In this show, on the heels of the 21 insights around the clock, you’ll learn just how destructive excess artificial light is to your health and your overnight restoration, and you’ll also gain a better understanding of the complex interplay between your hormones and the habits that are at the core of your lifestyle.

Before we begin, if you happened to miss part 1 or just want to refresh what we covered last week, click here to listen to that episode first. Now, onto part 2! Here are some key points we’ll go over during this episode:

Most postmenopausal women find exercise training extremely frustrating as hormone response is altered as they age. In contrast, men usually don’t lose their GH levels until they’ve reached 50-55 years of age, and are also protected by their testosterone levels, which persist throughout life (if they’re not suffering from inflammation that is, because that will directly lower their testosterone levels). GH and testosterone are the key players that work to keep a man’s heart and muscles in shape.

What happens when step 20 (the surge of prolactin) is broken in modern humans?

This used to be more frequent among diabetics, but, because of our excessive technology use post-sunset, it’s becoming more common in all humans. Artificial lights tend to be super bright and completely interfere with the usual circadian signals from the hormone response, so it’s no wonder that light after sunset reduces the prolactin surge humans are supposed to experience. This is linked to sleep, as chronic lowered prolactin surges are associated with lower growth hormone secretion during the anabolic phases of sleep.

One thing that really affects your cardiac and skeletal muscle function is lowered chronic GH secretion, because it directly affects the process of autophagy. This is why heart failure is strongly associated with low IGF-1 and sex steroid hormone levels. When growth hormone is not released in normal amounts, it also decreases our lean muscle mass and increases our fat percentage in all our organs and in our body. This leads to slowly declining organ dysfunction and poor body composition. We can measure this process clinically by looking for falling DHEA and GH/dopamine levels as we age.

What happens in normal aging in step 21?

Aging is among the most common features found in studies on modern humans when DHEA and GH craters on hormone panels. The loss of the prolactin surge is especially prominent in postmenopausal women. Most women begin to suffer from falling DHEA and GH levels around age 35-40 while they are still in peri-menopause. The higher their HS-CRP levels, the faster they enter peri-menopause and the quicker they enter menopause. They also age faster on a cellular level because their circadian chemical clocks are sped up. As a consequence, their telomeres shorten faster as well. Women have higher levels of leptin for childbearing, so they are more prone to leptin resistant issues than men.

This helps explain why older women struggle with cognitive haze, loss of body composition, poor sleep, and increased levels of heart disease after menopause. Many physicians think the losses they suffer are due to the loss of estrogen from ovarian failure, but the loss of growth hormone and progesterone production are far more significant in their physiology. Progesterone is the off switch to anything that is pro-growth. Modern women are usually estrogen dominant even after menopause because of mismatches in circadian biology. Cognitive loss is especially common in post-menopausal women. They also lose on average 1% of their bone mineral density per year from menopause in large part due to the loss of progesterone, not estrogen.

Loss of progesterone also corresponds to poor sleep in these women too. Replacing progesterone in women has a major effect on their sleep and bone stock. It also dramatically improves their memories and cognitive function as well.

The cost of snacking after dinner and how it affects the circadian cycle:

If you choose to eat within 4 hours of sleep, you will never see the prolactin surge you need, because any spike in insulin turns off this critical sleep time release that corresponds to the cellular maximums of the autophagic process for humans. Agouti, the incretin gut hormone, also rises in the blood to higher than normal levels to block leptin from entering the brain.

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It appears 12-3 AM are the critical hours at night where the remnants of mammalian hibernation lie for our species. These are the anabolic times for sleep when we are rebuilding our proteins and recycling our cellular contents. They are three of the most important hours in all human biology. If you miss them, you can bet you have several neolithic diseases for sure. Why do you ask? If these three hours are not reached enough during our sleep cycle, autophagy is never optimized and cellular repair does not occur in our cells. This means we are using old broken down parts in our cells as the next day arrives at 6 AM and cortisol rises again to wake us up.

We can measure the efficiency of this process by checking DHEA and IL-6 levels. I also like to measure hormone panels to see if the inflammation has destroyed any other hormone cascades in aging men or women. This is vital in taking care of older people and treating their longevity. IL-6 levels correspond to Leptin resistant states as well. This makes sleep and metabolic coupling tightly controlled by circadian biology at all times of our life. It is magnified because sleep gets worse as we age and our DHEA, HDL, and HS CRP rise. This is where, during a bio-hack, we can see why circadian mismatches can cause neolithic diseases in humans. Often times, we can find the same issues develop much earlier in a young paleo person who has a lot of mismatches in their circadian biology. I test them the same way I would an older person.

