“I’ve always envied people who sleep easily. Their brains must be cleaner, the floorboards of the skull well swept, all the little monsters closed up in a steamer trunk at the foot of the bed.”
— David Benioff, screenwriter
09/09/2020
Circadian Rhythm
1hr 31min
We think this episode won’t put you to sleep, although a lot of it is actually telling you to do so. “Feel The Rhythm” episode is focusing on the Circadian Rhythm, and the flip side of that coin, Sleep. We deep dive in this episode into the origins of Circadian rhythm throughout the animal kingdom but almost entirely human cycles and rhythms. We make reference to scientists and experts like Dr Satchin Panda relating to the internal body clock for the different organs in our bodies, Dr Jason Fung and Thomas DeLauer who are outspoken on the subject of intermittent fasting, nutrition and Mr. Beard goes into extraordinary detail about how his body works when it’s looking for food. Amazing!
Following on and interwoven with discussions on our innate and it must be said fascinating cyclical lives, is the importance of sleep and how it modulates, moderates and heals our bodies in the most fantastic ways you could imagine. Dr. Matthew Walker is our sleep expert for this episode as we refer to his book ‘Why We Sleep’, and his endless exploratory experiments into how, why and how much shut eye we humans should be getting when compared to our hairy cousin primates. We talk about the enormous benefit that a full night of sleep will provide us with, while exploring the aspects of human illness that arises when we get too little, and in some cases those people who wear it like a badge of honour to gloat about the minimal amount of sleep they can ‘function’ on. Turns out you’re not really at full tilt when you get less than 8 hours. We hope you enjoy our sleepy brethren.
For each episode, we will highlight the main topic discussed and share a video from YouTube we think is worth watching.
Check out this ‘Talks at Google’ video of Matthew Walker from December 2017. Matthew is an English scientist and professor of neuroscience and psychology, and is one of the most high-profile public intellectuals focused on the subject of sleep.
Found something interesting discussed in this episode? Chances are, we found it interesting too and we went off and did a bunch of reading online about it.
So why not dive further into the topic! Here are some handy links we think you might like.
As many of us are aware, we go through different cycles as we sleep. The most well known of these cycles in the ‘REM Cycle’. Standing for Random Eye Movement, REM sleep is essential for boosting your creativity and problem-solving skills.
For more information on REM sleep and the different cycles we all go through while we sleep, check out this great article by Fitbit.
A circadian rhythm is a natural, internal process that regulates the sleep-wake cycle and repeats on each rotation of the Earth roughly every 24 hours. It can refer to any biological process that displays an endogenous, entrainable oscillation of about 24 hours. These 24-hour rhythms are driven by a circadian clock, and they have been widely observed in plants and animals.
Winner of the Nobel Prize, check out this paper where Dr Jeffrey Hall, Dr Michael Rosbash and Dr Michael Young uncover the mechanism behind circadian clocks in fruit flies
Dr Satchin Panda the gold standard when it comes to the intersection of the circadian rhythm and intermittent fasting. He has done numerous TED talks as well as appearing on Found My Fitness podcast with Dr Rhonda Patrick.
He offers fascinating insights about how the circadian rhythm relates to not only the sleep-wake cycle, but also down to your internal organs and even down to every cell in your body. Check out this episode of the Found My Fitness episode where he goes in to great detail on these topics. Bring a pen and paper ’cause you are gonna need it!
Intermittent fasting, sometimes referred to as time-restricted feeding, is simple idea but can come with great benefits for your energy levels, focus and overall health and well-being. The idea is simple – eat only during a certain time window each day. A common ‘window’ setup would be “16-8” – You can eat (anything you want) during an 8 hour window (for example from 8am until 4pm), and then nothing but water for the remaining 16 hours of the day.
It sounds much more difficult that it turns out to be, and it is well worth giving it a go. A great way to boost energy, it is also a sustainable way to lose a few pounds and inches off your waistline. For the ‘101 on Intermittent Fasting’, check out this article from healthline.com.
Numerous studies have been carried out on rats to examine the effect of different fasting regimes and and eating restrictions. It has been shown that if rats are limited to a specific time window each day when they are allowed to eat, they live longer and live much healthier lives (as per a number of different ‘health markers’). This is independent of what they actually eat (good or bad food).
For more information on one such study, check out this NIH website article.
Enjoyed this episode? Hopefully you found some of the additional information on this page interesting or useful. Why not check out one of our other episodes – we think you will like them too! 🙂
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