🌀 Bipolar, Bears, and Burnout: What Mood Disorders Can Teach Us About Metabolic Rhythms

What if bipolar disorder wasn’t just “in your head”—but also in your mitochondria, your metabolism, your light exposure, and your ancient biological rhythms?

A fascinating new paper published in Molecular Psychiatry by Campbell et al. (2025) proposes just that. Titled “Metabolic plasticity: an evolutionary perspective on metabolic and circadian dysregulation in bipolar disorder,” this work reframes bipolar disorder as a breakdown of deeply conserved biological systems that once helped us survive seasonal stress—but now may leave us vulnerable in modern life.

Let’s unpack what this means—and why it matters not just for those with bipolar disorder, but for all of us navigating stress, fatigue, and the silent cost of chronic adaptation.

🌗 The Bipolar Cycle as a Biological Rhythm Gone Awry

We know that bipolar disorder involves shifts between depression and mania. But what’s striking is when these episodes tend to occur. Mania often peaks in spring and autumn—the very seasons when light patterns shift most rapidly. Depression, meanwhile, deepens in winter, when light and metabolic signals slow to a crawl.

The paper’s central argument? These mood cycles may mirror ancient seasonal adaptations—like hibernation, torpor, or migration—that help animals conserve or mobilize energy in response to environmental stress.

In other words: bipolar disorder may be a modern misfire of ancient survival mechanisms.

🔄 Catabolic–Anabolic Cycling (CACH): The Rhythm of Resilience

To understand this, let’s turn to a concept called catabolic–anabolic cycling—or CACH. This is the body’s natural alternation between:

• Catabolism: breaking down tissue for energy during stress (fasting, illness, winter)

• Anabolism: building up and repairing during recovery (eating, resting, growth)

This rhythm allows us to adapt, heal, and thrive—but only if we cycle smoothly and in sync with our environment.

The trouble?

In modern life, we don’t. We’re constantly exposed to light at night, high-carb processed food, relentless stimulation, and irregular sleep. These cues disrupt our tempo—the internal rhythm that governs when we mobilize and when we restore.

In bipolar disorder, this can manifest as:

• Depression: stuck in a prolonged catabolic state—low energy, slowed metabolism, suppressed immunity

• Mania: a rebound into excessive, unsustainable anabolism—overactivation, sleeplessness, impulsivity

What once kept hibernating animals alive through winter may now leave humans cycling through emotional extremes.

🔋 ERM: Exposure-Related Malnutrition and Energy Mismatch

This fits squarely within the emerging concept of ERM (Exposure-Related Malnutrition)—a framework I’ve proposed to explain how modern stress, nutrient depletion, and metabolic overload silently erode our resilience.

In the ERM model, the body isn’t lacking calories—it’s lacking the bioavailable energy and micronutrient reserves needed to complete adaptation and return to homeostasis. When we get stuck in this “unresolved adaptation,” we enter a state of energetic debt.

In this context, bipolar disorder may represent a visible, diagnosable expression of an invisible failure to resolve chronic stress.

Key parallels:

• Both bipolar and ERM show signs of mitochondrial dysregulation, insulin resistance, and circadian disruption

• Both involve a loss of tempo—a breakdown in the body's rhythmic cycling between stress and recovery

• Both point to the need for pattern-based diagnosis, not just point-in-time lab values

🧬 Ancient Mechanisms, Modern Mismatch

The study also highlights several molecular systems that bridge mood, metabolism, and circadian rhythms:

• CLOCK and BMAL1: genes that regulate sleep/wake cycles and mood

• GSK3β and mTOR: targets of mood stabilizers like lithium, and key players in energy signaling

• AMPK and ketones: adaptive pathways that conserve energy during stress

These systems evolved to toggle us between conservation and action. But today, they’re bombarded with mismatched cues—refined carbs, blue light at midnight, social jetlag, and burnout.

The result?

Not just bipolar disorder—but a broader landscape of metabolic mood disturbances, fatigue syndromes, and stress-related conditions that defy simple labels.

🌅 Toward Recovery: Restoring Rhythms, Rebuilding Reserves

If we want to heal—not just suppress symptoms—we must restore the body’s adaptive rhythm.

That means:

• Rebuilding metabolic reserves with nutrient-dense food and mitochondrial support

• Supporting rhythmic cycling through time-restricted eating, light-dark alignment, and structured rest

• Addressing bioenergetic misallocation, not just neurotransmitters

Whether we call it bipolar disorder, burnout, or brain fog, the core question remains: Is your body still adapting, or has it run out of energy to adapt well?

💡 Final Thought

This paper reminds us that mood is not just a mental state—it’s a metabolic rhythm. And when that rhythm breaks down, we suffer—not because we are broken, but because our environment no longer matches our biology.

The good news?

If we can recognize the pattern, we can repair the cycle.

Because healing is not just about feeling better. It’s about recovering our tempo.

📚 Reference:

Campbell IH, Frye MA, Campbell H. (2025). Metabolic plasticity: an evolutionary perspective on metabolic and circadian dysregulation in bipolar disorder. Molecular Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-025-03123-9

#Bipolar Disorder, #Metabolic Plasticity, #Circadian Rhythm Disruption, #Catabolic–Anabolic Cycling (CACH), #Exposure-Related Malnutrition (ERM)