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Our body operates on a circadian rhythm, which regulates various processes such as hormone production, gene expression, and neurotransmitter function throughout the day. The circadian pacemaker in our hypothalamus, called the suprachiasmatic nucleus, is synchronized with the 24-hour solar day. Disrupting this rhythm can have negative impacts on our health. Research shows that 80% of our genes have a circadian pattern, with different genes being activated at different times of the day. The importance of proper timing for sleep, light exposure, and meal timing is crucial in maintaining our overall health.
Light plays a significant role in regulating our circadian rhythms. Natural light, especially in the morning, helps set our body's internal clock and activate our metabolism and cognitive functions. Conversely, exposure to blue light, such as from electronic devices in the evening, can disrupt our circadian system and affect our sleep quality. Light exposure also affects our skin and gut health, influencing the production of hormones, neurotransmitters, and neuropeptides. Maintaining a balance between light exposure and darkness is essential for overall well-being.
Circadian fasting, aligning our eating patterns with our body's natural circadian rhythm, can have significant health benefits. Giving our bodies a sufficient break between dinner and breakfast enables the depletion of glucose and activates the metabolic switch between using glucose and fatty acids for fuel. This natural fasting period can improve our metabolic health and gene expression. Moreover, aligning our meal timings with daylight hours, having larger meals during the daytime when our digestion is strong, and avoiding late-night eating can promote better sleep, energy levels, and overall health.
Circadian style intermittent fasting has a positive impact on insulin sensitivity, autophagy, brain health, gut health, hormone health, and immune health. It improves insulin dysregulation and reduces inflammation, cholesterol, blood pressure, and diabetes. By adhering to circadian rhythms and prioritizing healthy sleep practices, we can optimize our overall well-being.
Our circadian clocks are influenced by our sleep quality and exposure to natural light. Natural drops in core body temperature at night activate hormones and enzymes that support sleep quality. Insomnia is linked to a warmer core body temperature. Studies have shown that improving bedding and avoiding overheating can enhance sleep quality. Exposure to natural light in the morning and evening helps set the circadian timing system, optimizing brain function, mood, and overall health.
For hundreds of years, humans naturally fasted during the nighttime hours. Our bodies function in accordance with the circadian rhythm in every way, including our hormones, digestion, neurotransmitters, and so much more. But in our modern society, we have access to food, light, and technology around the clock. We’ve lost touch with an essential pattern that our genes have come to expect.
On this compilation episode of The Model Health Show, you’re going to hear the best moments from my past interviews with the amazing Dr. Amy Shah. She is a double-board certified physician who specializes in circadian medicine, fasting, and gut health. You’re going to learn about how your circadian timing system works, how it influences your genes, hormones, brain, and overall health.
You’ll hear powerful insights on how to optimize your health through aligning with the circadian rhythm. Understanding this information can help boost your energy levels, reduce your risk for diseases, improve your body composition, and so much more. So click play, listen in, and enjoy the show!
