Reset your circadian rhythm

An introduction on how to stop being a night owl.

It’s the new buzz word, circadian rhythm has come back into the mainstream conversation faster than high waisted wide leg trousers. 

But what is it, why is it important and how do we reset it?

Circadian rhythms are 24 hour cycles that are part of the body internal clock, they run in the background to carry out lots of functions and processes. These include:  sleep and waking time, core body temperature, the immune system, hormones, metabolism, cognitive function, how our body reacts to stress and more.

Usually our body internal clock is aligned with the daylight and absence of daylight (nighttime) but things like travelling across time zones, shift work, inconsistent sleep schedules, a party filled holiday or other underlying health issues can disrupt it. Once disrupted all the bodily functions listed before start getting out of whack. So you can imagine the cascading effect it has on the body.

If you have trouble falling asleep and/or staying asleep,  if it is hard to wake up at the right time feeling refreshed, your circadian rhythm may be in need of TLC.

Here are a few lifestyle changes you can implement to help your body realign itself.

• Sit outside without sunglasses and look at the sun in the morning (not directly you don’t want to hurt your eyes). Contact lenses and glasses are fine as they don’t filter out specific light wavelengths. You need to stand outside for 10 min if sunny, 20 min if cloudy, 30 min if really overcast. As you are already outside why not use this time to drink that pint of water with salt and lemon/lime juice you read in the last post. Do not stand in the shade, do not wear a brimmed hats, the point is that your eyes need to see the early morning light. You should aim to see this sunlight within 30-60 min upon  waking and before 9 am. 

This exercise makes sure your body stops creating melatonin (the sleepy hormone) and it triggers the release of cortisol ( the wake up, alert hormone). Even though cortisol has had a bad rep each one of us has a cortisol surge in the morning, it is normal, it is needed for us to wake up and the slow decrease in cortisol during the day from that initial morning spike is one of the signals the body needs in the evening to start creating melatonin. If you live in places like the UK, or anywhere closer to the poles, during winter you can substitute daylight for a SAD lamp. It is not as strong and effective ,but it is the next best thing in the absence of natural daylight early in the morning.

• Don’t nap during the day but if you do never nap for more than 90 min.

• If you want to be super good, try and stand outside and watch the dimming light at sunset too (to help melatonin production).

• In the evening dim the lights in your home, avoid ceiling lights and opt for low position lights (like desk lamps or floor lamps). Bright lights and blue lights (think tv screens and phone screens) at night inhibit melatonin production (the hormone that makes you sleepy). Yellow bulbs or even better orange/red lightbulbs are less disruptive than normal lights.

If you look at computer screens at night, go into the operating system and change the settings to warmer lights, dim the screen brightness down. The app f.lux also allows dimming. Alternatively you can wear some blue light blocking glasses (the strange looking red/orange glasses that some influencer wear) but these are expensive so try the inexpensive tricks first.

• Use blackout curtains or an eye mask to keep your room nice and dark while you sleep. Also a colder room leads to better sleep than a warmer one.

For people that want to find out more about it look into Professor Huberman podcast, he is a Standfor professor who has dedicated part of his work to free education for everyone, all backed by published peer reviewed studies.  He has many podcasts on sleep with world experts.

https://www.hubermanlab.com/