The planet follows a cycle, a clock, a sort of pattern that repeats itself. Essentially, so do we. A clock, a calendar, a routine that is followed because of ancestors that drew them up. But, do you know what your body follows?
Have you ever thought about how your body feels about the clock it has been asked to follow? Well, the Circadian Rhythm can explain this. This concept is essentially, a 24-hour cycle that is part of your body’s internal clock, running in the background to carry out functions and processes. These clocks are largely affected by the environmental cues like light, rain, night and so on. Mainly targeting a specific sleep cycle to aid your body’s functions, the Circadian Rhythm also plays a significant role in setting a diet, a pattern of nutrition, and feeding your body when it cries out hungrily.
Making smart food choices is the key to a better living. However, when you eat is equally important to what you eat. Essentially, do you eat with the sun, the moon or with both? The answer is, listen to your body clock but also follow the Sun. Once you align your food intake regime with your circadian rhythm, you can gain from the best of weight loss, energy gain and an overall health improvement.
The first question in your mind begs: What is my circadian rhythm? Easy. Skip the alarms for a couple of days (we know this is hard during working days, but probably best to take a few days off to really find yourself; and what better time to do it at the start of a new year, a new decade). Observe the time you hit the bed and wake up from it, naturally. Go camping; skip the bedside lamps. Wake up with the sun, sleep when it does. So, the next question that comes up is this – “I already have a specific cycle I follow. How do I change it for the better?”
To understand this, we look into the ‘why’s. Some want to change it for better productivity in a new job role, some for a simply healthier sleeping routine and some want to acclimatize for a future vacation. The reasons are many, the technique is one.
- Sleep and wake up at a specific time every day with an alarm. Your body will slowly attune to this pattern and eventually you will be able to set a routine without any external reminders/alarms, you will give into your body’s need for sleep and waking.
- Bright Light Therapy is essential to building a healthy circadian rhythm. Artificial lights or main daylight can help in reorienting your brain into a new routine.
- Different meal times. A major part of your circadian rhythm is what, how and most importantly, when you eat your meals. The concept encourages advancing or delaying meals in order to understand how your body reacts to hunger, tiredness and fatigue.
Nutrition is the single most important part of our metabolism; a factor we can control entirely. Our metabolism changes throughout the day, and when changing or improving your circadian rhythm, our bodies require meals at certain times that may be different than our regular eating regime. It helps us follow a time-restricted diet where you eat in sync with your body’s clock, but essentially, also with the sun. This is because we are up and awake during daylight hours, so automatically, our eating habits attune to our daylight hours too. A lot like intermittent fasting, but with regulated sleeping hours, our bodies require eating for almost 12 hours or less of daylight with intervals and a fasting for 12 hours, or more.
Ideally, the aim should be for a king’s breakfast and lunch, and a pauper’s dinner. This makes for easier breakdown of nutrients and a better balance of energy for your body’s metabolism. For a simpler understanding, as the first three-quarters of our day are the busiest with office-time or constant working, our meals being larger offer a better portion of energy. At the end of the day, we need to feel light and well-digested in order to have uninterrupted sleep. Therefore, a light dinner full of nutrition is recommended.
The four pillars of nutrition still stand for each meal, being a high-quality protein, plenty of vegetables, handful of fiber and a good portion of healthy fats.
While you ponder over which meals to opt for and how to incorporate the circadian rhythm into your lives, I am going to be off celebrating the new year. Wishing you all a very Happy New Year and brilliant start to 2021!
Stay tuned, more on this concept and how to make eating easier is on the cards!
Written By Gouri Gupta
Week 1, 1st January ’2021
