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Heal Yourself Podcast
A podcast diving into all aspects of healing; from the latest in functional medicine, to nurturing your relationship with yourself, and even transforming your money story, we're here to empower you with the knowledge and tools to create lasting change.
Heal Yourself Podcast
Episode 26: How Circadian Rhythm Impacts Your Health
Your body has a clock that never makes mistakes. Unlike man-made timepieces that force us into disruptive events like daylight savings time, your internal circadian rhythm is designed to keep every system in your body functioning optimally. When we honor this rhythm, healing happens naturally.
This deep dive into circadian rhythm goes far beyond basic sleep advice. Denise and Kira explore how your internal clock regulates not just when you feel sleepy, but your hormones, digestion, mood, and even the health of your gut microbiome. They reveal why disruptions like irregular sleep schedules, late-night eating, and excessive artificial light exposure can throw your entire system into disarray - impacting everything from cortisol levels to sex hormones and even the gut lining (which can replace itself every 2-5 days with proper light signaling!).
Kira suggested: My Circadian App. Use this to get outside at sunrise for 1-5 minutes, and again at UVA rise.
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Welcome to the Heal Yourself Podcast, where we dive deep into all things healing. I'm Denise, a speech language pathologist and a self-love coach for adults and teens.
Speaker 2:And I'm Kira, a traditional naturopath and functional nutritionist, and we're here to guide you through the transformative process of healing your body, mind and soul From the latest in functional medicine, of healing your body, mind and soul, from the latest in functional medicine to nurturing your relationship with yourself, healing trauma and even transforming your money story.
Speaker 1:we're here to empower you with the knowledge and tools to create lasting change.
Speaker 2:So, whether you're looking to heal physically, emotionally or spiritually, join us as we explore the many paths to wholeness and wellness.
Speaker 1:Welcome to another episode. We're both here today to talk about circadian rhythm. Circadian sorry, I said circadian Couldn't even tell rhythm and, and I think this topic is very dear to your heart, and also because it's daylight savings time and I'm gonna be very honest, I do not like it. I know that I give up complaining for lens, but I need to put that on the side and say I do not like it.
Speaker 2:I don't either, and that's why, when I messaged Denise this morning because guys, sometimes we come up with ideas on the whim and sometimes we just like know exactly what we would want to talk about for weeks in advance but I was like this freaking daylight savings is killing me. It was so hard to get up. Like yesterday was just an annoyance because it's Sunday, there's no alarm clock, but I'm annoyed that I lost an hour of sleep. And then this morning, like it was so hard to get up, Yep.
Speaker 1:So if you are having trouble getting up and just take it easy like I'm going to step in right now, before we talk about circadian rhythm, and say be gentle with yourself this week, so that I even told myself like I'm gonna go to yoga tomorrow because the yoga that I go to is restorative and it's really slow, so it really slows me down and I need that in my life. But, honestly, I'm gonna skip spin, I'm not gonna put pressure on my body, I'm not gonna put things that are just you know. I'm gonna take it easy and be very compassionate with myself and if I like, I cut my morning routine short because I wanted to sleep, and that's okay. So if you feel like you want to do that, take it easy on yourself, but just for this week. Don't keep saying, week after week after week, if you are the person who will fall back into the abyss after the first, if you give yourself compassion for one week, don't do that. But I know that I can get back up, so yeah.
Speaker 2:Although by the time they listen to this episode, it's going to be the end of the week, that's true, but that's okay. You know what? It's still solid advice, because it's what we talk to our clients about, right, yeah, and you talk to your self-love students about. You still have to do that throughout times of like. It doesn't just have to be daylight savings. There can be something stressful that happens in your life. There can be something traumatic, there can be a massive shift somewhere, and maybe you just need to take it easy and listen to your body.
