Everything You Wanted to Know about the Pineal Gland

The famous philosopher Descartes described the pineal gland as the “principal seat of the soul.” You’ve probably heard of this gland being the ‘third eye,’ a mystical chakra point residing right in the middle of your eyebrows. Well, it turns out these ideas aren’t too far off. The small, rice-sized, pinecone-shaped endocrine organ known as the pineal gland sits alone in the middle of the brain and at the same level as the eyes.

Pineal Gland Functions

How you think and feel every day depends on the pineal gland. As the producer of the hormone melatonin, the quality and duration of your sleep relies on how well it produces this hormone. This tiny organ regulates your daily and seasonal circadian rhythms, the sleep-wake patterns that determine your hormone levels, stress levels, and physical performance.

4 Ways to Activate the Pineal Gland

Activating your pineal gland may be helpful for regulating mood, sleep, and energy levels. Here are 4 ways to get started:

1. Get Out and Into the Sun

Sun exposure kick starts the pineal gland to produce serotonin and stimulates the mind. Any type of light exposure, either directly or indirectly, activates the pineal gland, prompting it to produce serotonin. This neurotransmitter is responsible for mood and improves energy levels. This is why it’s crucial to avoid light after the sun goes down, because you need your pineal gland to produce melatonin and suppress serotonin. This process can only be accomplished by reducing light from electronics and lightbulbs as much as possible.

2. Sleep in Complete Darkness

A dark environment ensures your pineal gland produces enough melatonin to ensure good, restful sleep. Make sure you avoid backlit devices like phones, tablets, computer monitors, or TV right before bed. The lighting of these devices stimulates serotonin production, tricking your pineal gland into thinking it’s daytime, confusing your wake/sleep cycle.

3. Sun Gazing

Sun gazing is perhaps one of the most controversial exercises you can do to activate the pineal gland, simply because there’s no scientific evidence to prove its effectiveness or safety. Here’s the basics of the practice: within the first 15 minutes of sunlight at the beginning of the day and then the final 15 minutes of sunlight at the end of the day, you gaze into the sun for a couple of seconds, but only a couple of seconds. Again, sun gazing has its risks. Simply getting out in the sun and having your eyes exposed to light indirectly can help stimulate the pineal gland without having to stare directly into the sun’s rays.

4. Meditation

The pineal gland responds to the bioelectric signals of light and dark, and meditation activates this bioelectric energy. With practice, you can learn to direct this energy to this highly-sensitive organ.

Modern Problems with the Pineal Gland

Calcification is the biggest problem for the pineal gland. Fluoride accumulates in the pineal gland more than any other organ and leads to the formation of phosphate crystals. As your pineal gland hardens due to the crystal production, less melatonin is produced and regulation of your wake-sleep cycle gets disturbed. [1]

Research also reports fluoride hardening accelerates sexual development in children, particularly in girls. [2] And this is a serious problem as a study from 30 years ago reported 40% of American children under 17 were found to have pineal calcification in process. Since then, we’ve see children, especially girls, experience the early onset of puberty. [3]

In addition to fluoride, halides like chlorine and bromine also accumulate and damage the pineal gland. Calcium supplements can also cause problems. Without enough vitamin D–64% of Americans are vitamin D deficient–calcium does not become bioavailable and calcifies human tissue, including the pineal gland. [4]

Eliminating fluoride may be the best first step for reducing health concerns. Use fluoride-free toothpaste, avoid tap water, and drink filtered water. For the best filtered water, use a reverse osmosis water filter. Eat calcium-rich foods rather than taking calcium supplements if you can get plenty of vitamin D.

How to Decalcify Your Pineal Gland

If you’ve been exposed to fluoride, your pineal gland has some degree of calcification preventing it from working well. Here are a few ways you can decalcify:

Tamarind Fruit

The fruit from the African tamarind tree is extremely effective at removing fluoride from the body. One study found children given tamarind excreted significantly more fluoride in their urine compared to the control group and may halt or even reverse the effects of skeletal fluorosis.

Borax

Mix one teaspoon of borax (or boron) in a liter of water and take it in small quantities over the course of a day or two. Consult your doctor before using this method.

Zeolites

These volcanically-produced crystals have recently been discovered as a powerful way to detoxify your body. They break down hardened calcium that forms around heavy metals in tissue and removes these heavy metals from the body.

Cleanses

Regular cleansing enables the body to naturally remove toxins and heavy metals from the body, including fluoride.

Iodine

Halides like fluoride, chlorine, and bromine accumulate in your tissue if you’re iodine deficient, which is an increasing problem around the world. If you’ve cut back on salt and don’t eat a lot of seafood, there’s a good chance you may be deficient. Symptoms of iodine deficiencyinclude chronic fatigue, thyroid disease, feeling cold or a low body temperature, and hormone imbalance. To get more iodine, eat foods rich in iodine, [link to article on sources of iodine] or take a colloidal iodine supplement for the best result.

-Dr. Edward F. Group III, DC, NP, DACBN, DCBCN, DABFM

Article References

[1] Schmid H.A. Decreased Melatonin Biosynthesis, Calcium Flux, Pineal Gland Calcification and Aging: A Hypothetical Framework. Gerontology 1993;39:189 199.

[2] Jennifer Anne Luke. The Effect of Fluoride on the Physiology of the Pineal Gland.Excerpts from pages: 1-9; 51-53; 167-177. 1997.

[3] Zimmerman RA, Bilaniuk LT. Age-related incidence of pineal calcification detected by computed tomography. Radiology. 1982 Mar;142(3):659-62.

[4] Mitchell DM1, Henao MP, Finkelstein JS, Burnett-Bowie SA. Prevalence and predictors of vitamin D deficiency in healthy adults. Endocr Pract. 2012 Nov-Dec;18(6):914-23. doi: 10.4158/EP12072.OR.

[5] Khandare AL1, Kumar P U, Shanker RG, Venkaiah K, Lakshmaiah N. Additional beneficial effect of tamarind ingestion over defluoridated water supply to adolescent boys in a fluorotic area. Nutrition. 2004 May;20(5):433-6.

[6] Khandare AL1, Rao GS, Lakshmaiah N. Effect of tamarind ingestion on fluoride excretion in humans. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2002 Jan;56(1):82-5.