Understanding Normal Circadian Rhythm Shifts in Puberty and how to support your kids overall health and wellness.
What is circadian rhythm and how does it impact our health?
Circadian rhythm is based on the 24 hour day/night, light/dark cycle that governs our physical, mental and whole self balance. This cycle is conducted by our master clock called the Suprachiasmatic Nucleus (SCN) that is made up of 20,000 nerve cells, located by our hypothalamus and directly connected to our eyes. Our SCN master clock responds to the light that it does and/or doesn’t receive in the eyes to “turn on” various various neurotransmitters and hormones.
The alignment of our circadian rhythm is crucial to our overall health and wellness and balance in our body. It governs our sleep/wake cycle, our hormone release, our digestion and temperature just to name a few. When we are living chronically out of balance with our circadian rhythm it can lead to diabetes, fertility and hormone issues, sleep disorders, mood imbalances, weight gain, obesity and more. Living in alignment with our circadian rhythm seems increasingly hard. We have so many options to over ride the cycle, due to the vast amounts of modern technology, pressures on our time and our move to spending the majority of our time indoors.
Of course for most of human existence we lived connected to the circadian rhythm of the Earth because well we had to, as we lived without modern technology of light switches, heated houses, cars, computers, phones and all of the modern things that do indeed add to our lives AND impact our health in ways that we are just beginning to realize.
The problem is that as a species we aren’t getting healthier, in fact we are moving more and more towards imbalance in our planet and in our own physical mind and bodies. We see this a lot in the mental and physical health of teens!
Teens and their natural changing circadian rhythm.
There is conclusive research that shows during major transitional phases in life (mostly those that are governed by hormones i.e pregnancy, puberty, perimenopause) that the natural circadian rhythm shifts for some time before it ultimately returning to normal.
Melatonin, the main compound that causes us to feel sleepy, is directly related to puberty’s onset! It is found in very high levels in the body pre-puberty and as puberty draws near it decreases up to 75% so that a hormone called, Gonadotrophin releasing hormone (GnRH), which you guessed it helps “turn” on the puberty hormones, specifically testosterone and follicle stimulating hormone. Because of this there is a natural circadian rhythm shift that typically begins around the age of 15 and last until 21. This natural shift causes the surge in melatonin to occur 2-3 hours later in the teen body so the urge to sleep is pushed back to around 10-11pm naturally. However with this push back the teens still need the same 8-10 hours of sleep and sometimes more as major neuro and physical growth occurs.
In addition, teens bodes also have been shown to have a much more exaggerated response to evening light exposure! There have been many studies done on the impact of evening “junk” light on teens and they have all found that this light impacts their hormones, circadian rhythm and mental health much more than adults with fully developed systems and the less developed puberty is the more sensitive they are to the light.
Precocious Puberty and light?
Research has shown that kids age are much more impacted by junk light during the evening hours. The younger the kid, the more impactful the light. This junk light is causing a lot of sleep and circadian rhythm issues, as well as a contributing to a greater overall hormonal imbalance.
In fact kids of there is research that suggests that one of the reasons why we maybe seeing so much precious puberty (puberty before age 8-9) is due to the evening screen and light use.
Junk light has a major impact on hormonal functioning and over all health.
I am sure we have all know what junk food is, food that contains low to no nutritional value and in many cases actually depletes our overall health and wellness. Junk food has become part of the American culture as has junk light.
Light is a source of our daily nutrients and energy! Yes indeed we only get around 25-30% of our daily energy from food, the rest comes from other sources with the biggest being light. Junk light is similar to junk food, it is light that does not add to our energy, health or wellness and in fact causes our overall health and wellness to be depleted, and kicked out of balance due to the light.
So how can we support the health and wellness of our kids during puberty?
Here are my top three suggestions that are super simple to add and highly impactful. You will see and more importantly they will feel a noticeable mood and energy boost, alignment when these simple things are embraced.
Increase their natural light exposure, even during the winter time! We ALL should be increasing our light exposure, spending 5-10 minutes outside every few hours. This time should NOT on screens, phones etc. but just chillin in the light, even in the cold, even on cloudy days.
Block out and/or minimize artificial light as a whole and DEFINITELY at night. There are so many “biohacking” products out there to block BOTH the blue and the green. Remember even our lights in our house have these colors, so buying a light bulb that doesn’t have this and/or a book light maybe super useful. Check out this site.
Get morning light onto their eyes UPON waking for 10 minutes. NO PHONES! Light cues set our bodies rhythm so getting them out in the light for 10 minutes in the morning is a GAME CHANGER and helps balance the entire bodies hormonal, neurotransmitter and mental health. They don’t need to get up with the sun, they are meant to sleep later but upon waking they need the light due to their blunted reponse to light.
These three things are SO simple, yet I get it can be hard to implement! I can promise that from a health, wellness and basic biology perspective these are GAME CHANGERS in both mental and physical health and wellness for your kids and you!
This guidebook helps support you with, simple yet powerful, information and tools!
✨ Empowering Information every parent needs; Including all the information you didn’t know you needed to know!
✨ Top 5 Keys to shift the conversation from "weird" to normal.
✨Guidance to help her balance all the hormones, in easier ways than you may realize.
✨Top ways to create stress resiliency.
✨Simple and easy “tools” to support her (and You) in this transition!