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Advanced Sleep Phase Disorder: When You Get Tired Too Early and Wake Up Too Soon

Do you always tend to feel sleepy before everyone else? Does your internal alarm clock go off before dawn? You may suffer from Advanced Sleep Phase Disorder (ASPD), also known as Advanced Sleep Phase Syndrome.

You have probably read about the genetic differences between early birds and night owls. For some people, however, “early to bed and early to rise” is actually a disorder. Their ideal sleep hours occur earlier than modern life allows, often leaving them without the quality sleep that they need to get through the day. The good news is that if you find yourself nodding off over afternoon tea, there are ways of pushing back your circadian clock.

Not Just an Early Bird

We are told from a young age that the early bird catches the worm. Indeed, many careers and life paths still favor those who naturally go to bed early and rise with the sun. While night owls are crawling out of bed with bleary eyes, early birds are already awake and raring to go. However, just as with all sleep schedules, extremes can be unhealthy and interfere with your health.

Even the earliest early bird can make it through dinner without falling asleep and even enjoy the occasionally night out. When people have an internal clock that sends them to bed far earlier than even your standard early bird, this is considered Advanced Sleep Phase Disorder.

What Is Advanced Sleep Phase Disorder?

Although we think of our desired bedtime as a lifestyle choice, it is actually deeply embedded in our brains. When our eyes stop sensing light, they send messages to the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) of the hypothalamus, deep in the brain. This area of the brain tells the pineal gland to release melatonin, which primes your body for sleep as well as performing a variety of other important activities. Over months and years, our brains become used to a particular pattern.

For people with Advanced Sleep Phase Disorder, the brain begins releasing melatonin far too early. They are sleepy and ready for bed around 8-9 p.m. and wake around 4 or 5 a.m. This disorder appears to be inherited, with around half of a sufferer’s children also inheriting the disease. Staying awake late into the night, or even past dinner time, is a struggle for people with ASPD. Even if they want to stay awake, their brains are working hard to make their eyes heavy and their bodies ache for a bed. They begin releasing melatonin far earlier than other people and begin making cortisol, the hormone associated with wakefulness, far before dawn.

Treatment Options for ASPD

While it is difficult to change one’s innate sleep-wake cycle, the good news is that Advanced Sleep Phase Disorder can be treated. Most doctors recommend a combination of behavioral changes and other therapies. People should go to bed at the same time every night and awake at the same time in the morning, even on weekends or days off. This keeps the body from slipping into a less adaptive rhythm. Because it is almost impossible to change your sleep schedule in one sweeping shift, most experts recommend aiming to stay up a mere fifteen minutes later every night.

In addition, people with Advanced Sleep Phase Disorder can benefit from light therapy during the day and melatonin supplements at night. Light therapy, consisting of exposing yourself to bright lights for a short period of time, sends a message to the brain that now is the time for wakefulness. Melatonin supplements taken in the morning show your body that it is not yet time to wake for the day. Because your body uses these cues to regulate its circadian rhythm, purposely seeking them out can have a huge and beneficial effect on your sleep-wake cycles. Antidepressants may also help many people with ASPD, as they balance out serotonin levels to allow for optimal neurological function.

Happy Sleep, Happy Life

Why go to all this trouble? Why not simply go to bed early? Unfortunately, for people suffering from ASPD, this can interfere with daily life and lead to getting less sleep overall. Getting the right quantity and quality of sleep is crucial to feeling your best, having enough energy and even to your long-term physical health. The therapies for Advanced Sleep Phase Disorder are inexpensive and have few side effects, so many people find that the effort is worth it in the long run.

If you or a loved one cannot stay awake even until reasonable times, ASPD may be the cause. Luckily, there are ways to correct this disorder so you can get the sleep you need while living a healthy and fulfilling life.

Cancer and the Circadian Clock: Recent Insights Offer New Hope

Sep 29 by Ewcopywriting Leave a Comment

Cancer was once a dreaded death sentence. New research, specifically studies on cancer and the circadian clock, are offering new understanding and new hope.

Around half of all people will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime, making it one of the most common diseases in the modern world. While cancer once had a very high mortality rate, many people are now able to survive this disease and thrive with the help of modern therapies and treatments. The emerging science of chronobiology may hold the key to understanding and treating many common types of cancer.

