How well do you know about the Circadian Rhythm (CR)? Do you know if you have a healthy circadian rhythm?
Each of us has this body rhythm of wakefulness and sleep. All organisms on the earth have this. For us, we develop it since we were growing in our mother’s womb. Mothers experience this as true when they feel their baby moving and more active inside the womb during certain hours of the day. However throughout our life, things don’t always run as smoothly, and our Circadian Rhythm (CR) is one of the first things that get affected.
What is the Circadian Rhythm?
Sleepfoundation.org defines Circadian Rhythm as:
Circadian rhythms are 24-hour cycles that are part of the body’s internal clock, running in the background to carry out essential functions and processes.
Our different body systems all run on circadian rhythms that are synchronised with a ‘master clock’ in our brain. This Master Clock is located in our hypothalamus. Its function is to integrate all the systems of the body to function when they should. Part of the hypothalamus is sensitive to light and dark signals from our retinas. Once light receptor/ signals are received, the pineal gland suppresses our sleep hormone called Melatonin. Once our eyes begin to detect low daylight, our pineal gland begins producing Melatonin. Melatonin triggers the body to slow down, rest, and eventually sleep.
What does the Circadian Rhythm affect?
When properly functioning, a healthy circadian rhythm promotes consistent restorative sleep. However, the problem begins when our circadian rhythm is mismanaged and thrown off. It can create in us sleeping problems, and more significantly, the issue of insomnia. The CR dictates a lot more than just sleep-wake cycles. Research is also revealing that circadian rhythms play an integral role in diverse aspects of physical and mental health. Circadian Rhythm affects us in our…
- wakefulness
- degree of physical activity
- hormone levels
- body temperature
- immune function
- digestive activity
Our Organs function on a clock too
An interesting part about our body is that even our organs function on their own circadian rhythm. On a healthy Circadian Rhythm, here are their peak times when your organs function. This is based on the traditional Chinese Organ Clock, based on the Qi (chi) energy that flows through our body, signaling the peak function of our organs
Body Organ Clock
- Lungs – 3 am – 5 am – lungs do self-cleaning, as finishing sleep cycle
- Large intestines – 5 am -7 am – wake up and drink water, eliminate body waste
- Stomach – 7am -9am – ready for breakfast
- Spleen – 9-11 am – carries food to be metabolized and absorbed for energy
- Heart – 11am – 1pm – pumps nutrients through the body
- Small Intestines – 1-3 pm – completes digestion of food eaten, nutrients to the body
- Urinary Tract – 3-5 pm – promotes liquid detox to kidneys
- Kidneys 5-7 pm –
- Pericardium – 7-9 pm – calls for relaxation
- Triple Burner – 9-11pm – equilibrium in endocrine system for sleep/ melatonin release
- Gall Bladder – 11 pm-1 am – filters/ digests
- Liver – 1-3 am – continue to digest and flush out toxins as we lay asleep
*image from: https://carex.com/blogs/resources/circadian-rhythm
Other Body Clock Markers
1. Peripheral clocks triggered by feeding/eating
An even more interesting point: these peripheral clocks in organ tissue are cued by eating/feeding, versus our master clock in the brain that is cued by sunlight/light. Organs such as the liver and organs of our digestive system are particularly sensitive peripheral clocks.
What does that exactly mean for us? This leads to our master clock and our peripheral clocks misaligned and not in-synch. So that advice “NOT TO EAT LATE AT NIGHT” holds true for your health and wellbeing. Our brain tells us it’s time to rest, but our digestive system says it’s time to digest. And this triggers higher insulin in our blood for glucose to be absorbed. When this becomes chronic, too much glucose leads to diabetes and other metabolic illnesses.
2. Cortisol our Stress Hormone
We’ve covered Cortisol and how it affects our sleep in this article: Sleep. Can It Balance Our Hormones?
Cortisol is known as the stress hormone. When we get less sleep, the higher our stress hormones are produced. And the higher cortisol level we have creates an insomnia cycle. Cortisol also triggers the ghrelin hormone, creating hunger and cravings.
3. Melatonin, to the rescue!
Melatonin is the hormone responsible for inducing sleepiness. It’s our sleep hormone. As mentioned earlier, our pineal gland produces this hormone. It’s suppressed during the daytime and is normally released during dusk. This signals our body to rest and begin relaxation. Without the body’s rest and recovery through restorative sleep, our bodies will eventually disfunction.
Melatonin becomes more important to women mainly because of other imbalanced hormones that come into play. Cortisol and Melatonin are deeply connected. So is Estrogen imbalance, which affects cortisol, which also affects melatonin release and production. It’s a cyclical relationship, therefore many women look to supplementing Melatonin.
Melatonin can come in as a form of food supplement, helping us through jet lag or even insomnia, and help reduce cortisol. However, there are other more pill-free ways to trigger melatonin production and release.
Tips to a Healthy Pill-Free Melatonin level
Coaches Mia and Bunny have found these to help unwind and get ready for sleep by Relaxing our Senses!
- Sense of Smell: Aromatherapy with Essential Oils. Diffusing essential oils such as lavender and chamomile have been known to help soothe the brain. Diffuse lavender oil at dusk and all through the evening, till bedtime. Lavender helps reduce cortisol as well.
- Sense of Touch: Warm bath. We believe that this is one of the essential self-care routines. Having a warm bath already triggers our senses for relaxation. Add on a relaxing essential oil into your shower gel or shampoo can make a difference too!
- Sense of Hearing: Soothing mood music. Music! We forget sometimes how music can trigger our moods. Studies have shown that our brain reacts differently to different instruments and their tones. Find music that relaxes you. There are apps that help with calm and sleep too.
- Sense of Taste: Avoid eating heavy, spicy dinner, or eating late. Eating a heavy meal at dinner time, and spicy at that may tend to slow you down because you feel full or ‘over-stuffed’. However, you’re actually making your digestive system work overtime, and that keeps your body clock up or with an unrestful sleep.
- Sense of Sight: Avoid electronic devices at least 30 minutes before bedtime. Light, especially blue light emitted from digital devices, triggers low melatonin. Invest in eyewear that reduces the harmful blue light if most of your work is during the nighttime.
- Sense of Self: Meditate/Prayer: Meditation has been proven to calm the mind, and all other senses at the same time. It’s our inner being that we should also calm. Melatonin is released when blood pressure and cortisol get reduced through meditation/deep breathing/ prayer.
Imagine If
Circadian clocks can be mismatched by such factors as sleep deprivation, poor diet habits, and excessive or lack of exercise. Modern-day lifestyle such as exposure to computer, television, or cellphone light just before bed can trigger this misalignment. Eating late at night and a sedentary lifestyle can also scramble internal clocks. So if you’re in the habit of keeping up late at night (past 11 PM), certain organs can perceive this as ‘wakeful’ time, triggering over-function of the organs.
Imagine if you were more aware of your body’s clock, and circadian rhythms, and actually listen to it. Would you still feel groggy and heavy with brain fog early in the morning? Would you think you’d have better digestion and immune health? What about your hormones regaining their balance? And overcoming insomnia? Just learning to take steps to keep a healthy circadian rhythm can truly make a difference in your health goals.