Circadian rhythm and your health...

How many of you feel like you start the day backwards? Do you wake up feeling tired and go to bed feeling wired? It might be because your circadian rhythm is out of sync. Circadian rhythm is the name given to your body's 24 hour internal clock. It regulates your sleep wake cycle and is influenced by your environment. Your brain receives signals based on light exposure and activates certain hormones. Every morning as the sun comes up our body temperature begins to rise, cortisol (a stimulating hormone) is released to get you up and ready for the day. When it gets dark outside our body temperature begins to fall, melatonin (another hormone) is released which helps to calm the body before bed, and is produced throughout the night to promote consistent quality sleep. To put it simply these two hormones work together like a seesaw. One goes up the other goes down which creates the sleep wake cycle.

Now let's look at what we can do to improve our sleep patterns. 30 minutes exposure to sunlight within the first hour of waking up. This is a strong cue for your natural circadian rhythm. 30 minutes of moderate aerobic activity for a serotonin boost, a feel good hormone which relieves stress and anxiety and improves your mood, but pick an activity you will enjoy so you will stick with it. Also try to put down the pick-me ups such as caffeine and alcohol. Caffeine is a psychoactive drug which make us feel more alert, but what people don't realise is how long caffeine remains in your system. (a half life of 5/6 hours and a quarter life of 10/12 hours). Alcohol has sedative effects but please note that sedation is not sleep. You may fall asleep faster but the effects only lasts a few hours. With sedation we switch off the firing of the brain cells, and this prevents the powerful brainwaves needed for deep restorative sleep. This leads to fragmented sleep and feeling tired in the morning. We are creatures of habit and we take comfort in routines. Follow a sleep schedule... Go to bed and get up at the same time. Eventually it will become second nature and your sleep will improve. Last but not least limit the artificial light exposure before bed (phones, computers and televisions). For every hour we are exposed to artificial light after sunset, our melatonin secretion is reduced by about 22 percent. This can push your sleep cycle back to a later time, and you are no longer synced with your natural circadian rhythm.