longevity

WATER WELLNESS

Hydration education you won’t get anywhere else.
Tools, stories, philosophy, and upstream thinking.

HEY FROM THE SOURCE

Your trusted notes on hydration wisdom, beyond just drinking water. After our summer hydration myth-busting series, October will flow into a new 5-part Mineral Water series. We’re timing it with the Day of Mineral Waters on October 7th, 2025. Think of it as a deeper dive into water’s origins, straight from the source. Stay tuned: starting October 1st.

Splash of the Week

NUTRITION | Cellular Health, Longevity & the Real Science Behind Wellness

Friends kept saying: “Talk about water with regards to longevity and gut health, that’s what everyone wants.”

So here we go.

Back in April, I attended a talk on Nutrition that cut through the noise. Unlike casual conversations with nutritionists, this one was sharp, evidence-based, and full of takeaways that stuck.

I revisited my notes this month, and here are my key water wellness aligned take-aways:

1. Aging Starts in Your Cells

Cellular health defines how well we age. In the water space, we also often say, “aging is cellular water loss. Illness is localised drought”.

• Diet is the #1 driver of aging. Supplements will never outcompete real food.

• 95% of people are fiber-deficient → inflammation + accelerated aging.

• Whole-food diets can shift biological age by up to 6 years.

Phase angle (PA) tests and biobank data now let us measure aging at the cellular level.

Phase angle (PA) tests and how they measure cellular aging

Phase angle (PA) comes from bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA), the same method body composition devices use. A safe electrical current is sent through the body.

• Resistance → reflects the flow of current through extracellular water (ECW), the fluid outside your cells.

• Reactance → reflects the ability of cell membranes to store and release that current, which depends on how much intracellular water (ICW) they’re holding.

• Phase angle = the ratio of reactance to resistance → essentially, the balance between water inside your cells and water outside them.

Why it matters:

• A higher PA = more water inside the cells (ICW), stronger membranes, better capacity to hold charge.

• A lower PA = water shifted outside the cells (ECW dominance), weaker membranes, and cellular “leakiness.”

Everybody loves their electrolyte supplements. But we forget that the best water and minerals come from prepared foods.

As one speaker said: “You can’t out-supplement a bad diet. You’re just making expensive pee.”

💡 Supplements aren’t useless, but unless you’re truly deficient, you’re paying for false promises. Potency, testing, and regulation matter more than marketing.

Key takeaways: Movement + diet = biggest impact on aging. (#waterwellness)

2. Hydration: More Than Just Drinking Water

Hydration isn’t just what’s in your glass, it’s what gets into your cells.

• Food hydrates too. Nutrient-dense plants + fruit deliver water efficiently to cells.

• Guidance is outdated. Listen to your body, check your pee, drink when thirsty.

• After 65, thirst weakens. Intentional hydration becomes essential.

Forget the hype: AG1, electrolytes, IV drips → mostly expensive pee.

3. Public Health vs. Personal Agency

Processed food still dominates shelves because policy favours profit.

Walking into a supermarket, I only consider ~10% of what’s on offer. The rest isn’t food, it’s dehydrating product.

• It is more expensive to eat whole, real food. But it shouldn’t be.

• Italy, France, Romania: <20% of calories from ultra-processed foods. The UK: more than double.

As one expert said: “Knowledge isn’t enough. Access matters.”
Those who can choose differently must lead the shift.

Real wellness = a collective movement, not a solo shopping spree.

WELLNESS WITHOUT THE FAIRY DUST

From Huel to celebrity powders, the market sells fixes to problems it created.

Instead of fairy-dusting your wellness with random micronutrients:

• Focus on whole foods, hydration, and movement.

• Choose brands with genuine sustainability + transparency.

True wellness doesn’t come from what you buy. It comes from what nature already provides, from aligning your rituals, from reconnecting with the flow that is already within you.

Longevity isn’t a pill, a powder, or a protocol.

It’s daily choices → food, movement, hydration, light, rest.

Use intention and pay attention to your daily rituals.

Wellness comes from alignment.

Simple, repeated, alive.

— Clouds

The Essentials

YOUR HYDRATION EDIT

In every edition, we gather stories and signals that flow with the Water Method. From where your water begins to how you move, recover, and shape daily life around it, plus a look at wellness real estate, one of the fastest-rising currents in the wellness world.

• Grounding mats are trending. But do you need one, or can you just walk barefoot outside? Exploding Topics

• Digital detox by force. Blocking mobile internet for 2 weeks → improved mental health + wellbeing. News-Medical

• Therme Manchester, a £450 million wellbeing resort with thermal baths, “living waterslides,” spa zones and more, is under construction with expected completion by end of 2028, touted to be the UK’s largest wellness destination. Manchester Wire

☁ Visionary Voices

Melatonin, Vitamin D & Cellular Rhythms

We often treat Vitamin D as a nutrient. But technically, it’s a light-derived hormone, our skin synthesises it when exposed to UVB. Recent research is revealing deeper, surprising intersections with melatonin, especially in how our cells respond to seasonal cycles.

Here’s what science is showing, and where it’s still speculative:

What the research says

• Melatonin binds to the Vitamin D Receptor (VDR).
  Some studies show melatonin can directly interact with the ligand-binding domain of VDR — meaning it might influence VDR-driven gene expression. PubMed

• They may act as “two sides of a coin.”
  In a 2023 PNAS paper, authors suggest melatonin and vitamin D are part of a shared rhythm: sunlight drives vitamin D, darkness drives melatonin. The two systems might coordinate immunity, inflammation, circadian regulation. PNAS

• Latitude, light, gut, and immune interplay.
  In northern latitudes (with low winter sun), vitamin D synthesis is limited. That seems to shift balance toward other pathways (like melatonin) having more influence. Frontiers

What we don’t yet know (so stay curious)

• There’s no consensus yet, that melatonin replaces vitamin D in winter or that you don’t need vitamin D supplementation, especially in high latitudes or for individuals with low sun exposure.

Personally, I don’t take vitamin D supplements. Instead, I build my routine around light and rhythm: 30 minutes outside every morning, a 10-hour night routine anchored by 8 hours of sleep, plus 1 hour tech-free before bed and 1 quiet hour in the morning before notifications and artificial light.

For me, that’s how I support the relationship between light, darkness, and cellular hydration. Life is less about hacks, supplements and retail therapy, and more about intention and attention in daily rhythms.

What’s interesting about this

In summer, sunlight pushes Vitamin D pathways. In winter, darkness stretches, melatonin rises, and perhaps those same receptors are tuned differently. Some researchers have observed melatonin binding to the Vitamin D receptor, suggesting our biology may already have a seasonal backup plan.

💡 Which raises the question: maybe nature didn’t make a mistake. Maybe we weren’t meant to force summer in a bottle, but to sleep more, rest deeper, and let melatonin do its work.

Supplements can be helpful in deficiency, but the rhythm itself matters.

Maybe wellness might be less about overriding the seasons, and more about listening to what they ask of us.

Less products, more presence?

A Final Note

NOTES FROM THE MEADOW

Until next time! ☁