How You Spend Your Days Can Affect Your Nights From night owls to morning larks. By Shanti Argue
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ircadian rhythms are our body’s time keeper, differentiating day and night, telling us when it is time to eat and releasing sleep hormones like melatonin when it is time to sleep. Psychologist and PhD candidate Hailey Meaklim explains that our bodies tend to follow a 24-hour cycle, however, “We are influenced by our environment and behavior. Light is the most important factor for regulating our circadian rhythms, but timing of meals, social cues and activity levels also play a role.” Many important bodily processes are influenced by our circadian rhythms, which is why Meaklim warns that, “If we expose ourselves to light at night or change our sleep-wake or meal schedules, this can really disrupt our circadian rhythms and lead to poor sleep, as our body gets confused about what time it is.” DISORDERED SCHEDULES At St. Vincent’s Hospital Sleep Centre in Melbourne, Australia, Meaklim sees patients dealing with sleep disruption, excessive sleepiness and insomnia. Circadian Rhythm Sleep-Wake Disorders (CRSWD) occur when there is a misalignment between a person’s circadian rhythms and the sleep-wake schedule required by the person’s environment or work commitments,” says Meaklim. “People often report feeling like they are constantly jet-lagged and are operating on a different time zone then their family, friends and workplace.” “These conditions are often misdiagnosed as insomnia (difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep or waking too early), but a key difference with CRSWDs is that if you let people sleep at a time consistent with their body clock, they can sleep! This is different from insomnia where people struggle with sleep no matter the time.” NIGHT OWLS In Delayed Sleep-Wake Phase Disorder (DSWPD),
10 | May/June 2021
people often refer to themselves as night owls. “We see that a person’s body clock is delayed by several hours,” Meaklim explains. “They feel like a normal sleep cycle would be something like going to sleep at 3:00am and waking at 11:00am.” “A common example that we see in the clinic,” Meaklim goes on to explain, “is a referral from a frustrated parent because their teenager cannot get to school on time, with implications for their school performance. Whilst elements of behavior such as mobile phone use late at night can really delay a person’s body clock and sleep, there is often an underlying DSWPD at play.” According to Meaklim, DSWPD affects around 7-16% of young adults due to a natural delay in the
Why am I so tired?
