Chronobiology

The Circadian System and Glucose Regulation

Glucose metabolism and regulation are central to human health. We depend on a complex system to ensure that glucose is funneled to the areas where it is needed at the correct times and in the correct amounts. Many diseases, including diabetes, obesity and metabolic syndrome have been linked to dysregulation of glucose and insulin. New research suggests that the circadian system and glucose regulation are closely linked.

Glucose Regulation: A Primer

It is crucial to your health that glucose levels remain balanced within a very narrow range. The two hormones in charge of this are insulin and glucagon. Insulin “opens” gates in your cells so glucose leaves the bloodstream and can be used as fuel. In addition, liver cells store glucose so it can be used later. Glucagon does the exact opposite, closing gates on cells and causing the liver to release stored glucose into the bloodstream.

Once in cells, glucose is converted to usable energy in a process known as glycolysis. Glycolysis breaks down glucose into smaller carbon elements that can be used to fuel cells. In addition, some cells undergo a metabolic process called glycogenesis in which glucose is converted to a compound known as glycogen so it can be stored and used later.

The Circadian System, Glucose Regulation and Metabolism

The body controls glucose carefully because it is so important. If cells lack glucose then they starve, but too much prevents key cell processes from occurring. There are many factors involved in glucose regulation and metabolism because it is so tightly controlled. New research suggests that the circadian rhythm plays an integral role.

People who work odd shifts or otherwise have a disrupted circadian rhythm are more likely to suffer from metabolic syndrome. This is due to a newly discovered connection between the circadian system and glucose regulation and metabolism. Glucose control is intimately controlled by circadian rhythm. People who work odd hours have this system disrupted, so they have abnormal fluctuations in insulin and glucagon production. Over time, this can lead to insulin resistance, the problem underlying type 2 diabetes and a variety of metabolic diseases.

Cortisol: The Missing Link?

How exactly does circadian rhythm tie into glucose regulation? Cortisol is suspected as the main link between the circadian system and glucose. Cortisol is one of the main hormones of the circadian rhythm. It also governs blood glucose to a great extent and creates the diurnal rhythm seen in glucose and insulin levels. When people take glucocorticoid drugs that are broken down into cortisol, they often suffer problems with regulating their blood glucose as a side effect. Consistent use of glucocorticoids can lead to insulin resistance.

People who work odd shifts or otherwise live with circadian rhythm disruption have higher levels of cortisol overall. Cortisol normally peaks just before waking and declines slowly throughout the day. This is linked to the drop in insulin in the evening when cortisol levels are at their lowest. Without a normal circadian rhythm, cortisol levels drop more slowly and insulin remains high. Over time this can lead to resistance. Cortisol is likely the link between the circadian system and glucose dysregulation.

We are only just beginning to realize the effect that sleep has on us. Not only is it important to get enough sleep, but to get the right quality of sleep and at the right times. Many modern chronic diseases that are on the rise may be influenced by an epidemic of disrupted circadian rhythm in the modern world. Sleep may indeed be the best doctor and the best medicine.

Melatonin: A Casualty of Modern Technology?

Apr 22 by Ewcopywriting Leave a Comment

Today’s society has access to a wider range of entertainment, education and convenience than ever before thanks to modern technology. Cell phones, tablets and laptop computers are more portable than ever, allowing us to lead lives in which we are constantly in touch. However, the huge preponderance of screens we’re exposed to emanate unnatural light that can prevent human brains from making melatonin at the levels needed for good function. Low melatonin levels in the population are causing a variety of health problems, affecting more than just sleep.

Melatonin and Your Health

Melatonin is a hormone secreted by the pineal gland of your brain in response to a lack of light. While most people associate melatonin with sleep, it actually controls hundreds of activities related to metabolism and the cell cycle. Melatonin is also a powerful antioxidant, helping to repair oxidative stress that’s occurred during the day. It serves as a cue for the production of other hormones, including female reproductive hormones, as well. In addition, melatonin is crucial in turning on genes that produce proteins that are needed for DNA repair and other restorative processes that mainly occur when we sleep.

When people have low melatonin levels, the most obvious symptom is a disruption of the circadian rhythm. However, the effects of low melatonin are far-reaching and can impact almost every system in the human body.

Low Melatonin Levels: A Modern Epidemic

Artificial light has become ubiquitous in modern life. From the television to the smartphone, this light is all around us. While humans once went to bed with the sunset, we now can be productive long into the night. This constant unnatural light interferes with our body’s production of melatonin. This is not merely theoretical; research has repeatedly linked insomnia and other sleep disorders to the use of devices with lighted screens. Heavy cell phone use is linked to increased sleep disorders as well as a higher prevalence of depression, mental health problems and other disorders linked to a lack of sleep.

