Category Archives: Dopamine

Artificial light and circadian rhythms: blocking the blues

Check out the above image of the electromagnetic (EM) spectrum. Different biohacking eyewear have different purposes, and it largely depends where on the EM spectrum they act.

If you stare at a computer screen (or iPad, smart phone, etc., etc.) all day, the specialized glasses you may want to look into block out light just south of the visible light wavelengths. These will help with eye strain, headaches, etc. You could use bona fide blue blockers for this, as they block blue and everything south, although it’d be overkill and probably annoying due to visual disturbance. Pixels  and Gunnars are good for this, but they’re not especially great at blocking blue light (with the possible exception of the amber-tinted Gunnars).

Warning: there’s an article floating around on the internet saying it’s useless to block blue light because those computer glasses don’t preserve melatonin secretion. This is a STRAWMAN. Computer glasses aren’t designed to block blue light.
The truth: it’s still important to block blue light at night. If you get eye strain or headaches staring at a computer screen, than computer glasses may be appropriate.

 

 

 

Blocking blue light at night is key for proper melatonin secretion and preservation of circadian rhythms.

Most smart devices emit LED light which has a particular spike in the blue range:

 

If you need to light at night: moonlight or candles > amber or red-tinted bulbs  > low watt incandescent bulb. They should be positioned below eye level as light entering the eyes from above more effectively suppresses melatonin than light from below (with the exception of moonlight LOL) (Glickman et al., 2003).

 

Amber lenses to block blue light and improve sleep: a randomized trial (Burkhart and Phelps, 2009)

 

Wearing blue light-blocking glasses in the evening advances circadian rhythms in the patients with delayed sleep phase disorder: an open-label trial (Esaki et al., 2016)

 

Uvex SkypersGunnarsCarbonshades (probably the most effective blue blockers available) … Solar ShieldsBLUblox (less expensive and pretty cool-looking, too) … Spectra479

 

Spectra479 and Carbonshade are offering a 15% discount with the coupon code LAGAKOS!

 

Circadian misalignment augments markers of insulin resistance and inflammation independently of sleep loss (Leproult et al., 2014)

 

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Meal timing and the circadian regulation of nutrient partitioning.

Breakfast [in the morning] strengthens circadian rhythms and reduces postprandial glucose excursion after lunch (Jakubowicz et al., 2017)

 

 

 

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Surviving is not thriving. You need robust circadian rhythms for both.

Worded another way, we strive for optimal, not merely survival.

We’ve seen it time & time again in various experimental models. Most recently in Antelope Ground Squirrels and Mice with disrupted master circadian clocks. In humans, we see mood disorders, impaired nutrient partitioning, increased cancer risks, et cetera, et cetera.

 

 

 

 

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Sunlight, Meal Timing, and Circadian Rhythms

Hey fam, remember this? Sunlight and the circadian rhythms in your skin

Tl;dr: During the day, when potential DNA damage from UV light is higher than at night, the circadian rhythms in your skin upregulate expression of enzymes which protect & repair DNA. They also downregulate proliferation because the last thing you want is for a harmful DNA mutation to be rapidly spread. All of this thanks to a robust circadian rhythm.

 

NEW STUDY

 

Time-Restricted Feeding Shifts the Skin Circadian Clock and Alters UVB-Induced DNA Damage (Wang et al., 2017)

 

In general, LIGHT entrains the central circadian clock and FOOD entrains peripheral clocks. That’s why we try to get a big breakfast and go outdoors in the morning (or mimic this as closely as possible).

 

 

And from the aforementioned blog post, there is a bona fide circadian rhythm in skin, too. Well it appears this one, similar to other peripheral tissues, is regulated in part by FOOD but is also influenced by LIGHT.

 

 

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Part 2 is up now!

 

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A robust circadian rhythm is the key to good aging

That’s basically everything.

 

 

Aging predisposes you to pretty much every single disease. We all die eventually, and no one wants the last 10 years to be low quality of life. We used to say “healthspan,” now people say they “want to die as young as possible, as old as possible.” That is, to live a long life but remain healthy and active until the end.

Couple recent studies suggest a robust circadian clock (both centrally & peripherally) may be the key.

LIGHT is the primary zeitgeber which entrains the central clock. Food entrains the peripheral clock. Both in the morning, to co-entrain both clocks and prevent desynchrony.

