What cause Chronic Degenerative Disease Part 2 - Circadian Rhythms

The second part of this article series is going to focus on the importance of Circadian Rhythms with regard to our health.

Click Here for Part 1

Sleep and Circadian Rhythms

We all know how important sleep is, but most of the people I know are terrible at optimizing their sleep. This is because
most do not understand or appreciate circadian rhythms.

Circadian What?

A lot of people have never even heard the term “circadian”. Circadian Rhythms are any biological process that displays
an endogenous, en-trainable oscillation of about 24 hours. These rhythms are driven by a circadian clock, and rhythms
have been widely observed in plants, animals, fungi and cyanobacteria. The term circadian comes from the Latin - circa,
meaning "around" (or "approximately"), and diem or dies, meaning "day".

One of the most important circadian rhythms is our day/night cycle, or our light/dark cycle.

To put this as simply as I can – You should be awake and active when it is daytime (light) and you should be resting or
asleep with it is night time (dark).

The Circadian Rhythm Controls many important functions in our bodies, such as:

- Immune function
- Neurotransmitter function
- Blood sugar regulation
- Hormonal Regulation

The Problem!

In the book “Lights Out”, by TS Wiley and Brent Formby, they discuss how many of today’s modern diseases’ are
contributed too, and can also be results of circadian mismatches. The diseases’ (really symptoms) that they linked to
circadian rhythm mismatches in their book were the following:

- Obesity
- Type 2 diabetes
- Depression
- Heart Disease
- Cancer

Circadian Biology and its role in Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes:

Obesity is seen as a prolonged form of pre-hibernation preparation through a circadian biology lens. The story goes like
this.

Summer (Feast) equals:

- Summer - Warm Adapted Environment – Glucose Metabolism
- Summer = long days/short nights
- Long Days = More day light
- More day light = Higher Cortisol
- Higher Cortisol = Higher Insulin
- Higher Insulin/Cortisol = More Sugar & Blood Sugar Mobilization
- More Carbohydrate availability – Higher insulin levels
- Hyper metabolic state – more food availability (Carbohydrate)
 - Higher Cholesterol due to excess carbohydrate intake
- Higher Blood Pressure due to higher carbohydrate intake
- Higher insulin and weight gain in preparation for winter hibernation

Longer days in the summer equalled:

- Less Melatonin secretion at night – Less Prolactin secretion at night and more throughout the day time -
Prolactin Spill over

More Prolactin secretion throughout the day time (Prolactin spill over) in the summer equalled:
- Higher Appetite – particularly for carbohydrates (carb cravings), due to its increased release of Neuro Peptide Y
(NPY)
- High NPY levels lowers leptin levels
- More Sex hormone production due to higher insulin levels from the excess carb consumption , prolactin spill
over, and decreased melatonin, which leads to less Sex Hormone Binding Globulin (SHBG) Production
- Less SHBG – more sex hormone production = this allows for more reproductive activity
- Higher Immune activity, to help heal wounds when fighting over a mate (if prolonged this will turn into
autoimmunity)

What it all means:

- Insulin resistance (type 2 diabetes) and weight gain (obesity), high cholesterol, high blood pressure – perennial
adaptations for winter and famine that is about to come
- Insulin has anti-freeze properties that help the cell survive extremely cold conditions
- Type 2 diabetes and obesity, high cholesterol, high blood pressure are all reversed with cold, sleep and darkness

Winter (Famine) equals:

- Winter – Cold Adapted Environment – Free Fatty Acid/Ketone Metabolism
- Winter = short days/long nights
- Long nights = More darkness
- More darkness – Less Cortisol
- Less Cortisol – Less Insulin
- Little no Carb availability
- Lower Cholesterol
- Lower Blood Pressure

Longer Nights in the Winter Equalled:

- More Darkness = More Melatonin at night
- More Melatonin at night = Less Prolactin throughout the day – No Spill over
- Less Prolactin release throughout the day more at night = decreased NPY
- Decrease levels of NPY, elevated Leptin, less appetite, particularly for carbohydrates, lower insulin levels
- Less sex hormone release and reproductive activity, due to higher levels of SHBG from the decrease insulin, no
prolactin spill over and elevated melatonin
- Increased Prolactin secretion at night stronger Natural Killer (NK) Cells and T Cells release
- More Melatonin (one of the most powerful anti-oxidants in the body) = decreased body temperature (decrease
metabolic rate)
- Hypo-Metabolic state – Food Scarcity

