Circadian Rhythms

Carl Linnaeus, Floral Clock

If you're a client of mine, it’s likely that you’ve heard me harp on about the importance of circadian rhythms (and probably more than once). When we think about circadian rhythms, the first thing that usually comes to mind is sleep: when, for how long, and how we manage (or struggle) to sleep on schedule. As important as all of that is, circadian rhythms go far beyond the sleep-wake cycles popularly associated with the term.

I say circadian rhythms rather than rhythm because there's a lot to orchestrate; just about everything in the body operates on a clock, right down to the cellular level. Without going too far down a physiology rabbit hole, just a few of the processes that the body times include: the release of digestive secretions and enzymes, hormonal cascades associated with hunger/satiety/sleepiness/alertness, and processes involved in liver detoxification, memory consolidation, and immune function. Even the flora that comprise our gut microbiome have circadian rhythms.

Why all of this careful timing? The body uses circadian rhythms to prepare in advance for the ways it expects us to interact with our environments. If we tend to wake up at a certain time, cortisol is slowly rising hours in advance. If we tend to eat lunch at a certain time, the body starts secreting a whole cascade of digestive secretions to prepare to receive food in advance.

Essentially, the body likes to know what to expect. This is the crux of why I find this topic so important. As my mentor Camille Freeman describes it, even if you aren’t actively stressed out, erratic circadian rhythms can end up being a stressor on the body. The opposite is also true: if you are stressed out, bringing some attention to your circadian rhythms can be deeply regulating. I've seen circadian rhythms entrainment make a huge difference for people’s energy levels, digestive health, mood, hormonal balance, immune function, metabolic concerns, and so on.

If you're reading this and feeling like circadian rhythms entrainment sounds like another chore, or another thing to add to an already overwhelming to-do list - I get it. There are so many reasons why maintaining a steady schedule isn't always accessible or realistic. It is possible, however, to work towards circadian rhythms entrainment without upending entire schedules, or adding further stress and shame when that isn't feasible.

In How to Keep House While Drowning, KC Davis proposes the idea of using on-ramps when it comes to habit formation. On-ramps ease us onto the highway, giving us time to gain momentum rather than going from zero to 100 (or zero to 60, for my friends south of the border 😉). When applied to habit formation, an on-ramp is one shift we can make that feels manageable, gets us into a state of flow, and keeps us from stalling out on the entire project. When it comes to circadian rhythms, one shift can often be enough - the body can take on the task of re-regulating from there.

Here are a few on-ramps to circadian rhythms entrainment that don't involve changing your entire life around:

⏳Get some sunlight on your face first thing in the morning. Stepping outside for even a couple of minutes within the first hour of waking helps "reset" the area of the brain that is considered the body's master clock. Natural light is much more effective at doing this than light through a window, so if it's accessible to you, get outside—even if it means standing on the balcony for 30 seconds in your slippers.

⏳Choose just one meal to eat at the same time every day. If you do shift work, or have fluctuating responsibilities and can’t always control what your mornings and evenings look like, meal timing is a powerful way to regulate rhythms involved with metabolism, digestion, hormone production, and energy levels. Meal timing can even help with sleep quality!

⏳Soften indoor lighting in the evening. Dimming the lights in your space at a certain time, blocking blue light when possible, and even lighting candles signals to the body that a shift is happening and it's time to start winding down.

Circadian rhythms entrainment may seem like general health advice and, quite frankly, it is. But, there's tremendous power in going back to the basics. Any time you establish a routine you're helping the body find its rhythm. While routine and structure can sometimes feel daunting or tedious, I want to offer up the reframe that they also have the power to create space in our lives, rather than pen us in. In Discipline as Pleasure, artist Yumi Sakugawa shares that "discipline is not the antithesis to fun, but can actually create more space for fun, deep pleasure, and intentional rest." Structure dials down physiological stress and invite more ease into our bodies.

I like to remember that we’re not alone in having circadian rhythms—every cell in nature responds to the cycle of the day (except those found so far down in the ocean that they've never been exposed to light). Honouring my inner rhythms help me to attune to my environment, to larger cycles, and to the rest of life that also sways and shifts to the rhythms of light and dark.

Predictability allows for attunement and regulation, taking stress off our systems. And as KC Davis reminds us, "anything worth doing is worth doing partially." So start slow and choose small shifts—a tiny bit of consistency goes a long way.