{"id":1318491,"date":"2020-03-01T23:40:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-02T06:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/doctors-tip-more-about-the-link-between-circadian-rhythms-and-health\/"},"modified":"2020-03-01T23:40:00","modified_gmt":"2020-03-02T06:40:00","slug":"doctors-tip-more-about-the-link-between-circadian-rhythms-and-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/doctors-tip-more-about-the-link-between-circadian-rhythms-and-health\/","title":{"rendered":"Doctor\u2019s Tip: More about the link between circadian rhythms and health"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The dictionary definition of circadian rhythm is \u201crepetition of certain phenomena in living organisms at about the same time each day.\u201d The dictionary definition of the closely related word chronobiology is \u201cthe scientific study of the effect of time on living systems.\u201d In his new book \u201cHow Not to Diet,\u201d Dr. Greger defines chronobiology as \u201cthe study of our bodies\u2019 natural rhythms.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last week\u2019s column discussed how eating more calories early in the day and fewer late in the day contributes to attaining and maintaining ideal body weight \u2014 an example of chronobiology. Today\u2019s column will discuss other examples of chronobiology. Dr. Greger points out that \u201cmost of our genes exhibit daily fluctuations in expression, making the circadian rhythm the largest known regulatory system in our bodies.\u201d At night, when we\u2019re sleeping, \u201ca whole array of internal housekeeping activities can be switched on, such as clearing accumulated waste products from the brain \u2026 and as dawn approaches, our bodies can shift back into activity mode.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here are some other examples \u2014 aside from time of eating and weight gain \u2014 of how circadian rhythms affect health:<\/p>\n

\u2022 If chemotherapy is given at the proper time, it can be five times less toxic and twice as effective versus giving it at \u201cthe wrong time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2022 Recent studies show that high blood pressure is best controlled if blood pressure medication is taken at bedtime. Furthermore, fewer heart attacks and strokes occur, and risk of death is cut in half.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Core body temperature is lowest at around 4 a.m. (97.6), down from an average of 98.6 during the day.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Hormone production varies according to time of day.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Digestive processes vary according to time of day, as anyone knows who had gone to bed on a full stomach.<\/p>\n

\u2022 There are circadian swings in immune function.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Glucose tolerance \u2014 the ability of our tissues and organs to use insulin \u2014 is high in the morning but declines later in the day. Insulin resistance (I.R.) is common in people with extra weight around the middle, and leads to pre-diabetes and diabetes. High triglycerides and low HDL (good cholesterol) are common signs of insulin resistance \u2014 which is the cause of at least 70 percent of cardiovascular disease. The gold standard for diagnosing I.R. is a 2-hour glucose tolerance test (GTT). Due to chronobiology, a person with a predisposition to I.R. can have a normal GTT in the morning but an abnormal one later in the day. In diabetics, a meal eaten at 1 p.m. can result in a 37% higher blood sugar response than the same meal eaten at 7 a.m.<\/p>\n

\u2022 People who skip breakfast have a higher risk of developing diabetes.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Cholesterol levels vary throughout the day. Skipping breakfast is associated with higher levels.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Breakfast skippers have a higher rate of hardening of the arteries and heart attacks.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Even the trillions of bacteria in our gut microbiome have their own, 24-hour circadian rhythms.<\/p>\n

What happens if we disrupt our circadian rhythms? Jet lag is a good example. Night-shift works are another example \u2014 they have higher rates of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer (it isn\u2019t called the \u201cgraveyard shift\u201d for nothing). Bright light \u2014 especially LED light \u2014 before bedtime can disrupt sleep and circadian rhythms.<\/p>\n

Greg Feinsinger, M.D. is a retired family physician who has a nonprofit: Prevention and Treatment of Disease Through Nutrition. He gives a free presentation at 7 p.m. the first Monday of the month at the Third Street Center in Carbondale; is available by appointment for free consultations (379-5718); and conducts a shop-with-a-doc session at 10 a.m. the first Saturday of the month at Carbondale City Market.<\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The dictionary definition of circadian rhythm is \u201crepetition of certain phenomena in living organisms at about the same time each day.\u201d The dictionary definition of the closely related word chronobiology is \u201cthe scientific study of the effect of time on living systems.\u201d In his new book \u201cHow Not to Diet,\u201d Dr. Greger defines chronobiology as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1318491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-05 12:19:30","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1318491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1318491"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1318491\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1318491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1318491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1318491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}