Michael Breus, PhD: The Power of When

The gut has a circadian pacemaker of its own. 

When your guy is not on its biological clock schedule, hormone disruption causes:

-increased inflammation

-inefficient metabolism

-decreased effectiveness of prescription therapies

Your circadian pacemaker is a group of nerves in the hypothalamus called the suprachiasmatic nucleus.

Unless you turn off every screen and light at 6:00 p.m., you are likely to deal with chrono-misalignment in one way or another, whether it’s morning fogginess, extra weight, or not performing to your potential. 

Humans, with our big, superior brains, willfully ignore our inner clocks, cramming our circadian rhythms into a “social rhythm,” often in direct opposition to what our bodies are supposed to be doing at that time. 

Wild: in mice, DNA repaired itself seven rimes faster when given medication at night compared to during the day. 

Each chronotype has been necessary for the larger group’s security. 

Bio-time had to be diverse for the group to stay safe over the long night, and our genetic structure hasn’t changed much since prehistoric times. 

Dolphins 🐬: 

Intelligent, neurotic light sleepers with a low sleep drive. 

10% of the population 

Lions 🦁: 

Morning-oriented, driven optimists with a medium sleep drive. 

15-20% of the population 

Bears 🐻: 

Outgoing people who prefer a solar based schedule and have a high sleep drive. 

50 percent of the population. 

Wolves 🐺: 

Night-oriented creative extroverts with a medium sleep drive. 

15-20% of the population. 

BTQ

1. T 2. F 3. F 4. T 5. F 6. F 7. F 8. T 9. T 10. 

1. B(2)
2. B(2)
3. C(3)
4. C(3)
5. B/C (2/3)
6. A(1)
7. C(3)
8. B(2)
9. B(2)
10. C(3)
11. A(1) ?
12. A(1)
13. A(1)
14. B(2)
15. B(2)
16. B(2)
17. A(1)
18. B/c(3)
19. B/c(2)
20. A(0)

Total 39

If you are straddling lion/bear, you are probably a bear, like the majority of the population.  

Once in bed, try progressive muscle relaxation or counting backward from 300 by threes. 

If you are not asleep in twenty minutes, get up and sit in a chair in the dark for fifteen minutes before returning to bed to try again. 

Wake-ups are completely normal. 

We all wake for a few seconds at the end of every 90-minute sleep cycle before beginning another one. 

Deep sleepers don’t remember doing it, but it happens. Light sleepers, like dolphins, are more prone to wake-ups than most. Change your perspective on those wake-ups—they’re an expected, healthy part of sleep. 

Weekend warrior exercise habits are one of the reasons Americans are out of shape and overweight. 

Sleeping late on the weekends is a major cause of social jet lag and sleep deprivation. 

Eating the largest, heaviest meal of the day at 6:30 p.m is one of the reasons Bears carry extra weight around their midsection. 

To lose weight using the Power of When, you will eat a big breakfast, a medium-sized lunch, a small afternoon snack, and a modest dinner, with zero late night snacks. 

Don’t argue before going to bed. Even if you argue, make peace, and fall into a deep sleep your brain will consolidate the memory and internalize the conflict. 

Interesting: The most significant factor in predicting athletic peak performance is the time athletes rise relative to the time they perform. 

Early risers performed best in the late morning. 

Intermediate risers did best in the afternoon. 

Late risers did best in the evening. 

To improve the quality of your sleep for a healthy rest rhythm, run in the morning. 

Whether you work out early or late, you’re going to see similar results in hypertrophy (muscle gain) over a three month period as long as you train daily. 

The bulk of healing and the best immune performance goes on during the first third of a night’s sleep, when your body is recovering due to an increase of slow wave deep sleep. 

When you wake up, your core body temperature is rising. To help it rise and wake up, take a cool (not cold) shower. 

Lower-temperature water on the surface of your skin causes blood to flow to your core to keep your vital organs warm.

This makes your core temp rise, waking you up. 

A hot-water immersion at night will cause blood to flow to the extremities and away from your vital organs, lowering your core body temperature and encouraging sleepiness. 

Interesting: try meditating for 60 seconds in the shower while the water flows directly over your head. Focus on your breathing and clear your mind as a bio-time trick. 

Franz Halberg’s mice/ethanol experiment found that more than 20% more mice died according to the time of day they were poisoned. 

Certain drugs and medications are more effective if taken at certain times. 

Bio-dosing for multivitamin is after breakfast. 

Bio-dosing for probiotics is with breakfast. 

Weigh yourself in the morning every day three days in a row and divide by three for your average weight for the week. 

Interesting: use a sleep monitor to track your pulse so your alarm doesn’t go off during stage 3 or stage 4 sleep. 

The ultimate nap occurs approximately seven hours post wake-up. 

Interesting: if you really really need energy, drink a cup of coffee before putting your head down. It’ll hit your system in 20 minutes and when you wake up you should be alert for at least four more hours. 

Don’t sleep in. Wake up within 1 hour of your normal waking time. Otherwise you will suffer from a week of chrono-misalignment. 

Going to bed too early will backfire and you’ll wind up lying awake. 

Go to bed around 10:40 to wake up at 6:40

“Don’t get in bed unless you’re tired”

Power down hour - downshift and bring on that sleepy feeling by doing off-screen activities that lower cortisol level, body temperature, and boost melanin. 

• make a to do list for the morning
• journal
• prepare for tomorrow in whatever way may make your morning life easier
• Nightly hygiene routine (including shower) in a dimly lit bathroom. 
• Light stretching, yoga, or meditation
• Read a book

There is a direct relationship between chrono-misalignment and belly fat. 

Eating within a 9-12 hour window is healthiest. 

Eating every four hours is in sync with your digestive bio-time

Your time-restrictive eating schedule should start early with breakfast. 

Bear: B-7:30am L-12:30pm D-7:30pm

Interesting: If you drink coffee when cortisol levels are high, the effects are nonexistent. 

When you are about to wake up, your body releases a brew of hormones including insulin, adrenaline, and cortisol. 

Drinking coffee first thing in the morning does not wake you up, all it does is raise your tolerance for caffeine so that you need to drink more to feel any affects later. 

Best time to snack: 4:00pm for bears/wolves

If you exercise intensely for an hour or more, you must snack within half an hour of completing your workout. 

A snack of one-third protein, one-third complex carbs, and one-third simple carbs is ideal. 

Ex. Yogurt with granola and berries or a shake with protein

Interesting: never go shopping while hungry, or you’ll wind up clearing the shelves. 

Even on nonfood items. 

In field research, researchers found that hungry shoppers spent nearly twice as much money as those who weren’t hungry.