What does circadian rhythm have to do with Weight Loss? | Natalie Jill

Hi, guys. Natalie, Jill here. Back on Unprocessed, you'd diet. And today I'm with my good friend Ari Whitton, who is not only co author of 12 Weeks Super Shred and Shredded Abs, but he is a metabolism guru. He knows so much stuff about thyroid metabolism and what's going on to get in the way of weight loss. He is my guru for this. He is the expert. You're going to love what he has to say. And today we're talking about something awesome. We're talking about how your cell phone, your cell phone might be getting in the way of weight loss efforts. You're not going to believe this one, Ari, tell us what's going on here.

So, first of all, when people talk about fat loss, there's a lot of confusion because people talk about calories in, calories out, right? And when people hear calories in, calories out, they think diet, exercise, you know, they equate calories in equals. Okay, how many calories I'm taking in with my diet and calories out is just how many times a week am I going to the gym, what kind of workouts am I doing, cardio, weights, intervals, etc.

And they're stuck on those numbers, right? The number of what is the calories in my food and what's the number stay on the machine.

Right? And those numbers are important. I'm not saying calories in, calories out don't matter. They absolutely do, 100%. But here's the thing. There's a whole bunch of other factors that fit into this equation that most people totally overlook. People are focused on diet and exercise. Well, there's all this other stuff going on beyond just your conscious decisions around how much food you're eating, how many times you're going to the gym each week. For example, your resting metabolic rate, your metabolism, if you have a fast or slow metabolism, this is a huge factor that affects the calories outside of the equation.

And how do you know if you have this?

Well, that's a little bit of a digression. But, you know, symptoms of weight gain, symptoms of not being able to lose weight despite doing, you know, all the right things with diet and exercise, being fatigued all the time, cold fingers and toes, depression, you know, these are all the classic symptoms of a slow metabolism, of hypothyroidism.

Okay?

So resting metabolic rate is one huge factor that fits into this calories in, calories out equation that really, most people totally overlook. And they don't really understand how to influence it. If they have A slow metabolism, they don't have the knowledge of how to speed it up. And quite frankly, most of the stuff you'll find out there is wrong and may actually slow down your metabolism. But that's kind of a digression. We'll leave for another time. Another huge factor is what's called neat, non exercise activity thermogenesis. Another big factor that affects this, calories outside of the equation, okay, it's not diet, it's not exercise, but it has a major impact. We're talking hundreds or even upwards of a thousand calories a day on the calories out part of the equation. So this is a huge factor, almost completely overlooked. Now, as far as your question with the cell phone, this is another big factor, okay? And what we're really getting at here is circadian rhythm. And there's a whole bunch of different factors that affect circadian rhythm. Meal timing, exercise timing. Lots of different things like that can impact your circadian rhythm. But the main one is light, light exposure.

Okay, So I want to explain what that is, because some people don't even know what circadian rhythm means. What is that?

Good question.

So basically all organisms are wired to function in a 24 hour cycle that's tied to the rise and fall of the sun. Okay, so sun comes up, we're supposed to be more active. Some animals, it's flip, they're nocturnal and they're more active at night. But humans are, you know, supposed to be active during the daytime. When the light comes up, our engine sort of turns on and that's when we're supposed to be awake and active. When things get dark, that's when our body systems start to slow down and we're supposed to go into sleep rest mode. So there's a part of our brain where this whole circadian rhythm mechanism resides. It's called the suprachiasmatic nucleus. It's not important that you remember the name of this thing, but it's this part of the brain and basically it's wired to respond to all these different signals from light, from movement, from meal timing, et cetera. And that system is designed to tell the rest of our body whether it's daytime or nighttime, and to regulate all the hormones and the metabolism, for example, in accordance with that, okay? So when you give it the wrong signals, when you disrupt your circadian rhythm, you get problems, okay? So our circadian rhythm system is really wired to respond to a more natural environment. Okay, problem. Prior to the invention of electricity, prior to the invention of TVs, computer screens and Cell phones, which all emit light. So in an environment prior to the invention of electricity, the main light source that's coming through our eyeballs and entering that part of the brain that regulates circadian rhythm is the sun.

Right? Okay.

And specifically, it's blue light wavelengths from the sun. That's what enters our eyes, feeds back into our brain, and then tells us, okay, it's daytime, time to be awake.

Right, Got it.

When darkness, when the sun goes down and there's darkness, okay, that's what. That's the signal. The absence of blue light entering our eyes tells our body to start shutting down and to go into sleep mode.

Okay?

Now, in the modern world, there's a whole bunch of factors that disrupt that natural circadian rhythm, okay?

