Have you ever travelled across time zones and experienced tiredness, exhaustion and an overhaul of your normal sleeping patterns?
Have you gone from being the occasional night owl to haunting the corridors at night, unable to fall asleep until the early morning hours?
The common denominator between the jet lag in the first paragraph and the sleep disorder in the second is a maladjusted circadian rhythm.
This article will discuss what a circadian rhythm is, how it affects our bodies, why, and how you can adequately adjust yours to live healthier lives.
Table of Contents
What is a Circadian Rhythm?
A circadian rhythm is a series of complex changes in the body that follow the natural 24-hour cycle of the day. All living beings have a circadian rhythm or internal clock that controls certain time-influenced activities. Since the body doesn’t have a clock, it adjusts to the 24-hour clock through light and darkness. The sleep cycle is one of the complex changes controlled by the human body’s internal clock.
How the circadian rhythm works is that the body functions coordinated to fit the 24-hour day are influenced by the environment using the eye as a reference point. So, when it’s dark, the eye records the ‘darkness’ and sends a message to the brain to prepare the body for bed by producing melatonin in higher quantities, reducing body temperature, regulating body metabolism for sleep, and increasing lethargy.
Circadian rhythms may be patterned after day and night, but their effects differ by age. Babies don’t develop a circadian rhythm for the first few months; even when they do, they require more sleep, so the ‘nighttime’ effects start earlier. For children, teens, and adults, the effects start much later than babies and are suited to fit how much sleep the body needs at that stage.
Circadian rhythm is a natural process; however, it isn’t tamper-proof. Many people have tampered with their sleeping patterns by developing terrible sleeping habits or through travel jet lag. Other factors affecting the circadian rhythm include stress, mental health conditions, and unconventional working hours. The effects of having poor quality sleep can lead to severe health conditions such as insulin resistance, heart attack, psychosis, depression, hypertension, obesity, sleep apnea, etc.
When Do You Need To Reset Your Circadian Rhythm?
It’s possible to reset your circadian rhythm to normal. The problem most people have is in knowing when they need to reset. At what point does your circadian rhythm need to be reset? Is it after a few days of jet-lagged sleep, a month of poor sleeping habits, or right after the night owl binge of a project? If you have a job that requires working unconventional hours, when do you reset your circadian rhythm to normal?
The time varies for everyone, and it is more a function of the individual’s reaction than a fixed time. If you’ve had your circadian rhythm interrupted, you should get worried and possibly see a doctor when you’re experiencing extreme fatigue and grogginess all the time. You should also be concerned if you’re experiencing sleep interruptions often or having difficulty falling asleep at your previous regular bedtime hour.
People working unconventional hours should see a doctor to manage their circadian rhythms to limit circadian disruption. It’s clear that how much sleep you get truly matters.
7 Ways To Correct Your Circadian Rhythm
Now that you know you need to fix your circadian rhythm, what can you do?
Eat Early
Going to sleep is a process initiated by the brain that tells the body to wind down. All body activities, including metabolism, have to slow down for you to sleep. This is why doctors advise eating at least 2 hours before bedtime to allow the body to digest your meal before it has to wind down for the day. Eating too close to bedtime gives the body more work to do when it should be resting in preparation for a new day.
Avoid Afternoon and Early Evening Naps
Naps can throw off your circadian rhythm. They make you more energised as the day runs down, so you’re more alert than you should be towards bedtime. When you nap in the evening, it can take a while to build up the adenosine compound that winds the body down for sleep. Also, when you avoid naps in the daytime, you’ll be tired and sleepy by nightfall, which would also help correct your circadian rhythm.
Have a Bedtime Routine
The human body loves routines. Even the circadian rhythm is a routine as well! It’s easy to adapt to a new bedtime when you have a bedtime routine. A bedtime routine is crucial because it signals to the body that you’re ready to unwind, and the next step is to sleep. Once your body adjusts to a bedtime routine, it becomes another trigger for the release of sleep hormones, just like darkness signals bedtime.
Bedtime routines can vary but typically include calming activities like reading a book, taking a warm bath, journaling, doing simple relaxation exercises or meditating. You can also consider wake up supplements that have been carefully crafted to promote better sleep, speed up the waking up process and help achieve a healthy circadian rhythm. Since pills for waking up contain long-release caffeine, users need to consume the pill before sleep, enjoy a good night’s rest and wake up feeling refreshed in the morning.
Avoid All Stimulants At Night
Coffee is a potent stimulant that keeps a person alert and awake for longer. It contains caffeine, which prevents the adenosine compound from bonding, increasing the feeling of drowsiness. Drinking anything that contains caffeine, including energy drinks, can keep you alert and awake for much longer.
Alcohol makes people drowsy, but consistent alcohol consumption can affect the circadian rhythm in the long run. Avoid imbibing alcohol in large quantities and regular bouts.
Move Your Bedtime in Small Increments
Little goes a long way when resetting your circadian rhythm. Remember that the body has to get used to your new sleep routine, so avoid making significant, sudden changes. Experts advise you to move bedtimes in small increments over a long period. Start with 30-minute changes or less, maintaining these changes for at least a week or as long as it takes to adjust to them.
Limit Screen Time Before Bed
Most smart devices and white lights around the house emit blue light, which does not allow melatonin production. Since melatonin is a crucial hormone in the night processes of the circadian rhythm, the brain struggles to shut down and sleep. Just looking at screens before bedtime can shift the circadian rhythm by a few hours.
Avoid your screens 30 minutes to an hour before going to bed.
Use Melatonin
Some people adjust easily when resetting their circadian rhythms, while others struggle with insomnia. Even with a bedtime routine and avoiding all stimulation, they would still toss and turn until the wee hours of the morning. In this situation, melatonin comes in handy. Melatonin is the hormone the body releases towards bedtime to slow the body’s processes and prepare it for bedtime.
The people who fall into this category may use melatonin to help them fall asleep easily until the body adjusts to the new bedtime.
Summary
Your circadian rhythm is off track if you’re not getting enough sleep and at the proper hours every night. While this may not have immediate effects, the long-term effects have grave consequences on the heath. Fix your circadian rhythm today to increase your chances of living a healthy lifestyle.