Cancer and the Circadian Clock

Cancer cannot grow and metastasize without sabotaging the “checkpoints” on cell division and metabolism that exist in healthy cells. The circadian rhythm is intricately entwined with these checkpoints. Every cell in our body lives, functions and dies by a rhythm set by our internal clocks, which are in turn set by light levels, the times we eat, and a variety of other factors. In cancer cells, these rhythms are often disrupted so the cell can divide without normal controls.

In a recent study of liver tumors, the cancer cells were found to not only divide inappropriately, leading to tumor growth, but also to interfere with the normal function of the liver as a whole. The liver is responsible for a wide range of metabolic activities, which include glucose regulation and toxin removal from the blood. When liver cells turn cancerous, they act erratically. A small liver tumor can disrupt the entire body’s metabolism by disrupting how glucose is regulated.

Marching to the Beat of Its Own Drum

In many ways, cancer cells act like “hijackers,” taking over normal bodily functions and performing them in an erratic way. However, not all tumors function independent of the circadian rhythm. Some cancers, such as certain types of leukemia, depend on circadian rhythm genes to survive. A recent study found that normal stem cells in the blood can survive even without BMAL1, a crucial gene that regulates the circadian rhythm of each cell. On the other hand, stem cells with leukemia die when this gene is “knocked out.” This insight may present a new method of treating leukemia by genetically modifying cells with this cancer so they don’t express a gene that is important to their survival.

The Circadian Rhythm

Liver cancer and leukemia are not the only two cancers to show a link to the circadian rhythm in research. Breast cancer also appears to be associated with a circadian rhythm gene. Because breast cancer in itself is not life-threatening, metastasis is generally its biggest threat. Cancerous cells can eventually leave the breast and travel to the brain, the lungs, or the bones, where they can interfere with more necessary tissue. Having even small mutations in a circadian rhythm gene called Arntl2 is an important predictor of breast cancer death. The reason for this increased morbidity is that tumors with a functioning Arntl2 gene are unlikely to metastasize.

Sleep Disorders: A Cancer Risk Factor?

The link between cancer and the circadian clock is especially clear when you examine the relationship between sleep and cancer outcomes. Regardless of the type of cancer, having sleep apnea (and possibly other disorders that interfere with sleep) is a risk factor for poor cancer outcomes. People with sleep apnea suffer from decreased oxygenation during their sleep, which increases levels of VEGF, or vascular endothelial growth factor. VEGF is crucial for the survival of cancer cells because it creates new blood vessels, allowing them to get the nutrients they need to grow out of control. While we associate sleep apnea with poor sleep and snoring, it may have even greater effects on our health in the long run.

New Treatments and New Hope

Because cancer is so dependent on the circadian rhythm, some people may benefit from taking medications that attack cancer cells at certain times of day. Treating a disease at a particular time of day, a practice known as chronotherapy, ensures that cancer cells are hit with the right drugs at the right time—the time when they are most likely to deliver optimal effects. This practice can also lead to fewer side effects, as treatments can be targeted to times when they have the least impact on healthy cells. While normal cells undergo growth and metabolism only at certain times of the day, cancerous cells that have lost their checkpoints tend to divide without any set time frame or even a pause. They are in constant growth phase. Taking medications at times of the day when healthy cells are not active (but cancer cells are!) allows drugs to hit cancer cells alone while sparing healthy ones.

While treatment for cancer was once limited to surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, new research has brought forth new medications and treatments that kill malignant cells by disrupting their growth and other key metabolic processes. Understanding more about the relationship between cancer and the circadian clock will allow doctors to attack cancer more aggressively while yielding better outcomes for the people who suffer from this disease. Because all of us will suffer from cancer or love someone who does in our lifetimes, this is truly life-changing research.

Seasonal Affective Disorder: How to Beat the Winter Blues

Sep 26 by Ewcopywriting Leave a Comment

Many people suffer from seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and don’t even realizing it. You may have felt a touch of the winter blues but quickly recovered with a vacation to somewhere sunny. Others live all fall and winter with a mild case of the “winter blahs” without realizing that this can have an effect on their physical health. However, for many people, the winter blues are a pervasive health problem. They not only suffer from a serious case of the blahs but from persistent depression and other physical and mental health issues.

What Is Seasonal Affective Disorder?

Many people in North America and Northern Europe suffer from seasonal affective disorder, also known as SAD, without even knowing it. A lack of sunlight can affect our lives in a variety of ways. According to some researchers, many people feel the effects of low levels of light. While some feel the classic symptoms of depression, others experience seasonal affective disorder differently. You may feel more tired and fatigued, more anxious, or even be more prone to contagious illnesses.

