does not depend on composition, but on the way its atoms spin. That led the scientists to think: “Maybe the difference lies in their quantum behavior.”

This is where things get fascinating (and more complex to understand for those of us who aren’t physicists).

Inside cells there are molecules that, when they react, form what is known as a “radical pair”: two electrons that are quantum-entangled — separated but connected; whatever happens to one immediately affects the other, even when they are not together.

Imagine these two electrons as two dancers tied by an invisible rope. Sometimes they spin in sync, and other times in opposite directions. That choreography changes the types of molecules that are created and, therefore, how the cell works.

Well, the researchers believe that lithium acts on these pairs of free radicals in the brain.

The study proposes that lithium couples to that radical pair and changes the frequency of that quantum dance of the electrons. Depending on its type of nuclear spin (lithium-6 or lithium-7), the rhythm of the choreography varies and, with it, the final chemical outcome:

· one reduces oxidative stress more,

· the other, less.

It is as if lithium were adjusting an invisible metronome that sets the pace of reactions in the brain.

Let’s keep going with more interesting findings.

That “quantum dance” takes place in a protein called cryptochrome, which is part of the brain’s biological clock (in the suprachiasmatic nucleus). Cryptochrome responds to light — it regulates circadian rhythms — and to magnetism — it detects the Earth’s magnetic field.

Because cryptochrome responds to light, the researchers think that exposure to sunlight improves mood by changing the activity of these radical pairs. This fits with things we already knew:

· Sunlight improves mood.

· Lack of light can cause seasonal depression.

· Vitamin D, which is activated by sunlight, also modulates free radicals (ROS).

The behavior of these “radical pairs” depends on the magnetic field surrounding them. That means lithium’s effect could vary depending on the ambient magnetism, including the Earth’s magnetic field.

Scientists believe that this same type of quantum mechanism allows birds to orient themselves using the Earth’s magnetic field; in that sense, the human brain could be using the same quantum principles to regulate mental processes.

Therefore, according to the study, it is conceivable that location (through differences in the intensity of the Earth’s magnetic field) subtly shapes brain processes and how someone responds to lithium.

In short, everything points to our brain being “tuned” to light and magnetism through quantum mechanisms. Lithium’s role would be to “fine-tune” those processes in cryptochrome and, by doing so, reduce oxidative stress and better synchronize the internal clock (circadian rhythms).

The study puts forward a bold — and speculative — idea: if certain particles in the brain are quantum-entangled, they could maintain coherence (a kind of simultaneous connection) between different areas, as if there were an “internal Wi-Fi.”

The authors conclude that memory, learning, and subjective experience are influenced by mood and emotions, and that perhaps part of how we think, learn, and feel depends on coordinated quantum connections in the brain.

This could be part of the physical basis of consciousness: neurons would not only communicate through electrical impulses, but also through photons of light emitted in these quantum reactions. Those photons would act as quantum messengers to establish connections and “coordinate” distant regions of the brain that might be essential for consciousness.

As I said, it is speculative, but it opens up a fascinating field of research.

In the previous article, we looked at the latest research on the role of lithium in preventing and treating neurodegeneration. We saw that when endogenous lithium decreases in the brain, misfolded proteins increase — beta-amyloid/tau (Alzheimer’s) and α-synuclein (Parkinson’s) — inflammation rises (microglia), neuronal connections are lost (synapses), protection is reduced (myelin decreases), and memory worsens. Conversely, when we restore lithium, all of this is reversed.

We also discussed that lithium improves mitochondrial health: more mitochondria (biogenesis), better energy production through respiration, greater protection against damage, and more thorough clearance of damaged mitochondria (mitophagy). For this reason, it is possible that lithium improves neurodegeneration through the mitochondria, with these being its “final target.”

What the “quantum study” adds is another layer — how it all begins: it suggests that lithium acts “upstream” on the cell’s circadian clock (cryptochrome) through quantum processes, reducing oxidative stress (ROS) and synchronizing circadian rhythms; “downstream,” at the cellular level, this leads to changes that also reach the mitochondria.

1. Lithium helps stabilize mood in bipolar disorder in part because it modulates free radicals (ROS) in the brain, reducing neuronal oxidative stress.

2. That effect depends on the lithium isotope, which suggests it is a quantum phenomenon, not a chemical one.

3. It all takes place in a protein called cryptochrome, which is part of the circadian biological clock.

4. Cryptochrome links light and magnetism to brain biochemistry; sunlight and the magnetic field could affect those quantum processes and modulate each person’s response to lithium.

