Rise, Shine, and Rest Right: How Circadian Rhythms Shape Your Well-Being

I’m Brandon Wilson. I am constantly working toward improving my mind, body, and spirit using various ancient techniques and cutting-edge biohacking tools and devices. I want to be healthy, but not at the expense of being happy. This simple idea is what it means to be wellthy.

First time reading? Let’s get you in the club.

---

Do you ever feel like you’re doing all the right things but are still unhappy with your results? Underlying biological rhythms are crucial for optimal health, and you may be working against your body without even realizing it. Let’s discuss these rhythms and how we can change our habits to support them.

The human body is programmed to experience specific rhythms every day. The cycle is roughly twenty-four hours long and is called a circadian rhythm. The word circadian was coined in 1959 and derives from the Latin circa (about) and dies (day). Many of our body’s functions peak at certain times of the day or night as governed by our circadian clocks.

From The Circadian Code by Satchin Panda, PhD

By studying shift workers, we know the dangers of disrupting circadian rhythms. Roughly 20 to 25 percent of the nonmilitary workforce in any developed country is involved in shift work (defined as staying awake more than three hours between 10 PM and 5 AM for more than 50 days a year). Shift work has significant adverse effects on both physical and mental health. It increases the risk of metabolic syndrome, chronic diseases, and poor mental health outcomes, particularly depressive symptoms and anxiety. The disruption of the circadian rhythm leads to sleep disturbances, cognitive impairments, and increased risk of accidents. Additionally, shift workers often engage in unhealthy lifestyle behaviors, which further exacerbate health risks.¹

Even if you’re not a shift worker, unless you have an ancestral lifestyle off-the-grid, the question is not whether you have circadian disruption. The question is whether the disruption you are experiencing is negatively impacting your health.

Here is a link to a questionnaire with 45 Yes/No questions covering physical/mental health and behavioral habits. Answering Yes to three or more questions in the physical or mental health sections indicates your circadian rhythm may not be optimal. In the behavioral habits section, any Yes answer is a potential disruption to your circadian clock.

The next step is to track six critical times for one week. Wake-up, bedtime, first calories, last calories, shutting off screens, and exercise.

Click here for a PDF of this chart.

Assessing your results

• If all six times change by +/- 2 hours or more over the week, there is much room for improvement.

• Most people require at least seven hours of total sleep each night. If you are sleeping less and wake up feeling tired in the morning, figure out how to get to bed earlier or adjust your schedule to get at least 30 more minutes of sleep in the morning. If you sleep more than seven hours and still feel sleepy when you wake up, your sleep quality needs to improve. All it takes is three days out of seven of poor sleep quality to lead to significant health issues.

• Calculate the total number of hours your digestive system is working. Take the earliest you eat any day of the week and the latest you eat any day of the week. This period is roughly the amount of time your digestive system is working. The goal is for this number to be twelve or below.

• Compare your last bite or sip of calories with your bedtime. The difference should ideally be three hours or more.

It can be overwhelming to decide where to start. According to Satchin Panda, a renowned expert in circadian biology at the Salk Institute, the most profound changes will be from optimizing your habits between 6:00 PM and midnight.

Light exposure is an easy place to start with significant effects. Light is one of the primary signals our bodies use to reset the circadian clock. Start by getting sun exposure as close to sunrise as possible and minimizing artificial light exposure after sunset. And let’s be honest; you’re not going to stop looking at screens right before bed anytime soon, so you should look into a pair of blue-light-blocking glasses.

This is a tiny fraction of the incredible information in The Circadian Code: Lose Weight, Supercharge Your Energy, and Transform Your Health from Morning to Midnight by Satchin Panda, PhD. If you are interested in the science and how best to align your habits to your circadian rhythm to support optimal health, this book might be worth your time.

Paperback or Audiobook or Kindle

(Note: These are affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.)

---

The Daily Habit is where I share my habits related to the fundamentals: sleep, diet, physical activity, mindfulness, and stress management.

Download the free myCircadianClock app, which makes tracking food intake, exercise, and sleep easy and helps you optimize your daily rhythms.

---

Refer Subscribers, Earn Perks

With the new referral program, you can earn perks like a complimentary Club Membership and other goodies by unlocking three tiers:

• Get a 1-month complimentary membership to the Be Wellthy Club for 5 referrals.

• Get a 3-month complimentary membership to the Be Wellthy Club and receive a book from my personal library for 10 referrals.

• Get a 6-month complimentary membership to the Be Wellthy Club and a goodie bag prize for 20 referrals.

By the way, if you’re already a Club Member, the free months will be added to the end of your subscription. You'll get credit for new subscribers (free or paid) when you use the referral link below or the “Share” button on any post. Send the link in a text or email, or share it on social media with friends.

While signed into your Substack account, you can visit the leaderboard that shows you how many referrals you have.

To learn more about the referral program, check out Substack’s FAQ.

Thank you for helping get the word out about Be Wellthy!

---

Last week’s answer

Free raffle entrants: Patty B., Mark P., Tobias L.

Be Wellthy Club entrants: Scott L., Ariel E., Renata B., Scott S.

The September raffle is now closed with 10 free entries and 20 club entries.

Raffle prizes are for Be Wellthy Club Members only. Club members can email bewellthy@substack.com the correct answer to each week’s brain training, and be entered into a monthly raffle to win one of two prize packages every month. I do respond to every email.

This week:

To make valid sentences, fill in the blanks in each sentence below with three different homonyms (words that are spelled differently but sound alike). The dashes indicate the number of letters in the words.

1. The cut on his _ _ _ _ won't _ _ _ _ in time for the race, so _ _ '_ _ have to drop out.
2. The man was so upset about being _ _ _ _ that he regularly _ _ _ _ _ _ himself up on the bed and _ _ _ _ _ _ his eyes out.
3. I couldn't _ _ _ _ _ any of the _ _ _ _ _ _ in the flower shop because, for some strange reason, I had 50 _ _ _ _ _ crammed up my nose.
4. A bloodthirsty pirate will wander the _ _ _ _ and essentially _ _ _ _ _ everything he _ _ _ _.

See the answer.

---

After I launched my newsletter, the first topic I covered was sleep, and I’ve written several newsletters with my best tips for improving sleep.

Ask yourself three simple questions to assess your sleep quality:

1. When do you go to bed, and how long does it take for you to fall asleep?

2. How many times do you wake up during the night?

3. Do you feel rested when you wake up in the morning?

Start With Sleep

6 reasons why you need more sleep

My Best Tips for Sleep Awareness Week 2023

Oura Ring Gen 3

Keep your loved ones informed with the most up-to-date information about wellness by sharing this newsletter.

1. https://consensus.app/results/?q=What%20are%20the%20health%20effects%20of%20shift%20work%3F&synthesize=on&copilot=on