Not getting enough sunlight in the fall and winter can impact your health in a variety of ways. Many people feel that they are more fatigued in the winter and get tired more easily. Others find that they have a larger appetite, leading to weight gain, or even that they are more likely to catch contagious illnesses such as colds and flus. Human health depends on having a balanced circadian rhythm, and having a balanced circadian rhythm depends on having healthy and appropriate levels of melatonin.

Sunlight and Human Health

Although we do not realize it, the sun affects our health in a variety of ways. Blind people who cannot experience sunlight are a good example of these effects. When our eyes perceive light, they send messages to the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the brain, which in turn sends messages to the pineal gland. These neurological messages determine whether we release sleep-enhancing hormones such as melatonin or biochemicals that encourage wakefulness such as cortisol. Without functioning retinas, the bodies and brains of blind people are left without a compass.

Many blind people suffer from seasonal affective disorder all year long. Their retinas do not sense light so they are left with no way to coordinate their circadian rhythms. This can lead to dysregulation of sleep and the according depression and fatigue, but also physical effects. Our bodies are created to be attuned to the light and dark cycles of our environments; without a way to perceive these cycles, we are left quite literally in the dark.

Combating SAD

Although seasonal affective disorder is common, it is not something people need to tolerate without treatment. There are many ways to beat the winter blues. Stock up on vitamin D supplements so you don’t lack this critical nutrient. Make an effort to get outside and enjoy the winter season, even if you find it hard to get moving. Get plenty of exposure to light, even if it isn’t the light of the sun.

In addition, there are natural therapies that have been found to decrease seasonal affective disorder. Exposing yourself to natural light during the day and taking melatonin at night can resolve many of the symptoms. In fact, taking melatonin at night in itself has been found to correct around a third of the symptoms associated with SAD.

When our eyes do not perceive the right wavelength of light, it is easy for melatonin production to also get off track. Taking melatonin before bed gives a clear signal, that now is the time for sleep. Light therapy during the day can also help, by sending a clear message that these hours are meant for wakefulness. In winter, light levels are low enough that it is easy for our brains to get confused about when to sleep and when to wake. Correcting these crossed signals with well-timed light and melatonin may alleviate many of the symptoms associated with seasonal affective disorder.

Many people suffer from seasonal affective disorder, or at least the winter blues, without even realizing it. However, there is no need to power through these symptoms: Many therapies, including light therapy and melatonin, have been found to alleviate them. Including light therapies, such as using a dawn-simulating alarm clock, and supplementing with melatonin are ways you can help keep your circadian rhythm on track. In many cases, depression is just the first obvious symptom that something is wrong with your whole body health.

The Health Benefits of Omega 3 for Children

Sep 22 by Ewcopywriting Leave a Comment

Many adults take a daily fish oil or flaxseed oil supplement to ensure they’re getting enough omega-3 fatty acids. There are a multitude of benefits to these supplements, from better cardiovascular health and improved joint function, to an improved attention span, mood and cognitive function. However, there may be special benefits in omega 3 for children as well, according to several recent studies.

Omega 3 for Children: A Cure for Academic and Behavioral Problems?

Omega-3 fatty acids have been touted as anti-aging nutrients for the brain. However, their effects on the brain are remarkable in the realm of encouraging healthy development as well. Several recent studies have looked at the effects of omega 3 fatty acids for children and found that they can have an immensely positive effect on brain function, even in developing minds.

In one study, third graders were randomly assigned to two groups, one receiving omega-3 supplements and one receiving a placebo. After three months, the reading skills of children taking the supplements had improved faster than those of the group who went without. The classmates were then all given supplements and soon the control group also saw benefits.

Omega-3 Fatty Acids and Behavior

Omega-3 fatty acids also may improve behavior by reducing aggression, according to another study of supplements containing omega 3 for children. Children of 11 and 12 years who had a history of aggression were placed in groups receiving a variety of therapies, including cognitive behavioral therapy and supplements believed to build the brain. Kids who received a mixture of therapy and omega-3 supplements saw a greater improvement in behavior than the other groups. Because this study only looked at the short-term, it is unknown how these children were affected over their lifespan. However, omega-3 supplements do appear to have an effect on behavior, especially when it comes to aggressive behavior.