Speaker 1:Exactly. And then also listening to the body without guilting yourself. I do notice that sometimes, like we do listen to everybody, but we, but, but, but. Workout makes me feel better. I'm like I know it does, but right now your body just needs to rest for a minute, so I feel that yeah, yeah, anyway, let's get it into the daylight savings.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, it's funny because I feel like 99% of our episodes so far are like very spiritual, which I love, but once in a while we're going to throw in that clinical piece, like we said in episode one. Um, and this is one of those, because I think this is something that impacts everyone, and you and I are always talking about the mind body connection. Yes, the body impacts the mind greatly, but also the body impacts the mind, like if you're not paying attention to anything that's going on in your physical body, do you really expect, like spiritually, emotionally, all of that is going to be, you know, optimal? No, probably not. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So tell us about a little bit, about the circadian like what is it? Cause? I know like some people be like what are you talking about? Denise barely can say the word. I have an accent. I have an accent. You guys Like, if you're making fun of me, for that, it's fine. I love it, I embrace it now. I hated it back then. I hated it when I came to the US because the minute I opened my mouth like where are you from? I'm like really Can't you just say hello, how are you?
Speaker 2:You're like I'm from here, whatever, Anyway, yeah Well, I mean, circadian rhythm, in a nutshell, is just the body's internal clock. It's as simple as that. But sometimes when people hear circadian rhythm they're like, oh okay, you mean just go to bed and wake up at the same time every day. It's like, well, that's a small piece of it, it's not all. So we're definitely going to talk about that. But our circadian clock, that internal rhythm, regulates sleep, but also hormones and digestion and mood. So when we're disrupting it with things like crappy sleep, irregular sleep we can dive into those late night eating artificial light. We're going to start to impact that circadian rhythm and denise. You may have questions here. I'm not gonna call you out for your sleep schedule, but um, poor sleep.
Speaker 1:You are not calling me, she's totally calling me out, like totally, because she knows what well, let's talk about the poor sleep, because you know people sometimes I just sleep. What are you talking about?
Speaker 2:I'm not saying that, but I'm saying like disrupted sleep and right. So sometimes people think like, oh my gosh, I wake three times a night to go pee. Yeah, that's a disruption and that can be another conversation. But I'm also talking about, like, if you go to bed tonight at 10 PM but then last night it was 3 AM and the night before it was 1 AM, that's a disruption. That's completely throwing off circadian rhythm because the body has a clock and it likes to follow that rhythm. So I'm just saying this for people that have, like crazy sleep schedules.
Speaker 1:Oh, can I just throw it in there? Yeah, and guess what, now that you said that again, that our body has a clock, and it just made sense right now to me, because the clock, like the clock that's created by humans, it makes mistakes, whereas your internal clock, with your body, doesn't. So that's why it's really important to pay attention to that internal clock yeah, oh, my goodness, that's like a home.
Speaker 1:I'm so glad no, seriously, because you know how, like we say, time was created by men. Like you know, monday, tuesday, friday, sunday one hour, two hours. You're created by human beings and you know, and. But internally we always know what to do, right?
Speaker 2:so that's why it's important to rely on that circadian rhythm and help the outside yeah, and I'm not saying that literally by the clock, like 12 o'clock on the dot, I have to eat my lunch and it's 12 35, I'm done with my lunch and I'm gonna do this like we're. We're not. We're not talking about that, but in general, you should be following a rhythm for everything. We go to bed at this time, or maybe within a 30 minute window. We wake up at the same time, or maybe that 30 minute window, we eat our meals at the same time.
Speaker 1:We poop at the same time, like truly if you look at it, cause that that more like a rhythm, like nature's rhythm, right, so that's really important to so many aha moments. Oh, my goodness, like okay, so it's kind of like right, so we have an internal clock and it's really important to just follow that. But not to be rigid, not to have the rigid thinking of 12 o'clock, 1 30 if I, if I'm eating at 1.35, uh-oh, I'm doing something wrong. No, but I love how you said that time frame, like around that time, okay, so if you go to bed, if you are going to bed at 10.30 instead of like 10.15, that's okay, it's okay.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but not 10 and then midnight, and then nine and then midnight again, and then one or two kind of like you're. You're messing up the rhythm of nature.
