All humans have a circadian rhythm. Specifically this is your 24 hour daily cycle, also known as a biological clock. One of the best ways to set your personal circadian rhythm every day is to get bright light, ideally natural outdoor light, with in the first hour of waking.
Organisms from bacteria with a mere single cells, to plants, to humans have evolved under predictable daily environmental cycles owing to the Earth’s rotation and in part specifically due to the light and dark, weather, and tides, that our Earth’s cycle produces.
For many of us, we’ve lived with technology so long, it’s not clear what our real ‘nature’ is.
These internal circadian clocks that regulate many aspects of behavior, such as our sleep cycles, physiology, creativity, psyche, and metabolism. Our physiology then adapts to the biology we set, and can both anticipate and and synchronize internal time-keeping to changes in the cyclical environment.
Biological clocks defined in another way is the are natural timing devices that regulate the cycle of circadian rhythms in organisms. The control is exerted by sets of molecules that interact with cells through the body. The primary seat of our biologic clock is a cluster of nerve cell (our neurons) that form a knot in the middle of the brain organ the hypothalamus. This cluster of cells receives input directly from our eyes as they are exposed to the day and night cycles. There are peripheral biologic clock nerve clusters that control the biological clock as well.
Light, then is the driver of this circadian daily rhythm affects your levels of melatonin and cortisol. Both these hormones, in turn, impact how alert, quick thinking, insightful, energy levels and full of joy you are. Deficiencies in these hormones will make you sluggish, tired, and full of fatigue. In addition to light, early morning exercise will help your circadian rhythm reset as well.
The amount we eat and how we store calories in our bodies is affected by the biologic clock as well. We generate sugary during daylight, and we store carbohydrates and fats during the dark.
Some of us are night creatures, some are set to morning rising.
Some of us are more variable like the lowly mosquito that is active both at dawn and dusk. Our modern technology, with light bulbs, and heating and cooling of our environment has radically altered rhythms we would naturally follow. The best temp for sleeping is 70 degrees, if you want to be more alert as you arise make sure you keep your bedroom cool even into the warm fall days.
Resulting consequences can be weight gain, mood alterations, menstrual cycle changes, hormonal changes, and much more farreaching consequences. If you have health concerns or issues, or just want to live your healthiest life, you can reset your biological clock.
Of course changing your sleep patterns will help you reset, changing when you work out, and when you hydrate can all work to stabilize your circadian rhythms. Specifically altering your daily rhythm by changing when you eat, and duration of fasts can be one relatively simple way to reset your biological clock.
