Grounded in Science

Embracing life at the molecular level.

Category Archives: Biochemistry


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Light & Health – Get In Sync

Sunrise, sunset – with it follows our internal rhythm for an array of functions including digestion and sleep. This circadian rhythm responds to  light and  is found in all living things – including plants, animals, fungi, and bacteria.  Each cycle is close to 24-hours length and resets daily.  Early birds have an inherent rhythm that resets slightly less than every 24 hours; night owls reset slightly longer than 24 hours – ah, nice to know my late night tendencies come honestly!

Melatonin – the Dracula of hormones. Induced by the dark and produced mainly by the pineal gland near the center of our brain, melatonin is also produced in the cells of the immune system, eye, reproductive organs, and skin.  Under normal, healthy conditions, melatonin levels peak at night and are lowest during the day.  As such, the ebb and flow of melatonin signals if its day or night and triggers a coordinated cascade of activity winding us down for sleep.

If circadian rhythm is disrupted, we not only lose sleep, but growing evidence tells us we’re putting our health at risk. In the dark, melatonin levels soar.  With light, melatonin levels sink and other hormones rise that increase alertness (dopamine) and prepare us for the demands of a new day (cortisol/stress response; GABA/calm). But that’s not all folks – melatonin also affects other molecules and cells that impact a bevy of physiological and psychological processes including heart rate, gene expression, metabolism and reproductive cycles.  For example, the internal signals that make us store fat or time ovulation in women, are turned up or down by the presence of melatonin.  When the circadian rhythm gets mucked up, the wrong players are on stage at the wrong time and the molecular dance shifts into a Twister game.

 Anyone who’s stayed up until dawn – cramming for an exam or just having too much fun (or stress) – is painfully familiar with the confusion, achiness and hunger that come the next day.  Once the exam is over you may drop into bed mid-afternoon and wake at 10pm ravenous for dinner.  Later that night with a full stomach and a shifted sleep pattern, you may be awake again until the wee hours.  With your circadian rhythm out of whack, your body’s systems run amok.

Jet lag causes similar agony.  Boarding a plane in one time zone and landing several hours later where the local time is different, the body’s circadian rhythm will be out of sync with the new location and will likely result in indigestion, sleep problems and a rotten mood (you can’t blame the airline for everything!).

Late night or jet lag, the best way to reset your internal clock is to get outside into daylight.  If it’s already night, aim to go to bed and rise at the same time you would at home.  With groggy exposure to the early morning light, the body will soon reset its internal clock and with it the body’s internal systems.  The resiliency of our circadian rhythm is something to celebrate – but trouble arises if the gears remain stuck.

Shift work, stress, or frequent jet lag pours sand into the gears of your body and mind. Night shifts expose you to artificial light throughout the night and disturb the normal light/dark cycle. To compound things, shift workers often alternate their work schedules from overnight to early morning and late afternoon shifts.  The result is an utterly bewildered circadian system.  Worse yet, research indicates a link between this bewilderment and metabolic disorders, such as obesity and diabetes, as well as hormone-dependent cancers such as breast, ovary and prostate cancers. In addition, those suffering from chronic circadian disruption experience mental fatigue with confusion and memory problems which lead to a significant increase in accidents – at work or on the road.  Clearly light is important for our well-being but moreover is essential to our health.

So how is light perceived by our bodies?  The eye detects colors and the grays of night when light is absorbed by photoreceptors in the eye called rods and cones. Contorting upon the absorption of light, the rods and cones convey information to our brain about the shapes and colors around us. Researchers recently discovered a third photoreceptor – melanopsin – which detects the intensity of light and modulates the release of melantonin.  The discovery of melanopsin may explain how some blind people with severe degenerative eye disease have intact circadian rhythms.  In these cases, the rods and cones may be damaged resulting in blindness, but the melanopsin functions and perceives the presence of light.  Stop and think about that for a moment — amazing!

Electromagnetic (EM) spectrum: Visible light is the only part of the EM spectrum that we see and appears to us as colors of the rainbow. (Source: http://science-edu.larc.nasa.gov/EDDOCS/Wavelengths_for_Colors.html)

Electromagnetic (EM) spectrum: Visible light is the only part of the EM spectrum that we see and appears to us as colors of the rainbow. (Source: http://science-edu.larc.nasa.gov/EDDOCS/Wavelengths_for_Colors.html)

Blue light matters most.  When it comes to circadian rhythm, not just any light will do.  Visible light is the portion of electromagnetic radiation that we can see and appears to us as colors of the rainbow.  This light corresponds to a wavelength range of 400 – 700 nanometers (nm) and a color range of violet through red. Research has shown that blue light provides the strongest stimulation of the circadian responses in animals.