How Can Omega-3 Fatty Acids Have Such an Immense Effect?

According to researchers, fatty acids affect our bodies in a variety of positive ways. First, they are a good source of the fatty building blocks needed to myelinate nerve cells. Myelin acts as an insulator for nerve cells so they can send signals more rapidly. While we are young, we are still building new neural connections (and myelinating them!) so supplements containing omega 3 for children can be of huge benefit.

In addition, fish oils containing omega-3 fatty acids appear to be good for almost every cell in the human body. They are a rich source of vitamins such as vitamin D as well as fatty acids of which the standard American diet is deficient. They also have been found to lubricate joints, allowing better mobility and less chronic joint pain as we age. The benefits of these tiny supplements are huge, which is why many adults take them. However, the benefits appear to be even greater for children.

Getting Enough Omega Fatty Acids in Your Diet

Why do we need an omega-3 supplement? Can’t we just get enough of these oils in our daily diets? In theory, we absolutely can. However, in practice, this is a very difficult task. Our ancestors ate plenty of foods that contained a healthy balance of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, such as oily fish, nuts, seeds and leafy green vegetables. Yet, the average Western diet is high in processed foods and thus low in these vital nutrients. When foods do provide fatty acids, it’s often in an unhealthy ratio heavy in omega-6 fatty acids. For many people, getting enough omega-3 fatty acids is almost impossible. This is especially true for children, who need much higher nutrient density in their diets, yet are often picky eaters. For many Western people, including most children, supplements are the easiest way to ensure that our diets have all of the nutrients that we need for optimal health.

While the individual studies on the health benefits of omega-3 fatty acids are generally small, together they comprise a huge body of research that cannot be ignored. There are many health benefits to taking an omega-3 supplement, regardless of your age. The health benefits are too great and too far-reaching to be without these fatty acids in your daily diet.

Work and the Circadian Rhythm: How Your Ideal Work Schedule Changes as You Age

Sep 17 by Ewcopywriting Leave a Comment

What is your ideal work schedule? While the answer will vary from person to person, most people prefer a day shift that does not begin too early or end excessively late. Exactly what is too early or too late? New research suggests that the answer to this question largely depends on your age.

The Circadian Rhythm of Teens

By the time many adolescents apply for their first job, they have already settled into a circadian rhythm that roughly resembles that of adults. However, there are key differences that set teens apart. Mostly notably, teens fall asleep and wake later. They begin to release melatonin later in the day so their circadian rhythm is a little delayed compared to adults. These brain differences can linger well into the mid-20s, at which time your brain has officially grown up.

Many teens suffer from a disorder called “social jet lag,” in which they are required to awaken too early for school, work and other obligations and thus suffer health consequences. Pediatricians advocate for schools and other youth activities to begin at 9 a.m. or later and suggest that early start times may be a partial cause of health problems ranging from depression to obesity.

In adulthood, the ideal work schedule mainly depends on your unique circadian rhythm, which research has found is primarily a product of genetic factors. Experts recommend that people work a schedule that allows them to take advantage of their most energetic and wakeful times of the day while sleeping at the time of night that is best for them. However, for many people this ideal work schedule is not possible. Shift work is common and can have devastating health effects, some of which last up to five years after the worker has resumed a normal day shift.

Getting poor-quality sleep may set people up for a host of serious diseases later in life. The brain undergoes cleaning processes during sleep, which remove metabolic wastes that can later contribute to dementia. In addition, many cells in the human body perform essential repair processes when we sleep, which prevents aging and even can lower one’s risk of cancer. Getting a sufficient quality and quantity of sleep every night is an important way of reducing the long-term effects of age and keeping your body healthy.

Middle Age: When the Ideal Work Week Shortens

When most people hit their forties, they are working more hours than ever. Their children are older and education is complete, allowing a complete focus on career. However, powering through your last decades of work may be bad for your health. According to a recent study, the ideal work week for the health of middle-aged people is 25 hours, or just three days per week.

While it is important to stay active and continue being productive as we age, working too many hours, or at odd hours, can lead to stress and health problems. Many companies are shortening the length of the work week and finding this decision yields happier, healthier and more productive employees. Allowing ample time to rest, relax and engage in fulfilling activities allows people to more easily maintain a healthy circadian rhythm.

