Dr. Jones, I had to laugh at your description of having a cabin on a cruise ship above the nightclub. I once stayed at a Vegas casino and later found out the room was above the late night club so we had to switch rooms late at night.
That aside, this was another fascinating piece with analogies that made your points vivid. I've definitely heard about chronobiology in relation to night shift workers, but hadn't heard of the connection to longevity for the rest of us. I'm definitely going to check out my own rhythms and see what I can adjust as another tool in my "aging well" toolkit.
The more I read, Melanie, the more important I believe circadian rhythms to be.
I stayed at an out of town casino in PA once for a conference. It was far from Vegas in every sense of the world and rather a depressing eye opener. It was full of folks on mobility scooters, some with oxygen cylinders, pouring their savings into slot machines without any sign that they were enjoying it.
Thanks Ben for another practical article. My wife and I are both in our 70's, retired, with quite regular patterns of sleep, eating, movement and rest, and yes, with clear differences between daytime and night-time. As a result we feel very in synch with our internal body clocks. I did notice seasonal variations in these patterns though. When we lived in southern Canada with darkness descending at 4:00 pm in mid Winter it felt 'natural' to go to bed at about 10 pm and to get up at 6 or 7 am. On the other hand in mid summer when we had daylight until 10:00 pm it felt natural to go to bed at Midnight and to wake at about 8:00 am. I was self employed with a flexible work schedule so I never had to rush off to work or fight traffic. Meal times didn't vary between winter and summer but movement/exercise definitely did because in the summer the days were so much longer it felt natural to be more active outdoors, for much longer periods.
We've now lived in Mexico for 14 years with only a minimal 2 1/2 hour difference between mid-winter (11 hours of daylight) versus mid Summer (13 1/2 hours of daylight). What feels natural for both of us is to go to sleep at about Midnight or 12:30 am and to wake up at about 7:30 am all year round. Without work schedules or other "must do" activities at certain times, yes, life is much easier for us than for people still working and for those with young children.
My point is simply that the physical environment, especially if there is a large seasonal difference between daylight and darkness can, at least for some people, like myself, shift their internal clock seasonally to change their regular patterns a bit.
I've never been an "early morning person" but I also noticed that when I lived n Canada and had to get up earlier than normal to drive to a ski resort for a day of downhill skiing, which I absolutely loved doing, it never seemed to throw off my internal body clock. Maybe it was the adrenaline and all the extra activity that compensated?
That’s a fascinating perspective, Tom (as usual!).
The suprachiasmatic nucleus does change it’s activity through the seasons at higher latitudes to partially accommodate the changing day length, so that does allow us to be more flexible across the year.
However, not everyone adapts well to the changes, and disrupted circadian rhythms are linked to mood disorders like SAD, as you know.
I’ve seen advice that it may be better to enforce a middle of the road timing, by drawing the curtains in the evening in summer and having bright, daylight bulbs to extend daylight exposure in winter.
We have similar seasonal variations here in the UK. In midwinter, it’s dark by 4pm, while in midsummer, I can easily sit outside and read after 10pm.
After 35 years of living in Vancouver I got SAD and it got progressively worse each year in my early sixties due to the short winter days and cloudy, rainy skies for 7-8 months a year with far too many days in a row with no sunshine. That was one of the reasons why we decided to move to Mexico, where there is lots of sunlight all year long and voila! the SAD quickly disappeared. I'm also super light (and noise) sensitive so we always used blackout drapes in our bedroom. Winter is already over here (hooray!) with daytime highs now at 26-30C and getting warmer at night too (now about 8-11C). We're looking forward to being able to go swimming again in April (the big community pool is not solar heated).
I’ll ignore the cruelty of pointing out it’s already so warm there, whilst here in the UK we’re still in the depths of winter - though it is sunny today!
Did you ever try high intensity lamps for your SAD, and if so, did they help?
No winter weather cruelty was intended... Yes, I did try a "high intensity" sunlight mimicking lamp but it didn't help at all. That was many years ago so maybe that lamp technology was not as good as it is now? I suspect, like many people in northern latitudes, that I may have been vitamin D deficient each winter. I wasn't tested for it because I wasn't aware then how common winter vitamin D deficiency is when 95% of my skin was covered due to cold weather and due to the lack of sunshine. I also vividly remember going skiing on the mountains north of Vancouver at 2,000+ meters and riding up the gondola through the heavy clouds and reaching brilliant sunshine near the mountain peaks. It felt so fantastic to ski in the brilliant sunshine (reflecting off the snow) versus being at the base of the mountain where it was completely cloudy and gray. May you get lots more sunshine!
Thanks. I do think this is a vital area of health that’s largely invisible to the average person, even those who take an interest living a healthy lifestyle.
As you say, the first step is recognising whether our daily rhythms are consistent or chaotic, and assessing this objectively can often bring surprising results.
