By Richmond Natural Medicine

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August 2, 2018

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One of the greatest contributors of dis-ease and illness in today’s culture is a misalignment of ones circadian rhythm, resulting in inappropriate hormonal secretions, particularly human growth hormone, cortisol and melatonin, and significant imbalances in nocturnal sleep patterns.

Every single organism on the planet, from the most advanced homo sapiens right down to the simplest algae, has an intricate system of internal clockwork that establishes our hourly, daily, monthly and seasonal rhythms. This is called our Circadian Rhythm and without it we would quite literally be an out of control hormonal mess. Without this rhythmic control, hormones would run unregulated, our growth and development would be entirely askew, and our sleep patterns would be impossible to entrain.

Disruption of circadian rhythm:

I’m sure you’ve noticed that when you fly into another time zone (say from New York to California, or from Oklahoma to Australia), it takes several days to get into the sleep/wake cycle of your new destination. This is because our bodies have a strongly engrained rhythm (a 24 hour cycle) that will function inherently for several days before adjusting to this new rhythm. This circadian rhythm knows when to go to sleep at night, when to wake up in the morning, when to expect food, and most importantly when to perform essential endocrine functions. These endocrine functions include secreting Growth Hormone for our development and releasing melatonin and cortisol for sustainable sleep and regulated energy during the day. However, once we disrupt our circadian rhythm over and over again with lack of sleep, shift/night work, inconsistent eating times or high stress lifestyles (taxing on your cortisol production) and most detrimentally disconnecting from the outside world, all kinds of dis-eases arise.

Human beings are the only species on the planet that intentionally disrupt their sleep and circadian rhythm patterns on a daily basis. In today’s society we are obliged to be up and available at all hours of the day or night, with businesses functioning in 24 hour shifts, air and train travel available at all hours, and shift workers on hand to keep this busy society running. With the direct correlation of essential hormone secretion to a set circadian rhythm, what does one lose physiologically once this disconnect from the natural world is thrust upon our rhythms? When we no longer perceive sunrise or sunset in our walled in environments or we push our chronobiological limits past their natural timers, we become acutely disjointed in the way our body perceives the world and pathologies arise in the arena of global health. When the circadian system is disrupted, it is observed that a variety of health pathologies emerge, including sleep disorders, depression, glucose dysregulation, metabolic imbalance and obesity. Keeping the rhythm in tune involves maintaining the delicate balance of signaling pathways, hormones and appropriate environmental cues.

Restoring your body’s natural circadian rhythm:

Balancing the outside environmental signals (sunrise, sunset, seasonal changes, moon cycles etc) with internal biological signals (rising melatonin at night, rising cortisol levels in the morning, etc) is imperative in order to regain control of the body’s natural circadian rhythm. This is not an overnight alignment, but a process of realigning the body to function with the natural rhythms of the world, and requires significant changes to ones lifestyle for optimal results.

It has long been determined that herbal therapies provide tremendous support to the body during stages of transition, and a key understanding to an herbal approach is the appropriate timing of dosing to suit the specific chronobiology of an individual. Herbs may be used to support ones natural circadian rhythm by helping to promote sustained sleep with a downstream effect of enhanced melatonin or growth hormone secretion.  They may also be useful in helping the body to adapt to stress, with a downstream effect of supporting the natural rhythm of cortisol secretion from the adrenals. The desired pharmacological effects of herbs may only be biologically appropriate at specific times of the day or night depending on how the circadian cycle presents in the individual.

Lifestyle suggestions:

1.    Dim/turn down your lights 30 minutes before bedtime so your body has a chance to perceive darkness and prepare for melatonin release.

2.   Turn off the TV, computer or stimulating lights 30 minutes before bed. We all know this is a major contributor to poor sleep – make sure to do this!

3.   If waking up in the morning while it’s still dark outside, keep a dim lamp or salt lamp by your bed, Turn this on right when you wake up to perceive a “sunrise” so your cortisol can have some hints to start rising.

4.   Eat at the same time every single morning. The body expects food at certain times, and keeping meal time consistent (especially breakfast) helps the circadian rhythm all around.

5.   Enjoy the seasons and be outside. Our bodies are intimately intwined with the changing seasons, and connecting to the gradual changes will help the body gradually change also.

References:

Anders, T. (1982) Biological rhythms in development. Psychosomatic Medicine, 44 (1), 61-71.

Morris, C., Aeschbach, D., & Scheer, F. (2012). Circadian system, sleep and endocrinology.    Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology, 349 (1), 91-104.

Kascoh, B. (2000) The pineal gland and biological rhythms: Endocrine physiology. New       York, New York: McGraw Hill.

If you are struggling to get quality, restful sleep, please contact our office at (804) 977-2634 to learn how the practitioners at Richmond Natural Medicine can support you.