Part 4: Pollack

Tools & Rituals for Hydrated Minds

The Water-Intelligent Living Series

Biohackers have recently rediscovered water. Not “drink eight glasses a day” water, but “organise your internal water with light” water.

Dave Asprey leads the charge with his question: What is EZ water and why do I have to get naked in the sun to make it?

This conversation usually traces back to Gerald Pollack, Professor of bioengineering at the University of Washington.

Pollack studies how water behaves near hydrophilic surfaces, such as cell membranes. What his lab repeatedly observed, challenges the textbook view of water as a passive liquid.

Near certain surfaces, water organises itself into a coherent, hexagonal lattice extending hundreds of micrometres from the interface. This zone excludes solutes, carries a negative electrical charge, and leaves the surrounding bulk water positively charged, effectively creating a small, persistent battery.

Pollack calls this the Exclusion Zone, or EZ water.

Look it up!

The obvious question was: what creates this zone?

The answer his lab found: light.

Infrared wavelengths in particular. Light appears to expand and sustain this charge separation. In Pollack’s framing, light becomes a primary energy source for cellular organisation, with water acting as the intermediary.

Mainstream chemistry remains sceptical. Critics argue the evidence does not yet justify calling EZ water a distinct “fourth phase” of water.

The question Pollack forces back into the room: how much do we actually understand about the water that makes up most of our cells?

One practical insight matters regardless of where the debate lands:
hydration isn’t only about intake.

You’re not “dehydrated” just because you don’t drink enough. You’re dehydrated because modern life is indoor, sedentary, screen-heavy, and rhythm-poor. Water needs to move into cells, not just flush through you.

Movement matters.
Light matters.

Aging looks a lot like cellular water loss.
Illness often shows up as localised cellular drought.

The average person now spends 80–90% of their time indoors, with over six hours a day on internet-connected screens. In that context, hydration conversations focused only on bottles are missing the point.

Hydration is less about physical inputs, and more about your lifestyle. Light. Rhythm. Motion. Attention. Sleep. Play.

During my pre-PhD sabbatical in 2023, I immersed myself in the work of Schauberger, Kroeplin, Emoto, Austin, and Pollack while travelling. It became the perfect counterweight to academic literature. After ten years in water research, it was refreshing to relate to water as an active participant in my life, not just a resource to manage.

I left my London job and life that year, because I felt dry and uninspired.

I took time to rebuild a hydrated life, biologically (hi daily Meadow walks, surf trips and weekly sauna time) and philosophically (hi my lovely upstream crowd!). That journey turned into this newsletter, and eventually into what I now call the Cultural Hydration Studio.

Thank you for following this journey. Truly.

As we close the Living Water Series, here’s the reading & listening list, if you want to explore this terrain yourself:

Many of you have messaged me about cycles ending and beginning: the Year of the Snake closing, Neptune shifting signs. Whether you read this astrologically or metaphorically, either works.

Here is what google says:

One of my favourite markers is the Astrological New Year at the spring equinox (in March), which we usually celebrate as a reunion weekend with the highschool friends group to kick-off summer season.

It also coincides with financial year endings, promotions, bonuses, and historically, my main trip of the year.

This year is different. No long journey planned (Colombia, I still miss you!!!). I’ll be doubling down on the PhD. You’ll find me in Oxford. Say hello if you’re around.

We are, however, planning a small UK water wellness weekend:

Send me an email to [email protected] if you’d like to be added to the waitlist. Details following soon.

If you’re still reading, Happy New Beginnings (Horse, Neptune or upcoming Equinox)! I’m heading back to Germany, the water wellness OG spot. Save me some snow!

Next email: 16 February with more on The Cultural Hydration Studio.