Before the creation of artificial light, our bodies relied solely on the sun and moon cycle. (Wake/sleep cycle) People were awake during the day which was the only time they got blue light from the sun, and asleep at night without any blue light. Their only source of light at night was fire, so a dark red light, which did not interfere with their melatonin production. (Melatonin is our hormone that regulates the wake/sleep cycle).
Today, wow have things changed! We have shift workers, night workers, evening workers, etc. We have artificial lights, computers, tablets, TVs, smart phones, e-readers and the list goes on. Unless your eyes are protected, when the sun goes down, we are being bombarded with these artificial lights and our bodies are just not made to handle them. We expect our kids to fall asleep quickly without a fuss yet they’ve just had this artificial light in their face all day at school and at home as well.
Disrupted circadian rhythm results in insomnia, anxiety & depression, poor mental & physical performance, being overweight or obese, chronic fatigue/lethargy, etc. This pattern will disrupt hormone levels which is never a good thing right ladies! (leptin, thyroid hormone, cortisol, ghrelin, etc). This will even damage blood sugar regulation which as mentioned will lead to metabolic syndrome. These are just a few examples of what a disrupted circadian rhythm can do.
Resetting our circadian rhythm has to be one of the most important things to do for our health, if not the most important. In a future post, I’ll discuss how to start resetting your circadian rhythm.
Anyone here wanna take guesses on how to get it reset?