5. Speculative hypothesis: consciousness, memory, learning, and emotions may be, at least in part, influenced by quantum phenomena of coherence and entanglement — with photons acting as messengers — inside the brain.

6. In Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, several features overlap: increased oxidative stress, circadian disruption, neuroinflammation, mitochondrial damage, and misfolded proteins… Lithium, acting upstream (quantum mechanism in cryptochrome), reduces oxidative stress and synchronizes the circadian clock and, downstream, at the cellular level, improves mitochondrial health, reduces inflammation, etc.

***

Enjoyed this? Collect this post on Paragraph to support more research like this.

***

Get Nutritional Epigenetics on Amazon

(This article is for educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Lithium can interact with medications and is not appropriate for everyone. Do not start, stop, or change any treatment without talking to your healthcare professional.)

***

If this helped you, collect this post on Paragraph to support my work. Thank you!

***

After writing my previous article on lithium and its importance in the brain for preventing and treating mental (bipolar disorder, ADHD…) and neurodegenerative diseases (Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s…), I started wondering how exactly lithium acted in the brain and in mitochondria, and how it was possible that such a simple metal (not an essential nutrient) could be so important for our brain. I was intrigued by the fact that it could influence mood, our emotions, the generation of consciousness, and the risk and improvement of mental and neurodegenerative diseases.

As I began digging into the research to satisfy my curiosity and clear up my questions, I came across one of the most interesting studies I’ve read in recent years. The paper, published in Nature in 2021, had “slipped past” me because it is not the usual kind of health study I follow: its authors are physicists, specifically from the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Calgary (Canada).

I found this study so fascinating that I wanted to devote an article to it and share it with you. It shows how nature takes advantage of quantum mechanisms to carry out cognitive processes in the brain, which opens many new doors for future research to help us understand everything related to it. I think neurologists are going to have to catch up on quantum physics.

I hope you find it interesting too. Let’s break it down and explain it in terms that anyone can understand.

As I already explained in my previous article, lithium is a very light metal found in the Earth’s crust that has been used for decades to treat bipolar disorder.

People with this condition experience extreme mood swings: they go from a phase of high energy and euphoria (mania) to another of sadness or deep depression. Using an analogy, the bipolar brain works like a speaker that never plays at the right volume:

· Sometimes it sounds too loud (manic phase).

· Other times, too soft (depressive phase).

Lithium would act like a volume knob that stabilizes the sound — mood. But no one knew how it managed to do that.

How can something as small as lithium have such a big effect?

Mitochondria are responsible for generating energy — among other functions — as I explained in a previous article. Neurons need a huge amount of energy to function, because their energy expenditure is very high (it is estimated that each neuron can contain up to 2 million mitochondria). To generate all that energy, mitochondria use oxygen and, in the process, produce what are known as free radicals (ROS): molecules that are necessary but highly reactive and, when they get out of control, cause damage, accelerate aging, and increase disease risk.

In a healthy person, there is usually a balance between their production and their elimination; in bipolar disorder, that balance is abruptly broken, generating what is called oxidative stress.

Answering the question we ended the previous section with, lithium seems to improve bipolar disorder by reducing that oxidative stress. But this leads us to another question:

How can a simple atom like lithium influence such a complex process?

This is where this study comes in, as it tries to explain lithium’s mechanism from the perspective of quantum physics, something very uncommon in psychiatry and neurology.

Lithium exists in two natural forms called isotopes:

· lithium-6

· lithium-7

They are like twins: the difference between them is minimal. Their atoms have the same number of protons but a different number of neutrons. That is why they share chemical properties but not physical ones. In our case, the two types of lithium differ in how they “spin” internally — what quantum physics calls different nuclear spins.

When the study tested them in animals, one of the isotopes (lithium-7) turned out to calm hyperactivity more than the other. That cannot be explained by normal chemistry — because chemically they are the same — which suggests that its effect does not depend on composition, but on the way its atoms spin. That led the scientists to think: “Maybe the difference lies in their quantum behavior.”

This is where things get fascinating (and more complex to understand for those of us who aren’t physicists).

Inside cells there are molecules that, when they react, form what is known as a “radical pair”: two electrons that are quantum-entangled — separated but connected; whatever happens to one immediately affects the other, even when they are not together.

Imagine these two electrons as two dancers tied by an invisible rope. Sometimes they spin in sync, and other times in opposite directions. That choreography changes the types of molecules that are created and, therefore, how the cell works.

Well, the researchers believe that lithium acts on these pairs of free radicals in the brain.

