3539: How to Optimize your Circadian Rhythms to Promote Healing from Chronic Illness by Lindsay Christensen on Improving Sleep Quality

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[00:01:52] And always with a bit of my commentary at the end. And when I give my commentary, I don't want to just give you my opinion all the time. I like to back things up with actual research studies, the actual science behind my opinions. So I thank you so much for always sticking around to listen to my commentary at the end. But with that, let's keep this intro nice and short and get right to today's article and start optimizing your life.

[00:02:15] How to optimize your circadian rhythms to promote healing from chronic illness by Lindsay Christensen with abrighterwild.com Our ancestors evolved in an environment in which life was governed by the Earth's natural rhythms, including the cycles of light and dark that characterize day and night.

[00:02:37] The interaction between our biology and the Earth's light cycles led us to develop a unique system within our bodies, the circadian system. This system produces our circadian rhythms, which play many crucial roles in the maintenance of our health.

[00:02:52] A growing body of research indicates that disruption of our natural circadian rhythms compromises our health and predisposes us to issues such as elevated stress hormones, lowered immunity, intestinal dysbiosis, and impaired brain function. Over time, health issues such as these may contribute to the development of chronic illnesses.

[00:03:13] In my own journey of recovery from a chronic illness, Lyme disease, repairing my disrupted circadian rhythm has helped me make significant improvements in my health. In this article, I'd like to share several strategies that have helped me normalize my circadian rhythms and facilitate my recovery from chronic illness. My sincere hope is that these strategies will help you in your healing journey as well. What are circadian rhythms?

[00:03:38] Before diving into the strategies I've used to optimize my circadian rhythms, I'd like to give a brief overview of this somewhat complex topic. Circadian rhythms are the set of biochemical processes within the body that follow an approximately 24-hour schedule and regulate many aspects of our behavior and physiology. Circadian rhythms are produced by genes and proteins that exhibit cyclic activity and are referred to as body clocks. Circadian rhythms are the set of biochemicals.

[00:04:08] The master body clock is a structure in the brain called the suprachiasmatic nucleus, or SCN. It responds to light and dark cues from the environment and sets the overall rhythm for the body. It also interacts with body clocks in other locations such as the gut and pancreas, which respond to cues such as temperature and nutrients in food. Together, these clocks comprise the circadian system, which regulates our sleep-wake cycles, hormone release, and metabolism, among many other processes.

[00:04:38] The circadian system becomes disrupted when we provide it with light, dark, food, or temperature cues at inappropriate times in a 24-hour cycle. This throws a wrench into the gears of our body clocks and disrupts the circadian-dependent physiological processes in our bodies. The circadian disruption that ensues increases our stress levels, disrupts gut health and sleep patterns, and impairs our immunity.

[00:05:03] If we don't get our circadian rhythms under control, we can inadvertently end up sabotaging our health efforts. Fortunately, there are lifestyle strategies we can use to normalize circadian rhythm disruption and thus promote healing in our bodies. Here are six strategies for promoting healthy circadian rhythms. 1. Avoid blue light before bed. Restorative sleep is an essential part of recovering from chronic illness.

[00:05:29] However, many of us have a bad habit that is undermining our ability to obtain restful sleep. We use blue light-emitting technological devices before bed. The blue light emitted from these devices, such as iPhones and tablets, tells our circadian system that it is daytime and lowers melatonin, a hormone that promotes sleep. To ensure that you experience deep restorative sleep, power down your electronic devices several hours before bed.

[00:05:56] You may also want to take this a step further and decrease your exposure to all artificial light before bed, as most light bulbs emit light in the blue spectrum and are capable of suppressing melatonin production. Wearing blue light-blocking glasses at night is an easy way to reduce your body's exposure to blue light. 2. Sleep in a dark, cool room. In addition to avoiding blue light before bed, it is crucial that you avoid light exposure during sleep.

[00:06:24] Light from sources such as street lights and night lights can disrupt sleep. I recommend getting a set of blackout shades for your bedroom windows and unplugging other sources of bright light, such as digital alarm clocks and night lights. Lowering the ambient temperature in your bedroom so that it is cool can also help improve sleep, as temperature is an important cue for the circadian system. 3. Get some sunshine during the day. Reduced exposure to sunlight impairs circadian rhythms.