Speaker 2:You are. And again, when you're doing that now, you're impacting your hormones. So sex hormones, cortisol, your mood, like all of the things, are impacted and a lot of times people just think, oh, it's just impacting my sleep. It's like, well, no, it goes deeper than that. Even our gut follows its own circadian rhythm. So I wasn't joking when I said poop. At the same time, like that's one thing. We've got the meal timing. If we're disrupting that, it's going to lead to bloating. We can slow down digestion, we can get dysbiosis, which is a fancy term for an imbalance or overgrowth of gut flora. So everything follows this rhythm.
Speaker 2:In fact, gosh, there was a book I read a few years ago I'm pulling it up on my Kindle Circadian something. Do you know what I'm talking about? Mm-mm. Okay, well, there's a book. If I can find it, I'll recommend it and put it in the show notes, but it was all about circadian rhythm. I actually need to read this again because it's been a long time, but I know there's one on circadian rhythm. That's good. So, yeah, another thing to be thinking about and this is something that most people struggle with with is natural light. So think about morning routine. So, like average person or you like. What do they do in the morning when they wake up? What do I do in?
Speaker 1:the morning when I wake up.
Speaker 2:Or the average person.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, when I wake up, I go downstairs, I drink. Well, sometimes I pee, I pee. I go downstairs, downstairs, drink water and start my morning routine. Or like today, for example, I immediately started meditating. Okay, so it's just like, mostly, like I don't know, sometimes I meditate in bed, sometimes I meditate downstairs. But I do have like either I go down, drink water and then start my morning routine I pee, but I, yeah, do you turn on lights?
Speaker 1:no, I do no, what do I turn on the lights? Yeah, no, no, because I go downstairs and you stay when I go pee pee. I just yeah. No, it's not the dark, because there's the natural lights. The bathroom has skylight, like a skylight.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay so like I'm bumping into things and it's not too dark because our blinds are lighter so I can see, so I never get up. And then I have the like the pink lights from the salt lamp, and the bathroom does have LED lights that are like you know, so I just go in. No, I pee in the dark and when I go downstairs we turn on the blue light, because when we set up the house there's the blue light and there's the bright light. So when I turn it on, if I need to, so I can read, it's the blue light that I turn on interesting.
Speaker 1:We can talk about that um but, but don't turn on the light, right? Is that? What's that? Step number one yes, and no.
Speaker 2:So here's the thing most people like. Seriously, if we look at the average person, they hit their alarm clock maybe more than once to wake up. Right, their body doesn't naturally wake them up. Um, they turn over and they start scrolling their cell phone or they check emails, right. Then they get up and they do their stuff. They use a restroom, brush their teeth, but lights start going on and sometimes that's all too stimulating, because in the morning our cortisol should rise that's what wakes us up and our melatonin should drop. Just like you know, evening would be the opposite, obviously. So in the morning, yes, we want things stimulating, but we don't want it so much that now we're creating anxiety in the morning. So we want like a calming routine, so like what you're doing is nice, yeah.
Speaker 1:But then and again, if you're listening, if someone's listening to this and saying, oh my goodness, like no, but I wasn't like that. I wish you told me. I mean. I probably I should have answered the question my previous me. Yes, I would scroll on the phone and all of the and then my husband would turn on the lights. Now it's completely different, but also because he's doing the work and I'm doing the work, so it's kind of like it's just different but, yeah, like just kind of don't scroll your phone, absolutely not. And yeah.
Speaker 1:And or like open your blinds and look at your lights and then turn on and then go down.
