CiRcAdIaN RHYTHM

 

Your circadian rhythm is your body’s natural 24-hour clock. It keeps your body operating on a healthy wake-sleep cycle. Your circadian rhythm affects many other systems throughout your body. Most people’s circadian rhythms are automatic, but certain factors like light can have an effect on them.

When there are schedules to follow, waking up at a certain time to give to bath, dress, eat then go to the destination that must be followed. When that clock is over, you can reverse procedure and return to sleep for your body rhythm to rest and revive for the next alarm. This is your circadian rhythm. This is your daily routine.

Daylight Savings Time, season changes, traveling through different time zones will confuse our circadian rhythm. Staying up pass your bedtime can make the next day groggy until you get back to your normal cadence. Your innards are also affected by the change in mealtimes to know when to process the chocolate choo-choo.

When retired, beyond an eternal vacation there is only one deadline. There are no clocks in retirement. Whenever the eyes open and your brain realizes this is not a dream, but another day, and the internal clock starts. Without a deadline to meet, moving about can wait until the sun comes out or the rain stops or your body starts thinking about food. The mission of the day is when to shove a consumable down the gullet and when to return to the covers.

Without a doctor’s appointment or giving a ride to a grandchild, the day is yours to decide. Wake and make a big breakfast or just a couple of cups of java to get the motor started? Get dressed or stay in the jammies? What will the mission be for the day?

The electronic distractions can fill time until you settle into a hobby or a phone call or (dare I say it) a book. Soft music can be relaxing or crank it up to motivate on a dreary day.

I find weather effects the circadian rhythm. When the sun rises and it is warm and the birds are singing, the invitation to come join the critters outside is addictive. When the sky is cloudy and the temperature is cold and moving about requires many layers while getting under the covers is more appealing to taking a jog in your underwear or take the dog out to relieve themselves, the circadian rhythm adjust.

Does lunch happen at noon, as it is scheduled at work, or does munching on the couch fill the gut with more than needed applying a doze switch to nap? After all the ‘relaxing’ does sleeping become an adventure of constant tossing and turning, shifting the covers, trying to find the right spot while your brain is mulling over the mental wonders until you finally fall into a sleep full of strange adventures called dreams.

When we were young and had energy to expel until exhaustion wore our little bodies down and we crashed. Big people had to force us into refueling and tucked us in at night. This became our circadian rhythm.

As we grew more in control of our schedules, some became day people while others tended toward the night hours for our productive focus. Throw a night owl into a daytime accepted corroborative routine can be disruptive to the circadian rhythm. Many of the creative personalities prefer the night hours, when the masses are asleep and the visions and sounds can be made undisturbed.

Tonight, I’ll toss and turn. Yank the covers and then pull them away. The radio will continuously announce the news of the hour and many podcast I would not have ventured to hear. Like clockwork, I’ll stand and scratch and stretch and walk down the hall to empty whatever has accumulated, then stare at the clock awaiting another hour to pass and the morning sunrise. No matter how much exercise I do during the day or numbers of bullets I put away, this is my rhythm. About dawn, I’ll drift off into bazaar visions with some familiar faces and strange adventures of old buildings and problem solving. They only last for an hour and I’m up again trying to remember details but in too much of a fog to try again.

The eyes will eventually open and stare at the wall while listening to the news that announced the hour of the day. It is time.