And.

And foremost among those is electronics like.

The cell phone on your face in your bed.

Right?

Okay.

And it's not a problem during the day. So during the day, you could theoretically watch all the TV and be in front of the computer and use your phone all you want. But after the sun goes down, when you start staring into those electronic screens and you have all this blue light being emitted into your eyes, that's giving your brain the signal. It's daytime, the time to be awake and active.

Okay?

Okay.

Now what this does, the overall end effect of this disruption of circadian rhythm is it sort of blurs the lines in our brain and in our hormonal system between daytime and nighttime.

Okay?

So we end up being more tired and fatigued during the daytime when we should be active, and we end up being more awake and active and kind.

Of high when we should be winding.

Down, when we should be asleep, you know, and that's why sleep troubles and insomnia are such big problems now.

Now, is this something that builds over time? So if you. Is it like, could you be affected by that one night looking at your cell phone after dark, or is that. Is it a build up from doing this night after night after night?

It's both. Even one night of severe disruption of circadian rhythm has a huge impact. Now, when I say a huge impact, it's not just symptoms like, you know, fatigue or insomnia that are a problem. You know, to bring this back to fat loss and that calories in, calories out equation that we started talking about at the beginning of this disruption of the circadian rhythm affects both sides of this equation. It affects both the calories inside of the equation and the calories out. Okay? So this is what people are missing when they're just focused on, okay, well, calories in is how many. How much food I'm eating. Calories out is how many times I'm going to the gym. There's all these other biological factors going on beneath the surface surface that are disrupting this equation and changing these dynamics. So even if you have diet and exercise dialed in, you can still be in a caloric surplus, taking in too many calories, despite, you know, thinking, I'm eating so clean, I'm working out so hard, I don't know why I'm gaining fat. But you are. You're still putting on your hair.

How does that. I understand that you're going to get blue light from a lot of different places and it shouldn't be after dark now, but how does that specifically translate to that changing what's happening with calories.

In, the calories in, calories out equation. So, first thing is that circadian rhythm center of the brain is tied to the appetite regulation center of the brain.

Ah, okay.

So that connection tells you that there's some feedback going on. And what is that feedback designed to do? Well, during the daytime, it's designed to, you know, tell you to be active, to go seek out food.

Either Right.

When that system starts to shut down, it's designed to slow down the metabolism so that you go into sleep mode.

Okay.

When you have a chronically disrupted circadian rhythm, it's basically doing two things. It's disrupting the appetite regulation center of the brain. And specifically, we know that people who have disrupted circadian rhythm eat more food and they specifically seek out processed food, junk food.

Okay.

So these are things that are disrupting your diet and exercise program that are getting in the way of it.

The trigger is probably going off now. That's why grabbing potato chips at night or grabbing. Having these cravings at night for the junk food.

Exactly.

Sitting there watching TV or on your.

Cell phone or during the day. It's part of the reason why people have such a hard time sticking to a diet protocol. So if they go on diet program, say, like your jumpstart program, and they're told to eat lots of fresh whole foods, but they find that they just have so much difficulty actually doing that. Part of the reason is chronically disrupted circadian rhythm because it's literally changing your behavioral circuits and causing you to seek out highly rewarding processed junk food.

Okay.

So it makes it harder to stick to a decent eating program, and it raises that calories inside of the glucose requirement.

You need to get a good night's sleep before starting my jump start.

Absolutely. And you know, People have heard that recommendation, get a good night's sleep. But I'm telling you, it's a huge factor and most people overlook it. And here's the other side of the equation. So not only does it drive up your calories in, but again, the metabolism is supposed to slow down at night, right? Well, in that disrupted circadian rhythm state, basically the metabolism slows down all the time. You have a chronically slower metabolism. And we know from rat studies that even a single night or a couple nights of circadian rhythm disruption dramatically slow down the metabolism and basically sort of destroy your metabolic health.

Wow.

Okay.

In addition, does it take a few.

Nights to get that back by getting on the right track? Or when you say you messed that up, is it like, now you're doomed and you've got take months to get that back?

It can be corrected relatively quickly. It depends on the severity. Some people have, you know, such a disrupted circadian rhythm that they're chronically going to sleep at 3am and waking up at noon the next day. So it takes time to sort of kick things back into the appropriate times and, you know, be more associated with the rise and fall of the sun. If you're just an hour or two off, that can be corrected pretty easily.

So your recommendation overall is be as close to the circadian rhythm as possible. So is there no electronic rule? Like for you, for instance, would you say as soon as it's dark, there's no electronics anymore?

Well, first of all, that explains why.

