Can’t Get To Sleep? Pitch A Tent and Go Camping!

Summary: Going camping, especially during the Winter months, can have a profoundly positive impact on our circadian rhythm, a new study reports.

Source: University of Colorado at Boulder.

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Go camping in the winter and the impact may be even more potent, the two-study paper — published today in Current Biology — found.

“These studies suggest that our internal clock responds strongly and quite rapidly to the natural light-dark cycle,” said lead author and CU Boulder integrative physiology professor Kenneth Wright, who believes his findings could help light-based approaches for boosting work performance, quelling seasonal depression and circadian sleep-wake disorders. “Living in our modern environments can significantly delay our circadian timing and late circadian timing is associated with many health consequences. But as little as a weekend camping trip can reset it.”

Previously, to study the impact our modern light-filled environment — or lack thereof — has on our clock, Wright for a 2013 paper sent volunteers camping for a week in the summer. They were exposed to four times more light by day than usual and prohibited from using headlamps or flashlights at night. Upon return, the onset of melatonin – a hormone which promotes sleep and physiologically prepares the body for nighttime — came nearly two hours earlier, near sunset. It began to wane, signaling the biological day, earlier too. In essence, the campers’ clock synced with the summer sun.

But questions remained. Just how quickly does the clock change in response to shifts in our light environment? And how big of an impact do seasonal changes have on human biological rhythms? To find out, Wright conducted the two new studies.

In the first, his team recruited 14 volunteers: 9 went camping in the Colorado mountains for a summer weekend; 5 stayed home. When the campers returned after just two days and had their saliva tested, their melatonin rise had shifted 1.4 hours earlier.

“Weekend exposure to natural light was sufficient to achieve 69 percent of the shift in circadian timing we previously reported after a week’s exposure to natural light,” Wright said.

Unlike their counterparts, who stayed up and slept in later than usual while at home, the campers maintained their regular sleep schedule, preventing the “social jetlag” that contributes to Monday morning grogginess as a result from the clock shifting later over the weekend.

For the second study, five volunteers went camping for one week near the time of the winter solstice and returned to the lab to have their melatonin tested hourly for 24 hours. Measurements showed they had been exposed to a whopping 13 times as much light by day as in their typical weekday environment during winter. While camping, they went to bed earlier and slept longer. Upon return, their melatonin levels began to rise 2.6 hours earlier.

Without being thrown off by artificial light, their biological night had naturally lengthened to align with the season – as it does with many animals. “This has been assumed but never demonstrated,” Wright said.

When light hits photoreceptors in the eye, it alters the master clock which then signals a cascade of events that impact rhythms in our body, influencing not only when we sleep and rise, but also the timing of hormone releases that impact appetite, metabolism and more.

Image shows a tent and the night sky.
Unlike their counterparts, who stayed up and slept in later than usual while at home, the campers maintained their regular sleep schedule, preventing the “social jetlag” that contributes to Monday morning grogginess as a result from the clock shifting later over the weekend. NeuroscienceNews.com image is for illustrative purposes only.

Delayed circadian and sleep timing has been associated with a host of health problems, including poor cognitive performance, mood disorders, diabetes and obesity, Wright noted. “Our clock influences much more than sleep.”

Even after a weekend of camping, people have to keep a regular wake and sleep cycle in order to retain the circadian reset they’ve gained, he said. For those who want to get their circadian rhythm back on track, but can’t get away for a camping trip, Wright suggests getting more bright natural light by day and shutting off smartphones and laptops well before bedtime.

There could be other solutions too, he said.

“Our findings highlight an opportunity for architectural design to bring more natural sunlight into the modern built environment and to work with lighting companies to incorporate tunable lighting that could change across the day and night to enhance performance, health and well-being.”

About this neuroscience research article

Other study co-authors of the new paper include co-first authors Ellen Stothard and Andrew McHill, and co-authors Thomas Moehlman, Hannah Ritchie, Evan Chinoy, who are or were graduate students in Wright’s Sleep and Chronobiology Laboratory, Christopher Depner, who is a postdoctoral researcher, and Brian Birks and Jacob Guzzetti, who are professional researchers in Wright’s lab, as well as Professors Monique LeBourgeois from CU Boulder’s Sleep and Development Laboratory and John Axelsson from the Karolinska Institute and University of Stockholm.

