Easy way to reset your sleep cycle: Stop eating

Easy way to reset your sleep cycle: Stop eating

Not eating for 12-16 hours can help people quickly reset their sleep-wake cycle, according to a new study from the Harvard Medical School. This discovery can drastically improve a person\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s ability to cope with jet lag or adjust to working late shifts.

Scientists have long known that our circadian rhythm is regulated by our exposure to light. Now they have found a second \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"food clock\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" that takes over when we are hungry. This mechanism probably evolved to make sure starving mammals don\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'t go to sleep when they should be foraging for food.

The lead researcher Clifford Saper explains:

The neat thing about this second clock is that it can override the main clock ... and you should just flip into that new time zone in one day.

It usually takes people a week to fully adjust to a new time zone or sleeping schedule. To think that this new \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"food clock\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" hack can help you change your internal clock in one day is mind boggling.

How does it work?

For example, if you want to start waking up at 2:00 am in the morning, you should stop eating between 10:00 am and 2:00 pm the previous day. When you wake up at 2:00 am, eat a nice healthy meal to break your fast.

Another example: If you are travelling from Los Angeles to Tokyo, figure out when breakfast is served in Tokyo, and don\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'t eat for the 12-16 hours before Tokyo\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s breakfast time.

Why does this work?

Like everything else in our evolutionary history, it has to do with survival:

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"For a small mammal, finding food on a daily basis is a critical mission. Even a few days of starvation, a common threat in natural environments, may result in death,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" the study said.

 

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Hence, it is adaptive for animals to have a secondary \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"master clock\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" that can allow the animal to switch its behavioral patterns rapidly after a period of starvation to maximize the opportunity of finding food sources at the same time on following days.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"

 

The shift is a survival mechanism in small mammals that forces them to change their sleeping patterns, Fuller suggests. One starvation cycle is enough to override the traditional light-based circadian clock, the study suggests.

 

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"This new timepiece enables animals to switch their sleep and wake schedules in order to maximize their opportunity of finding food.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"

 

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"A period of fasting with no food at all for about 16 hours is enough to engage this new clock,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" says Saper.

 

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"So, in this case, simply avoiding any food on the plane, and then eating as soon as you land, should help you to adjust — and avoid some of the uncomfortable feelings of jet lag.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" CBC (quoting study published in the May 22 issue of Science.

怎么才能从明天开始六点起床？？？饿肚子

        哈佛医学院的最新研究表明，12-16个小时不吃东西可以让人们迅速地调整睡眠规律。这个发现可以有效帮助人们应对时差和不规律的工作时间。
       科学家们很早就知道光照时间长短控制着我们的生理节奏。不过现在他们又发现了人体的第二种生物钟：”食物时钟“，第二生物钟在你感到饥饿的时候开始接管你的生理节奏。这种机制可能是为了确保饥饿的哺乳动物不要在该去觅食的时候沉沉睡去。
       这项研究的领导者Clifford Saper解释说：第二生物钟奇妙的地方在于它可以优先于我们的主生物钟：光照生物钟，这让你可以在一天内适应一个新的时区。通常情况下，你需要一周时间才能完全适应一个新时区或者新的作息时间表。但你可以认为”食物生物钟“能在你的大脑还在一团浆糊的时候告诉你的大脑：”洗洗睡吧“或者”该吃东西了“。

食物生物钟是怎么运作的？
       举个例子：比如你希望明天开始开始凌晨两点起床，那头一天你就应该在早上10点到下午两点这段时间开始饿肚子。当你在凌晨两点醒过来时，美美地吃一顿营养早餐就行。
       再举个例子：你准备从洛杉矶到东京旅行，先算一算东京是什么时候吃早餐，然后很简单，在东京的早餐时间前12-16个小时管住你的嘴，别吃任何东西。
为什么食物时钟这么强大？
       就像进化史上的其它东西一样，为了生存。
       ”对于小型的哺乳动物，觅食是最重要的。就算是短短几天的饥饿，大自然就可能夺去它的生命，”研究人员这样说。“所以，动物需要第二种”生物时钟”，在一段饥饿时期后可以快速地调整自己的行为模式，增加自己在接下来的几天在同一时间找到食物的可能性。
       这个存在于小型哺乳动物体内的生存机制是为了强迫它们改变自己的睡眠模式。饥饿可以使哺乳动物体内的”食物时钟“优先于传统的”光照时钟“。研究人员指出：”这种新的生物钟可以使哺乳动物为了最大化找到食物的机会调整醒来和入睡的时间表。“
       Saper强调：”大概16个小时左右完全不进食就可以激活我们体内的新生物钟。”
       让我们回到东京之旅上来，只要在飞机上别吃任何东西，下了飞机后马上就去好好品味一下日本料理，这应该可以让你迅速地适应新的时区并消除一些时差给你带来的不适。