Speaker 2:Yes, so that's the thing Natural light in the morning. So sunlight is going to regulate that cortisol, melatonin, even our neurotransmitters, or mood energy levels, and so what we want to do in the morning is get some natural light. So, ideally, step outside, truly like get outside for one or two minutes before you do anything. Drink your water outside, do your meditation outside, I don't care, but stepping outside is going to really be helpful. And so sometimes people will say, well, can I just open the blinds? Yeah, but it's blocking some of that natural light coming through.
Speaker 2:Okay, um, and you can step outside, rain or shine, like I'm not saying to go outside if it's downpouring on you, but like if there's somewhere you can stand. You know, we've got a like a what is it called? Like an overhang, where I'm not going to get wet if it's raining or snowing or whatever and I will get some light. That is one of the best things you can do, and it's so funny. When I tell my clients to do that, I'm always amazed at how many will come back to me and say, like I did it for a week straight and I have more energy. Is that normal?
Speaker 1:I'm like, yeah, I want to try it now Just instead like, oh, instead of just like when I go downstairs then just open the yard and just go out for a minute.
Speaker 2:Just step out there for a minute.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Drink your water and step out there Before I drink my water, et cetera. Oh, cool, cool, cool. Or bring it with you, I take my water outside and I drink my water out there. Yeah, and it's quick. I'm not out there for five minutes in the morning, guys.
Speaker 2:I'm talking like if you can get 90 seconds, I'm pretty happy, and then if you can get out there later, obviously we still need more light that's going to be super helpful. What else was I going to say about that? There was something else. Oh, you mentioned not turning on the lights, maybe. So if you're someone that wakes up after sunrise right, the sun's already up, natural light's already up, natural lights already coming in through the house you probably don't need to turn on lights. But if you need to turn on lights or the sun hasn't even risen, for my people that work early jobs and now with daylight savings, like I got up this morning and I'm like, oh, the sun's not even up yet, I know I put on my orange glasses and then I turn on the lights because the orange is going to be more natural and it's not going to create that instant like boom spike my cortisol levels. My husband makes fun of me, but I put on my orange glasses in the morning, whatever.
Speaker 1:It's working for you. Talk to us about the gut microbiome a little bit.
Speaker 2:I mean, just like anything else, it follows its own circadian rhythm, right. And so many people are doing things that aren't supportive. And this is what's so funny is, when we talk about gut health, everyone thinks it's got like, oh, I got to do fiber, I got to take a prebiotic, a probiotic Well, what's the perfect gut healing protocol? And we forget about all the basic foundational pieces that actually hold a lot of weight, like you can follow the best protocol, but if you're not even paying attention to circadian rhythm, don't expect results. So what I mean by that is if you're snacking right before bed, that's going to impact circadian rhythm, right, like digestion's happening, so you're not supposed to fall asleep, so now we're impacting sleep. Or if you're skipping meal Denise skipping meals that's going to impact. She does that because I do. I skip breakfast.
Speaker 1:I know you do. I skip breakfast and I can eat.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 2:That's another episode that might be. I have mixed thoughts on that, Um, but it's. It's the same thing. Like we need to be paying attention to circadian rhythm because it's going to impact gut. So it's not just the gut that has its own rhythm, but the light signaling. All of that plays a role, Like there's some interesting research on light signaling. So you know, morning sunlight and sunlight appropriately throughout the day and minimizing the artificial lights that it plays a massive role in the gut microbiome. And I read a study what is it? The gut microbiome actually posted this on Facebook and got a lot of comments, but the lining of the microbiome can replace itself every two to five days with proper light signaling.
Speaker 1:Okay, oh, it's not a supplement that you can heal it and that's another thing too.
Speaker 1:Let's go back to the spiritual side, that your body knows what to do. You just got to trust it more and give it the tools, right. So the tools of like yeah, thank you for reminding me. I give up stacking for lent, so that's amazing, yeah. So can we start with some tips? So you know, because we talked a lot about that. So the first one is to get morning sunlight asap to reset your melatonin production. And this is kind of like you said open the front door, go outside for a minute, drink your water or whatever, and then or like in my case, maybe the the yard, whatever it is yeah, stick your head out the window, I don't care.