The High Cost of Low Melatonin

Melatonin is a master hormone that governs a variety of crucial cell processes, so a deficiency can have wide-spread consequences. Some effects of low melatonin are not surprising: Fatigue, depression and lowered mental function. However, low melatonin levels have also been linked to a variety of autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and IBS/IBD.

The reason for this link appears to lie in melatonin’s role in the immune system. Autoimmune diseases are characterized by an increase in the Th-17 subset of T-helper cells, which produce a cytokine called IL-17. This protein is important in protecting our bodies against infection, but when it is produced unchecked it causes much of the inflammation and damage that we associate with autoimmune disease.

Melatonin appears to lower levels of IL-17 by putting Th-17 cells “to sleep.” These cells are less active when there are high levels of melatonin and more active during the day when melatonin is low. The presence of increased IL-17 in people who have low melatonin levels suggests that a disturbed circadian rhythm can have even more destructive effects than previously believed.

New Treatments, New Hope

It is difficult or even impossible for most people to divorce their lives entirely of technology and screens. However, this does not mean we must resign ourselves to lives with fatigue and other negative health effects of low melatonin levels. People can choose to turn off screens and dim lights one to two hours before bed to allow melatonin levels to rise. In addition, there are melatonin supplements that can raise levels of this crucial hormone to the amounts needed to stimulate crucial processes such as sleep, cell repair and immune modulation.

Maintaining a healthy circadian rhythm is difficult in the modern world, but more important than ever. Although technology has made our lives better in many ways, it is a mixed blessing. Low melatonin is a risk to your health that can be successfully treated with lifestyle changes and supplementation, allowing you to enjoy good old-fashioned health in the modern day.

Discovered: Magnesium Keeps Your Body Clocks Running on Time

Apr 20 by Ewcopywriting Leave a Comment

Although we often associate vitamin deficiencies with past eras, they are a modern epidemic as well. While most people today generally get enough vitamins in their diet to prevent serious diseases such as rickets and scurvy, many still live with sub-clinical levels that aren’t sufficient for optimal cellular function. This can lead to vague symptoms such as fatigue, malaise and sleep disturbances. New research has discovered that magnesium, a mineral in which many people are deficient, may be especially important for preventing sleep disorders and maintaining a healthy circadian rhythm.

Magnesium: A Foundational Element of Life

Like many essential minerals and vitamins, magnesium plays a variety of roles in the human body. It is a cofactor in more than 300 biochemical reactions, with more yet to be discovered. When we lack this important mineral, even with a small deficiency, we have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease as well as symptoms that include memory loss, insomnia and muscle cramps. The link between magnesium and sleep disturbances has been of special interest to researchers because the exact mechanism behind this connection was previously unknown.

Magnesium and the Circadian Rhythm

A new study of magnesium and the circadian rhythm has found that this mineral is one of the chief players in our cells’ internal clocks. Magnesium levels in our cells oscillate, or rhythmically increase and decrease, throughout the day in a predictable pattern. The level of magnesium in a cell determines when the cell will be in high metabolic activity or in a period of rest and repair. When researchers adjusted magnesium levels in cells, the activity rate changed accordingly. These findings shed light on how magnesium deficiency may relate to sleep disorders and offers a possibly promising treatment for those who suffer from insomnia.

People who have low levels of magnesium in their diet, even levels that are not low enough to cause more serious symptoms, may not have enough magnesium to support optimal metabolism and a healthy circadian rhythm. This is especially concerning because the Western diet does not include a high amount of fruits, vegetables, soy, whole grains and other magnesium-rich foods. Knowledge of the link between magnesium and the circadian rhythm may encourage people to eat a more nutritious diet or supplement with magnesium, especially if they wish to sleep better.

Good Nutrition: The New Wonder Drug

Doctors and scientists are just beginning to discover the connections between good nutrition, good sleep and whole-body health. The link between magnesium and the circadian rhythm is one of many connections between essential nutrition and a healthy internal clock. The unique timing of fluctuations in magnesium levels in cells suggests that this mineral may be best used in a chronotherapeutic way. In other words, there may be optimal times during the day for people to take a magnesium supplement or eat foods rich in this nutrient. For example, choosing a bedtime snack that is high in magnesium may help people who struggle with insomnia to sleep better. Magnesium is already being used as an adjunct therapy for delirium, a disease that is deeply entwined with circadian rhythm disruption.

