Brian Johnson explores circadian rhythms and Dr. Sachin Panda's research on how your internal clock affects health. Disrupted rhythms link to sleep problems and chronic disease. Four concrete fixes: morning sunlight, early bedtime, your last meal four hours before sleep, and eating only within a 10-hour window.
Chapters
Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another heroic one. This is plus one number 1794. Way back in the late 1490s, we spent some time with Dr. Sachin Panda and wisdom from his brilliant book the Circadian Code. Check out the series of plus ones. I got some links to those in this plus one. As I reflected on our recent plus one About Me Tonight, target swiping my practice of getting some early morning sun, I realized we should revisit circadian rhythms. So let's do that first. Context Setting Satchin Panda is one of the world's leading researchers on the science of circadian rhythms. In the circadian code, Dr. Panda tells us, and I quote, you may have heard of circadian rhythms before a 2017 Nobel Prize recognized this field of research for for its impact on human health. But if you haven't heard of circadian rhythms, don't worry. The concept is very simple. The word circadian comes from the Latin circa meaning around or approximately, and diem meaning day. He continues by saying circadian rhythms are real biological processes that every plant, animal and human exhibit over the course of a day. These rhythms are actually interconnected among species and are governed by internal circadian or biological clocks. Almost each and every one of our cells contains one of these clocks and each is programmed to turn on or off thousands of genes at different times of the day or night. Andy tells us these genes influence every aspect of our health. For instance, when we are healthy, we can have a good night's sleep. In the morning, we wake up feeling fresh and energetic and ready to get to work. Our gut function is perfectly normal. We have a healthy hunger and a clear mind. In the afternoon, we have the energy to exercise. At night, we are tired enough to go to sleep without much effort. Yet when these daily rhythms are disturbed for as little as a day or two, our clocks cannot send out the right messages to these genes and and our body and mind will not function as well as we need. If this disruption continues for a few days, weeks or months, we may succumb to all types of infections and diseases ranging from insomnia to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, adhd, depression, anxiety, migraine, diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, dementia, and even cancer. And finally, he says, luckily, it's easy to get back in sync. We can optimize our clocks in just a few weeks by restoring our circadian rhythms. We can even reverse some of the diseases or accelerated cures, returning us to better health. Now let's start at the top with a super quick recap. The word circadian comes from two little Latin words, circa and dia. As you probably already know, it means approximately a day. What you may not have known and or paid much attention to is the fact that every single plant, animal and human being that would include you has a built in natural rhythm that has been finely tuned over the last tens and hundreds of millions of years. Violating that natural rhythm is not a wise idea. I repeat this warning from Dr. Panda. The longer your circadian rhythm is out of sync, the greater the risk of developing a serious disease. Good news. It's relatively easy to get back in sync. Some heroic targets I personally hit to stay in sync. Well, I love starting my day with early a.m. sunlight. Note this is one of the most powerful ways to reset our old circadian rhythms and make sure we're aligned. Which is why I do it every day. I have fun getting to bed by 9pm that's currently about an hour after the sun sets in late spring in Texas. Aligning with the sun is a wise idea. I love having my last meal four hours before bed is another target's why now? This is both a great way to give my glymph time to work and a great way to honor Dr. Panda's recommendations on creating an appropriate fasting window which leads to another target. I love time restricted eating. 10 hours. For me, a 10 hour eating window equals 14 hours of time restricted eating fasting window 6:30am to 4:30pm roughly and I'm done. Now one of the big ideas from Dr. Panda's book is the fact that when we eat and restricting that to no more than a 10 hour eating window to give ourselves at least 14 hours of not eating is one of the fastest ways to boost our well being while optimizing our circadian rhythms. Check out the notes for more. For now, today's one is simple. What's one thing you know you could be doing to get yourself more in alignment with the most fundamental rhythm of your life? Today's the day. Let's go hero.
