Falling Back

The time change has me so messed up with my sleep habits. It caused me to pause and look over some of my Sleep Apnea resources. Daylight savings gets us out of sync with natural seasonal variations by making it lighter/darker at times when our bodies weren't expecting it and don't have time to adjust to the change. When we aren't in sync with natural seasonal variations, our melatonin gets off balance. So what - you ask? Well, melatonin is the start of very, very important hormonal balance in our bodies. The fading of the light in the evening triggers the release of melatonin in our bodies.  With about 30 -45 minutes after melatonin surges when the sun goes down, our body naturally wants us to lay down and go to sleep. But most of us don't go to bed in North Dakota by 6pm which is a hole hour after it gets dark outside.

Melatonin triggers Prolactin to be produced in our bodies while we sleep. Both are strong antioxidants and have a cycle that runs in the night while we sleep. They help to protect our immune system. Prolactin also has a hugely more important job to do...

Prolactin suppresses Leptin as it cycles into the wee hours of the morning. Leptin is a hormone that is involved with driving humans to look for foods that have carbs because as animals, we need to eat high amounts of carbs in the summer to store fat for winter. Prolactin regulates Leptin. When Prolactin is at its highlight levels during the night, it "turns-off" or suppresses Leptin and this decrease our body's desire for carbs.

By not following our bodies natural rhythm of  surging  Melatonin and with-in 30-45 minutes going to bed so that proper Prolactin production can start, we prolong the cycle of Prolactin.  Prolactin needs about 8 hours to run through its cycle in the body. If we don't start Prolactin production until 10pm and get up at 5am - then Prolactin hasn't had a chance to works its full magic on Leptin. Leptin therefore is still elevated in the morning when we wake and so we want CARBS and usually eat them for breakfast!  Because Leptin is still elevated in the morning and we end up eating too many carbs for breakfast, this leads to interruption with our insulin levels and this leads to weight gain.

Here's a parting thought - when we were cavemen, it got darker earlier and earlier in the fall and winter. Melatonin triggered us to get sleepy and since we couldn't see much we let Melatonin lull us to sleep let the production of Prolactin begin. We slept a whole long night and let Prolactin run its full course and fully suppress Leptin.  We woke with no carb cravings in the morning...which was a good thing because back then, there weren't too many handy carbs for breakfast in the middle of winter. Probably just some dried venison wrapped in a pouch!

This begins my foray into how interrupted sleep wrecks havoc on our hormones and how those hormones lead to imbalances in insulin and weight gain. It helps me to me talk through the process and understand that my sleep apnea has affected me in very many physical ways and that getting therapy for proper sleep is essential to healthy living for me.