How Disruptions to Your Biological Clock May Play a Role in ...

Why Disrupting Your Biological Clock May Be Dangerous to Your Health

Do you or someone you love perform shift work? If so, you know how challenging it can to your lifestyle from sleep disturbances, to finding it hard to exercise regularly or eat properly, to feeling isolated and separated from your friends, family, and the rest of the world! But in addition to this, it can be harmful to your health. Researchers have found that shift work increases the risk for developing cardiovascular disease, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, obesity, and depression just to name a few. There are probably several contributing factors to this, one being the disruption to circadian rhythm or, in other words, your biological clock.

A recent study was conducted to look more closely at what affect circadian rhythms have on the activity of insulin. Insulin is responsible for facilitating the movement of sugar into the cells for either usage or storage. When the body does not respond properly to insulin (insulin resistance or insulin insensitivity), sugar (glucose) remains in the blood which can cause a myriad of problems and contribute to the development of metabolic syndrome, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and obesity. The study looked at the 24-hour cycle of insulin in mice. Mice are nocturnal and have a circadian rhythm exactly opposite of humans but that is very similar. Their circadian rhythm consists of two phases: inactive/fasting phase similar to our sleep phase and high activity/feeding phase similar to our active phase. It was found that during the inactive/fasting phase, the mice were more resistant to insulin and during high activity/feeding phase were more sensitive to it (and therefore better able to transfer glucose out of the blood).

After this observation, the researchers wanted to see how insulin was affected when a disruption to these phases occurred. They did this in two ways. The first approach they took was to study mice that were missing a gene for proper circadian rhythm function. They found that these mice tended to be in a consistent insulin-resistant state. They tended to gain more weight and carry more fat. When providing a protein to re-establish their circadian rhythm, insulin sensitivity improved and prevented fat gain.

The second approach was to put normal mice in a constantly lit environment disrupting their circadian rhythm. Of course this mimics what shift workers experience. They found similar results?insulin insensitivity (or insulin resistance), higher amounts of body fat and greater weight gain. And this was despite being fed less food than the mice that did not have a disruption to their circadian rhythm.

While further study needs to be performed using human subjects, this is a viable explanation as to why there is the increased incidence of the previously mentioned diseases in those performing shift work. Interestingly, these researchers also found that high-fat diets disrupted the circadian rhythm of mice living in a normal environment.

While this evidence is concerning, it is important to remember that this is one of probably many other factors contributing to these health risks. Engaging in healthy behaviors can help and does make a difference. Here are some suggestions.

• Exercise Regularly. Exercise helps to control blood sugar levels and is vital to disease prevention. It also helps to regulate sleep and decreases the incidence of depression.
• Eat well. Despite being disrupted as this study suggests, insulin, obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease are all affected by what and how much food we eat. Try to establish a normal meal schedule regardless of your work hours. For most this means consuming 3 meals in a 24 hour period of time with a few snacks. Time your meals according to the time of day not your shift. Regardless of what time you get up, eat breakfast as this helps to stimulate your metabolism and have your main meal ?mid-day? versus in the middle of your shift. As for any of us, avoid foods high in simple sugars, added sugars and high in unhealthy fats even though they may be more convenient. ?Try to bring healthy food options from home so you can have something available in case your time to eat is limited.
• Cut down on caffeine. It is best to have caffeinated drinks before or early in your shift. Try to avoid caffeine at least 4-5 hours before going to sleep and limit consumption to 3-4 six ounce cups. Stimulants remain in your blood stream for up to 8 hours so poorly timing caffeine consumption as well as consuming too much of it can interfere with your ability to sleep. Which brings me to?.
• Get enough sleep. Lack of sleep carries its own risks and unfortunately shift works have been shown to sleep less effectively one reason being, even brief exposure to sunlight causes hormones to be released that make the body more alert and therefore hard to sleep. ?Block out the light, use a sleep mask, avoid TV and other stimulants when it is time to go to sleep. (Easier said than done when you come home and have to help get the kids off to school!
• Try to have a consistent schedule. For many, shift work is a necessity. Many experts believe that rotating shifts carry even further detriments so if possible, try to have a consistent schedule.

Again remember, you do have control over your health. Healthy behaviors do make a difference!

Reference

Shi S, Ansari TS, Mcguinness OP, Wasserman DH, Hirschie Johnson C. (2013). Circadian disruption leads to insulin resistance and obesity. Current Biology, DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2013.01.048.

Source: http://todayiwill.com/2013/03/how-disruptions-to-your-biological-clock-may-play-a-role-in-obesity-and-diabetes/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=how-disruptions-to-your-biological-clock-may-play-a-role-in-obesity-and-diabetes

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