Sleep on it: A beginner’s guide to circadian health

We might be spending more on a good night’s sleep than we ever have, but 1 in 3 Australians still have trouble nodding off. A new wellness trend promises to fix that – but the science behind it isn’t quite so simple. 

As a society, we’ve never channelled more energy into getting a good night’s kip. We track our sleep through wearable technology, monitor our brain waves and climb into space-age nap pods, desperate for anything to help us nod off.

With all of this time spent on rendering ourselves unconscious, you’d think we’d be pretty good at it by now. Unfortunately, that’s not the case, and one in three Australians are still not getting enough sleep. We’ve even invented a few new sleep-related issues, like Orthosomnia, which is when over-tracking your sleep actually causes you anxiety and prevents you from sleeping.

But there’s a new trend on the block that promises to solve our sleep-related issues once and for all.

It’s called circadian health, and it’s essentially about pulling your body back into a natural ‘circadian rhythm’— the familiar, day-night groove etched into our biology through millions of years of evolution. It’s sort of the neurological equivalent of the paleo diet, but with more robust science behind it.

Human beings have evolved to be highly sensitive to sunlight and darkness. And not just for obvious practical reasons, like finding your cave in the dark.

In 2017, a group of researchers won the Nobel Prize in Medicine by proving that our bodies are driven by two fundamental things: light and time. The day-night cycle doesn’t just control our sleep, it moves us at a cellular level, affecting our heart rate, blood pressure, hormones and mood.

The science behind this is complex (you can get a good crash course here), but it boils down to one fact: as a society, we’ve tinkered too much with our body’s internal clock, and now it’s gone haywire. That’s why we can’t sleep. It’s also why we’re generally irritable, tired and run-down.

This is where this idea of circadian health, which aims to try and re-set our biological clocks, comes in. Dr Steven Lockley, one of the world’s top biological sleep experts, puts it this way: “The absolute key to healthy sleep and circadian rhythms is stable, regularly-timed daily light and dark exposure. After dusk, when natural light disappears, we must minimize the negative impact of man-made light.”

There are lots of elements to circadian health, but light is the big one. Experts predict that, soon, more and more homes will feature dedicated circadian lighting: bulbs and gadgets that reduce the harsh, blue light we get from screens (which tricks our brains into thinking it’s daytime) and replace it with “tuneable, biodynamic lighting solutions that sync with the time of day.”

And if you think that sounds farfetched, the circadian lighting market is already booming. It’s expected to reach $4 billion by 2024.

We’re already seeing this with some devices: smartphone manufacturers have introduced ‘Night Mode’ to help grease the circadian wheels, and new ‘smart lights’ are timed to change hue after dark.

Unfortunately, some studies suggest these might actually be making sleep worse, not better. And this is where circadian health gets a little complex. Your biological clock actually anticipates environmental time – it doesn’t reflect it. So ‘tricking’ your brain with different coloured lights, while maintaining an irregular, disrupted sleep schedule might not necessarily be the answer.

Some circadian health experts, like Dr Lockley, argue that what’s really important isn’t fancy lighting techniques, but mirroring natural rhythms as much as possible: that means bright blue days and dark, dark nights.

Circadian Health is an emerging field, and there’s still a lot we don’t understand (scientists can’t agree on why we sleep, let alone the complex neurophysiology involved). But now that researchers are beginning to figure out circadian rhythms, there’s a lot of potential.

In the distant, well-rested future, circadian drugs could be used to tackle some of the world’s biggest diseases, including obesity, diabetes and Alzheimer’s. Until then, we’ll have to sleep on it.

Copyright © 2020 AIA Australia Limited (ABN 79 004 837 861 AFSL 230043). This is general information only, without taking into account factors like the objectives, financial situation, needs or personal circumstances of any individual and is not intended to be financial, legal, tax, medical, nutritional, health, fitness or other advice.

Staff writers come from a range of backgrounds including health, wellbeing, music, tech, culture and the arts. They spend their time researching the latest data and trends in the health market to deliver up-to-date information, helping everyday Australians live healthier lives. This is general information only and is not intended as medical, health, nutritional or other advice. You should obtain professional advice from a medical or health practitioner in relation to your own personal circumstances. The information in this article is general information only and is not intended as medical, health, nutritional or other advice. You should obtain professional advice from a medical or health practitioner in relation to your own personal circumstances