Funding: The research was funded in part with grants from the National Institutes of Health.

Source: Kenneth Wright – University of Colorado at Boulder
Image Source: NeuroscienceNews.com image is in the public domain.
Original Research: Abstract for “Circadian Entrainment to the Natural Light-Dark Cycle across Seasons and the Weekend” by Ellen R. Stothard, Andrew W. McHill5, Christopher M. Depner, Brian R. Birks, Thomas M. Moehlman, Hannah K. Ritchie, Jacob R. Guzzetti, Evan D. Chinoy, Monique K. LeBourgeois, John Axelsson, and Kenneth P. Wright Jr. in Current Biology. Published online December 19 2016 doi:10.1016/j.cub.2016.12.041

Cite This NeuroscienceNews.com Article

[cbtabs][cbtab title=”MLA”]University of Colorado at Boulder “Can’t Get To Sleep? Pitch A Tent and Go Camping!.” NeuroscienceNews. NeuroscienceNews, 4 February 2017.
<https://neurosciencenews.com/camping-sleep-neuroscience-6058/>.[/cbtab][cbtab title=”APA”]University of Colorado at Boulder (2017, February 4). Can’t Get To Sleep? Pitch A Tent and Go Camping!. NeuroscienceNew. Retrieved February 4, 2017 from https://neurosciencenews.com/camping-sleep-neuroscience-6058/[/cbtab][cbtab title=”Chicago”]University of Colorado at Boulder “Can’t Get To Sleep? Pitch A Tent and Go Camping!.” https://neurosciencenews.com/camping-sleep-neuroscience-6058/ (accessed February 4, 2017).[/cbtab][/cbtabs]


Abstract

Circadian Entrainment to the Natural Light-Dark Cycle across Seasons and the Weekend

Highlights
•Living in the modern electrical lighting environment delays the human circadian clock
•The human circadian clock adapts to seasonal changes in the natural light-dark cycle
•A weekend camping trip prevented the typical weekend circadian and sleep delay

Summary
Reduced exposure to daytime sunlight and increased exposure to electrical lighting at night leads to late circadian and sleep timing. We have previously shown that exposure to a natural summer 14 hr 40 min:9 hr 20 min light-dark cycle entrains the human circadian clock to solar time, such that the internal biological night begins near sunset and ends near sunrise. Here we show that the beginning of the biological night and sleep occur earlier after a week’s exposure to a natural winter 9 hr 20 min:14 hr 40 min light-dark cycle as compared to the modern electrical lighting environment. Further, we find that the human circadian clock is sensitive to seasonal changes in the natural light-dark cycle, showing an expansion of the biological night in winter compared to summer, akin to that seen in non-humans. We also show that circadian and sleep timing occur earlier after spending a weekend camping in a summer 14 hr 39 min:9 hr 21 min natural light-dark cycle compared to a typical weekend in the modern environment. Weekend exposure to natural light was sufficient to achieve ∼69% of the shift in circadian timing we previously reported after a week’s exposure to natural light. These findings provide evidence that the human circadian clock adapts to seasonal changes in the natural light-dark cycle and is timed later in the modern environment in both winter and summer. Further, we demonstrate that earlier circadian timing can be rapidly achieved through natural light exposure during a weekend spent camping.

“Circadian Entrainment to the Natural Light-Dark Cycle across Seasons and the Weekend” by Ellen R. Stothard, Andrew W. McHill5, Christopher M. Depner, Brian R. Birks, Thomas M. Moehlman, Hannah K. Ritchie, Jacob R. Guzzetti, Evan D. Chinoy, Monique K. LeBourgeois, John Axelsson, and Kenneth P. Wright Jr. in Current Biology. Published online December 19 2016 doi:10.1016/j.cub.2016.12.041

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