What is a biorhythm and why should you take care of it?

Living in harmony with our biorhythm is important for our physical and mental wellbeing. Here are some tips.

Biological rhythms and life

Biological rhythms are the natural life cycles of changes in our various body’s functions, hormones, metabolites, and other body compounds. All biological rhythms can be roughly classified according to their cycle length into:

circadian rhythms: approximately 24 hours cycle
ultradian rhythms: less than 24 hours cycle
infradian rhythms: more than 24 hours cycle.

Circadian rhythms and body functions

The most researched biological rhythms are the circadian rhythms, which can optimally adjust many of our important body functions to the natural day-night cycle. They are part of our body’s internal clock systems, running in the background to carry out needed functions and processes. Those body functions can include:

Sleep-wake cycle
Body temperature
Hormone production
Eating habits, hunger, digestion, and other metabolic functions
Nervous system activity, including mood, alertness, and cognitive ability
Skin, hair, and nail function
Immune function
Muscle and bone functions
Cardiovascular function, such as blood pressure

To put it briefly, we can say the circadian rhythm is the natural cycle of physical, mental, and behavioural changes that our body goes through in a 24-hour cycle.

How do the circadian rhythms work?

The circadian rhythms are driven by a central clock, also known as the ‘master clock,’ which is located in the brain close to our optic nerves and peripheral clocks that are found in nearly every tissue and organ of our body. Thereby, the master clock in the brain coordinates and synchronizes all the peripheral clocks of our body, so we can function at our best.

Therefore it’s crucial to understand and live in harmony with our body’s clocks for our own physical and mental wellbeing.

The strongest controller of our master clock is light, especially sun light, its duration and intensity have the most powerful impact on our circadian rhythms. Sunlight keeps it in sync with the earth’s natural 24- hour cycle. Additionally, our nutrition, i.e., what we eat and when we eat, as well as physical exercise also have an influence our circadian rhythms.

Lifestyle changes and circadian rhythms

Our circadian rhythms work at its best when we follow a healthy lifestyle with regular wake and bed times, a varied and balanced nutrition, and regular physical activities.

However, circadian rhythms can be disrupted and misaligned with the external light- dark cycle through our changing lifestyle. Many of us are staying up late, due to work and/or various social commitments, and find it difficult following a healthy, active lifestyle including a varied and balanced diet. An irregular circadian rhythm can have negative effects on our physical and mental wellbeing.

How to maintain a healthful circadian rhythm?

The good news is, it’s easy to keep your body’s clocks ticking smoothly; here are some tips:

Try to keep consistent bed and wake times, even on weekends
Catch some bright light in the morning
Have regular mealtimes and enjoy a varied, balanced diet.
Avoid heavy meals, as well as eating and drinking late at night
Perform physical activities on a regular basis
Avoid caffeine late in the day
Perform calming activities before bed, such as reading or doing gentle stretches

Can a dietary supplement help?

Keep in mind, the circadian rhythms are the natural cycle of physical, mental, and behavioural changes that our body goes through in a 24-hour cycle. Living in harmony with our biorhythm is important for our physical and mental wellbeing. Maintaining a healthful circadian rhythm may involve adjusting a bit our lifestyle habits: