A retest pattern
Calcium, magnesium, sodium and potassium all higher than on the previous test
The pattern workbook names the retest pattern in which calcium, magnesium, sodium and potassium all increase. It also defines a partial form and a variant in which potassium dips slightly, and the four ratios show whether the oxidation rate moved with the levels.
The pattern workbook Eileen reads charts against defines Coming Alive on a retest: the levels of all four macrominerals, calcium, magnesium, sodium and potassium, rise compared with the previous test. The pattern is also present to a lesser degree when one, two or three of the four increase, provided the others stay the same as on the previous test.
The workbook names one variant, Almost Coming Alive: calcium, magnesium and sodium increase while potassium slightly decreases. Coming Alive compares two lab reports, so it needs a first test and a retest. Both reports come from the same laboratory, because acceptable mineral ranges differ from lab to lab.
The workbook lists Coming Alive among its major Joy patterns, with the Hill pattern, a faster oxidation rate and Settling Down. Settling Down is the opposite retest pattern: one or more mineral levels decrease while the others stay the same.
The workbook applies the same definition to the second four minerals, iron, copper, manganese and zinc. Coming Alive on the second four is an increase in all four from the previous test, present to a smaller degree when one, two or three increase and none of the others decrease. The workbook records that it indicates more energy and is considered a positive change.
Analytical Research Labs (ARL) places them at calcium 40 mg%, magnesium 6 mg%, sodium 25 mg% and potassium 10 mg%. Trace Elements, Inc. uses magnesium 6, sodium 24 and potassium 10 mg%, and has used 60 mg% as its calcium ideal since 2008 (42 mg% in its 1985 to 1993 reference). Hair levels are reported in milligrams percent, and each reading averages about 2 to 3 months of growth.
Eck's five hair indicators of adrenal insufficiency at ARL include sodium below 25 mg% and potassium below 10 mg%, along with an Na/K ratio below 2.5, an Na/Mg ratio below 4.17 and a Ca/K ratio above 10. A sodium and potassium rise from below those lines moves the first two indicators toward ideal. ARL's All-Four-Low document defines four lows as all four macrominerals below normal; measured against ARL's ideals, that is calcium below 40, magnesium below 6, sodium below 25 and potassium below 10 mg%. A chart that starts in four lows and shows Coming Alive has all four levels moving toward their ideals at once.
ARL's Glossary of Terms defines a mineral ratio as a pure number: one mineral level divided by a second. When two levels rise by the same proportion, their ratio does not change. A retest on which all four macrominerals rise by the same proportion therefore leaves the calcium/potassium (Ca/K), sodium/magnesium (Na/Mg), calcium/magnesium (Ca/Mg) and sodium/potassium (Na/K) ratios where they were.
The oxidation rate comes from two of those ratios. ARL defines fast oxidation as Ca/K below 4 with Na/Mg above 4.17, and slow oxidation as Ca/K above 4 with Na/Mg below 4.17. Trace Elements places the ideals at Ca/K 4.2 and Na/Mg 4 (2010 set), so the balance points publish as ranges: Ca/K 4 to 4.2 and Na/Mg 4 to 4.17. Coming Alive can therefore appear with no change in the oxidation rate; the rate moves only when the four mineral levels rise by unequal proportions.
ARL's Fatigue document (1993) lists increased tissue sodium and potassium among the factors that raise the oxidation rate, and increased tissue calcium and magnesium among the factors that lower it. On a Coming Alive retest, a larger proportional rise in sodium and potassium lowers Ca/K and raises Na/Mg, toward the fast side. A larger proportional rise in calcium and magnesium raises Ca/K and lowers Na/Mg, toward the slow side.
The Na/K ratio is read the same way, against an ideal of 2.4 (Trace Elements) to 2.5 (ARL). ARL's Fatigue document records a fatigue trend at any Na/K below 2.5. A rise in sodium larger than the rise in potassium lifts the Na/K, and a larger potassium rise lowers it. In the Almost Coming Alive variant, potassium falls slightly while sodium rises, so the Na/K rises on that retest.
ARL's Glossary describes each hair reading as a sum: normal metabolism, retention, excretion, loss, displacement and bio-unavailability. Mineral loss and mineral excretion both elevate the hair reading, and displacement by a toxic metal raises the reading of the mineral displaced. Because each reading is the sum of those six components, a Coming Alive retest is read alongside the ratios and the toxic metals.
ARL records that potassium and magnesium are the primary intracellular minerals, and that a stage of breaking down poor-quality tissue releases them, raising their hair readings and lowering the Na/K and Ca/Mg ratios; in ARL's case history of a 3-year-old, magnesium rose from 5 to 31 mg% and potassium from 16 to 59 mg% over 4 months while calcium fell.
ARL records that not all toxic metals are revealed on the first test. Metals sequestered in tissue may appear on a later test when energy levels improve and the body mobilizes them through the hair, and ARL records that the faster the oxidation rate, the more the body is able to eliminate toxic metals. A Coming Alive retest can carry higher metal readings beside the higher macrominerals. ARL also records that cadmium, mercury, copper, iron and nickel raise the hair sodium reading, so the sodium rise is read with those five lines.
| Retest pattern | What changes from the previous test | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Coming Alive | Calcium, magnesium, sodium and potassium all rise | Pattern workbook |
| Coming Alive, lesser degree | One, two or three rise; the others stay the same | Pattern workbook |
| Almost Coming Alive | Calcium, magnesium and sodium rise; potassium slightly decreases | Pattern workbook |
| Settling Down | One or more decrease; the others stay the same | Pattern workbook |
| Breakdown retest (ARL case) | Magnesium and potassium rise sharply; Na/K and Ca/Mg fall | ARL case history |
A hair tissue mineral analysis is a screening test for nutritional and toxic-element patterns. It reports tissue mineral levels and ratios; it is not a diagnosis, it does not establish a cause, and it does not measure what is circulating in blood today. Each mineral reading reflects roughly 2 to 3 months of hair growth, and a retest 3 to 5 months later shows the direction of change. Where the laboratory literature describes a trend, that trend belongs to the mineral pattern rather than to any person reading about it.
The four levels come first, each against its value on the previous test: rose, stayed the same, or fell. That count places the retest as Coming Alive, its lesser degree, Almost Coming Alive, or Settling Down.
Next: the Ca/K and Na/Mg ratios against 4 to 4.2 and 4 to 4.17 to see whether the rate moved, then the Na/K against 2.4 to 2.5, then the cadmium, mercury, copper, iron and nickel lines beside the sodium.
A retest on which calcium, magnesium, sodium and potassium all rise compared with the previous test. The pattern workbook counts it to a lesser degree when one, two or three rise and the others stay the same.
The workbook variant in which calcium, magnesium and sodium increase while potassium slightly decreases.
Only if the rises are unequal. A ratio is one level divided by another, so equal proportional rises leave Ca/K and Na/Mg unchanged. A larger sodium and potassium rise moves the rate toward fast; a larger calcium and magnesium rise moves it toward slow.
No. It is defined by comparison with the previous test, so it needs two reports, usually 3 to 5 months apart.
A full hair tissue mineral analysis reports calcium, magnesium, sodium and potassium with the Ca/K, Na/Mg and Na/K ratios, so a retest shows which levels rose and whether the rate moved with them.
Published 2026-11-04 · Updated 2026-11-04
By Eileen Durfee — Practitioner, NBS (Nutritional Balancing Science), NASM-CPT; wellness educator, inventor and author.
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Hair tissue mineral analysis is a screening test and is not diagnostic. This article is for educational purposes only. Wellness Shopping Online is operated by Nuco Enterprise Solutions LLC.
