Blue Light Blues
Why you should fix your circadian rhythm
Ignoring your circadian rhythm and the effect light has on your biology is actively choosing to run a race with your legs tied together.
What used to sound like woo woo necromancer science is now one of the most evidence backed health interventions we have.
If you know me, you’ve probably seen me conjuring up blasphemous ways to dodge light after 8PM.
I’m not being dramatic, I’m trying to protect the system makes me feel like Master Chief.
When you anchor your circadian rhythm, it sets off a cascade of changes that improve body composition, performance, mood, and overall health.
This newsletter explains why I act the way I do… and why you might want to start doing the same.
What Is Circadian Rhythm?
Circadian rhythm is your body’s internal clock. A roughly 24 hour cycle that coordinates sleep, energy, hormones, metabolism, digestion, temperature, immune response, and cell repair.
It evolved to align your internal systems with the external environment, especially light and dark, so your body does the right shit at the right time.
Melatonin rises at night to help you sleep. Cortisol rises in the morning to help you wake up.
Imagine if they were inverted.
Every system runs better when these rhythms are aligned. But when they’re thrown off by artificial light and a schedule made for vampires, the body dilapidates into a shit stew.
The Role Light Plays
Your circadian rhythm is primarily set by light.
Something called the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) acts as the master clock in your brain. It’s the team principal of your Formula 1 op, calling the shots for everything else.
But modern life has tranquilized that system.
Doom scrolling in bed, raves at 11PM, and indoor living/work from home send conflicting signals to the SCN throwing your internal timing into chaos.
Your body has no idea what’s up and what’s down or more literally, what’s day and night.
Too little bright light in the morning and too much blue light at night, weakens and delays the rhythm your body relies on to function like a human being.
This problem must be addressed.
Problems with Weak Circadian Rhythm
When your body loses its rhythm, all bodily functions get worse.
Sleep, digestion, and alertness all suffer, each with major downstream effects. But circadian disruption isn’t just a byproduct of poor sleep; it’s a health threat in its own right.
Even without sleep deprivation, a misaligned internal clock can disrupt hormones, metabolism, immune function, and cognition creating a biological ecosystem primed for chronic disease:
1. Metabolic Dysfunction
Even a few nights of misalignment trigger insulin resistance.
It disrupts key hormones like cortisol, insulin, leptin, and ghrelin (your hunger/fullness signals), which can lead to weight gain, fat storage, and a higher risk of obesity, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome.
2. Increased Inflammation
A weak rhythm fuels chronic, low grade inflammation throughout the body.
Inflammatory markers in the blood rise, contributing to cardiovascular disease, autoimmune issues, and inflammation in the brain.
3. Poor Brain Function
Mood disorders, crap memory, and brain fog become more common as your rhythm folds like a lawn chair.
Brain inflammation increases, decision making declines, and your already shit ability to focus gets worse.
4. Increased Cancer Risk
According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), night shift work is now classified as a probable carcinogen.
Circadian misalignment suppresses melatonin (a natural anti-cancer hormone), impairs DNA repair, and weakens your immune system’s ability to detect abnormal cells.
5. Negative Feedback Loops
Poor sleep wrecks your willpower.
You make worse food choices, skip workouts, and reinforce the very behaviors that keep your rhythm broken.
Vicious loop.
6. Increased Bodily Stress
Your circadian rhythm is the master clock that keeps every cell, organ, and hormone in sync.
When it fails, everything from metabolism to immunity to brain health begins to fall apart.
Stress goes through the roof.
What Happens When Aligned?
1. Hormonal Balance
Your body properly releases growth hormone, keeps cortisol patterns healthy, and balances your hunger and fullness signals. This makes it naturally easier to eat well and manage stress.
2. Energy
You have more physical and mental energy throughout the day, aka better choices and more activity.
No more bitching about being tired!
3. Mood
Morning light acts as a natural antidepressant improving your brain chemistry and reducing inflammation.
Coupling morning light with outdoor exercise amplifies the stress nerfing effect even more.
Solutions
This is a major issue but luckily, it’s pretty straightforward to fix or at least improve.
1. Light
Get bright morning light exposure, ideally outside, to anchor your circadian rhythm. This sets roughly a 16 hour timer for sleep.
Minimize blue light exposure from screens before bed, ideally 1–2 hours out. I like to read, listen to podcasts, write, stretch, foam roll, meditate, whatever.
This is so your brain doesn’t think it’s 10AM when its 10PM.
This promotes melatonin production and relaxation.
If you take anything away from this, let it be this: bright during the day, dim in the evening.
I’ve noticed decreased sleep latency (time it takes to fall asleep), deeper sleep, improved morning alertness, and more energy day to day.
2. Eating
We’ve mostly talked about light, but when and what you eat is part of circadian rhythm too.
You don’t want your insulin going to the moon and back while your trying to catch some ZZZ’s.
Try to stop eating 2–3 hours before bed. Don’t eat too much.
Let your body wind down. Don’t spend all your skill points on digestion.
3. Exercise
Cortisol spikes early in the morning. If you can, align training with that natural rise.
Working out too close to bed is not a good idea. Being stimmed out of your mind 1 hour before sleep, is a recipe for disaster trying to wind down.
Evenings should be restorative.
4. Consistency
Humans are pattern recognition machines.
Your body primes itself to eat, sleep, digest, and live.
Go to bed at the same time. Wake up at the same time. Eat at the same times.
Even your bathroom schedule will follow.
It’s all rhythm.
Be diligent. Be strict. Be consistent. It makes a huge difference.
Stop Being Ignorant
Adjusting your circadian rhythm is not something to ignore. It’s a S-tier disease prevention protocol.
Treat it with the same respect you give to diet and training.
When your biological clock breaks, everything breaks.
Wake up and stare at the sun.
Thanks for reading. Godspeed.
— Dante