You don't text me back after dark. I guess I get it now.

So I guess to kind of, to wrap up this idea first, in terms of this calories in, calories out dynamic, driving up the calories inside, driving down the calories outside simultaneously. So it's driving this dissociation between the two. And this separation is what drives fat gain. So even if you're working out hard and trying to eat right, this is still pushing you towards fat gain. And as long as this factor is not corrected, it's very, very difficult to lose fat in a sustainable way. Okay, so that's the overarching thing that I really want people to get. Yet it's not just diet and exercise. Circadian rhythm is a huge factor in all of this. Now, the biggest problems that people have in terms of what really disrupts their circadian rhythm, there's two things. One, we don't get enough of that stuff. The outdoor sunlight, people stay indoors most of the day. That's immediately going to disrupt your circadian rhythm. The second big Thing, maybe even a bigger thing, is the phone.

Okay?

The phone, the tv, the computer screen. If you're up chronically on those things and texting and working on your computer and watching TV late at night, well, after the sun goes down, you're in big trouble because that's constantly giving you, again, that blue light. That's telling your brain it's daytime, the time to be awake.

Okay?

So you see that things are kind of flipped around. We're not getting enough blue light when we should be getting it. We're getting too much when we shouldn't be getting it. Make sense?

Yeah.

Okay.

So the way to correct this situation is to flip that around to reverse that equation.

Okay?

So get blue light during the day. Get lots and lots of intense blue light if you can get outdoors.

Okay.

If you can't get outdoors, you need to get a light box, which is just, you know, a light therapy device that's designed for people who have what's called SAD Seasonal affective disorder.

Okay.

And if you can get one of these for 50 bucks, is it blue.

Light or is this a.

It's. It's blue light. It's what's called white light, which is a full spectrum, but it has lots of blue in there. So that's sort of simulating the sun. That's giving your body the signal. It's daytime.

Right.

The other thing is, after the sun goes down, you really need to get rid of blue light sources in your environment.

Okay.

So you don't have to. You know, obviously, the extreme variation of this is don't use your phone, don't use the television, don't use your computer. As soon as the sun goes down.

Right.

Which for most people in the modern world is unrealistic. Most people are just not going to do it. Fortunately for us, there are other tools that we can use to get around this. So one of them is on the phone. There are different softwares, different apps that you. You can download for free that change the light output of your screen, both for your phone and your computer. So one of these is called F Lux, F L, U X.

Okay.

That's one of the apps. The other one for the phones that you can get is called Twilight. And basically they're tied to, you know, local reports of when the sun goes down. And as soon as the sun goes down, your phone shifts to stop emitting blue light.

Okay.

Or to emit much, much less.

Can you still see your phone?

Yes. Yeah. It's more like kind of fire light of a tone, but you can still Use it. It's completely functional. It just changes the blue light output. Okay, so with the computer, same exact thing. Okay, so download one of these apps completely free. They take 10 seconds to download and they change your, your screen light output. So you can continue to work or text or whatever you need to do after the sun goes down. With the tv, it's a little bit more complicated. You either need to go and get yourself a blue light screen, a blue light blocking screen that actually goes on the tv, which most people are not going to do, but you can get that from LowBlueLights.com and then the second thing, which is what I do is I just wear little glasses, sunglasses. You know, we in. Back in the day, we used to have blue blockers, right? Well, blue blockers block blue light.

Wow.

So if you wear those goofy blue blockers in your house and you can get, you know, cool ones, Ray Ban looking ones and things like that that you just wear, if you want to watch TV or work on your computer or whatever, you just wear these glasses.

Does it make it look darker? Does it make the screen look darker?

It's. It's a very slight change that honestly, you don't even notice, you know, five minutes after you put them on, you're not even noticing that you're wearing glasses. You're watching the TV like normal.

Okay.

And you can get these things on Amazon for literally five bucks.

You know, are they cute? Is what I want to know. They look cute.

They're super cute.

Anyone can wear them. Got it.

So again, you're flipping this equation around. More light during the day, and especially you want to get that light as much as possible in the morning. So first thing in the morning, the best thing you can do is go for a walk outdoors.

Okay.

And then eliminate blue light after the sun goes down. That's what's going to kick your circadian rhythm back into the appropriate place and it's going to dial up your metabolism and dial your appetite center of the brain back to the level that it's supposed to be at in accordance with how many calories you're burning.

Awesome.

I love it. So now I got it. Now I know how our cell phones could be getting in the way of our weight loss. Got it. Great information here. You can find out more about Ari and get all of his awesome programs that have transformed so many lives down below. Got all the information down there, so check it out. Thanks, Ari. By.