Manipulating The Circadian Rythm

Gadsie

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Are there any people who work night/evening shifts or have other reasons they can't have a perfectly natural sleep schedule?

I wonder if it would be possible to effectively manipulate your body's biological clock with light/darkness so you can have any sleeping cycle you want.

Say you want a cycle from 4AM-12PM, I imagine you could perhaps use artificial lighting until 2AM to make your body think its daytime, then from 2-4AM you wear blue light blocking glasses to make your body thinks the sun is setting.

Then you go to sleep in a pitch black room, and as soon as you wake up you get some natural sunlight.

Very curious to know more about this, perhaps I'm overlooking certain things.
 

Blossom

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This thread has some good information if you haven't seen it,
Circadian clock obeys metabolism/sugar, not light/genes

In May I came off a six month stent of working evening shift and I used the blue blocker glasses when I got home from work for a couple hours until I went to bed. I had been sleeping with an eye mask for years already so I continued with that and my circadian rhythm seemed to adjust fine. In fact I noticed that I adjusted better to shift work this time around than I did when I was in my thirties. I suspect that is just because I'm in a better place with my metabolism and more resilient in handling stress. I also made sure to eat regularly I just shifted my meal times and stuck with it. In the past I would have skipped eating quite often and that probably kept my stress hormones elevated.
I think it's possible to make the transition easier by manipulating meal times and light.
 

Maretch

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I'm sorry if this seems strange but... why would you do something like that?
 
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This thread has some good information if you haven't seen it,
Circadian clock obeys metabolism/sugar, not light/genes

In May I came off a six month stent of working evening shift and I used the blue blocker glasses when I got home from work for a couple hours until I went to bed. I had been sleeping with an eye mask for years already so I continued with that and my circadian rhythm seemed to adjust fine. In fact I noticed that I adjusted better to shift work this time around than I did when I was in my thirties. I suspect that is just because I'm in a better place with my metabolism and more resilient in handling stress. I also made sure to eat regularly I just shifted my meal times and stuck with it. In the past I would have skipped eating quite often and that probably kept my stress hormones elevated.
I think it's possible to make the transition easier by manipulating meal times and light.
@Blossom

Although I am working on to get on day shift, I work evening shift currently.

I wear UVEX blue blocking goggles shortly after sunset till I'm ready for bed.

Upon waking, I go outside to reset circadian clock reset and UVA, and more sun around my solar noon for UVB.

I ate around noon and 8pm since was practicing IF (16/8) and ketogenic diet which has been changed.

"I also made sure to eat regularly I just shifted my meal times and stuck with it. In the past I would have skipped eating quite often and that probably kept my stress hormones elevated."

Would you share your eating/meal pattern?

Thanks
 

Blossom

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@Blossom

Although I am working on to get on day shift, I work evening shift currently.

I wear UVEX blue blocking goggles shortly after sunset till I'm ready for bed.

Upon waking, I go outside to reset circadian clock reset and UVA, and more sun around my solar noon for UVB.

I ate around noon and 8pm since was practicing IF (16/8) and ketogenic diet which has been changed.

"I also made sure to eat regularly I just shifted my meal times and stuck with it. In the past I would have skipped eating quite often and that probably kept my stress hormones elevated."

Would you share your eating/meal pattern?

Thanks
Sure. When I worked 2 pm to 10 pm I would have coffee with cream and sugar immediately upon waking and then eat breakfast within the hour which was usually about 10 am. I would have my lunch sometime between 4:30 and 6:30 pm depending how on my workload was for the day. My last meal (dinner or supper) would be about 11:30 pm or midnight by the time I drove home and prepared something. I had snacks too if I needed one. I normally went to bed around 2-3 am. Does that answer your question okay?
ETA: most days I would eat a snack on my way to work between 1-2 pm.
 
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Sure. When I worked 2 pm to 10 pm I would have coffee with cream and sugar immediately upon waking and then eat breakfast within the hour which was usually about 10 am. I would have my lunch sometime between 4:30 and 6:30 pm depending how on my workload was for the day. My last meal (dinner or supper) would be about 11:30 pm or midnight by the time I drove home and prepared something. I had snacks too if I needed one. I normally went to bed around 2-3 am. Does that answer your question okay?
ETA: most days I would eat a snack on my way to work between 1-2 pm.

Yes, it helps. Thanks.

For me, I work from 4pm to midnight. My goal is to come home and sleep by 1am.

I used to eat dinner by 8:30pm and at times I would be hungry but went to sleep anyway.

Pre PR, I woke up 6:30 - 7:30am, drink coffee with cream (no sugar) while go outside to sun gazing to set circadian clock.

Now, I come home and drink warm milk with honey/sugar, sleep 1am but wake up 8:00 to 8:30. I notice deeper and longer sleep.

Upon waking, OJ, coffee + cream + sugar x 2 and try to eat eggs. Noon lunch and eat snack'ish meals throughout hoping to speed up my metabolism.

Coming off 16/8 intermittent fasting for 7 plus years, it's not easy to eat breakfast daily nor drink OJ and consume sugar. Acne tells me too much sugar. lol

My question was meal and meal times as well as sleep cycle (autophagy and all phases of sleep) that is "suppose" to be in harmony with light-cycle.

Just read the link you posted about available food source being the main instead of light cycle. Got to read more and decide which is true...true for me. lol
 

Blossom

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I used red light too. I would try to sit next to my lamp for about a half hour before work and for another hour or two before bed.

Coming off intermittent fasting was challenging for me especially on work days because I seemed to need to eat something every two hours for several months.
 

Blossom

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My question was meal and meal times as well as sleep cycle (autophagy and all phases of sleep) that is "suppose" to be in harmony with light-cycle.
I definitely prefer a day shift work schedule but rearranging my meal times really helped me tolerate working evenings much better than I had handled shift work in the past. So while I don't think it's ideal to have to work too much out of sync with the natural light cycle I still believe we are flexible enough that we can adapt.
 
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I used red light too. I would try to sit next to my lamp for about a half hour before work and for another hour or two before bed.

Coming off intermittent fasting was challenging for me especially on work days because I seemed to need to eat something every two hours for several months.
Was that a signaling of your metabolism speeding up?
 

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