Summer:
In the summer time the days are longer which meant more cortisol production. More cortisol production meant there was
a need for more blood sugar. In the summer carbs where more available to eat, this meant that our primary fuel for the
late spring to late summer months was glucose and fructose. This lead to mild insulin resistance which helps to put body
fat on in preparation for the winter and famine to come. This higher carb intake also increased cholesterol in the body and
blood pressure because carbs retain excess water, this will have more importance when we talk about heart disease.
Insulin has very good anti-freeze properties that help the cell survive extremely cold conditions, so it would make sense to
high higher than normal levels of insulin heading into a long cold famine (winter).

All of these were perennial adaptations for the winter and famine that was to come. BUT we don’t have a winter or famine
to overcome anymore, thus we do not have a winter and famine to help reverse our perennial adaptations. Therefore we
are in a never ending pre-hibernation start, because we have endless summer (artificial lights, and heated homes), and
endless carbohydrate availability all year round! All Yin, with no Yang!

Other Summer Adaptations:

Due to the longer days and shorter nights, less melatonin was secreted at night time, and more prolactin was secreted
throughout the day time, this is known as prolactin spill over. This prolactin spill over increases our appetite for carbs, by
increasing Neuro-Peptide Y (NPY), which decreases leptin release making us want to eat carbs. In Palaeolithic days, summer
was mating season. This meant that competition among the sexes was high. There were many fights and brawls over a
mate. This lead to numerous injuries and wounds which is another reason why prolactin was increased in its secretion
during the day, as it helps to increase immune function and activity (but this is prolonged can turn into autoimmunity).
High Insulin levels and low melatonin levels also decreases sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) from the liver, meaning
sex hormone activity was high among the masses, which makes sense as it was mating season. Serotonin production is also
higher due to the longer light into the night time. Serotonin is a vaso-constrictor and cause blood clotting, not a bad
adaptation for wound healing during mating season.

Again all of these adaptations are fine FOR A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME!

Winter time:

Winter on the other hand is basically the exact opposite to summer. Little to no carbs is available in the winter, as carbs do
not grow in freezing temperatures. This meant that we started to use our stored body fast as fuel in the winter. We began
to run our bodies on free fatty acids and ketones. This made insulin levels lower. Low insulin will also elevate SHBG from
the liver which decreases sex hormone output, along with elevated melatonin, and thus will decrease re-productivity.

Due to the longer nights there was more melatonin production, which meant less cortisol production. More melatonin
production at night also meant more prolactin production (no spill over)at night time hours and less during the day which
meant lower NPY levels, higher leptin levels, and decreased carbohydrate cravings (a good thing as there is no carbs in the
winter), and also helped to decrease excessive immune activity. Also another important thing melatonin does is drop body
temperature. This would be a wanted adaptation in a famine type situation.

Serotonin production was also decreased due to the shorter day light, and low carb consumption. This meant its vaso-
constriction and blood clotting properties are decreased.

Finally due to decreased sympathetic nervous activity (stress response due to mating season), as well as reduced blood
sugar and insulin levels, cholesterol levels will decrease.

Winter was a time when a hypo-metabolic state was a wanted adaptation. You wanted a lowered metabolism to get
through the winter to the following spring.

The Take Home Message:

So, what do? Go to bed, and turn off the lights! In the summer you can stay in longer and eat more carbs. In the winter
when it is dark make you surroundings as dark as possible, and lessen your intake of carbs. Make sure when you sleep that
there is NO LIGHTS on in your room. If any light gets in contact with you SKIN (not just an opened eye) it will suppress
melatonin production, and elevate cortisol. This is the exact opposite of what we want we are sleeping. There are cells in
your skin called crypochromes that pick up blue spectrum light. In “Lights Outs” Wiley mentions about a University of
Chicago study found that merely shining a light from a fiber-optic tube behind the knee of a subject who was completely
covered decrease melatonin production by 80%.