The study proposes that lithium couples to that radical pair and changes the frequency of that quantum dance of the electrons. Depending on its type of nuclear spin (lithium-6 or lithium-7), the rhythm of the choreography varies and, with it, the final chemical outcome:

· one reduces oxidative stress more,

· the other, less.

It is as if lithium were adjusting an invisible metronome that sets the pace of reactions in the brain.

Let’s keep going with more interesting findings.

That “quantum dance” takes place in a protein called cryptochrome, which is part of the brain’s biological clock (in the suprachiasmatic nucleus). Cryptochrome responds to light — it regulates circadian rhythms — and to magnetism — it detects the Earth’s magnetic field.

Because cryptochrome responds to light, the researchers think that exposure to sunlight improves mood by changing the activity of these radical pairs. This fits with things we already knew:

· Sunlight improves mood.

· Lack of light can cause seasonal depression.

· Vitamin D, which is activated by sunlight, also modulates free radicals (ROS).

The behavior of these “radical pairs” depends on the magnetic field surrounding them. That means lithium’s effect could vary depending on the ambient magnetism, including the Earth’s magnetic field.

Scientists believe that this same type of quantum mechanism allows birds to orient themselves using the Earth’s magnetic field; in that sense, the human brain could be using the same quantum principles to regulate mental processes.

Therefore, according to the study, it is conceivable that location (through differences in the intensity of the Earth’s magnetic field) subtly shapes brain processes and how someone responds to lithium.

In short, everything points to our brain being “tuned” to light and magnetism through quantum mechanisms. Lithium’s role would be to “fine-tune” those processes in cryptochrome and, by doing so, reduce oxidative stress and better synchronize the internal clock (circadian rhythms).

The study puts forward a bold — and speculative — idea: if certain particles in the brain are quantum-entangled, they could maintain coherence (a kind of simultaneous connection) between different areas, as if there were an “internal Wi-Fi.”

The authors conclude that memory, learning, and subjective experience are influenced by mood and emotions, and that perhaps part of how we think, learn, and feel depends on coordinated quantum connections in the brain.

This could be part of the physical basis of consciousness: neurons would not only communicate through electrical impulses, but also through photons of light emitted in these quantum reactions. Those photons would act as quantum messengers to establish connections and “coordinate” distant regions of the brain that might be essential for consciousness.

As I said, it is speculative, but it opens up a fascinating field of research.

In the previous article, we looked at the latest research on the role of lithium in preventing and treating neurodegeneration. We saw that when endogenous lithium decreases in the brain, misfolded proteins increase — beta-amyloid/tau (Alzheimer’s) and α-synuclein (Parkinson’s) — inflammation rises (microglia), neuronal connections are lost (synapses), protection is reduced (myelin decreases), and memory worsens. Conversely, when we restore lithium, all of this is reversed.

We also discussed that lithium improves mitochondrial health: more mitochondria (biogenesis), better energy production through respiration, greater protection against damage, and more thorough clearance of damaged mitochondria (mitophagy). For this reason, it is possible that lithium improves neurodegeneration through the mitochondria, with these being its “final target.”

What the “quantum study” adds is another layer — how it all begins: it suggests that lithium acts “upstream” on the cell’s circadian clock (cryptochrome) through quantum processes, reducing oxidative stress (ROS) and synchronizing circadian rhythms; “downstream,” at the cellular level, this leads to changes that also reach the mitochondria.

1. Lithium helps stabilize mood in bipolar disorder in part because it modulates free radicals (ROS) in the brain, reducing neuronal oxidative stress.

2. That effect depends on the lithium isotope, which suggests it is a quantum phenomenon, not a chemical one.

3. It all takes place in a protein called cryptochrome, which is part of the circadian biological clock.

4. Cryptochrome links light and magnetism to brain biochemistry; sunlight and the magnetic field could affect those quantum processes and modulate each person’s response to lithium.

5. Speculative hypothesis: consciousness, memory, learning, and emotions may be, at least in part, influenced by quantum phenomena of coherence and entanglement — with photons acting as messengers — inside the brain.

6. In Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, several features overlap: increased oxidative stress, circadian disruption, neuroinflammation, mitochondrial damage, and misfolded proteins… Lithium, acting upstream (quantum mechanism in cryptochrome), reduces oxidative stress and synchronizes the circadian clock and, downstream, at the cellular level, improves mitochondrial health, reduces inflammation, etc.

***

Enjoyed this? Collect this post on Paragraph to support more research like this.

***

Get Nutritional Epigenetics on Amazon