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Growth Hormone is released in a pulsatile fashion from 12-3 AM during restorative sleep cycles 3 & 4, and this hormone facilitates autophagy and recycling of proteins. In essence, GH keeps us younger and in great shape when we sleep like a rock star. The problem is a modern man does not sleep well because of his brain’s technology and screen creations.

More about Prolactin

You must be asking, why is this prolactin hormone so important in a warm adapted human? Prolactin is not just a hormone that secretes human milk. That is the best-known action of prolactin, but not the most important. Immediately after prolactin is released during sleep, another signal is sent to the anterior pituitary to release the largest amount of Growth Hormone as we sleep (GH). GH is stimulated only during autophagic sleep cycles in stage 3 and 4 to increase protein synthesis for muscle growth while you’re dissipating heat via the uncoupling proteins. This is where the major release of GH occurs in humans post-puberty when they are warm adapted. 99.9% reading this blog are warm adapted. If you chose to become cold adapted the GH story radically changes, as laid out in CT-6. GH and dopamine are analog proteins.

The implications here are huge for the warm adapted human if this prolactin surge is not adequate to allow us to enter the anabolic stages of sleep. Prolactin surge is diminished by both artificial lights at night and by foods that stimulate NPY, (namely carbs and protein) when they are eaten in fall and winter when biology says they should not be available.

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If you are leptin resistant for any reason, have sleep apnea, you will always have an altered body composition because of a low GH level and an altered sex steroid profiles on testing. The reason is that DHEA is the immediate precursor for those hormones and is always low in people with bad sleep efficiency. Most VLCers who are warm adapted face this very problem today. VLC diet is best used in the cold-adapted mammal and not the modern warm adapted lifestyle. In essence, this diet is a mismatch for our modern lifestyle. This is why so many bloggers think ketosis is a dirty word for performance and body composition.

This all implies that as you age you will have higher body fat percentage, lower muscle mass, if autophagy is not optimized by great sleep. This is precisely what we see today in most modern humans as they age. Invariably, their sleep cycles and sleep durations are poor and decreased from their childhood levels. As they age, there is a chronic insidious erosion of circadian biology by decisions made by modern humans over and over again.

In addition to using blue-light blocking glasses at night (check out Raoptics.com for some amazing, high-quality frames and don’t forget to add my discount code!), I also really enjoy Himalayan salt lamps for the mellow, orange hue they give off. So, tonight, instead of blasting your eyeballs with screen technology for hours, try reading a book, playing a board game or puzzle, taking a walk, or doing some stretching/light yoga movements….just try to find activities that you enjoy doing as a way of winding down and aligning yourself with your circadian rhythm.

TIMESTAMPS:

Brad reviews the first 21 insights from the first show. He looks at what is happening with your circadian rhythm throughout the day. [01:39]

Melatonin is of great importance. [06:52]

Post-menopausal women often have problems with sleeping and gaining weight. [09:20]

Cold therapy for post-menopausal women is of great benefit. [10:01]

Men are protected by their testosterone levels which persist throughout life provided they are not suffering from inflammation. Dysfunctional relationship dynamics can destroy your testosterone. [11:25]

Men do not lose their growth hormone levels until 50 to 55 years of age. [13:47]

There is no reason for men to slow down on their athlete goals as they age. [14:31]

In Dr. Kruse’s practice he sees many young males whose inflammation has damaged their sex hormone levels. [17:10]

Most women begin to suffer from falling D H E A and growth hormone levels around age 35 to 40. Replacing progesterone is very helpful for women. [20:13]

How does snacking after dinner affect your circadian cycles? [24:15]

It appears that 12 to 3:00 AM are the critical hours at night are where the remnants of mammalian hibernation lie for our species. Dr. Kruse says they are the most important three hours in all of human biology. [26:39]

The implications for the growth hormone are huge for the warm adapted human. [29:14]

If you’re going to go keto or do cycles throughout the year, the winter time is a great time to completely avoid carbs for a 30-day restriction or experimental period. [31:10]

As you age, you will have a higher body fat percentage, lower muscle mass if autophagy is not optimized by great sleep. [33:60]

It is highly recommended that your nighttime activities include softer lights and less technology. [36:19]

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118: Rewriting Your Story with Rebecca Walker and Lily Diamond