We need are winter time back. The endless summer we now have in modern society is hugely contributing to obesity, type
2 diabetes, depression, heart disease, and cancer.
Circadian Biology and its role in Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes Summary:
Summer (Feast) equals: Winter (famine) equals:
- Long Day/Short nights - Short days/Longs Nights
- Higher Food and Carb Availability - Lower Food and Low/to No Carb Availability
- Glucose Metabolism - FFA/Ketone Metabolism
- Higher Cholesterol - Lower Cholesterol
- Higher Blood Pressure - Lower Blood Pressure
- More Serotonin - Less Serotonin
- Less Melatonin - More Melatonin
- More Prolactin Secretion during the day - More Prolactin Secretion at night, less during the
(Prolactin spill over), less at night day – No Spill over
- NPY high - NPY low
- Leptin low - Leptin High
- High sex hormone output - Low sex hormone output
- High reproduction - Low reproduction
- Insulin Resistance (Type 2 diabetes), Weight gain Insulin Resistance (Type 2 diabetes), Weight gain (Obesity),
(Obesity), high Cholesterol, high blood pressure – high Cholesterol, high blood pressure – All reversed by sleep,
Perennial adaptations for winter and famine darkness, and cold

Table 2: Circadian Biology and its role in Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes Summary

-
Circadian Biology and its role in Depression:

In “Lights outs”, TS and Brent speak mainly about serotonin and dopamine with regards to bi-polar depression.

The main take home here is that if you are constantly around bright artificial lights in heated homes you physiology
believes it to be summer time. This will mean you have non-stop carb cravings because your serotonin is not being turned
into melatonin soon enough at night time, which leads to a prolactin spill over, elevated NPY and decrease leptin
production. If you decided to indulge in eating a lot of carbs over a prolonged period of time along with surrounding
yourself with too much artificial light too often, you will make yourself insulin, leptin and have serotonin excess or
eventually serotonin resistance! When insulin is up, serotonin is up!

Remember when you have resistance of a hormone of neurotransmitter you will have symptoms of having low production
of that particular hormone of neurotransmitter, even though you are making plenty of it.

Symptoms of Serotonin excess are:

- Withdrawal
- Immobility
- Defensiveness
- Depression

When you have serotonin resistance it actually allows what is known as a Dopamine escape. Dopamine brings everything
into a sharp focus, a heightened sense of alertness.

Symptoms of Serotonin resistance are:

- Dopamine escapes
- Sensory overload
- Aggressive
- Paranoid state

In “Lights Outs”, they say that “schizophrenia is an excessive, unregulated amount of dopamine in the brain leading to
episodes of mania”. This is essentially serotonin resistance, cause by insulin and leptin resistance, which was caused by
endless artificial light exposure and too much carbohydrate consumption leading to an unregulated dopamine escape.
Circadian Biology and its role in Heart Disease:

Ok, now let’s look at how circadian mismatches can lead to heart disease.

Serotonin is also a vasoconstrictor and has blood clotting properties. Serotonin is constantly elevated when you don’t turn
off the lights! Excess serotonin production at night means that you are not turning enough of the serotonin into melatonin,
and this then leads to a prolactin spill over. As we have already discussed this prolactin spill over, will increase NPY, which
will decrease leptin, making you hungry, and hungry for CARBS!

Excess carb intake (and I am taking about carbs here that elevate blood sugar and insulin here) will increase cholesterol
production, and when prolonged will elevate the LDL B particle size of the lipoproteins. This is the lipoprotein that is more
easily oxidized when it is left in circulation too long due to excess inflammation in the body. The excess carb intake will also
increase blood pressure due to its water retention capabilities. This will increase shear force on the vessel walls.

