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How food affects your biological clock The body has an internal clock that affects vital signs such as temperature and blood pressure and also influences when we sleep and wake. While many experts argue that light has the strongest influence on how that clock is oriented, some evidence suggests that what and when we eat might play an equally, if not more important, role. New study findings by Dr. Steven McKnight and colleagues of the University of Texas Southwest Medical Center in Dallas provide further evidence that food has a significant effect on our internal clock, or circadian rhythm. Regardless of whether food or light has the upper hand, more and more evidence suggests that people who travel to a new time zone should adopt the meal schedule of the new place to help combat jet lag, McKnight said. If an airline offers a large meal that matches the place you just left but not where you are going, the researcher suggested opting out, and trying to train your stomach to adopt to your destination's time zone. "Begin to have your feeding cycle on that new daylight schedule that you're going to be in," McKnight advised. Previous experiments have shown that mice, which normally sleep during the day, can be taught to reverse their schedule if they are only fed during daylight hours. Genetic analyses of these altered mice reveal that genes that were turned on when the mice slept during the day were now turned off--and vice versa--indicating that their body had undergone internal changes to adapt to the shift in schedule. Recently, McKnight and his team discovered more details on how food can influence circadian rhythms. Food contributes a certain amount of fuel for the body processes, which gets stored in the form of a substance known as NADPH. When that fuel is used up, it becomes converted into NADP. The researchers demonstrated that the Clock gene transcription factor, which controls how our body clock is set at certain times, may sense how much NADP is present in relation to the amounts of NADPH and act accordingly. In humans, for instance, in the morning the body contains little NADPH relative to NADP, since the night is spent using up fuel rather than adding it via meals. This particular ratio of NADP to NADPH may tell the transcription factor to behave in a certain fashion--in humans, it helps tell the body clock it is time to wake up. McKnight and his team discovered new findings that help link circadian rhythms to metabolism, which he presented at the Society for Neuroscience's annual meeting in Orlando, Florida. At the meeting, McKnight demonstrated that mice that lack the Clock gene transcription factor are unable to switch to sleeping during the night when they are only fed during daylight hours. Mice tend to spend many of their waking hours running on a wheel, and those that lack this body clock regulator also are unable to take naps between their normal waves of activity, a characteristic habit in mice. McKnight said he believes that all of the previous evidence demonstrates that food has a stronger influence on circadian rhythms than light. "When you ask whether food or light wins, food wins," he said. Dr. Cinque's comments: I don't know about you, but I find this to be fascinating. Many people report that eating does affect their sleep/wake cycles. For instance, many people say that eating a big heavy meal very late at night disrupts their sleep and makes them foggyheaded the next day. I know very well from my personal and clinical experience that food has a major effect on the sleep/wake cycle. Specifically, I have experience in the use of therapeutic fasting, and during fasting (when people aren't eating anything) the sleep/wake cycle is altered dramatically. When you take food out of the picture, the body doesn't always know where it is in the sleep/wake cycle. Eating is definitely one of the references the body uses to distinguish night from day. Whether eating is more or less important that way than light really doesn't matter because both are important. So how can we apply this information about circadian rhthyms to our lives? It has been known for a long time that early morning light entering the eyes reinforces a healthy sleep/wake pattern. It may be hard to believe that light entering your eyes in the morning may help you sleep better that night, but it does. So make a point of getting early morning sunlight whenever you can. As far as the timing of meals goes, for most adults I think the best plan is to have a light breakfast (or no breakfast, if you are not hungry in the morning, as many people aren't; the idea that you should be force-fed in the morning even if you are not hungry is ridiculous). Then have a more substantial meal mid-day, and then the heaviest meal in the evening. Some prefer to have their main meal mid-day and a lighter meal in the evening, and I think that's OK too if you prefer that. Sometimes I am asked about eating just one meal a day. You might be surprised at the number of people who say they eat only one meal a day. But the problem is that you can't possibly consume the recommended amount of fresh fruits and vegetables in just one sitting. You cannot be optimally nourished eating just one meal a day. If you do it occasionally, that's OK, but doing it long-term is not a good idea. You need at least two meals a day to get everything you need. E-mail to a friend Previous Article Next Article |