Working Through Retirement: Effects on Circadian Rhythm

We do not currently know the ideal work schedule for people over the age of 65 because working past this age is a relatively new phenomenon. Humans were once lucky to live to this age, but now around 27 percent of modern people plan to continue working into their golden years. Older people tend to go to sleep earlier, wake more often, arise at an early time and compensate later with napping or rests throughout the day. Working may make it difficult for these people to get the “catch up” sleep that they need to stay healthy and thrive. We have no idea how working well into old age may affect the human body as this is such a new shift. People in years gone by were almost always deceased or incapacitated by that age.

The world cannot always accommodate one’s ideal work schedule. We will always need night nurses, police officers and other nighttime workers. However, it is important to know what amount and timing of work is the healthiest. This will allow us to ensure that more people have a healthy circadian rhythm and that we can screen those who work odd shifts for the resulting health risks.

Complex Connections Between the Gut and Brain Influence Mood, Behavior and More

Sep 15 by Ewcopywriting Leave a Comment

Your digestive tract is an essential part of your body. We depend on our gut and intestinal flora to digest and absorb food as well as to get rid of waste products. However, there has been a great deal of research in the past few years regarding other, more surprising, roles that our gastrointestinal (GI) tract may play in our whole body health. Our GI tract affects every other system in the human body and is affected by them in return. New studies have found that even the brain has ways to communicate and receive communication from the gut.

The Circadian Rhythm of Your Digestive Tract

Our circadian rhythm tells our bodies when to perform a wide variety of tasks, including sleeping and eating. This central control is mainly governed by a clock in the hypothalamus of the brain, which is called the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). When our retinas sense light, they pass messages to the suprachiasmatic nucleus to halt melatonin production and ramp up production of cortisol to keep us alert and energetic. Without light, the opposite happens and our bodies prepare for sleep.

However, this central clock is not the only timekeeper in our bodies. Each organ system and even some small groups of cells maintain their own circadian rhythms. The circadian rhythms of various systems in the body communicate with each other to coordinate their activities. This becomes especially complicated in the gut because the cells that maintain the digestive system include not just human cells, but a wide variety of bacteria. Our gastrointestinal flora, the 40 trillion or so tiny microbes that help us to digest food and produce vital nutrients, also keep their own circadian rhythms. They undergo cell division and become more active in the presence of food. They are even affected by melatonin, ramping up activity as the rest of our bodies prepare for sleep. In addition, they send biochemical signals to the brain in a complex back-and-forth communication channel.

The Gut-Brain Axis: Complex Connections Between the Gut and Brain

The communication between the gut and the brain, along with the effects of this communication, have been dubbed the gut-brain axis. This two-way signaling system allows our brains and our guts to coordinate important activities. These activities are related to much more than mere digestion and hunger. Gut flora can activate a stress response by stimulating the vagus nerve, which directly connects our brains and our intestines. In addition, gut bacteria produce so much melatonin that there is actually more of this hormone in our gastrointestinal tracts than in the pineal gland, where it is made and stored in the brain. Gut bacteria influence our brain, our hormonal balance, and thus our health in a variety of ways, many of which we are just beginning to understand.

While more study is needed in this area, throwing off the bacterial balance may have effects such as memory loss, anxiety and depression. The simple act of taking a probiotic can be helpful in conjunction with the treatment of complex psychiatric problems such as OCD. Our brains are dependent on cues from the gut, so an imbalance in microbes can have far-reaching negative effects.

Could Your Gut Flora Be Affecting Your Sleep?

The role of your gut flora in maintaining a healthy circadian rhythm and sleep is one of the most surprising connections to have sprung from modern chronobiology studies We already knew that these bacteria are important players in health, synthesizing nutrients and helping to break food particles in our diets. However, new research is finding that your mental health, autoimmune activity, and, yes, even sleep may depend in part on having a health gastrointestinal tract.

If you are having trouble sleeping, an imbalance in your gastrointestinal flora may be leading to a decrease in melatonin and thereby insomnia. Conversely, it is also possible that low melatonin production in your brain may be affecting your digestion in a variety of ways. In either case, taking either melatonin or a probiotic may be an answer.

Our bodies are not a bunch of unconnected parts, but rather a whole that functions in a synchronized way thanks to complex communication and interrelationships. Not only does our circadian rhythm affect every cell in our body, but it appears to also be affected by these cells in turn. Getting enough sleep and good nutrition, two simple and common recommendations may be more important to our whole body health than we previously could have imagined.