The app- My circadian Clock

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Today, the day after Russia tried to invade Ukraine, I downloaded an app called My circadian clock. By taking a photo of what I eat or drink during each day and night for two weeks and noting when and what I eat, and by noting my exercise activities during the same period, this app will map my circadian rhythm for these activities and it will tell me how my biological clock works.

 

It is about how humans but also animals and plants have adapted to how light changes during the day and night. At the equator, day and night have the same duration, but up in the north and in the south it is more complicated. There you can have midnight sun in the summer and the winters can be very dark. In the 19th century, this biological system was attacked by the electric light, and nowadays most of us do not have the habits of our ancestors. We do not get up when the sun rises and we do not go to bed at sunset. This has damaged our biological master clock, the circadian rhythm and there is a lot of science about the consequences. Especially some professionals like shiftworkers have major problems. They are not the only ones - for example in Europe, the population spends between 80 and 90 percent of their time indoors.

 

Anyway, with the app I take a snapshot of the food I eat, record time and what I eat. I also record my exercises in the same way. It is possible to register when you sleep, but I do not because I think it would be difficult. After two weeks I get a result and by looking at it I can make my biological clock better. Wow, this is really exciting.

 

This is a study and I plan to continue with the app. An exciting result from the same researcher Dr. Panda at the Salk Institute Calif. is that it is more important to limit eating to the circadian cycle by eating for a certain period of time up to twelve hours. In the study, two groups ate the same amount of food but one group did so for a certain period of time and the other did so at any time during the day and night. When the study was over, the group that ate at a certain time had lost weight and other parameters were also better. 

Satchin Panda – Circadian Theory of Health

This  movie from Salk Institure is really interesting and there is a lot of news at least to me about the circadian rhythm. The application of what we now so´far about our inner clocks can help people to lose weight and prevent diseases. So have a great time and enjoy this video with the researcher Satchin Pan

If you  are short of time listen to him on TED Talks.

Modern physiology may help you to sleep better:

Svensk version av detta här

Our globe circulates around the sun once a year since beginning of time. The globe also rotates around itself in a space of 24 hours i.e. one day and one night.At the equator the day is twelve hours and the night also twelve hours all year around. The further north or south you come the differences between days and nights become larger, so if you live very far to the north you might have no daylight in winter but in summer you can see  the midnight sun. This is a part of reality which can damage your sleep.

Modern times complicates these patterns of light. Many peoples nowadays spend a lot of time indoors and almost never go out.  The working population of Europe spend between 10 and 20 percent of their time in the open air and the American population even less; the average American spend 87 percent indoors and 5.5 percent in the car according to The National Human Activity Pattern Survey.  The last decades we have also gotten a lot of artificial lights from cellphones, computers, TV, e-books and LED lights and all those have a blue light which can disturb our ability to  sleep.

Our ancestors had from the beginning quite a different situation. At daytime they spent most of the time outdoors in order to get food and at night they rested and slept in their caves. This way of life continued for thousands of years and it was only when the electric light came that the situation started to change.  Man and animals adapted to their light conditions for thousands of years. We developed our inner clock and the circadian rhythm which fit well to human life until recently. The clock and the rhythm followed the outside light; but now there are so many things which disturb the those physiological processes which our body acquired. The good thing is that we all still have the biological clock and  the circadian rhythm which we can restore- at least some parts.

We have learnt more and more about melatonin and its importance for our sleep. It is also a strong antioxidant which can work against oxygen stress in our body cells and especially in the power stations in the cell ( the mitocondrias). This could help us fight diseases.

Daylight and night darkness regulate the circadian rhythm and the biological clock(s).  The infrared light is an important part the sunlight although we cannot see it. It has long wavelengths and contains lots of energy. The large amount of energy in infrared light allows  it to penetrate quite deep into our body.

I. You have to open your window, go to the balcony or go out to get in contact with this light. This is  important if you want to get a better sleep. When your body and your eyes meet the infrared light things start to happen and your body awakens. During night melatonin is produced in the pineal gland in your brain. When the infrared light hits your eyes and your retina nerve signals tell the pineal gland to stop producing melatonin. Instead the power stations, the mitocondries of your body cells start to produce it. As the infrared light can penetrate rather deep into your body( between one to eight millimeters) a lot of mitondries  now can produce the important melatonin. Going out in the fresh air outdoors will help you to restore your circadian rhythm.

II. Another important thing is to finish the day in a way which fits with your biological clock.  Avoid strong light during the evenings at least one or two hours before going to bed. It is the blue light which is the worst for the circadian rhythm. Blue light exist in most screens like laptops, TVs, cellphones, e-books etc. It is not very wise to watch those screens before going to sleep.  Better to read paper books and watch other things.

This is a part of how modern physiology can help you to a better sleep.

The Sunshine and production of Melatonin

 On Youtube there is a really interesting video from Med Cram called Sunlight: Optimize Health and Immunity (Light Therapy and Melatonin) with Dr Roger Seheult. He is a great educator and one of the very best I have seen and heard.

 After seeing that I'll try to change my internal clock and goi for a walk in the sunlight every morning in order to make my body produce melatonin.

This is a picture from the video where one can see the spectrum of the sunlight. The blue ones are the ultraviolet  lights with among others UVB which helps the skin produce  vitamin D. The light to the left  has the shortest wavelengths and that means also that they do no penetrate very easy. The infrared light to the right have the longest  wavelengths  and they penetrate more easy.  One cannot see the infrared light but the portion of it nearest to the light you can see is very important. It is marked NIR (near infrared range) and it helps our mitocondrias to produce melatonin. 

The mitocondrias are inside the human cell and the function is to produce energi. While producing energy there are residual products which can harm the mitocondria, the cell and the organ, something which is called oxidative stress. The function of melatonin is to disarm the oxidative stress. Melatonin is an antioxidant which the body produces it self.

For people who only can do sitting or lying down exercises and for others too- but of course

In this youtube video there are work outs  which you can do while sitting . Many muscle groups are engaged and these are good exercises.

Of course you don't have to take out all the movements fully if you cannot manage them as  well-trained Donovan Green in the movie. As always, It's good what you can do. For example , if you don't have the strength to walk as far as recommended, it is enough what you manage. For many small paths inside the home is good training.

D-vitamin tycks minska risken för autoimmuna sjukdomar

 Det har kommit en stor undersökning om D-vitamin och omega -3, som funnit att substitution av D-vitamin tycks minska förekomsten av autoimmuna sjukdomar.  Det handlar om autoimmuna sjukdomar som drabbar äldre  bl a reumatoid artrit, Crohns sjukdom, psoriasis m fl.

Undersökningen är publicerad i British Medical Journal och kan läsas där. Undersökningen är således publicerad i en av de mest välrenommerade mediciska tidskrifterna och självklart är peer review gjord.

Man kan också se en bra genomgång av studien på  Youtube med  Dr Roger Seheult som går i genom studien på ett föredömligt sätt och dessutom talar lättförståelig engelska.