Sunlight, particularly morning light, provides an abundant supply of blue light.  But lo and behold, the LED screens in our computers, smartphones, and televisions also emit mainly blue light and therefore are perceived as morning sunlight by our brain.  This is fine if you limit the use of these devices to daytime, but your late night binge watching of the latest House of Cards season will fool your brain into thinking its daylight and your circadian hormones will run amok.   Not only will your body try to keep you awake, but your metabolism, reproductive and immune systems will also be affected.

Be bold - turn off those devices and TV a few hours before bedtime. Your partner may thank you!

Be bold – turn off those devices and TV a few hours before bedtime. Your partner may thank you!

We live in a 24-7 world — fueled by an ever-increasing use of electricity to light the night.  The known health risks of disrupting our circadian rhythms combined with growing evidence for the link between circadian light exposure and reproductive cancers (e.g. breast cancer), warrants a societal call to action to improve our relationship with light.

Heeding the science, architects are now designing living and work spaces that support our circadian rhythm.  Innovative designs create daytime space that optimize blue light exposure with skylights or artificial lighting. For evening spaces in our homes and restaurants, non-blue light, such as incandescent lighting, is being incorporated to promote melatonin release and relaxation. The approach has transformative implications for other environments that are typically ensconced in artificial lighting such as hospitals and the international space station.

How can you find the light to better health?

  • Avoid looking at bright screens starting two to three hours before bed. This advice may be akin to “avoid desserts” – what matters is making exposure the exception rather than a habit.
  • Use incandescent lighting instead of fluorescent lighting at night. Fluorescent lighting and many energy-efficient light bulbs emit significant amounts of blue light and suppress melatonin.
  • If you work night shifts or use a lot of electronic devices at night, consider wearing blue-blocking glasses.  Screens or blue-blocker glasses will coax the release of melatonin and thus sleep.  Melatonin supplements may also help, but timing and dosage is critical and can be tricky.
  • Seek out blue light to offset jet lag or social jet lag. Get your groggy self out into the sunlight, ideally morning light, to reset your circadian clock.
  • Get your daily dose of bright light.  Walk the dog, shovel the snow, or have your morning tea on the balcony.  You’ll improve your sleep quality, mood and daytime alertness. Hallelujah.
  • Melatonin supplements are not a cure-all. Some research suggests a benefit to taking melatonin supplements to support sleep.  Timing and dosage are important and can bring side effects including nausea and headaches. Moreover, more than melatonin is needed for proper circadian rhythm. Remember – the light cycle conducts the entire circadian hormone orchestra.

We have evolved and developed in concert with our environment.  By embracing the rhythms of nature we support our bodies own wisdom for vibrant health.  Go greet that morning sun!

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Some nifty resources & references:


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Miraculous Molecules of Life

Our bodies are unmatched in maintaining our health, and healing from injury.  When a change is detected in our body – such as a rise in blood sugar after eating a donut or the arrival of a flu virus – our bodies respond rapidly and precisely through an elegant dance of  molecular workers.  Insulin ushers sugar from that donut out of your blood and into your cells.  Another molecule – called interferon – sounds the alert that a foreign invader is on the scene and triggers the protective defenses of the immune system that helps eradicate pathogens such as that flu virus you caught on the commute home tonight..

Clearly these life molecules are heroes, but what makes me call them elegant?  For starters, the constellation of molecules in our bodies – including proteins, vitamins, hormones – are not static, but are wiggling, vibrating structures made up of atoms. These atomic dancers are finely choreographed in their actions – delivering the right materials or information to the right spot at exactly the right time. They can also halt delivery precisely.  The result is a dynamic system that communicates information about what’s happening in and between our cells and tissues, and administers an accurate dosage of biological materials needed to live and thrive.  Try as they might, pharmaceutical approaches (i.e. drugs) simply can’t match this efficiency.

Information to share, work to be done — molecules do it all. In the nervous system, neurons transmit signals through electrical impulses, but the specific message is communicated to other neurons and cells through the release and binding of small molecules.  A striking example are  the molecules that enable crosstalk between the nervous system and the immune system.  These hormones and other biochemicals that convey messages among nerve cells can also “speak” to the cells of the immune system. Moreover, the brain can send messages directly down nerve cells to the immune system. In turn, certain immune cells can produce biochemicals that transmit information to the nervous system.  This astounding molecular communication loop is excellent evidence of the mind-body connection.

Modern pharmacology uses knowledge about these molecular systems to mimic or correct the body’s functions when they go awry due to disease, but due to the complexity of the body’s own molecular ballet, these approaches are incomplete.  I advocate for a another solution – through an understanding of how our bodies protect and promote our health, we need to embrace a holistic, prevention-based approach to support our bodies inherent genius and enable our own optimal health, wellness and healing.  This integrative health approach complements modern advancements in medicine and moreover, embraces a life of VITALITY!

In this blog I will share stories about this invisible world to reveal the beauty and power behind the science of health.  I hope that these tales and science tidbits will inspire wonder, but also motivate each one of us to listen better to the language of our bodies and support this marvelous system to achieve optimal health.

This blog is for you, so let me hear from you!