Your body has an incredible superpower hidden within – its own internal clock.
You’ve probably heard the words circadian rhythm before… But do you know what it means? This is your miraculous 24-hour internal clock that is almost ALWAYS on point.
Until it’s not… But I’ll get to that shortly.
Your circadian rhythm is supposed to work perfectly to regulate certain physiological functions,like your sleep-wake cycle and metabolism. It helps to set your body up for success after a good night’s rest.
It also tells your brain when to be alert and when to start feeling drowsy.
And just by working with your internal clock or circadian rhythm you can literally supercharge your health.
Aligning your daily habits and lifestyle with your circadian rhythm improves your metabolic health and flexibility.
And trust me on this one… I’ve felt the benefits!
Optimize your Circadian Rhythm by Intermittent Fasting at Specific Times of Day
Paying close attention to the timeframe within which you eat every day in alignment with your circadian rhythm gives your body– and metabolism– plenty of time to digest, recover, and restore before waking up in the morning.
That’s why I ALWAYS recommend intermittent fasting with the sun.
Simply eating with your circadian rhythm will optimize your health, kick-start your metabolism, and leave you energized all day long.
One of the best ways to get the job done is with Reverse Fasting or Early Time-Restricted Eating.
NOTE: These are both the same thing, but NOT to be confused with Circadian-Based Intermittent Fasting—which is slightly different.
That said, early time-restricted eating is by far the BEST intermittent fasting method for women over 40 because it helps keep our hormones and metabolism in check—while ALSO minimizing many if not all of the disruptive symptoms of the perimenopause to menopause transition.
Let’s dive a little deeper into why this works.
The Power of Your Circadian Rhythm as it Relates to Intermittent Fasting
Okay– so we know the circadian rhythm works in tune with the 24-hour day.
After sundown, your body goes through CRAZY metabolic shifts at the cellular level. Your body becomes naturally more insulin-resistant, and your digestion slows in preparation for sleep.
THREE powerful hormones run the show:
- Melatonin rises as the sun begins to set and light turns to dark.
- Serotonin rises as the sun begins to rise and dark turns to light.
- Cortisol should rise in the morning and fall at night
All of these hormones work together to ensure your body repairs and restores overnight to optimize functioning for your next day.
Unfortunately…
There are a plethora of modern lifestyle disruptions that can affect our circadian rhythm. And these disruptions pose a challenge to maintaining our natural biological patterns.
Distractions like TV, social media, and other forms of screen time before bed can impact the quality of your sleep– throwing off your circadian rhythm.
Factors like artificial lighting and staying up too late put your system out of whack as well. And with these disruptions, consequences can occur such as metabolic imbalance and even insulin resistance.
But by minimizing these distractions with good sleep hygiene, and paying closer attention to aligning your lifestyle to your circadian rhythm, you can boost your metabolism– leaving you recharged and refreshed every morning.
That’s where Early Time-Restricted Eating comes in.
Early Time-Restricted Fasting for your Circadian Rhythm
As you may know, intermittent fasting is when you restrict when and sometimes how much you eat.
Circadian-based fasting is a more basic form of intermittent fasting that aligns your meal timing with your circadian rhythm. This essentially means eating when the sun is up, and fasting while the sun is down.
The way this usually works is fasting for a minimum of 12 hours– around when the sun is down. So after dinner, the goal is to not snack or eat anything until your first meal the following morning after sunrise.
This fasting window can grow larger the more your body gets accustomed to intermittent fasting.
Early Time-Restricted Fasting, on the other hand, is more advanced and slightly more challenging to pull off, BUT the benefits for women are far reaching.
That’s because your last meal of the day must be eaten earlier– between 4-6 pm so you have several hours for your body to digest overnight.
It’s essential to eat dinner AT LEAST three hours before you go to bed.
This method of intermittent fasting can:
- Regulate your blood sugar levels,
- Optimize your metabolism
- Boost your mood and brian health
- Help you get a better night’s rest
- Improve your overall health and longevity
As someone who has adopted the Early Time-Restricted Fasting method myself, I can tell you that I truly feel the benefits. And I feel good without feeling hungry, drained, or starving for my next meal.
Why Early Time-Restricted Eating and Circadian Rhythm Alignment is MISSION CRITICAL
There have been numerous benefits seen with adopting Early Time-Restricted Fasting– most of which I’ve experienced myself!
Key benefits of Early Time-Restricted Fasting include improved blood sugar control and enhanced metabolic function.
When you eat later in the day, you’ll experience high blood sugar levels, which can ultimately lead to increased insulin resistance. But with Early-Time Restricted Fasting, you don’t see those blood sugar spikes late in the day.
This does wonders for our overall blood sugar stability.
And if you’re looking for ways to balance your blood sugar in between your meals, try my Gluco Support Supplement for ideal blood sugar optimization.
Also, Early Time-Restricted Fasting is the ideal type of intermittent fasting for your metabolism. During the daytime, our bodies are far more efficient at burning calories from food and using them as energy.
This is because they’re in a thermogenic state, so calories are easily burnt rather than stored as fat.
So eating during the day – during this thermogenic state– is far better for metabolic flexibility than eating your biggest meal in the late evening or night.
Other key benefits of Early Time-Restricted Fasting to note are:
- It reduces inflammation
- It can help prevent certain chronic conditions
- It improves your heart health– now and in the long run
- It enhances your sustainable energy
- It helps with mood swings and mood regulation
- It helps keep stubborn weight off!
Aligning your eating schedule with the sleep-wake cycle restores balance to disrupted circadian rhythms.
The Bottom Line
So in summary, your circadian rhythm is your internal clock that regulates physiological processes including metabolism.
This natural shift in internal biology from your circadian rhythm leads to increased insulin resistance and slowed digestion. However, modern lifestyle can disrupt these natural biological patterns, causing metabolic imbalance.
Learning how to best work with your circadian rhythm will help you reach your health goals MUCH faster.
And as I mentioned, the BEST method for women to take charge of their hormones and metabolism is the Early Time-Restricted Fasting method. I know you’ll soon start to feel the benefits RIGHT AWAY—just like I did.
For even more tips on how to get started with fasting for your circadian rhythm, check out my recent blog.
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