Circadian Rhythms

Modern science proves our ancient ancestor's wisdom?

Did your parents put you on a sleeping schedule when you were little, "in bed by 9"? 
Were your grandparents telling you that "the early bird gets the worm"?
Have you noticed that most of the world has their biggest and main meal in the noon?
"Eat breakfast like a prince, lunch like a king and dinner like a pauper" - sound familiar? You know that almost all cultures practice "siesta" or afternoon napping, but why?

It turns out most of the daily practices and routines of our ancestor (but even ours today, for the most part) were not done on a whim, at random. They understood that everything that they do in a day has a specific time when that thing should be done. In order to achieve optimum results. But how did they know what should be done when? Well, to understand that we must first go back in time, before modernization and the 2nd industrial revolution.

Before the time of artificial lighting and electronics, before mass production and globalization, before all that... When man was mostly dependant on himself and relied on his own two hands for supplying him and his family with food, water and shelter. At that time, when most people lived in villages, the countryside or nature. Back then it was way easier to notice the occurring patterns in nature. 

People HAD to get up early in the morning to finish their work in the field by noon, so they could avoid the scorching sun. They recognized that after a hard day's work in the garden a big tasteful meal would nourish them. The idea of lunch was an important ritual for the whole family. In the evening, since there was no electricity, people HAD to embrace darkness when the sun has set. As the outside was getting darker, so was the inside of the house. Maybe a fire was lit, or a few candles were kindled. The family unwound, got sleepy and went to bed after the sun did as well. Living in the countryside made one sensitive to the slightest changes in nature. Changning of the seasons, lunar changes and much more. Very rarely could a person NOT be aware of the cycles in nature.

Nowadays, however, we have distanced ourselves from these natural phenomenons. What made that possible was mostly due to embracing the modern lifestyle and the appearance of electricity. This is not to say that electricity is bad, au contraire, but as always we have misused and abused our very own inventions. We put ourselves in big cities, we gathered in small, dark apartments. We became accustomed to constant heating during winter and constant cooling during summer. We cannot stand the idea of being in darkness, the lights must regularly be turned on. Instead of walking on bare earth and feeling how the ground changes throughout the seasons, we walk on firm concrete. It is almost as if we made a continuous and unchanging environment in the big cities. In such stagnate conditions it is difficult to notice subtle changes in nature. We may notice that winter has turned to spring, but have we really felt it on a deep physiological level. Are you aware that spring does not only come about on that tree in front of your window but also happens inside your body?

As big cycles happen on the outside they also happen on the inside. Inside our bodies, there are numerous "clocks" that also work in cycles. One of those cycles is called the Circadian Cycle. A circadian rhythm, or circadian cycle, is a natural, internal process that regulates the sleep-wake cycle and repeats roughly every 24 hours. The term circadian comes from the Latin circa, meaning "around" (or "approximately"), and diēm, meaning "day". These 24-hour rhythms are driven by a circadian clock, and they have been widely observed in plants, animals, fungi, and cyanobacteria. Our heart has a clock, our liver has a clock, our lungs have a clock. This means that every bodily tissue and organ has a specific time of the day when it is working at its best. In this manner, every activity we can conceive of has the best time when to do it and the worst. We need to embrace these natural cycles and start aligning ourselves with them. We need to start listening to little hints and cues that Nature gives us. This opens up a whole new world of possibilities for people from all walks of life.