Dr. Jones, I had to laugh at your description of having a cabin on a cruise ship above the nightclub. I once stayed at a Vegas casino and later found out the room was above the late night club so we had to switch rooms late at night.
That aside, this was another fascinating piece with analogies that made your points vivid. I've definitely heard about chronobiology in relation to night shift workers, but hadn't heard of the connection to longevity for the rest of us. I'm definitely going to check out my own rhythms and see what I can adjust as another tool in my "aging well" toolkit.
The more I read, Melanie, the more important I believe circadian rhythms to be.
I stayed at an out of town casino in PA once for a conference. It was far from Vegas in every sense of the world and rather a depressing eye opener. It was full of folks on mobility scooters, some with oxygen cylinders, pouring their savings into slot machines without any sign that they were enjoying it.
Dr. Jones I remember Atlantic City and the locals casinos in Vegas looking like that. It was very sad.
Thanks Ben for another practical article. My wife and I are both in our 70's, retired, with quite regular patterns of sleep, eating, movement and rest, and yes, with clear differences between daytime and night-time. As a result we feel very in synch with our internal body clocks. I did notice seasonal variations in these patterns though. When we lived in southern Canada with darkness descending at 4:00 pm in mid Winter it felt 'natural' to go to bed at about 10 pm and to get up at 6 or 7 am. On the other hand in mid summer when we had daylight until 10:00 pm it felt natural to go to bed at Midnight and to wake at about 8:00 am. I was self employed with a flexible work schedule so I never had to rush off to work or fight traffic. Meal times didn't vary between winter and summer but movement/exercise definitely did because in the summer the days were so much longer it felt natural to be more active outdoors, for much longer periods.
We've now lived in Mexico for 14 years with only a minimal 2 1/2 hour difference between mid-winter (11 hours of daylight) versus mid Summer (13 1/2 hours of daylight). What feels natural for both of us is to go to sleep at about Midnight or 12:30 am and to wake up at about 7:30 am all year round. Without work schedules or other "must do" activities at certain times, yes, life is much easier for us than for people still working and for those with young children.
My point is simply that the physical environment, especially if there is a large seasonal difference between daylight and darkness can, at least for some people, like myself, shift their internal clock seasonally to change their regular patterns a bit.
I've never been an "early morning person" but I also noticed that when I lived n Canada and had to get up earlier than normal to drive to a ski resort for a day of downhill skiing, which I absolutely loved doing, it never seemed to throw off my internal body clock. Maybe it was the adrenaline and all the extra activity that compensated?
That’s a fascinating perspective, Tom (as usual!).
The suprachiasmatic nucleus does change it’s activity through the seasons at higher latitudes to partially accommodate the changing day length, so that does allow us to be more flexible across the year.
However, not everyone adapts well to the changes, and disrupted circadian rhythms are linked to mood disorders like SAD, as you know.
I’ve seen advice that it may be better to enforce a middle of the road timing, by drawing the curtains in the evening in summer and having bright, daylight bulbs to extend daylight exposure in winter.
We have similar seasonal variations here in the UK. In midwinter, it’s dark by 4pm, while in midsummer, I can easily sit outside and read after 10pm.
Ben,
After 35 years of living in Vancouver I got SAD and it got progressively worse each year in my early sixties due to the short winter days and cloudy, rainy skies for 7-8 months a year with far too many days in a row with no sunshine. That was one of the reasons why we decided to move to Mexico, where there is lots of sunlight all year long and voila! the SAD quickly disappeared. I'm also super light (and noise) sensitive so we always used blackout drapes in our bedroom. Winter is already over here (hooray!) with daytime highs now at 26-30C and getting warmer at night too (now about 8-11C). We're looking forward to being able to go swimming again in April (the big community pool is not solar heated).
Cheers,
Tom aka "Tomás"
I’ll ignore the cruelty of pointing out it’s already so warm there, whilst here in the UK we’re still in the depths of winter - though it is sunny today!
Did you ever try high intensity lamps for your SAD, and if so, did they help?
No winter weather cruelty was intended... Yes, I did try a "high intensity" sunlight mimicking lamp but it didn't help at all. That was many years ago so maybe that lamp technology was not as good as it is now? I suspect, like many people in northern latitudes, that I may have been vitamin D deficient each winter. I wasn't tested for it because I wasn't aware then how common winter vitamin D deficiency is when 95% of my skin was covered due to cold weather and due to the lack of sunshine. I also vividly remember going skiing on the mountains north of Vancouver at 2,000+ meters and riding up the gondola through the heavy clouds and reaching brilliant sunshine near the mountain peaks. It felt so fantastic to ski in the brilliant sunshine (reflecting off the snow) versus being at the base of the mountain where it was completely cloudy and gray. May you get lots more sunshine!
Thanks. I do think this is a vital area of health that’s largely invisible to the average person, even those who take an interest living a healthy lifestyle.
As you say, the first step is recognising whether our daily rhythms are consistent or chaotic, and assessing this objectively can often bring surprising results.