5 Signs Your Circadian Rhythm May Be Off

Daily rhythms keep your body ticking like a clock. It’s true for morning glories, crickets, birds, dogs, and yes – humans too. Here’s a non-exhaustive list of body processes that follow a 24-hour clock:

• Hormones
• Blood Pressure
• Blood Sugar
• Immune Function
• Detoxification
• Digestion

That’s right – nearly every body process has a daily cycle. It’s called the circadian rhythm. We have a master circadian clock in a specialized area of the brain called the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) plus self-regulating clocks in the gut, liver, and other internal organs. BUT… do you know what happens when we eat, exercise, sleep, or stare at our phones at times that are out of sync with our internal clock? It’s not good.

When our rhythm gets out of whack, it’s called Circadian Disruption. It can look like:

• Unable to fall asleep
• Difficulty staying asleep
• Waking up groggy
• Crashing mid-day
• Feeling tired but wired

Not only that, but circadian disruption can upset your mood, metabolism, hormones, and digestion too.

5 Causes of Circadian Disruption You May Not Know

Feeling tired but wired… sleepless nights… trouble waking up? Any of these can be signs of circadian disruption – meaning your external daily rhythms are out of sync with your internal body clock. We can correct the problem, but first we need to know the cause, right?

Most people know that working nights will mess with your body clock, but here are 5 other causes of circadian disruption you may not know:

Sleeping In On Weekends

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but if you wake to an alarm five days a week and sleep until noon on the other two, your body feels like you’re constantly traveling between time zones. It’s called social jet lag and can do more harm than good.

Being a Night Owl

Lots of people think being a night owl is just a personality trait like anything else. Unfortunately, studies show that night owls are more likely to experience circadian disruption and are at a higher risk for some conditions, like diabetes.

Poor Diet

Both the types of food you choose and the timing of eating can alter the patterns of gut microbiota, which then influence circadian clocks in the gut. Digestion and blood sugar regulation follow a daily rhythm, so your eating patterns should too.

Alcohol Consumption

Chronic alcohol consumption alters the timing of the liver clock and causes a mismatch with your central circadian rhythm. This can happen with even small amounts of alcohol when combined with other variables, like working at night.

Working Indoors

The most powerful external influence on our body clocks is the 24-hour light-dark cycle. If you work in artificial light, your body misses out on the benefits of full-spectrum natural light. Solutions could include taking outdoor breaks or investing in a light-therapy lamp.

The bottom line? If you struggle with your energy level or sleep, there’s a chance circadian disruption might be at play.

How to Support Your Circadian Rhythm for Better Health

When your lifestyle is at odds with your internal body clock (your circadian rhythm), it can cause everything from fatigue to insomnia, anxiety, depression, weight gain, and more. Whether or not you’ve disrupted your circadian rhythm yet or not, anybody can begin TODAY to live in better alignment with their circadian rhythms.

Here’s how:

Get Natural Daytime Light

The most powerful external influence on your circadian rhythm is the 24-hour light-dark cycle. If you expose yourself to bright light shortly after waking in the morning, you will feel more alert during the day and fall asleep more easily at night.

Consider Light Therapy

Light therapy boxes or lamps emit light that simulates sunshine indoors (without the sunburn effects). If used in the morning, they may help to support energy and mood while resetting the circadian rhythm or hormones, like melatonin.

Shut Down Screens at Night

Humans evolved with dark nights, until electricity was invented about a century ago. Screens are especially problematic at night because of the blue light they emit – suppressing melatonin just when it should be on the rise.

Try Intermittent Fasting

Our digestion and ability to manage blood sugar levels fluctuate on a daily rhythm. Studies suggest that restricting the eating window to certain hours of the day may align with our internal metabolic rhythms and support healthy metabolism.

Supplements for a Healthy Circadian Rhythm

Light and dark exposure are not the only ways to influence your circadian rhythm! There are two key hormones that regulate your daily rhythms, and they not only respond to the light-dark cycle but also to the foods we eat and supplements we take.

They are melatonin and cortisol. The natural and healthy cycle of these hormones goes like this:

• In the morning, cortisol rises to make us alert and energized (and melatonin is at its lowest)
• At night, melatonin rises to make us relaxed and sleepy (and cortisol falls to its lowest)

Some people who experience circadian disruption also lose this natural rhythm of hormone fluctuations. Maybe their cortisol stays low all day, maybe it rises at night, or maybe their melatonin doesn’t rise high enough. There can be lots of scenarios (that’s why we test!), but the good news is that we can use supplements to support these natural rhythms.

For example:

• Melatonin can be taken at night to support sleep.
• Phosphatidylserine can be taken at night to support a healthy cortisol pattern.
• Adaptogenic herbs (like ginseng) can be taken during the day to support the daily cortisol rhythm.

Please consider this info to be educational rather than prescriptive. If you struggle with energy or sleep and want to support your circadian rhythm, please work with a qualified practitioner.

News Recaps

Why to Skip the Midnight Snack

Previous research has shown that eating late at night increases obesity risk and body fat, while making it more difficult to lose weight. Now in a new study, investigators at Brigham and Women’s Hospital set out to find out WHY.

Sixteen individuals with obesity or overweight completed two protocols: one with a strict early eating schedule, and the second eating the exact same meals but 4 hours later in the day.

Here’s what happened:

• Leptin levels dropped in the late eating condition. That’s the hormone that makes people feel full, so those who ate late felt hungrier.
• Calories were burned at a slower rate during the late eating compared with early eating.
• Expression of genes in fat tissue shifted toward promoting fat storage during the late eating.

The takeaway?

WHEN you eat does matter (contrary to popular belief), and it may be especially problematic to eat late at night.