Circadian Rhythm Problems : Apollo Health

An estimated 80 million North Americans suffer from some form of mood, sleep or energy problems that stem from or are affected by a Circadian Rhythm Disorder (CRD). Circadian rhythm problems are manifested in the form of mood and problems such as:

Winter Blues
Mood Swings
Sleepiness

When it comes to dealing with mood and sleep problems like those listed above, it seems there are more questions than there are answers. This document provides some fresh perspectives in the fight against the mood and sleep problems. Perhaps the reason mood and sleep problems like those listed above are on the rise is due to a rapid change in our modern lifestyles. It is also quite possible that sufferers are not finding relief because we are treating the symptom as opposed to the cause.

Significant research has been conducted trials to determine that those sufferers are dealing with a circadian rhythm problem. Research and clinical testing proves many sufferers can find relief from several common mood and sleep problems by correcting their circadian rhythms. The good news is; necessary corrections are minor lifestyle changes along with a simple, non-invasive therapy. A person who corrects their circadian rhythm is in a position to look toward optimal health.

What is Circadian Rhythm Disorder?

A circadian rhythm disorder means your body is producing hormones, chemicals and neurotransmitters in the wrong amounts and/or at the wrong time of the day. Circadian rhythms stimulate the timing and production of countless hormones and chemicals that affect your sleep and mood. Circadian rhythms permeate practically every aspect of our lives because they so heavily influence the chemicals that determine our mood and sleep.

Nature, through its twenty-four hour cycle of day and night, has provided us with a template or a pattern that anticipates what we need to be healthy. Nature has obviously anticipated our needs and when properly synchronized, our bodies respond to nature's external cues.

The timing of psychological, behavioral, physiological, and hormonal rhythms with respect to natures external day-night cycle, clearly imply that temporal order is essential for optimal health. If this is true, then temporal disorder is a potential recipe for health and wellness disaster as indicated by a host of clinical and non-clinical studies. Clearly, many forms of mood and sleep problems can be traced to a circadian rhythm disturbance.

Because the circadian rhythm influences so much of how a person feels or sleeps, if a person desires optimal health, they need to manage their circadian rhythm. If a circadian rhythm is out of balance, other health aspects will be impacted and out of balance as well.

What Causes a Circadian Rhythm Problem?

Unfortunately, modern living has dramatically altered nature's cues. We have developed lifestyle patterns, shelter, conveniences, and modes of travel that dramatically influence the cues that drive other mammals. A modern day does not start at the crack of dawn or end at 8pm.

In a modern day, we get up when the alarm clock tells us too, work indoors, often in inner cities or interior offices where there is very little sunlight or the intensity is ineffective in resetting our circadian clocks. After-work time is spent indoors at social gatherings or in front of the television or computer often late into the night. We go to bed late, usually far after we are tired, and as a result, we are dependant on an alarm clock to get us up in the morning. Unfortunately, we wake up to man made cues and our circadian rhythm has not cued our body to secrete the proper hormones and neurotransmitters resulting in an imbalance.

Unfortunately, very few of us get the amount of daylight needed. In the modern world, we live, work, and play primarily indoors. In fact, one study conducted in San Diego, one of the sunniest and ideal climates in the world found that people there received less than one hour of sunlight each day. The light they received was primarily to and from work while sitting in a car.

When our bodies are out of balance nothing seems to feel right. This is because the hormones, chemicals and neurotransmitters that determine how we feel, sleep and eat are out of sync. The result is a Circadian Rhythm problem.

The Results of Circadian Rhythm Problems

New research regarding the human circadian rhythm and its affect on your body is surfacing on a weekly basis. Over the last couple of decades there has been significant research and clinical studies on circadian rhythm as it relates to mood and sleep problems.

Because circadian rhythms control the release and timing of hormones, circadian rhythm problems underlie many mood and sleep problems. Following are some examples of how circadian rhythm issues affect specific kinds of mood and sleep problems.

Circadian Light Therapy Resets and Stabilizes the Circadian Clock

Light is the most effective way to synchronize the body with the twenty-four hour day. In the early 1980's two groundbreaking studies were conducted; one study was conducted at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and another at the National Institute of Mental Health. Both of these studies concluded that specific wavelengths, intensities and color spectrum of light, (not available in ordinary room lighting) could reset the circadian clock and create circadian balance. Since that time, numerous studies have been conducted to understand how and why light therapy works.

Light, when created in a circadian correct intensity, wavelength and color spectrum, has been clinically proven to reset the circadian clock. In addition to resetting the clock, light has a direct and positive impact by increasing brain serotonin levels. At the same time circadian light therapy has a depressing affect on daytime melatonin. Excessive daytime melatonin has also been linked to mood and sleep problems.

A key point of the SCN is its location in the human body. Because the SCN sits in the hypothalmus, it is connected to the optic nerve. When the eye is exposed to circadian light the SCN receives this signal and utilizes it as it regulates the circadian cycle. Unfortunately, most people no longer get enough daylight to receive the cues that nature intended and as a result there are millions of Americans suffering from some form of circadian rhythm problem.