The circadian rhythm is the natural sleep-wake cycle that humans have evolved with.
It is regulated by the body’s internal clock, which is known as the circadian clock.
The circadian clock is responsible for controlling the release of hormones and other biological processes throughout the day.
This biochemical mechanism allows the body to fine-tune the biology and behaviors of an organism (in this case, the human body.)
Without a doubt, being in tune with this rhythm is essential when it comes to optimizing health and wellbeing on both the mental and physical level.
What Affects Our Circadian Rhythms?
There are a number of external factors that can interfere with the circadian rhythm.
All of these factors work together to create an intricate web of stimuli that affects our circadian rhythm, either in a positive or negative manner.
It’s important to be aware of these factors and how they can impact our health and wellbeing.
So let’s reverse-engineer this, talk about the underlying factors and find the way to getting back to the natural human patterns!
Natural Light Exposure
As you just learned, the circadian rhythm is a cycle that we have evolved with.
It’s what tells our body when to sleep and when to be awake.
The circadian clock regulates it and is in charge of telling the body what time it is, which helps control many things like our hormones and other biological processes throughout the day.
Now, one of the primary considerations is that perhaps the most important factor that affects the circadian rhythm is exposure to light.
Light exposure is a key regulator of circadian rhythm.
Exposure to light during the day helps to keep us on track, while exposure to light at night can disrupt our circadian rhythm.
To make it simple – If you get your daily dose of sunlight, you will feel more awake, aware, and feel it easier to be more physically active.
And oppositely, if you don’t get enough exposure to sunlight, you might feel more lethargic, less focused and hardly moving your ass from the couch.
Artificial Light Exposure
Now, natural light can help you synchronize your circadian rhythm, but artificial, unnatural light can do the exact opposite – Disrupt that same rhythm!
When we are exposed to artificial light, it can throw off our internal clock and cause us to have problems sleeping, and disrupt the production of important hormones.
If you look at it on the grandscale of things, from an evolutionary timeframe, 24/7 light has only been available for a fraction of our existence.
And considering the fact we have evolved with the day-night cycle for the most part, artificial lights do more harm than good.
Bright office lights of unnatural colors, big screens and phone screens, all of those delay your circadian rhythm, leading to disrupted sleep patterns and worse, overall health.
Stress Levels
When we perceive a certain danger in the environment, the body responds with a release of the so-called ‘stress hormones,’ such as cortisol and adrenaline.
These hormones help the body mobilize energy, ramp up your heart rate and blood pressure, so that you can ultimately run away or fight whatever danger you’ve encountered.
Back in time, this so-called ‘stress response’ was quite temporary and lasted for as long as it took us to evade the danger.
Nowadays however, stress has become chronic and it is rarely triggered by actual danger of death by predation.
The problem with this is that stress hormones are without a doubt the strongest disruptors of biochemistry.
Cortisol buffers the body’s immune system, growth and recovery.
And that’s no wonder, because after all, in stress, you live in survival, where nothing else matters, but to survive!
Now, as we discussed, the circadian rhythm regulates your wake-sleep cycle, meaning that your sleep patterns are also affected by it.
However, the opposite is also valid – Your sleep patterns regulate your circadian rhythm!
One of the biggest disruptions to the human circadian rhythm, is the night shift!
Being wide awake and active at night isn’t evolutionary appropriate, and that’s why it can make us feel rather suboptimally productive.
But think of it this way – The human body is perfectly tuned for the day-night cycle of the Earth.
What this means is that a regular sleep routine, that allows you to rise with the sun, will help you massively optimize your biochemistry!