This new way of living could change your life

We as human beings often refer to ourselves as creatures of habit. But what we forget is that we, first and foremost, are the products of nature. The only way for us to thrive and live an abundant and holistic life is to live according to the cycles of nature.

Believe it or not, social media today is fooling and brainwashing us to believe that we need to live a particular way to be successful. To skimp on sleep to be successful, to down some tall shots of caffeine, to work through the night to achieve our targets and whatnot. It isn’t surprising that human beings are the only species that sacrifice health and sleep to live and achieve more. In a bid to determine our success by our designations, the paycheck we earn, the cars we drive, the clothes we wear, and the exotic vacations we take — we have failed to realise that we are disrupting the flow of our biological clock. Everything happens according to the pace of nature. If we move too fast and compete with nature, it can slow us down. And many times, it does so by hampering our immunity.

Our unique bodies were built intelligently and designed to work according to something called the circadian rhythm. In simple words, this is a sleep-wake or the day-night cycle. It is an intelligence that generates different feelings — wakefulness and sleepiness, hunger, and satiety during a 24-hour cycle.

Everything we do — right from how we sleep, eat, digest and secrete certain hormones, to bowel movements and detoxification — works according to this circadian rhythm. It is the rhythm that determines how our body carries out different processes during different times.

If you have ever pulled an all-nighter, worked a late-night shift, or traveled across time zones, you know the consequences of disrupting this biological clock. It affects your body right from eating, causing irregular bowel movements to disturbing sleep patterns.

When we challenge the laws of nature and go against the circadian rhythm that governs thousands of functions in the human body at a cellular level, even the best fitness plans, treatment, pills, doctors, nutritionists, spiritual healers, or yoga experts become meaningless.

Let me illustrate this with an anecdote. A couple of years ago, a lady in her 40s walked into my office for a consultation. My approach to helping her improve was to change her rhythm. She would sleep at midnight and work out at 7 pm. We decided to shift her sleep time to 10 pm and workout time to 7 am. While she did take some time to adjust, she settled in by the fifth day. Within a week, her health changed drastically. This was made possible by her own body and its intelligence. No superfood, no magic pill. Just by following the circadian rhythm.

This is just one among thousands of examples that proves how the only way forward for us is to align ourselves with the laws of nature. Look at it this way. You can knead the best dough in the world, but if the environment of the oven is poor, damp, or has the wrong temperature, that bread will not bake or rise. Similarly, our internal and external environments play a massive role in our well-being. Imagine giving a person the best medicines and lifestyle changes but putting them in a toxic, unhealthy, dirty, non-supportive, lonely and damp environment.

That possibly cannot help them improve or thrive. Only when we combine the magic of the circadian rhythm with balanced nutrition, adequate exercise, quality sleep, emotional detox, and medicine, do we give ourselves the chance to experience the true magic of prevention, healing, and recovery. In my decade-old career, my team has dealt with end-of-life patients, those with terminal illnesses like cancers, rare syndromes, and hormone disorders, among others.

The one thing that has worked powerfully for them over and above their medication and treatment is our ability to coach them into aligning their lives and lifestyles to the circadian rhythm. When we put our patients into the circadian rhythm cycle, their body’s intelligence kicks in. It works, repairs, identifies, and fixes. The New Way of Living as I call the circadian rhythm doesn’t mean you need to stop having fun. You can have a flourishing social life and still follow it. To be honest, this new way of living isn’t even new. It is how we were designed to live. Generation after generation has lived in tune with nature, socialised, sang its hearts out, celebrated rituals and festivities, and led healthy and happy lives. You can do it too! All you need to learn is how it works and how to adopt it.

How does the circadian rhythm work?

The hypothalamus of your brain has a master clock that controls all the other clocks in your body, including your circadian rhythm. It is called the Suprachiasmatic Nucleus (SCN). From simple to complex functions like energy levels, quality of sleep, emotions, regulation of the heartbeat, blood pressure, sugar levels, digestive system activity, immune system, body temperature, weight, and much more — SCN controls everything.

To put it simply, Suprachiasmatic Nucleus (SCN) works like a pacemaker to control the circadian rhythm. If it stops working, your body will be in chaos. How does SCN function? It responds to light or day and dark or night. Its main role is to send signals to regulate the functions in our body. When light hits SCN, it signals the parts of the body to activate or deactivate different functions.

So when there are fluctuations in light and dark, due to sleeping at wrong times, exposure to bright lights at night, traveling across time zones, there is confusion in the body. Certain functions may get activated and deactivated at inappropriate times.

Scientific experiments have proved how human beings in dark rooms for 24 to 48 hours lose the sense of everything because the biological clock (and everything connected with it) cannot work without light. Studies connect messed-up biological clocks to chronic health issues, inflammation, high blood pressure, low immunity, and poor emotional well-being. Remember, any good diet, exercise plan, yoga, pranayama, chanting, and other practices are superficial if they do not follow a system.

Which factors upset your biological clock?

