Have you heard of circadian rhythms, or body clocks? Do you ever feel like yours is messed
up, and it's affecting your sleep, your stress levels, and more? In this video I'm going
to share with you how to fix your circadian rhythm. This is The Dr. K Show.
I'm Dr. Karthik Ramanan. I help ambitious individuals end self criticism with tools
and strategies to create optimal everyday mental health. If you're new here and you
need to silence that negative voice in your head to get out of your own way, I’m here
for you. I encourage you to subscribe right now.
It's Showtime.
Our circadian rhythm, or body clock, is present in humans and other organisms. Animals, plants,
fungi, even some bacteria. These rhythms are generated within the living being but are
greatly influenced by outside forces including sunlight and temperature. They influence hormone
levels, brain activity, cell regeneration, and so much more. Unfortunately in our modern
world of blue screens, artificial lights, and constant eating patterns, we have created
an environment that pulls us away from our circadian rhythm, and doing so is associated
with various chronic diseases and negative states of mental health.
Before we go into this, I want you to understand the importance of melatonin and cortisol.
You can think of melatonin as your "stay asleep" hormone, and cortisol is one of your alertness
and stress hormones. Now if you're thinking melatonin, stay asleep, I want that to be
high at night and drop in the morning…. And cortisol, stress, alertness, I want that
to be higher during the day and drop toward the evening. You'd be right! Unfortunately
we've created an environment where that doesn't always hold true.
So how do we fix it?
First, fix your light exposure. Did you know that we have a protein called melanopsin that
senses blue light, and it's responsible for essentially synchronizing the brain clock.
When melanopsin in our eye is exposed to bright daylight, which is largely blue light, we
become more alert, energized. Depression is reduced. What's interesting about melanopsin
is that it's not as sensitive to orange light, only blue light. When melanopsin is exposed
to orange light, it's as if it's dark outside. But what do we typically experience? We're
indoors during much of the day and exposed to blue screens at night. This is the exact
opposite of how we're wired, so it's no wonder why our body clock is offset and struggles
to adequately reset.
To fix your light exposure, spend some time outside as soon as you wake up. Take in the
sun. And spend more time outside during the day. Go for a quick 5 minute walk during your
lunch break. Sit near a window. And I know that's not always possible. I get it. When
I worked on Wall Street, for a few years there I had a desk that was on the interior of the
building, and I had no idea whether it was 8 AM or 9 PM. It messed with my brain and
my health. But I also never made it a priority to expose myself to sunlight as much as I
could during the day. Like everything, if it's important to you, you'll find a way.
Power tip: going for a walk, jog, or run outside in the morning will further enhance this circadian
resetting effect.
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Next, fix your food schedule. We also have daily rhythms in our metabolism and gut microbiome.
We are constantly in a fed state in our society these days. That is to say, it's rare that
we're not actively digesting food during our awake hours. Intermittent fasting is a simple
way to take in the same caloric value of food while still resetting the circadian clock,
feeling more energized during the day, sleeping better at night, and even losing weight too.
An easy way to start is to ensure your first meal of the day and your last meal of the
day fall within a 12 hour window. As you move forward, you can try tightening that window.
Also, don't eat within 3 hours of bed time.
Bonus tip: get your diurnal cortisol tested. When you do, your doctor will be able to see
where your cortisol levels are throughout the day and make adjustments to your supplements
as needed to give you a further boost in the right direction.
Question of the Day: What's one way you're committed to normalizing your circadian rhythm?
If you feel like being awesome, let me know in the comments below.
Today’s Progress Success is brought to you by Jake Krokowski. He shared with me that
he realized, "No matter the stage or season we're in… we all share the same human fears
and concerns. Imposter Syndrome and the Dunning-Kruger effect are things to be acknowledged, managed,
and discussed…basically as long as we're in this entrepreneurship game!"
Thanks for sharing Jake, and even if we're not in the entrepreneurship game, your words
ring true. Awesome progress!
"I don't have enough time." I can't tell you how long those words haunted me. And if you're
an ambitious individual, you might not feel like you have enough time either. Enough time
to work on your dreams. Enough time to spend with your loved ones. Enough time to improve
yourself. I get it.
Let's remember something. The 24 hour clock, the concept of hours, minutes, and seconds,
weeks, months, years… these are all human-created concepts of time. Time in its absolute discrete
form doesn't exist in nature. Rather, organisms like us humans run on rhythms. Circadian rhythms
or your body clock. Menstrual cycles. Seasonal rhythms. These are not absolute forms of time,
but they absolutely govern our life and the lives of every living being.
For those of you like me who live by the calendar, who HATE to be even a minute late to a meeting,
who constantly feel there aren't enough hours in the day… What if instead of stressing
ourselves out living like that, we instead chose to live by a different construct of
time? What if we DECIDED in THIS MOMENT that we are NOT going to say "I don't have the
time" and instead focused on "What am I going to do with the time I DO have?" Ever tried
to work out when your body wasn't awake? Ever tried to write when you were feeling anxious?
Ever tried to sleep when your body was too alert? These are examples of us trying so
desperately hard to live by our construct of time when our body clock and rhythms are
influencing us to do otherwise.
What if instead we figured out how to take this moment, where we are in our rhythms,
our cycles, our clocks and choose a task that that best suited our present state? Can we
live entirely that way as an ambitious, goal-oriented individual? Realistically, probably not! But
I guarantee you that if we focused on normalizing and resetting our circadian rhythm with appropriate
blue and orange light exposure, intermittent fasting, and structuring a more fluid calendar
around our present state, we would accomplish a whole lot more. And, we'd be less anxious,
less depressed, and more resilient. Your health deserves it. Your brain deserves it. You deserve
it.
I believe in your greatness.