Can you outsmart your circadian rhythm?

Good morning!

In this edition, I’m breaking down a topic at the core of your sleep patterns, the circadian rhythm. Time is an important thing when it comes to our body because it tells us when to sleep, wake up, digest, release hormones, repair, eat and a whole bunch of other things. But without an iPhone how does our body know what time it is?

Let’s dive in and find out!

Key Takeaways:

• You can use sunlight to naturally “hack” your brain and give you an energy boost!

• Blue light blocks melatonin production twice as much as natural light.

• We are all wired differently to be night owls, morning larks or somewhere in between.

CORE

What is a circadian rhythm?

Short of a sun dial embedded in our brain our body has developed this thing called a suprachiasmatic nucleus or SCN for short. The SCN is a group of nerve cells that turn on or off certain proteins in a specific order, this gives us our general notion of time. They affect our experiences over a 24h cycle and are most dependent on the amount of light or darkness we are exposed to.

However light isn’t the only factor that we need to take into account when it comes to your internal clock: food intake, stress, physical activity, social environment and temperature all play key roles.¹

What happens when it is disrupted?

A disrupted circadian rhythm is when it falls out of sync without an environment. Even though this is a pretty basic definition it helps to better understand problems like insomnia that make people fall asleep later but they (usually) need to wake up at the same time as everybody else. 

The problem with "disrupted" sleep rhythms

Have you ever heard that someone is a night owl or a morning lark? Although this may seem like a trivial comment, the fact of the matter is that it is true! The problem is that we all live in a society where we are all expected to wake up, go to work, eat and sleep at about the same time.

Some people may be night owls and struggle to fall asleep until later at night… but they still have to wake up at 6:30am in order to be at work at 8. What a bummer! This causes perpetual sleep deprivation which affects mental and physical health. 

Unfortunately, society works best when we are all in agreement on a certain schedule for kids to go to school, to have lunch, sleep, see friends, etc. And even though this varies greatly from country to country (In Spain for example, locals have dinner at 9 p.m., something unthinkable in the US).

Tips to Adapt Your Circadian Rhythm

Even though we all have biological inclinations towards a certain cycle it doesn’t mean that you can’t adapt and overcome those challenges and elevate your routine so that you make sure to get enough sleep in. 

Firstly, and probably obviously you will want to turn those phones off! Melatonin, the sleep hormone is produced when the cones in your eyes detect that it is dark around you. It is for this reason that we are all recommended to stay off screens and dim the lights if possible about 1 hour before sleep.

But there is another problem with blue light. When compared to green light (natural light), it suppresses melatonin production 2x more. Which means that just 15-20 minutes of Facebook doom-scrolling could be enough to reset your melatonin levels and make it much harder to fall asleep.²

Secondly, get more sunlight! Sunlight is amazing for our health, but you can essentially bio-hack your brain into resetting the circadian energy and helping you feel with more energy. If you want to feel more energized, get outside for some sunshine early in the day. That exposure helps reset your circadian rhythm so that, come night, your body naturally knows it’s time to rest.

Thirdly, change your meal times. Research shows that the timing of your meals affects when your brain and body “wake up” and fall asleep. If you want to have more energy in the morning then having breakfast immediately after waking up will give your body the energy that it needs to pursue the day! If you want to have more energy later in the day then it is a good idea to have breakfast later to have more energy in the afternoon.³

Lastly, we mentioned melatonin as the main hormone responsible for helping your body wind down at night. While this is true, melatonin works more like a messenger, signaling to your body that it’s time to sleep, without directly making you sleepy. GABA, on the other hand, directly calms the brain by inhibiting neuron excitability, which helps you actually relax and fall asleep. We explain magnesium’s effect on GABA in our Magnesium-Sleep Edition.

PRODUCT MENTION

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ENDNOTE

Final Thoughts

Some nights, sleep just won’t show up. That’s your circadian rhythm sending a signal. Tonight, notice your habits (sunlight time, meals schedule, screen usage), and try one small tweak. Pay attention. See what shifts. Your body just might thank you for it.

Until next week!

Adrian Macdonald | Team Dietitian | The 8% Newsletter Author