Understanding the way that different nutrients interact with the circadian rhythm can help researchers to develop more effective treatments for common ailments such as insomnia. This knowledge can also help when it comes to chronotherapy, the science of timing medications and therapies so they will be present during the time in the cell cycle when they can best be used. New medical discoveries in the field of chronobiology can help improve lives by allowing doctors to treat diseases in safer and more effective ways, in sync with the body’s natural rhythms.

Melatonin and Depression: Exploring the Connection Between Mood and the Circadian Rhythm

Apr 14 by Ewcopywriting Leave a Comment

Depression is one of the most common mental illnesses in the developed world and one that takes a huge toll on both sufferers and their loved ones. Depression also costs the nation as a whole, with its economic impact estimated at more than $50 billion a year in the United States alone. New research on the link between melatonin and depression suggests that melatonin may be an effective natural way to offer relief for this difficult-to-treat illness.

Sleep, Melatonin and Mental Illness

Melatonin deficits have been linked to mental illness of all kinds, from schizophrenia to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Insomnia, sleeping too much and at odd hours and other sleep disorders are common and recognized symptoms of many types of mental illness. While researchers once believed this was just a result of emotional distress, these illnesses are now known to be directly affected by and linked to low melatonin and the resulting sleep disorders.

Clearly, sleep is essential to our mental well-being in a variety of ways. This link led researchers to begin looking at the relationship between melatonin levels and one of the most common mental illnesses on the globe: clinical depression.

The Link Between Melatonin and Depression

Low melatonin has been found in several research trials to be a contributing factor in major depressive disorders. In fact, scientists can predict the severity of depression symptoms from salivary melatonin levels. While low serotonin was once believed to be the main cause of depression, we now know that the human brain is not so simple. Neurohormones such as serotonin and melatonin affect each other due to the interconnected nature of the brain. Melatonin appears to be especially important in developing depression and in treating it as well.

Melatonin, combined with light therapy, has been used for years to treat Seasonal Affective Disorder, which is considered a form of depression. A new study is examining whether this supplement may be useful in treating non-seasonal depression as well. This research follows a much smaller groundbreaking study in the early 2000s that discovered melatonin was useful as a treatment for patients who had refractory, or difficult-to-treat, depression. A growing body of unrefuted evidence suggests that this natural supplement, which is affordable and available without a prescription, may be an important part of correcting neurotransmitter imbalances that cause depression.

Treating Depression in a New Generation

While current depression treatments such as SSRIs work for most people, there are many who struggle to live with and move on from this devastating illness. Researchers are currently looking at new ways to approach the issue of depression and mental illness in general. Melatonin appears to affect levels of both serotonin and cortisol, both of which are imbalanced in people with depression. Stabilizing melatonin levels may help other neurotransmitters to return to healthy levels. This approach to depression, addressing a root cause rather than symptoms, may be the most effective in treating a complex and multifactorial psychological disorder.

Research in chronobiology is shedding light on the strong connections between circadian rhythm and disease. Sleep is essential for good health, so stabilizing sleep cycles may improve illnesses of all kinds. In the case of clinical depression, melatonin may even be a viable stand-alone treatment. While more research will be needed before melatonin becomes a primary treatment for depressive disorders, evidence indicates that treating disorders of the circadian rhythm may be a new and more effective approach to mental illness.

Timing of Food Intake is Crucial for Weight Loss

Apr 08 by Ewcopywriting Leave a Comment

With over half of Americans considered overweight, many people engage in the battle of the bulge on a daily basis. There are so many factors involved in weight loss beyond “calories in, minus calories out” that people can continue to gain even while making difficult lifestyle changes. Several studies have examined non-dietary factors that contribute to weight loss and found that surprisingly, the timing of food intake is an important piece of the puzzle.

Chronobiology and Metabolism

Chronobiology is a scientific field that studies how our body’s natural cycles are affected by solar and lunar rhythms. One of the most important cycles of chronobiology is the 24-hour circadian rhythm. Your circadian rhythm is an important part of your metabolism, controlling a wide variety of cellular processes. Your circadian rhythm can also affect your weight in a variety of ways. For example, people who work nights are more likely to be overweight or obese. Genes involved in the circadian rhythm also appear to be involved in the production of hormones associated with hunger and satiety, such as leptin and ghrelin.

Although these relationships have been known for years, the extent to which the timing of food intake could affect weight gain and weight loss is new information.

