Your Circadian Clock is Critical to Your Memory

re: Your Circadian Clock is Critical to Your Memory

mic108 — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 13:20:19 GMT

Hi, just wanted to offer a personal benefit that I find when I go to bed early, and was interested if anyone else has experienced the same thing. If I am asleep by 10.30 pm, I sleep right through the night without waking. If I sleep after midnight, I have to get up to the loo between 2-5 times a night. ?

re: Your Circadian Clock is Critical to Your Memory

idisnotok — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 15:28:02 GMT

a good book to read is called insomniac by gayle green.she is a college professor but is an insomniac and does tons of research and goes to the conferences and speaks to not only doctors but researchers, as well, about sleep issues.

much of the current research going on is finding genetic reasons for sleep disorders,circadian rhythm dysfunction, and the research is strongly suggesting that the 9-5 schedules will be found to be to blame for the increasing medical problems as we age...meaning very few of us are true larks(early birds,morning people), most of us are late first shift/early second shift per our internal time clocks. and dr. mercola had an article stating that research found only one altered protein on dna resulted in circadian rhythm disorders. while i have fibromyalgia(which is also being found by current sleep research to be a symptom of an underlying sleep architecture disorder), i also believe i have an inherited circadian disorder called delayed sleep phase sydrome. and since sleep docs and insurance companies only want to pay for sleep/mslt tests for apnea issues, there is no luck finding a doc who will help get to the bottom of these sleep disorders that are and will be taking a much bigger tole on medical dollars,decreased work productivity,increased sick days off from work and already proving to increase rates of cancers,heart disease and more medical issues.

so i guess what i am saying is that our internal time clocks aren't just a hunch, or a belief, or a feeling, our time clocks are really individual and most are not 9-5, and research is proving it.keep a sleep log and prove it to yourself, which is hard to do for those of us who work 9-5, but when i had a week and half off over last christmas, i proved it to myself, my sleep/wake pattern really changed, i no longer had excessive daytime sleepieness, i no longer took multiple narcoleptic sleep naps throughout the day, and i acutally felt much better and hormone production became normal.

re: Your Circadian Clock is Critical to Your Memory

Gracie G — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 17:12:36 GMT

I read this today (in my exhausted state from poor sleep) and wondered if what might be keeping me up was that I am often sitting in front of a light source late at night, whether it is the monitor or the TV. Could that be keeping my circadian rhythm out of whack? My question is, for those of you who find sleeping from 2 a.m. until 9 a.m., do you also have this exposure to light late at night? I'm going to experiment on this idea. I am going to go outside every morning and get plenty of sunshine, then I will turn off the monitors and TV by a reasonable hour (9 pm?) and see what happens. (A little hard, since I'm a graphic designer -- so tempting to stay up until 2 a.m. designing.) But this lack of sleep and the affect on my memory is far worse for me than the benefits of staying up. So my other question is: for those of you who are sleeping 2 a.m. to 9 a.m.: Does this affect your memory?

re: Your Circadian Clock is Critical to Your Memory

beht — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 20:42:05 GMT

HI Amazonblonde - I tried to find an email, but I couldn't. Mine is behtbeht@sympatico.ca

I'm certainly not saying that my way is for everyone, and I would usually not argue certain points. But I feel very strongly about my own experiences with sleeping. It's the same with the saying "breakfast is the most important meal of the day." Not for me - water is about it for me for the first 4 or more hours after I get up.

On the other hand, I think that by trying many things, we can find out new things we didn't know. Such as many of the things on this site: avoiding sugar, eating coconut oil, taking fish oil - thank God I discovered these.

re: Your Circadian Clock is Critical to Your Memory

AmazonBlonde — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 20:00:44 GMT

beht,

I, too, enjoyed your comments and agree with everything you said. The timeline you speak of is exactly what I have ended up adopting as well, although sometimes I can fall asleep earlier. This sleep pattern has often caused me distress, especially in relationships, as in the past early risers who insist that they are right about getting up very early cause disharmony in the peace by not leaving me to my own body rhythms. Now that I am alone, I much more at peace following what my body directs.

I would be interested in corresponding more with you; I believe you can send me an e-mail through this website system.

re: Your Circadian Clock is Critical to Your Memory

curious7 — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 14:47:00 GMT

I began to understand this healthful addition when I read the writings of one Dr. Lorainne Day, and her battle with cancer. According to her writings one should be asleep between the hours of 10:00 pm, and 2:00 am, in order to get the proper benefits from sleep. These are the hours when the body heals and renews. For information see www.drday.com

re: Your Circadian Clock is Critical to Your Memory

OnlyTruth — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 14:39:50 GMT

beht,

Your comments are interesting. I've always been a night-person and understood that was just how my body worked. When I began to have children, I was forced to be a morning person even though I was still up until 1 or 2 AM. This, of course, meant my sleep time was greatly shortened.

I've tried repeatedly to go to bed earlier and rise earlier since the children have grown and gone but I always fall back into the old patterns. Perhaps I shouldn't fight it?

re: Your Circadian Clock is Critical to Your Memory

beht — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 11:55:29 GMT

The thing is, I think some people's inner clocks are a little different than others. I tried for 4 years to get up at 6:30 am every day and be asleep by 11 and I never ever could adapt. I was very unhealthy at that time because no matter how much sleep I got, I was always tired. Upon awakening, I felt like I was coming out from under a house, and I was groggy and in a bad mood all day long. Then I finally switched hours at work. Now I go to bed at around 2 am and wake up at 9 and I feel great all the time.

If I go to bed much earlier, I do sleep, but it's always a light sleep and is not restful. Studies I've read have shown that about 15% of people are like me and their bodies and minds are active and awake in the later evening. And I believe that it's definitely not just how much sleep you get, but WHEN you sleep. My has told me over and over again to go to bed relatively late and to not wake up much before 8 am and this is always perfect. This is still close to being awake for most daylight.

In fact, one doctor who's studied sleeping patterns said that left to their own devices and not tied to a schedule, most people will go to bed gradually later and wake up gradually later every day until they've literally gone all the way around the clock within several weeks. While not possible to maintain this in today's society, the people doing this apparently felt great.

Anyway, my point is that some people's circadian rythyms are a little different - I know mine is.

re: Your Circadian Clock is Critical to Your Memory

Darnell — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 01:32:24 GMT

It now makes sense to me why my bipolar family member doesn't remember treating people badly during her manic episodes...she's not sleeping either. I guess now I won't hold it against her!

re: Your Circadian Clock is Critical to Your Memory

stoic — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 16:16:12 GMT

my inner hamster has subbed out memory to google key word searches.....