[00:06:53] To optimize your circadian rhythm, head outside and get some sunshine every day. In addition to helping your circadian system, this will also help you get a healthy dose of vitamin D, which has its own circadian rhythm-syncing properties. Vitamin D is crucial for optimal immune function, which we need to recover from chronic illness. 4. Avoid eating late at night. Food intake is an important cue for the circadian system,

[00:07:19] and eating late at night raises insulin and cortisol, which alter circadian rhythms. Finish eating a few hours before bed to allow for the cascade of hormones that promote healthy sleep. 5. Optimize your gut health. Gut issues are common among those of us with chronic illnesses. However, normalizing your circadian rhythms may improve gut health. Emerging research indicates that intestinal cells and gut microbes have their own circadian rhythms

[00:07:48] that interact with our rhythms. This means that we can improve our gut health by taking care of our circadian system and vice versa. For example, the standard American diet has been found to impair gut microbe rhythms and compromise gut health, and chronic sleep disruption alters microbe rhythms and promotes leaky gut and dysbiosis. Conversely, eating an anti-inflammatory, nutrient-dense diet and practicing sleep hygiene

[00:08:14] can normalize gut microbe rhythms and improve gut health. Taking probiotics may also help normalize your circadian rhythms by improving the health of your gut microbes. And finally, strategy number 6. Practice stress reduction. Circadian disruption elevates cortisol, and high cortisol impairs healing. Having a regular stress reduction practice, such as meditation or yoga, is very important for optimizing your circadian rhythms and promoting healing.

[00:08:43] Since adopting a regular yoga practice, I have found that I experience better sleep and increased alertness during the day, both of which indicate that my circadian rhythms are functioning well. The process of recovering from a chronic illness can be challenging and often takes a lot of self-experimentation. My own experience has led me to believe that circadian rhythm alignment is crucial for recovering from chronic illness. Since incorporating these strategies into my own life, I have experienced several major healing breakthroughs.

[00:09:12] I hope you find these strategies useful and that they can help you in your own recovery process. You just listened to the post titled, How to Optimize Your Circadian Rhythms to Promote Healing from Chronic Illness by Lindsay Christensen with abrighterwild.com. Then I'll be right back with my commentary. Now, it's just me and a small team behind this show, so I get how much the right hire matters.

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[00:10:39] Your sleep, your privacy, the way every room looks and feels. At Blinds.com, we've spent 30 years making it surprisingly simple to get exactly what your home needs. We've covered over 25 million windows and have 50,000 five-star reviews to prove we deliver. Whether you DIY it or want a pro to handle everything from measure to install, we have you covered. Real design professionals. Free samples. Zero pressure. Right now, get up to 45% off site-wide. Plus get a free professional measure at Blinds.com. Rules and restrictions apply. Dr. Neal Malik here for my commentary.

[00:11:09] I'll start by discussing sleep hygiene. The suggestions Lindsay had were spot on. Our exposure to light definitely plays a role in our sleep-wake cycles. There are alarm clocks now that won't necessarily make sounds to wake you up. Instead, it'll be completely silent. But you know how they wake you up? By flashing a bright light on and off. So instead of making noise, the alarm clock will just simply shine a bright light

[00:11:36] and then dim and then shine it again and then dim. And miraculously, that wakes us up. That's because even with our eyelids closed, we are sensitive to the effects of light. Now I've talked about blue light on this show many times before. If you don't have a pair of blue light blocking glasses, usually on most phones and tablets nowadays, you can use a blue light filter. That can help limit your exposure to blue light, especially at night. Hey, that rhyme, that was kind of like a Dr. Seuss thing.

[00:12:05] I will not expose myself to blue light. I will not expose myself at night. Anyways, and yes, when we don't get adequate or that deep restorative REM sleep, our body's recovery from chronic illness, from really anything, tends to suffer. And part of it is due to this hormone cortisol. Cortisol is known as the stress hormone because when we're under stress, our bodies secrete cortisol into the bloodstream. If our cells are bathing in cortisol for too long,

[00:12:33] if this goes on for weeks, months, and years because of chronic stress or chronic sleep deprivation, then we're finding that that hormone does seem to mess with our body's cells. And so having our cells bathe in cortisol for years and years may increase our risk for certain diseases like cardiovascular disease. It may make it harder for you to get rid of fat around your abdomen. It may increase risk for cancer. Cortisol does seem to suppress the immune system, which is your body's defense. Now, what if stress is the thing

[00:13:03] that's causing you to lose sleep? It becomes this downward spiral, right? So yes, incorporating some stress reduction techniques can help. Absolutely try yoga, try meditation. If that doesn't work, just simply writing down some of your thoughts on paper can make a big difference. All you have to do is write down those things that are stressing you out the most right now. It can be just like the top three things that are most stressful for you. And then right next to that, write down what aspects of those stressful situations

[00:13:33] you can control. Because really, a lot of what stresses us out is a lack of control. So by identifying what you can control about those situations, you hopefully will take charge, grab control of what you can, and then change things. If you cannot control the situation, then you need to let it go. You have to find a way to deal with it without being in control. All right, that's enough out of me. That'll do it for another edition of Optimal Health Daily. Thank you as always for listening, and I'll see you back here tomorrow

[00:14:03] where your optimal life awaits.