Eating in alignment with your circadian rhythm
Eating in alignment with your circadian rhythm - your body’s internal biological clock - can provide significant health benefits. Your body’s circadian rhythm follows roughly a 24 hour cycle, regulating things such as sleep, metabolism, hormone production and body temperature. It is influenced by environmental cues like sunlight and darkness, which helps your body know when to be awake, alert, and eating, or asleep, resting and digesting. Circadian rhythms are critical for maintaining overall health, and disruptions to it (for example, jet lag or shift work or just going to bed too late) can lead to sleep issues, metabolic imbalances, and other health issues. Adjusting your sleep/wake cycle to be in alignment with your body’s circadian rhythm is incredibly important for healthy sleep, which has a cascade of other health benefits, but for the purpose of this post, we’re going to focus on how to eat in alignment with your circadian rhythm.
Eat breakfast within an hour or two of waking up. In the morning, your body is more insulin-sensitive, so it can process carbohydrates more efficiently, reducing blood sugar spikes. Eating food before or with coffee is essential so we’re not increasing our body’s stress response first thing in the morning by having caffeine on an empty stomach. A balanced, adequate breakfast with protein, healthy fats and fiber helps to provide sustained energy throughout the day.
Don’t skimp on lunch. Having a substantial meal midday just makes sense - this is when you’re in need of the most energy, whether you’re working, chasing after kids, or getting a workout in. So many of my clients blow right through lunch, or graze on non-nutritive snacks midday, but as your metabolism peaks around midday, it’s ideal to have a substantial meal during this time.
Don’t save your calories for dinnertime and beyond! Your metabolism slows in the evening - as does your digestive system - as your body prepares to rest, so this isn’t when we want to be having a huge meal to make up for any calories or meals missed earlier in the day. Eating dinner a few hours before bedtime also avoids interfering with your body’s natural melatonin production, which helps to promote better sleep. Late night eating can cause indigestion, bloating and acid reflux, which can in turn interfere with sleep.
By aligning your daily habits, such as eating, sleeping and exercise, with your circadian rhythm, you can have better physical, metabolic, and digestive health.
