The Rhythm of Life - Timing Matters
- Janice Cunningham
- Dec 29, 2024
- 3 min read
Updated: May 19
Nature's Timing - Our Circadian Body Clocks
Virtually every organ, cell, and gene in our body has its own daily Circadian Clock - about(circa) a day (diem). These thousands of body clocks are programmed to initiate specific processes in specific sequences for...
When to ramp up or down.
When to rest, repair, and restore.
When to help others cells and organs do their job.
When our timing is off, chaos reigns!
Why Care?
Being in sync with your Circadian Rhythm (CR) leads to a better foundation for health, vitality, and resilience.
Being out of sync leads to more health issues and more vulnerability. Risk is increased for 64 conditions identified to date, including:
Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s,
Depression and Anxiety,
Weight Gain and Obesity,
Stroke and Heart Attacks,
Cancer (colon, liver, lung)
Inflammation / Inflammaging,
Insomnia.
Perfection is not required (nor expected). Any step closer to improve your rhythm makes a difference!
Body Clock Sync 101
Our body clocks are especially sensitive to:
morning and evening light exposure,
when we eat, and
our sleep schedules.
The more we can optimize any one of these influencers, the better.
LIGHT. Each morning, the master conductor in the brain - the suprachiasmatic nucleus (the SCN) - resets all our body clocks for the next 24 hours. It takes its biggest cue from the blue light waves we perceive in rising morning light. Imagine a special forces team synchronizing their watches before a mission.
Artificial bright lights during the night hours send a "wake-up" message to the SCN causing it to send a reset signals to our body clocks. Example: While the AM blue light exposure sets the schedule for late day melatonin production for sleep, bright PM lights trigger a signal to stop producing melatonin!
EATING. Our eating schedule is the next big contributor for starting the day (ramping up) and ending the day (preparing for sleep).
Start of Day: Our morning breakfast helps cue the body processes needed for energy and tackling the day. A regular breakfast time can help offset disruptors like poor sleep, jet lag or lack of morning light exposure.
End of Day: Digestion always takes priority over the rest, repair and restore functions scheduled for our sleep time. We may fall asleep but our body and brain miss out on many essential processes when required to first digest food. We need a good 12-14 hours with no digestion!
SLEEP. Sleep and CR habits are a two-way street. When our sleep is in sync with our CR, we sleep better. At the same time, a regular sleep schedule help create a strong CR! The biggest timing levers we have to pull for this duo are light exposure and when we eat combined with going to bed and waking up at the same time.
Level-up Your Game with Timing
Assess how synced you are with the 1 minute Rhythm Check. Congrats if you've already in sync with most behaviors most of the time! If not, pick one area that looks doable for making small adjustments you can grow. Experiment to see what happens.
More resources can be found in our Circadian Rhythm Playbook Portal. - curated posts, downloadable notes, and links to content from leading experts.
Wishing you a life with Rhythm!
Janice
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