Manage Your Biological Rhythms - Dr. Ed Iannuccilli

Manage Your Biological Rhythms - Dr. Ed Iannuccilli

In junior high school, our gym teacher spoke of maintaining good health. What he said stuck with me for  years; “The body loves a system . . . doing similar things at the same time every day . . .  waking, eating studying, exercising, etc. . . on schedule. It’s good for your health.”  Because I thought that a good message, I conveyed it to my patients for years thereafter.

In retrospect, that teacher’s message was very likely my first introduction to biorhythms, a bodily system, a science I had not heard of until years later. What is a biorhythm?   

It’s a phrase often used interchangeably with circadian rhythm from the Latin circa (about) and dies (day); a series of bodily functions regulated by your internal clock of twenty-four hours (about a day). Those rhythms control cycles, like sleep and wakefulness, body temperature, hormone secretion, and more.

GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST

The body maintains that rhythm through a variety of chemicals that respond to the environment. Length of exposure to light, eating habits, and other environmental signals can maintain or disrupt those rhythms, and the disruption may lead to health issues.

Biological rhythms are coupled with an internal brain clock located in the hypothalamus, the area of your brain that coordinates the autonomic nervous system (a control system that acts largely unconsciously and regulates bodily functions), and the activity of the pituitary gland, controlling body temperature, thirst, hunger, sleep and emotions.

Biological rhythms can be disrupted by natural changes as you age or can be due to alterations in environment and activities. Many of you have experienced jet lag.

Jet lag may be the most common disruption of biological rhythms. It occurs when traveling across several time zones. The rapid change confuses the body’s internal clock and often results in insomnia, indigestion, irritability and fatigue.

Other than sleep, biological rhythms influence heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, hormone levels, blood sugar, and mental health.

I still give the same advice to many. Keep a schedule. Do like things at the same time every day. Understand that when you deviate, you may have an ‘off day’ as your shift from the usual may be the reason.

To keep your biological rhythms in synch, practice the following habits: avoid artificial light from electronic devices before bedtime, exercise each day to make it easier to sleep at night, go to bed and wake close to the same time every day, don’t overeat or eat too close to bedtime.

Here is one that I adhere to as it was a characteristic (more likely a family curse). Not only am I  on time for a meeting, even a casual lunch, most of the time I am early. Do you know what happens when you are on time or early for an appointment? Yep, you wait, a lot, especially for those who do not manage their biorhythms.

Just a few thoughts to ponder . . . stay on track, live in your system. It leads to good health and wellbeing.

Dr. Ed Iannuccilli is the author of three popular memoirs, “Growing up Italian; Grandfather’s Fig Tree and Other Stories”, “What Ever Happened to Sunday Dinner” and “My Story Continues: From Neighborhood to Junior High.”  Learn more here.