Inflammation levels in the body will also start to rise as prolonged elevated insulin (from the carbs in this instance) is
extremely inflammatory to the body. Also when the lights are on cortisol is up, and when this state becomes chronic this
too also leads to inflammation. Cortisol is actually an anti-inflammatory hormone, but it is when its production becomes
prolonged than it can lead to immune suppression. Cortisol itself when elevated will elevate blood pressure and increase
blood sugar mobilization. This is all fine for a short period of time, but if prolonged can lead to the following:

- Depresses immune system

- Causes dysfunction to steroid hormone pathway
- Raises blood sugar through gluco-neo-genesis
- Suppresses the immune system by “muting” white blood cells
- Suppresses gastric emptying - slows digestion
- Weight gain in waist, inflammatory hormonal fat – Visceral Fat
- Increased Blood Sugar → ↑ insulin → stressful Blood Sugar fluctuations → ↑Interleukin 6 IL → ↑inflammation
- ↓Thyroid Stimulating Hormone, blocks conversion of T4→T3 → thyroid dx
- ↓ Melatonin → ↑ sleep disturbances
- Suppresses bone formation → bone loss
- ↓↓↓Frontal lobe capacity → ↓↓↓mood, ↓will-power
- ↓↓↓Hippocampus function → ↓memory
- Loss of muscle mass
- Suppresses Secretory IgA → increased risk for GI infection, infestation
- Decreases sex hormones → low libido

All chronic degenerative diseases’ are preceded by inflammation, and that includes heart disease. Chronic inflammation
leads to scarring of the endothelial tissues on the inside of the arterial walls. This then calls into action an immune
response to help heal this scar on the arterial wall. Cholesterol is one of these repair mechanisms that tries to heal this
damage.

Cholesterol is an extremely important substance in our body, we need it for steroid hormone production, nerve
conduction, brain function, cell function, and it is an anti-oxidant! Some will have you believe that eating dietary
cholesterol will elevated your serum cholesterol, this is not true. Cholesterol production is regulated by your liver and your
cells. If you eat less, you make more, and if you eat more you make less. Others will have you believe that saturated fat will
increase cholesterol which it does, but it only increases your HDL particles and your LDL A particles. The LDL A particle is
the large buoyancy particle that transports cholesterol around the body to help make steroid hormones, myelin on a nerve,
help cell and brain function, etc.
Ok but what about good and bad cholesterol? This is also false. There is only one type of cholesterol in the body. The
cholesterol in a HDL particle is the same as the cholesterol in an LDL particle. What is the real difference between them is
the protein receptor in which they are transported around the body. HDL is the protein receptor that brings used up LDL
receptors back to the liver to be resynthesized with cholesterol or excreted by the liver.

Now with the LDL particles we have different types of particles. There are a few, but the main ones you hear about the
most are LDL A, and LDL B. LDL A as I discussed above is good. LDL B however is the protein receptor that becomes
elevated due to chronic stress and inflammation within the body. This inflammation can be cause by a number of factors,
nutrition, sleep, toxins, relationships, exercise, etc. From a dietary standpoint excess and chronic consumption of
processed or high starch and surgery carbs will lead to elevated levels of LDL B cholesterol. LDL B is known to be small and
dense and prone to oxidation.

When the body is under constant stress (and here we are mainly taking about the stress from too much artificial light
exposure and excess carb consumption but there are many other forms), your body will always make more cholesterol in
response to this stress. Why? Because cholesterol is the precursor to your steroid hormones. When the body is under more
stress, more cortisol (which is a steroid hormone) is needed to adapt to that stress. When this is prolonged, like in endless
summer, cortisol will suppress immunity, and inflammation with the body will increase.

So now we have the following because of endless summer and excess carb consumption:
- Elevated Serotonin – Leading to Vasoconstriction and blood clotting
- Elevated Cortisol – which if prolonged will suppressed immunity
- You are in a chronic fight and flight state due to everything keeping your cortisol up
- You then develop insulin, leptin, serotonin, cortisol and adrenaline resistance which is big time inflammation
- High blood pressure due to the excess carbs, cortisol and inflammation
- Scarring on the endothelial lining of the arteries due to the chronic shear force from the elevated blood pressure
and inflammation
- Elevated LDL B particles that stay in an inflamed circulatory system too long
- BOOM!!