Speaker 2:the other thing I'm going to suggest there is shoot. There's an app called Circadian Life, or my Circadian Life. Download it, it's a free app. It'll tell you when to get that morning sunlight, when sun rises, when UVA rises, oh wow.
Speaker 1:It's easy, nice, all right. And number two this is Kira's favorite, but I'm going to talk about it because she's been saying a lot about circadian, circadian rhythm, a prior prioritized protein in the morning to stabilize blood sugar and energy. This is meaning do not drink coffee in the morning because coffee is not protein unless it has protein in it. Uh, eat at the same time to avoid metabolic confusion, and it's not like rigid time, just be flexible, kind of like what you said at the timeframe, and do you mind? Kind of cause someone hearing this going to be like excuse me, I drank my coffee in the morning, so what do you recommend that someone does if this is their case?
Speaker 2:You. So I drink coffee too, but you need to eat. If you're doing coffee on an empty stomach, that's slapping your adrenal glands. I don't love it. The research isn't great for it. Now, granted, do I think that everyone is slightly different? Sure, if you're monitoring your labs and how you feel and you feel amazing by having coffee first thing in the morning and your labs are amazing, your blood sugar's great then keep at it. But if you're struggling at all with health, uh, I would definitely be eating to stabilize blood sugar before you throw in that caffeine Got it, yeah.
Speaker 1:And the final one is avoiding screens. This time we're actually giving you not just to dig deep, we're giving you tips, right? Uh, avoiding screens. Avoid screens at night to prevent further melatonin disruption, and um. And then I would also say, right in the morning, right, avoiding screening. First thing, first thing in the morning, yeah. It's like and again, it's not just maybe for the I mean, it is for the lights and all that but it's also for your sanity and for your to continue having an attitude of gratitude. You don't want to look at social media first thing in the morning or at your email.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and at night, like I watch TV, you can still watch TV. However, if you're someone that's struggling with sleep massively and you're falling asleep watching TV, or that's the last thing you do before you go to bed, that might not be serving you. Now it might be you're wearing those orange or red glasses again, you know, because that bright light from the screen is disrupting your circadian rhythm. Or maybe you're someone that can't do screens before bed. I'm okay with it, but not everyone is. You can switch to a book, yup.
Speaker 1:Or meditation, or hypnosis, or meditation. Yeah, because sometimes switching to a book might help you fall asleep. I know you want to get somewhere with the book, but I mean yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Anything else that we want to add?
Speaker 2:I think those are the key things. Go get the, get the app, truly. Download the app, everyone. You just need the free version and pay attention to that. Remind us again, my circadian rhythm. Yeah, my circadian app.
Speaker 1:You just need the free version. Is it on down, is it?
Speaker 2:on android or I like iphone and all that.
Speaker 1:Okay, perfect, it's on all of it and it'll be in the show notes too, and if you and let us know if you try it, I mean I'm definitely gonna download it and try it. So if you try it and give us feedback, how is it working for you? Try it for a week, or try any of the tips that we gave you. But it's kind of like we say with all of our spiritual episodes your body knows what to do and your body follows nature as well. Nature has a rhythm, your body has a rhythm, and let's just follow the rhythm and life has a rhythm in general. So if we follow life's rhythm and our body's rhythm and the moon and the moon.
Speaker 2:I know I have to talk about the moon now and.
Speaker 1:But you know, miss denise has to get off because she needs to test the kiddo. I know that's our life, but anyway. So give us feedback, let us know, and just you know. Be compassionate with yourself. We cannot stress this enough like even when you hear tips from us and you're like, oh my gosh, this is too much. Take it one step at a time, because we already may be a little bit ahead of you, that's all. You know what I mean. But or you may be ahead of us. Just be compassionate with yourself amen to that.
Speaker 2:All right, guys, see you next time. Bye.