They include an array of improper lifestyle shifts. Here are a few that directly affect your biological clock:

• Night shifts
• Jet lag
• Long and frequent traveling
• Stimulants such as caffeine, tobacco, alcohol, drugs or social media
• Hormonal changes during menopause or pregnancy
• Overexposure to artificial/ blue light after sunset
• Frequent changes in sleep, meal, and workout routines

Simple tips to help you reset your circadian rhythm

If your big question is — does it cost money to live and follow the circadian way? No, absolutely not.

You can achieve it by working with nature and the circadian rhythm. The change you experience will be immediate. Your energy levels will soar, you will sleep better, your digestion and water retention will improve too. Imagine waking up with a flatter stomach without bloating, having radiant and clear skin, and fewer cravings! The benefits go beyond this.

Some simple lifestyle changes you can make to adopt the circadian rhythm way of living

1) Eating Right and Circadian Fasting

• Adopt a rainbow-coloured plate with the right balance of vegetables (starchy and non-starchy), fruits, proteins (animal or plant-based), and carbohydrates (grains and cereals).
• Eat your last meal of the day close to sunset (7 pm). You can then follow a circadian fast (dry or intermittent, whatever suits you) through the night. Break it after the sun rises the next day with water or lemon water and dates or fruits. This is the most natural and effortless way of fasting.
• Keep a two or three-hour gap between dinner and bedtime.
• Need coffee? Have it three hours after waking up. Don’t consume coffee in the second half of the day. It is a stimulant that hampers your sleep routine.
• Keep your maximum calorie intake between breakfast and lunch, your metabolism is at its peak to process these. Make your dinners the lightest meal, as your body slows down and moves into a rest and recovery mode.
• Not feeling hungry by dinner time, but need to eat early? Listen to your body, and eat how much ever you can. Don’t starve or stuff yourself. You can always eat a little early the next morning.
• Eat at the same time every day. Remember, timing is the key factor for circadian rhythm synchronisation Eating Right and Circadian Fasting

2. Engaging in adequate exercise

• Engage in a regular regime and work out around the same time every day. Your body and muscles have a memory. Feed it the right way.
• Identify the time of day that suits you. Are you a morning person or an evening person when it comes to exercise? Identify and stick to it.
• Don’t overtrain or follow an intense workout close to bedtime.

3. Fixing sleep and wake-up time

• Yes, your body is resilient. So it can take a couple of late nights. But making it a habit will make you reach a breaking point.
• Want to live according to the circadian rhythm? Try to sleep at the same time every night, whether it is 9 pm, 10 pm or 11 pm. The earlier, the better.
• Try to wake up with the sunrise. Maintain the same time through Monday to Friday at least.

4. Limiting exposure to blue light

• Need to work after sunset or late at night? Wear blue blocker glasses to filter out the blue light, when looking at the screen.
• Use in-built features on your phones, where the backlight automatically switches to a dimmer one and turns a little yellow in response to sunset.

5. Follow pre-bedtime rituals

• Disconnect from blue or artificial light at least one to two hours before bed. they suppress your melatonin (sleep hormone) secretion. if your rituals require you to use your phone before orduring bedtime, prefer using audio files. open the app, play the file, and shut it down.
• Make your bedroom as dark as possible. Sleep is a very light-sensitive process. Darkness stimulates melatonin and brightness suppresses it.
• Offer gratitude, pray, meditate, chant, or recite affirmations to ward off any negative thoughts and relax your mind.

6. Following pre-bedtime rituals

• Avoid using your phones and scrolling social media for at least one to two hours after waking up.
• If your meditation and workout apps are on your phone, and you have to look at them, then use the first hour after waking up to perform all other morning rituals like, oil pulling, pooping, brushing, before opening your phone. Avoid prolonged exposure to blue light. Use audio files, if possible.
• Avoid eating before sunrise. Your metabolic fire wakes up with the sunrise and is at its highest at noon. So have a good lunch.

7. Pooping early in the morning

• While you sleep, your body begins the process of detoxification. This accumulates waste products in your colon. When you follow the circadian rhythm and wake up in the morning with natural light, your bowel movement opens up.
• Try to clean your bowels first thing after waking up. Clean yourself inside out first, before you begin your day.

8. Adequate exposure to sunlight

• Once you have passed your bowels and brushed your teeth, open the curtains and allow natural light to hit your eyes. This will help you reset your circadian rhythm. This also suppresses melatonin, so you get the energy to seize the day. 
• If you have access to a garden, terrace, or veranda, look out, blink, open up your eyes, and absorb natural light. Exposing ourselves to nature in the morning increases our serotonin (the feel good hormone), and uplifts our mood. 

9. Dealing with energy slumps

• Experiencing an energy slump during the day despite living by the circadian rhythm? Here’s a word of advice. rest.
• It is completely normal because our biological clocks cannot run all the time. They take a break sometimes, too.

Remember, the circadian rhythm is built by the biggest experts of them all - nature. Even if you find it difficult to follow and unsuitable to likes and dislikes, take away what you can from it, and build your lifestyle. Times may change, but our bodies and the way they function remains the same. So do this fundamentals and principles of nature.

FIVE DAYS

Are you willing to practice this five days a week and notice a change?
Here’s wishing you good health, happiness, and abundant life in tune with nature.

Luke Coutinho, Lifestyle coach and author

Download Luke Coutinho's free e-book on the subject here: http://bit.do/Circadian-Rhythm