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This episode is brought to you by Ettitude. One of the primary influential factors on the circadian clocks and being in alignment with that has a lot to do with our sleep quality and adhering to certain practices that support healthy sleep. Now, if we're living in natural conditions, there's going to be a natural drop in our core body temperature at night as we shift from day to evening, no matter where we are on the planet, no matter how cold it is during the day or how it is during the day, it's going to be cooler in the evening. And our bodies evolved to drop in temperature along with that. And this activates certain hormones, neurotransmitters, certain enzymes that support our sleep quality. But today, again, living in abnormal conditions and a lot of times fighting with our biology by doing certain things, we can cause a disruption to this. And a growing data of body has shown that insomniacs and this is folks who have clinically diagnosed chronic sleep issues, they tend to have a significantly warmer core body temperature than normal right before bed. To help combat this, a study was published in the peer-reviewed journal, Brain, and the scientists had these folks with sleep struggles to wear these thermo suits that lowered their skin temperature less than 1°C to measure its impact on their sleep quality. The study results show that participants didn't wake up as much during the night and their amount of time spent in stages three and four, deep sleep had actually increased. Now, we don't need to get a thermal body suit to sleep at night to support this. This is something we could simply do by addressing our bedding and not having bedding that overheats our bodies. In a recent study, this was a three-week clinical trial, looked at folks using conventional sheets, just the regular run-of-the-mill cotton sheets, and this was a randomized trial. Other participants were sleeping on organic bamboo lyocell sheets from Ettitude. At the end of the study period, the researchers found subjectively and objectively study participants were sleeping much better and feeling better sleeping on organic bamboo lyocell sheets. The study found objectively using sleep tracking technology, study participants had a 1.5% improvement in sleep efficiency, meaning they're going through their sleep cycles more efficiently and getting more from the time that they're actually asleep. Now that might not sound like a lot. That's about 7-8 more minutes of restorative sleep per night. But you add that up, that's about 43 extra hours of sleep per year with the same amount of time in bed. Incredible. Subjectively, participants found that their mental alertness during the day improved upwards of 25% and 94% of people preferred sleeping on ettitude sheets. These are the only sheets that I've been sleeping on for years unless I'm traveling. It is a true lovely, I can't even put into words, experience. You have to try it for yourself. Sleeping into ettitude sheets is like nothing else. I didn't know that it could feel that good slipping into bed. Now these sheets are antimicrobial, self-deodorizing, they're breathable, moisture-wicking, and they support natural thermal regulation. Get yourself this incredible gift of wellness. This is a great time to get a gift for somebody that you care about. Give them this gift. This is going to knock their socks off. It's a gift that is truly unique and it's going to feel good. They're just going to be raving about it when they actually sleep on these sheets. And also this is a good gift to give for yourself as well during this time of year. Go to ettitude.com/model. Use the code MODEL15 at checkout and you're going to get 15% off. That's ettitude.com/mode. Again, you get 15% off plus they have a 30-night sleep trial. You get to sleep on them, think on them, dream on them. If you don't absolutely love them, you can send them back for a full refund. Go to ettitude.com/model today.
This episode is brought to you by LMNT. All of these different cellular structures, whether it's the supra cosmetic nucleus, whether it's our mitochondria, whether it's ghrelin, whatever the case might be with our different hormones, neurotransmitters, and tissues, they're all made from the food that we eat, and they're all run off the fuel that we provide ourselves. And one of the most important nutrients for helping that cellular communication is this category called electrolytes. These are minerals that carry an electric charge and enable our body to do all the cool things that it does. In particular with energy transfer, it's not just ATP as this energy exchange or energy currency in our bodies. As I was taught in my very expensive private university that I went to, it's not just ATP. The active form is bonded with magnesium. That is the key. Magnesium is responsible for over 650 biochemical processes that we're aware of, probably many more. But that's just for starters. And many of them involve energy. As a matter of fact, magnesium is literally required to make new mitochondria, which these are the glorified energy power plants of our cells making ATP. But keep this in mind though, magnesium is the number one mineral deficiency noted in peer-reviewed data today, close to 60% of our citizens are deficient in magnesium. Now you combine this electrolyte with another critical electrolyte, sodium and potassium as well. These three are top tier in importance and high quality forms of these electrolytes are severely lacking in our diet today. This is why I'm such a huge fan of element, the incredible science-based electrolyte supplement free from unnecessary sugars and food dyes, just high quality electrolytes that our bodies need and really thrive on. You notice a difference, you notice a difference when you're utilizing element. Go to drinklmnt.com/model and you're going to get a free gift pack with every purchase of electrolytes. So they're gonna send you a free sample pack of all the different types of electrolytes for free whenever you purchase any electrolyte products at all. It's really awesome of them to provide this incredible gift to us. But the most important thing is for us to provide ourselves this cellular gift of better communication. Go to drinklmnt.com/model. Get the very best electrolytes in the world.
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