So the question is why would Mother Nature want increased insulin and cholesterol levels to be a needed adaptation for
the winter time you ask? This is because with insulin will increase body to insulate you and produce energy in the form of
body fat. Also glucose has a very low freezing point that will protect the interior of your cells from freezing. It basically acts
like anti-freeze to your cells. This is not a bad adaptation to have heading into a cold famine. The elevated cholesterol
protects the exterior membrane walls of your cells from freezing also.

Again these were per-hibernation strategies that were meant to be reversed by the cold, dark, and sleep of the winter
time.

Other considerations:
Endotoxin LPS has been link to heart disease due to its extremely inflammatory inducing effect. This can become elevated
in the body due to a lack of sleep. A lack of sleep will suppress melatonin production. Melatonin is an extremely important
and powerful anti-oxidant in the body!

Homocysteine is also associated with heart disease. Excess blue-light exposure (artificial light) is something that can
increase homocysteine in the body.
Circadian Biology and its role in Cancer:

Finally we come to cancer and how prolonged circadian mismatches can contribute to the development of cancer.

First of all, metabolic syndrome will increase the risk of cancer. So if you are overweight and diabetic you can bet that you
are aging way too fast!!

Starchy (vegetables) and sugary (fruits) carbohydrates are fine to eat at a fairly high intake, BUT only for a short period of
time, like pre-hibernation. If you chronically over consume carbs that will keep your insulin levels chronically high that’s
when you run into trouble! Particularly when you chronically consume these carbs in the depths of winter under artificial
lights! When you do this you begin to cause excess free radical damage to your mitochondria because of excess oxidation,
and decrease melatonin production, which leads to an increase in aging.

Having the lights on into the night will decrease melatonin production; again melatonin is a very powerful anti-oxidant.
Prolactin production will also occur at the wrong time and will not act as an immune enhancer, but will spill over into the
morning hours and cause you to carve carbs. This is not a good deal if you have excess free radical production going on
inside your cells.

Excess estrogen has been associated with the development of cancers due to its growth producing properties. This is way
there is a lot of scepticism about hormone replacement therapy. But for estrogen to have a part in the development of
cancer it needs elevated insulin and sugar. There is where your excess carbohydrate consumption plays its part.

Chronic high levels of insulin blocks the production of a protein receptor call Sex Hormone Binding Globulin (SHBG). This
allows excess estrogen to stay in circulation too. This chronic high insulin will now also make you insulin resistance. The
fact that you have excess free radical production, can eventually lead to mutations in cells (adult stems). These mutations
can become a cancer cell if given an appropriate environmental signal, like excess estrogen! But cancer needs food,
particularly sugar! Your excess sugar intake feeds this cancer cell for a while until it too becomes like the rest of your cells -
insulin resistant. This is when a cancer can begin to mestastize! It will find a way to get nutrients.

I have spoken before about Dr John Beard and his trophoblast theory of cancer. Beard believed that cancer and a placenta
were exactly the same. Both were primitive undifferentiated cells (trophoblast) that metastized rapidly using the exact
same growth mechanisms. He went on to discover that pancreatic enzymes had a very positive effect in killing cancer
tumors. He originally proposed this idea because he noticed that the day the embryo in a pregnant mammal began to
make its own pancreatic enzymes was the day the placenta became differentiated into itself.

Dr William Donald Kelley a man who was a pioneer in holistic cancer therapy believed that there were three main reasons
a cancer formed:
- The presence of an ectopic germ cell (adult stem). These are the cells that can mutate if given the environmental
signal, and when there is not an optimal supply of anti-oxidants
- The stimulating presence of the female sex hormones
- A deficiency of active pancreatic enzymes

So now we have the following because of endless summer and excess carb consumption:
- You are aging at a very fast rate due to Metabolic Syndrome, oxidative stress to your cells from chronic
carbohydrate consumption and inflammation, and lack of sleep
- Aging is hugely associated to all chronic degenerative diseases
- You have high levels of insulin which blocks SHBG
- Low SHBG leaves sex hormones in circulation too long
- Chronic excess estrogen can cause cell growth, but will not cause a metastatic cancer without chronic high insulin
- Chronic high insulin makes your cells and potential cancer cells insulin resistant
- This insulin resistance cause your cancer cells to metastize in order to get a nutrient supply
- Oh Shit!