10 Amazing Things You Didn’t Know About Your Circadian Rhythm

In winters, we shift an hour back and the days are shorter and nights are longer and this makes some people tired and blue. And even after turning the clocks back an hour, this will still disturb the sleep patterns and circadian rhythm, which is a 24 hour cycle, in which our body operates. This is more like an internal biological clock that synchronizes a lot of cellular actions occurs in our body, including making you feel awake or tired throughout the day, rise and fall of blood pressure and body temperature and the release of cortisol.

All the processes in your body including cellular, molecular, and physiological are working like an orchestra and the master biological circadian operates as the electrode to make sure that the certain processes are occurring on time. And the certain processes includes hormone secretion, sleep, body temperature, metabolism, and immunity.

Everything you need to know about your Circadian Rhythm and how it affects your Sleep. #circadianrhythm

Image: HealthyVogue

The circadian rhythm has been recorded and reported for hundreds and thousands of years and this is pretty much amazing. Here are the 10 more facts and tips about Circadian rhythm.

1. Yeah sometimes an hour can throw you off

If you feel like a zombie after time change then you are not alone neither you are just imagining this tiredness. An hour doesn’t look like that one’s body cannot resist the change but sometimes this could be too much and our body’s system find it hard to handle the change. According to the director of sleep disorders center in some memorial hospital that there are increased risks of traffic accidents and heart attacks after the hop of time on Mondays.

Yes, even an hour can throw you off


2. Explains why jet lag messes with us

Just an hour or 60 seconds are more than enough to create chaos on humanity, than you can imagine traveling few hour across the time sectors can affect the body, both mentally and physically. According to Zee, he stated that this feeling of jet lag happens when your body is happily and normally doing things according to its on clock and suddenly it has to run on another clock and that too is very quickly. He further stated that your rhythm might want you to sleep in the middle of the afternoon and asks you to stay wide awake in the middle of the night. This jet lag can be prevented just by adjusting your sleep patterns and schedules before hour adjusting trip, resist the need to nap throughout the day, spend lots of time out of the home to make the change little smoother.

which explains why jet lag messes with us

3. People can have different clocks

Usually people function in a regular and similar time frame, which includes sleeping at night and waking up in the morning or within the range. Now this explains that why shifting of work is as disturbing as it is also in contradiction of the natural level of the body rhythm. But variations are also there, like the owls who loves to stay awake and sleep late and the larks who loves to wake up early in the morning. Then there comes the age difference, which means the natural shift in people’s age for example during teen years, people face few changes in their routines especially when they tend to move in their forward year. And this is more protruding in guys as compared to the females. According to the study mentioned in journals, people change their natural rhythms when they age. This means older people wake up early and sleeps earlier as well and have better and fresh day.

People can have different clocks

4. Women are more likely to be larks

According to the scientists, men and women are different. According to the study mentioned in a 2013 journal a women’s clock is faster than men’s clock. This means women are more likely to be called early birds. Now again 1 hour doesn’t sound like too much but the change of one hour can affect the women’s sleep to a greater extent as they are busy at house chores and helping their kids with their homework.

Women are more likely to be larks


5. Light makes a huge difference

Brighter lights, either a glow from a phone or a natural sunshine, though it doesn’t seem like a very big deal but still it can make a huge difference. As they say that the Circadian rhythm is controlled by the brain. When the direct light crosses the eye, it excites the retina and it sent the signals to the hypothalamus. There are two small nuclei in the hypothalamus, which are the major parts of the inner clock. They send evidence to the darkness, light and natural time via nervous system and the whole body. And the process allows us to be active and alert throughout the day and in sleep time.

Light makes a huge difference

This is how using smartphones while going to sleep can keep you up for longer. The most sensitive wavelength in the eye is receptors that emitted by the smartphone lights, laptop screens and directly from the sun. This too can affect the circadian clock of the body like waking up. Sleeping, mood and metabolism problems.

6. For better balance, try Paleo lighting

You must have heard about the paleo diet but there is one more thing called paleo lightening, which is essential for making sure that you maximize the darkness during sleep time and around the bed. But it also get you bright, natural and direct light throughout the day.

For better balance, try "Paleo lighting."

7. Exercise could impact your rhythms

Exercise can make a greater impact on you and this is stated in a study in 2012. They also stated that there is a mice that was running on a wheel is more likely to have stronger and better internal body clocks than those who don’t. Doing some exercise is better than doing absolutely nothing. But still it is recommended that workout right before going to bed as it stimulates the heart rate and cortisol levels that too make it harder to sleep. Workout 3 hours before workout for better sleep.

Exercise could impact your rhythms—to an extent


8. You CAN have a low-grade version of SAD

Winter SADS or effective seasonal disorders shows up as the day starts and scientists states that this is due to sunlight. Because it stimulates the serotonin that is a chemical that boosts the mood. Some people suffering from SAD, wants to sleep 10 to 14 hours a day because they are usually suffering from diagnosable psychiatric conditions.

You CAN have a low-grade version of SAD

9. Blame your rhythms for that afternoon slump

Between 2 to 4 am, most of the people feels complete, quiet and sudden tiredness and a severe lack of focus. Now what is this? This is when your circadian rhythm starts to incline, 8 hours after you get up. You just enter in a cycle of tiredness and hollowness that makes you unable to work and stay awake that’s because your body is unable to respond to the tiredness.

Blame your rhythms for that afternoon slump

10. Follow your clock to boost immunity

There was a study conducted over 276 people in 2016, who were given flu shots, right when they wake up and this was better than those who took shots in the afternoon or even after that. These people poked randomly between 3 to 5 PM or 9 to 11 AM. And people who got their shots produced ominously more antibodies. That’s more like when the humans met the most environmental threats, it could make them sick so this is how the immune system responded according to it.

Follow your clock to boost immunity

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