While having to stay up all night sometimes cannot be avoided, doing this on a regular basis can really mess you up. The lack of sleep can start to affect every aspect of your life, from your work performance to your personal relationships.
This is because of something called your circadian rhythm—your body’s natural clock which follows an approximately 24-hour cycle and regulates many aspects of your physiology and health, keeping your body in sync with the cycles of day and night.
If your circadian rhythm is out of whack, this not only affects your ability to sleep, but it has also been linked to many diseases including cardiovascular disease, neurodegenerative disease, and cancer.
In this video, I share with you five simple things you can do to help regulate your circadian rhythm and keep your body clock ticking at the right time.
Transcript: How to Reset Your Circadian Rhythm In 5 Steps
Maybe you’re a travel addict and crossing a few time zones is a walk in the park for you.
Or maybe you don’t mind driving to work in the evening for a 10-hour shift, and then coming back in the early hours of the morning to sleep during the day.
Or maybe doing an all-nighter for an assignment is a regular occurrence for you.
Well, while having to stay up all night sometimes cannot be avoided, doing this on a regular basis can really mess you up.
This is because of something called your circadian rhythm—your body’s natural clock which follows an approximately 24-hour cycle and regulates many aspects of your physiology and health, keeping your body in sync with the cycles of day and night.
The “master” body clock is a structure called the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) which regulates the activities of your other body clocks distributed around your body. To keep your body in tune and running “on schedule,” your body clocks need to be synchronized with each other.
Two hormones that play important roles in your sleep-wake circadian cycle are cortisol and melatonin. Cortisol and melatonin have opposing cycles that help you wake up in the morning and go to sleep at night. Early in the morning, cortisol spikes, giving you a surge in energy to start the day. Throughout the rest of the day, cortisol levels gradually decline. Melatonin, on the other hand, begins increasing around sundown, peaks in the middle of the night, and is at its lowest at midday.
Many things affect your circadian rhythms including:
- Exposure to light and darkness
- Temperature
- Food intake
- Time of meals
If you are not sending the right cues, this can lead to a disruption to your circadian rhythm and circadian rhythm disruption has been linked to many diseases including metabolic syndrome, obesity, cardiovascular disease, intestinal dysbiosis, inflammatory bowel disease, neurodegenerative disease, and cancer.
But I don’t want to leave you in the dark (no pun intended), I want to share with you the top 5 things you can do to regulate your circadian rhythym.
1. Improve Your Sleep
It goes without saying that getting a good night’s rest (during the night hours) is the best thing you can do to regulate your circadian rhythm.
Now if you are one of those people who toss and turn at night, stressing over the minutiae of your day or counting sheep, then listen carefully. While you may need extra help in terms of herbal remedies or nutrients, making sure you have what we call good sleep hygiene is at least going to give your body the best chance.
So three sleep hygiene tips are:
A. Set your sleep schedule
Having a set schedule normalizes sleep as an essential part of your daily routine and gets your brain and body accustomed to getting the full amount of sleep that you need. Make sure you have a fixed wake-up time regardless of whether it’s a weekday or weekend. Try not to nap during the day. And if you do, make sure you don’t nap after 3pm.
B. Follow a nightly routine
Give yourself at least 30 minutes to wind down before you sleep and take advantage of whatever puts you in a state of calm, such as soft music, light stretching, warm bath, reading or relaxing, breathing exercises.
C. Optimize light exposure
Optimize light exposure (natural or artificial) in the morning and limit light exposure (e.g. electronic devices) in the evening. This helps regulate melatonin production and synchronize the circadian rhythm.
The second most important thing you can do to regulate your circadian rhythm is to...
2. Exercise Daily
Being physically active reduces levels of the body's stress hormones, such as adrenaline and cortisol. Exercise also stimulates the body to produce endorphins and enkephalins—the body’s natural feel-good hormones. Whether you enjoy hiking or running, yoga or pilates, being physically active can help expend excess energy which will make it easier for your body to relax in the evening. So aim to do at least 30 minutes of exercise per day.
3. Have Good Eating Habits
Eating an anti-inflammatory diet with plenty of antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables will ensure you’re getting the right nutrients to help your body adapt to stress.
Also, just as important as what you eat is how you eat. Eating your meals at approximately the same time every day helps to set your circadian rhythm. It helps your body know when to expect breakfast, lunch, and dinner and keeps your blood sugar levels stable.
4. Spend Time In Green Spaces
So studies have actually shown that muscle tension, blood pressure, and brain activity (all things that are heightened when you are stressed) improve within minutes of exposure to nature!
Being outside in natural spaces also lowers your cortisol levels. Meanwhile, endorphins and dopamine go up, which translates to greater feelings of happiness. Being in the natural world also promotes the parasympathetic mode of the nervous system which is your calming rest and digest response opposed to your fight or flight stress response.
So all good reasons to go for a walk every morning in your nearby park, eat meals outside when weather permits, or pick up an outdoor hobby.
And last but not least…
5. Keep Your Stress In Check
Keeping your stress in check by eliminating stressors or finding out what stress management strategies work for you helps to keep your cortisol levels in balance.
One great stress management tool is meditation which is ultimately about reprogramming the brain to cope better with stress. Training the mind to be more open and less reactive, helps you change the way you view and relate to stress.
Journaling and practicing gratitude are more great stress coping strategies; taking a relaxing bath or simply going for a walk are also quite effective.
So next time you’re pulling an all-nighter, think again, because making your circadian rhythm go out of sync is really not doing yourself any favors.
Now please help the community out by sharing in the comments what you do to ensure a good night’s sleep, and don’t forget to like and subscribe. And, one more thing, if you want to learn more about how to keep your stress levels in check, watch this video here.
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