The moment I realized about my needed change in breakfast time was the day I woke up naturally at 5:30 AM- despite being in a dark room, and my ambient light alarm not set to awake me until another 30 minutes.
I could just stay there, or I could make the opportunity and wake up. So that’s just what I did, after months of trying to get up at the envious-to-me time of 6, I somehow made it to 5:30. While I had been used to getting 9 hrs of sleep, somehow for the last few days I was getting 8 hrs instead. Perhaps I had caught up on sleep from years before when staying up at 3 AM? All I could be sure of, was that if I wasn’t going to be hungry earlier, I needed a change in when I ate.
Why a change?
Lately I’ve been reading a book on Circadian Rhythms, “your body’s internal clock, helping regulate sleep, wakefulness, hormone release, and other biological processes”. One realization I learned was this (which I found similarly in the hyperlinked article):
“Circadian rhythms are controlled by biological clocks located in organs and glands throughout the body, but all of these peripheral clocks are commanded by a “master clock” in a region of the brain called the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN).
In most adults and adolescents, this master clock operates on a cycle that’s slightly longer than 24 hours. In order to maintain alignment with the 24-hour rotation of the planet, the master clock must adjust by about 12 to 18 minutes every day. For this reason, it times circadian rhythms according to environmental cues known as “zeitgebers,” German for “timekeepers.””
If you’ve ever (like me) stayed up too late or ate at a different time, these differences can put the different clocks in our body out of alignment, hence you feel jet lag (it doesn’t just have to be in a plane). The key to keeping them in alignment is with consistency and balance. Now that I had disrupted it, I wanted to figure out if the time I ate breakfast had anything to do with my energy later in the day. Here are some initial observations I made about myself:
- I’ve been eating at 8 AM consistently whether I got up at 6 or 7
- Feeling tired at first, but then feeling more energy until it slowed down before 8.
- At 10 AM I’m always a lil’ hungry
- At 4 PM I’m always a lil’ hungry
- I have a bigger meal at lunch than other times
Since I have a high-metabolism, I had heard that every 2 hrs is optimal to have at least something to eat. Considering that, I’ve decided to keep that rhythm going. Yet, I still needed to know when the first meal of the day could be eaten to keep my circadian rhythm in alignment.
Breakfast’s effect on circadian rhythm
After reading this article and the study listed, it seems that older adults have more trouble with their alignment- so they’re more likely to eat and sleep later, which affects “mortality.” Then again, this article talks about fasting in the morning, and how waiting a few hours is fine- as long as you get food. However, one part said that having breakfast within 30 minutes was ideal while the next article further down noted within 3 hours, so which is which?
Time to test it out
Morning
After waking up, I do my usual routine with a small jump roping exercise, then an hour later I had oatmeal with flax seed, walnut, and home-made-bee honey (da bestttt). It was a bit hard to eat, like my stomach wasn’t ready for it. So I made Hibiscus and Peppermint tea to, like, activate my stomach. Then at 8 AM I was hungry, so I had my breakfast smoothie.
I find that if I wake up hungry, doing exercise helps unclog something and get my metabolism processing whatever glucose and such I had stored overnight. With this in mind, I think waiting 2 hours after waking up to eat would be wise (if I wake at 5:30 then instead of 8 AM breakfast I eat at 7:30). That way I’m able to burn away the mentioned before stuff and have more energy than the foggy-head self I felt today. If I do feel too tired/hungry though, I’ll have a Date.
Afternoon
Walking back home, I get inside and boil up some rotini pasta with a splash of ACV along with left-over air-fried sheep meat, a beet, and pasta sauce (the tasty Bertolli Organic Marinara sauce). Since meat is heavy on my stomach, I have it at lunch.
Going outside to do chores always helps me feel better energized, same as today, though the sun was quite overwhelming compared to the sun just 1 hr ago when I came inside in the morning. However, I felt less hungry than I did this morning, and it’s lasted until 4 pm as usual.
Evening
Having a light salad with olives, lettuce, parmesan, radish, and anything else that makes sense. I can tell that I’m on the same timeline as before and that waking up earlier didn’t hamper anything.
Next day
Turns out that my instinct was right, I’m better off eating breakfast between 1-2 hrs after waking up to feel more energized later. Prioritizing jump roping when I wake up has really helped too, and also getting 8.5 hrs sleep average.
While I’d be curious in exploring the next plausible question: When to eat dinner, I’ve researched this before and found that 2 hours before sleep is best, and it’s always worked out for me this way.
Takeaway
Do what feels best for you. Sticking to “Oh I need to get exactly 8 hours sleep,” doesn’t help keep a balance like a flexible routine does.
An interesting observation I made this morning after I ate my early, 6:30 AM breakfast, was that I had a foggy head, so I stood by the window for a moment where the sun was shining and felt better. Note to myself: research on sunlight’s effect on circadian rhythm in morning, another reminder for myself to Breathe in the Sunrise.