Alchemical Wizard 26 : Chronobiology / Sleep & Circadian Rhythm!
Let’s talk about Chronobiology, our Sleep patterns and Natures Circadian Clock. Chronobiology is the biology of time and internal biological clocks. Biological clocks range from oscillations found in nerve cells on the millisecond scale to oscillations in minutes, hours, days, and years. Although the commonly used phrase "your biological clock is ticking" relates to the window of years for becoming parents, many clocks are found in humans, such as time to puberty, menopause, and aging "clocks." Let's focus on one of these chronobiological phenomena, the 24 hour day cycle or circadian clock.
Our circadian rhythm is basically a 24-hour internal clock that is running in the background of your brain and cycles between sleepiness and alertness at regular intervals. It's also known as our sleep-wake cycle. This clock however is shrinking to a 16 hour scale because we are in a different Electromagnetic field in our Galaxy. See - ASAP : Where is our Solar System? What is The Photon Belt and how does this relate to our Biofield Physiology?
For most of us, the biggest dip in energy happens in the middle of the night somewhere between 2:00am and 4:00am, when we are usually a sleep and just after lunchtime around 1:00pm to 3:00pm, when we feel that after lunch, it's nap time feeling. Those times can be different if you’re naturally a night owl or a morning person. You also won’t feel the dips and rises of your circadian rhythm as strongly if you’re all caught up on sleep. It’s when you’re sleep deprived that you’ll notice larger swings of sleepiness and alertness.
A part of our hypothalamus controls our circadian rhythm. Outside factors like lightness and darkness can also impact it. When it’s dark at night, our eyes send a signal to the hypothalamus that it’s time to feel tired. The hypothalamus specifically the Suprachiasmatic nuclei or SCN, sends a signal to our Pineal gland to release melatonin, which makes our biological body tired. That’s why our circadian rhythm tends to coincide with the cycle of daytime and night time.
Our circadian rhythm works best when we have regular sleep habits, like going to bed at night and waking up in the morning around the same time from day to day which includes weekends. When things get in the way, like jet lag, daylight savings time, a baby crying or a Sci-fi Netflix binge that keeps us up into the early hours of the morning, these can disrupt our circadian rhythm, which makes us feel out of sorts and can make it harder to pay attention, have critical thinking and use our discernment!
Sleep occurs in two major phases, non rapid eye movement (NREM) and REM sleep. Over the course of a night , we cycle through these phases multiple times, with deep sleep predominating in the early part of the night and bouts of REM sleep getting longer in the latter part of the night. REM sleep is when our brains process and store relevant events of the day, while deep sleep is when tissues are repaired and built, immunity is strengthened and metabolic waste is cleared from our brains.
Modern day stresses can take away a good circadian sleep pattern. Sleep is a natural shift from the sympathetic (fight or flight) to the parasympathetic (rest and digest) nervous system. Levels of the stress hormones like cortisol, epinephrine and norepinephrine drop and levels of melatonin. When we are turned on to the fight or flight everyday in this fast paced socially conditioned lifestyle with chronically elevated cortisol levels then sleep is going to be quit challenging!
We should consider reducing our stress levels first. Of course doing yoga, exercising, walking in nature, meditation, deep breathing and just slowing down enough to have some critical thinking will help reduce the stress and support our sleep patterns. Every day I do yin yoga stretching and meditation but every other day or so I combine body weight training with other Holistic Health tools. It really helps to get into a constructive pattern of slowing down.
Adaptogenic herbs like Reishi mushroom and Holy Basil (Tulsi) can help support our biological bodies during stressful times and help us stabilize cortisol levels. Other nutrients that provide us with extra stress support are the B complex vitamins, vitamin C, Magnesium, can't stress magnesium enough, and omega 3 fats. Vitamin D and getting out in the Sun and getting barefoot on Gaia often. Gaia and nature have the Circadian Clock down. Gaia is in alignment with the Cosmic Flow Clock. So getting out in nature often and even laying down on the ground and letting your Biofield physiology (Morphogenetic Field) combine with Natures circadian rhythm will greatly support you!
Also L- theanine and the GABA connection! L-theanine the amino acid found in green tea has a calming, anxiety reducing and a relaxing effect. It helps support healthy sleep via several changes in the brain including increased levels of the calming neurotransmitter GABA. It also increases alpha brain waves, present during REM sleep.
As of late (pun), I am stacking Now’s True Calm, a 5-HTP, a ubiquinol CoQ10 and a probiotic enzyme combo a few hours before bed time. It really helps me. I don’t like taking a synthetic Melatonin!
Obvious dietary tips are to avoid caffeine beverages, refined carbs, grains and sugars in the later part of the day. These lead to blood sugar instability, inflammation, insulin resistance and cortisol dis-regulation. Which leads to over 60 percent of our gut microorganisms energies working on regulating and digesting while we are trying to sleep. Not good!
Intermittent fasting really can help with our own circadian clock! Consider doing a 16/8. Choose your 8 hour daytime window for eating. And remember Food is Medicine! Fuel your microorganisms during the day! A Kombucha, kefir, yogurt or a fermented food, etc. High frequency foods! Your fueling your Avatar! Your Temple! Your Vessel in this Grand Cosmic Journey!
So slowing down out in nature with shoes off if you can. I do that as often as I can in my own back yard when I meditate. Also eating well, which means getting most of your nutrients from your higher frequency foods, some form of exercise and just a few added supplements, if you are not getting everything from your garden foods!
Blessings Everyone as we continue with Holistic frameworks and tools to inspire confidence as we unlock resources to make this Ascension shift more meliorative! We are Sovereign and We are most defiantly Freeing Ourselves!
Travis Carper - Ascension Health Coach / Alternative & Holistic Health Service https://www.facebook.com/traviscarper888/
Additional References :
ScienceDirect : Chronobiology - https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/chronobiology
1. The Basics of Chronobiology - https://ccb.ucsd.edu/the-bioclock-studio/education-resources/basics/part1.html
2. A Basic Sketch of Endogenous, Self-Sustained Oscillators - https://ccb.ucsd.edu/the-bioclock-studio/education-resources/basics/part2.html
3. Addressing Oversimplifications - https://ccb.ucsd.edu/the-bioclock-studio/education-resources/basics/part3.html
CCB Glossary - https://ccb.ucsd.edu/the-bioclock-studio/education-resources/basics/glossary.html
Chronobiology: Stepping out of time - https://www.nature.com/articles/497S10a
Nutrition Facts Chronobiology - https://nutritionfacts.org/topics/chronobiology/
Foundations of circadian medicine - https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3001567
The Chronodiet: A Diet Based on Your Biology - https://www.chronobiology.com/20121/
Bonus References Audio :
681: The Importance of the Circadian Rhythm and Why Biological Timing Is Everything With Alex Dimitrov - https://wellnessmama.com/podcast/681/
#4 Circadian Rhythms – The Science and Treatment of Internal Clock Disorders -
Chronobiology (CIRCADIAN RHYTHMS) with Katherine Hatcher -