Understanding Circadian Rhythms

You think jet lag throws off your biological clock—makes you feel dazed and confused? Well, living under the constant disruption of a quarantine can be even worse. If you want to stay truly calm, you need to align your sleep and waking cycles with the circadian rhythms of nature. Bob offers simple tips on how to do this so you can feel healthier and happier during these strange and uncertain times.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Stay Calm as a production of I Heart Radio. Welcome
to Stay Calm, your daily dose of calmness. I'm Bob Roth,
and I've been teaching people to meditate for fifty years,
helping them to stay calm under pressure, reboot and re
energize their lives, and basically be a happier, healthier version

(00:22):
of themselves. And now I want to help you do
the same. Ready, sit comfortably, take a few deep breaths,
and let's begin today's journey. Just before the coronavirus lockdown
happened in March, I took a night flight from Los
Angeles to New York City. The seat didn't recline and
I couldn't really sleep. I meditated and that helped, but

(00:45):
basically I pulled an all nighter. It took me a
few days to recover. It reminded me of the old
days when I was in college and I would pull
an all night or studying for an exam. In both cases,
I messed with my circadian rhythm, throwing off my biological clock. Now,
during the coronavirus pandemic, millions of us are throwing off

(01:07):
her circadian rhythms. But it's not because of all night
travels or cramming for an exam. It's because of the
irregularity of our lives. Because there's so little structure, the
days all seem to blend together, and the line between
work and leisure time is obscured when your living room
doubles as your home office. Well, now I'd like to

(01:30):
introduce you to my very good friend, doctor Norman Rosenthal, psychiatrist,
medical researcher, and best selling author. He was also the
first to describe something called seasonal effective disorder effect of
light on moods. With so much frustration and so many
concerns about sleeplessness and other problems coming during the quarantine,

(01:53):
I asked him to explain circadian rhythms and why they're
so out of whack these days. Doctor Rosenthal said Circadian
rhythms are changes in your mind, your body, and your
behavior that follow a daily cycle. These changes respond mainly
to light and darkness in your environment when you sleep

(02:13):
at night and are awake during the day. That's an
example of a circadian rhythm. Circadian rhythms also regulate your
body temperature, the release of hormones, how you digest your food,
how hungry you are, and whether or not you're sleepy
during the day. These rhythms are controlled and synchronized by
a master clock in the middle part of your brain.

(02:35):
Light sends a signal to the master clock when you're asleep,
and the light from the morning sun hits the retina
of your eye and travels through the optic nerve to
the master clock. This basically signals your brain it's time
to wake up. The master clock then alerts other parts
of your brain that control body temperature, hormones, and other functions.

(02:56):
The response is just the opposite when the sun goes
down and it it's dark in the evening. Then your
brain releases the sleep hormone melatonin, and you feel sleepy
and you want to go to bed. The big problem
here is with the city lights that some of us
live with and the blue lights from the TV screen
and computer screen that we all live with. All this

(03:17):
light suppresses the release of melatonin, and now you can't
go to sleep, even though it's late and your body
is exhausted over time. Disrupted circadian rhythms can lead to
sleep disorders, obesity, diabetes, depression, bipolar disorder, seasonal effective disorder.

(03:38):
The list goes on. What can we do to bring
our circadian rhythms online so we feel healthy, resilient, clear, energetic, happy.
Amazingly simple things, even if your schedule is crazy. As
much as possible. Go to sleep on time, wake up

(04:00):
one time, exercise if possible when the sun is up,
rest when it's dark, Meditate, eat regular meals. Also, maintain
a regular structure to your day. Make your bed in
the morning. We're nice clothes around the house, not fancy ones,
but not a robe either. Maintain a normal routine and

(04:21):
a normal feeling about your life. And since getting enough
sleep is one of the single most important things we
can do to restore balance to our circadian rhythms, Dr
Rosenthal recommends minimizing the impact of that dreaded blue light
from your computer screen. Blue light will just suppress your melotonin,

(04:42):
which means odds are you're not going to get a
good night's sleep. And here's my tip of the day.
If you're determined to watch TV or work on your
computer late into the night, Dr Rosenthal recommends you get
a pair of orange goggles. Orange goggles will block the
blue light. They help Dr Rosenthal get a good night's sleep.

(05:04):
Maybe they'll help you too, all right, let's end this
time together doing something that I think should be a
feature of our everyday life, and that's appreciation and gratitude.
So let's take thirty seconds of quiet, thirty seconds to
take a break, just take a moment. It turns out
when we do that, it's good for our health as well.

(05:24):
I'll be right back all right. Thank you for joining

(05:57):
me today. I hope you heard something that in spires
that uplifts you and that you can incorporate into your
own life. This is Bob Roth. Stay calm, hey, all
of you out there, I'd love to hear from you.
You can send me your stories, your questions, or anything
else on your mind. Just connect with me on Twitter,

(06:19):
Facebook or Instagram at meditation Bob. You can also send
me an email at meditation Bob Roth at gmail dot com.
I look forward to hearing from you.