DARKNESS and decreased food intake in the evening is just as important. Being young helps, too (von Gall and Weaver, 2006)

 

 

 

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Scheduled Meals for Circadian Entrainment

Scheduled Meals for Circadian Entrainment

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High protein magic

Remission of pre-diabetes to normal glucose tolerance in obese adults with high protein versus high carbohydrate diet: randomized control trial (Stentz et al., 2016)

n=12/group

Duration = 6 months

Diet: all food provided.  Mucho gusto!

 

Critique #1: if my calculations are correct, we’re comparing low protein (0.675 g/kg) to adequate (1.35 g/kg) (not “high”).

The diets were decent:

 

 

Results:

 

 

Author’s conclusion was that this was due to high protein alone, but I’d say it was at least partially due to weight loss.  BOTH groups lost weight and improved insulin sensitivity.  Statistically significant in both groups.

 




 

Glucose (A) and insulin (B) in response to a 75g OGTT (red is high protein, blue high carb):

 

 

I still say weight loss was the primary driver, but must concede, however, that protein did have a little magical effect: high carb group actually lost slightly more weight, but insulin sensitivity improved more in the high protein group.  The high protein magic: reduced insulin secretion yet still greater reduction in glycemia.

 




 

Well, maybe not magic…

 

 

Despite having more insulin, high carbers lost slightly more fat mass but way more muscle.  THAT’s high protein magic lol

 

However, the meal tolerance tests show a slightly different trend:

 

 

We expect glucose and insulin excursions to be greater in HC (blue), because they had a high carb meal whereas the HP group had a high protein meal.  From this perspective, if we graphed the results as “change from time zero,” I think the reduction in glycemia from baseline to 6 months would be similar in both groups suggesting weight loss as bigger factor.  We’d still give some props to high protein because it lowered glucose just as much despite having less insulin.  High protein magic.

 

Note to self: gotta stop saying this was “high protein.”  1.35 g/kg is not “high,” seriously.  But still, High protein magic haha

 

Oh and one other thing, high protein usually induces greater weight loss:

Randomized trial on protein vs carbohydrate in ad libitum fat reduced diet for the treatment of obesity (Skov et al., 1999)

High protein vs high carbohydrate hypoenergetic diet for the treatment of obese hyperinsulinemic subjects (Baba et al., 1999) (not ad lib)

Comparison of high-fat and high-proein diets with a high-carbohydrate diet in insulin-resistant obese women (McAuley et al., 2005)

The effect of a low-fat, high-protein or high-carbohydrate ad libitum diiet on weight loss maintenance and metabolic risk factors (Claessens et al., 2009)

 

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Light and food in the morning

Suggested pre-reading: Metabolism at night

Recently, when the topic of breakfast came up, I got something like this: “correlation isn’t causation, and anyway, it’s because people aren’t eating bacon & eggs at night, they’re having cake & alcohol.”

OK, you can’t say “correlation isn’t causation” and then suggest a cause, literally, in the same sentence.

But anyway, yeah, that actually is a plausible cause. Cake & alcohol are mainly consumed at night.

Also, metabolism is gimped in the evening: 1) skeletal muscle insulin resistance; 2) adipose tissue insulin sensitivity; and 3) impaired diet-induced thermogenesis.

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Carb early but not often

*if you’re going to carb, that is

 

 

The Sofer study was uniquely insightful in that they compared 3 carb-rich meals per day with the same amount of carbs but restricted to 1 meal.  Both groups ate 3 times per day.  Tl;dr: one carb meal is modestly better than three even when total carbs are controlled.  Since the carb-meal happened to be dinner, #fakenews reported that “carbs at night” are superior… but we saw right through that – the real conclusion was carb frequency not carb timing.

 

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What or When to Eat

Artificial light at night, crappy sleep, and skipping breakfast are major contributors to poor circadian rhythms.  Some bro’s insist WHAT you eat is infinitely more important than WHEN you eat.  I beg to differ, at least in part – nix the refined & processed foods and it doesn’t really matter if you prefer low fat or low carb (P<0.05).  Evidence: Hunger-free diet(s).

 

Exhibit A.  On the other hand, feed two people identical diets but induce circadian disruption in one and whammo – big difference in outcome.

 

 

Significantly less fat loss and more muscle loss in the circadian disrupted group.

Interindividual variability? Yes.  Statistical significance? YES.

 

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