The Timing of Food Intake and Weight Loss

Our mitochondria are an integral part of metabolism, converting sugars and other sources of fuel into the type of energy that our cells use, ATP. The rate at which mitochondria perform this energy conversion appears to depend on the time of day. Peak energy burning occurs about four hours into our waking day. People who eat more of their calories early in the day, such as having a large breakfast and lunch followed by a light dinner, lose weight faster than those who eat more of their calories later in the day. While this is bad news for nighttime snackers, it offers one way for people to increase their weight loss while still enjoying the foods they love.

Losing Weight By Working With Your Circadian Rhythm

Cutting calories and getting plenty of exercise are still important lifestyle changes for people who wish to lose weight. However, changing when you eat can have a huge effect as well. Because mitochondria are working at maximum capacity four hours after you wake, this is the optimal time to take in calorie-heavy foods. In the evening, when your mitochondria are using less energy, eating lighter foods with less fat and sugar is a better answer.

Other Reasons to Eat Less at Night

There are other reasons that eating less at night can be a positive health habit. Acid reflux and other digestive issues are often worse at night if people eat heavy meals. Sticking to light foods in the hours before bed improves these conditions. In addition, our livers and other detoxifying systems do much of their work at night. The process of digesting food can interfere with this and other important aspects of metabolism that occur mainly at night. For this reason, many doctors and researchers recommend that people eat at least four hours before going to bed. This allows meals to be digested and metabolized before you fall asleep.

New research in chronobiology is offering insight into a variety of health issues. This increases understanding of the way our bodies work while presenting new ways that we can improve our health. With metabolic issues now one of the top public health concerns in the western world, research into the timing of food intake may improve and enrich lives.

How Sleep Restriction Can Sabotage Your Health

Mar 30 by Ewcopywriting Leave a Comment

How do you feel when you don’t get enough sleep? If you are like most people, you feel fatigued, achy, out of sorts and a bit duller than usual. As much as sleep restriction obviously affects your health and mood, it can have even more severe effects on your hormone levels, cell metabolism and other less visible aspects of health.

Sleep Restriction and Your Metabolism

A recent study has found that sleep restriction can effectively ruin your metabolism. Participants who slept 5.5 hours or less every night experienced a variety of ill effects. Their glucose metabolism was severely impaired, which could lead to type 2 diabetes over time. These people also made less leptin, the hormone associated with feeling full and satisfied, which led to increased hunger. Last, there was an effect on testosterone levels, with the sleep-deprived subjects showing lower amounts of this important male hormone. Surprisingly, the research subjects for this study were young healthy men, perhaps the healthiest population. If sleep restriction can affect these men so drastically, it may have even greater effects on older or less healthy bodies.

This is not the only study to identify sleep habits as a key regulator of metabolism and health. Other studies have found that sleep truly is essential to good health and especially to maintaining a healthy weight. Sleep restriction can cause you to lose fat-free body mass like muscle while packing on fat. Because of these findings, getting the right amount of sleep should be part of every weight loss plan.

Is Our Obesity Epidemic Caused by a Sleep Restriction Epidemic?

Another study published in the journal Obesity suggests that sleep deprivation may be one of the most important factors in weight gain and obesity. When forced to sleep only four hours a day, half the recommended amount, volunteers had a sharp increase in both hunger and ghrelin levels.

Ghrelin is a hormone that produces that gnawing, ravenous hunger feeling that most of us have experienced. This hormone is normally released only when we haven’t eaten for a long interval, but it is expressed continuously in people who are undergoing sleep restriction. It takes an enormous amount of self-control, more than most people have, to resist eating under the influence of ghrelin.

How Much Sleep Is Not Enough?

Sleep restriction has been established as an independent risk factor for obesity, which means it can cause obesity even in the absence of other variables such as genetic predisposition or sedentary lifestyle. However, how much sleep is enough? Many people in the Western world simply do not get enough sleep, which has changed our perception of how much we need. Seven to eight hours is the optimal amount for most people, and as much as five and a half hours can cause negative biological effects. Millions of Americans do not get the sleep that they need to maintain optimal health. Many doctors are recommending better sleep habits as a way to combat obesity and other common diseases.

Our culture almost has reverence for people who go without the sleep they need. Whether it is a medical student studying into the early hours of the morning, a businessman working 20 hour days, or a mother up at 2 a.m. caring for a baby, we treat the sacrifice of sleep as though it is a sign of a person’s willpower. However, these studies suggest that we should treat sleep restriction instead like the dangerous and unhealthy behavior it is. In order to maintain good health, modern people need to make sleep more of a priority and allow others to get that sleep as well.