Your Sleep Wake Cycle is important

If you are feeling exhausted, overwhelmed or having trouble sleeping you maybe out of alignment with natural rhythms. No matter how complex and how clever we are, we are still primates. We are still part of nature and the rhythm of nature. When we align with this rhythm we live a more easeful life, things just flow.

When we stick to the rhythms of nature we experience both physical and mental benefits.

Science is now proving the 'why' behind many ancient wisdom practices. It’s fascinating when scientists like Andrew Huberman, who studies the brain and the neural retina discuss this, “viewing morning sunlight around the time of sunrise as well as evening sunlight around the time of sunset is fundamental for instructing the brain which instructs all the cells of the body when to be active. Just like you’re a factory and you need your digestive system to work on a particular schedule and you need your spleen to work on a particular schedule”

Bright light activation between 11pm and 4am sends a signal from the eye to brain stucture, the habenula (involved in sleep-wake cycles, reproductive behaviour, and mood) kicks off a disappointment circuit, it starts suppressing dopamine and the habenula is linked to the pancreas (brain body connection) and starts deregulating blood sugar.

-from paper published by Cell https://www.cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S0896-6273(19)30527-6

"Every circuit in the brain has a push and a pull so we have a reward system for viewing light at particular times of the day, morning, evening and during the day and avoiding bright lights in the middle of the night. There is a punishment system, literally chemical punishment, whereby dopamine a feel good chemical, essential for optimism, growth mindset, pursuit of goals and wellbeing of all sorts, is suppressed when human beings or other animals view bright light in the middle of the dark phase of circadian cycle. Mother nature is benelovent and punishes you if you don’t obey her rules." -Andrew Huberman