What Happens To Sleep When We Don’t Eat – Eating Rhythm Series – Episode 168

Hola amigos! Welcome to One Small Bite!

A few episodes ago I mentioned the connection between an eating rhythm and the circadian rhythm. Not sure if you caught that episode or not, but if you get a chance, go ahead and take a listen. It’s episode 165.

In today’s episode I’m going to elaborate a bit more on the importance between these two, how they are interconnected, and how you can enhance both to build a nourished life.

In this episode you’ll get…

• My experience between poor sleep and skipping meals
• The connection to our mental state and our eating and sleep patterns
• The domino effect of erratic eating and sleep patterns and our health
• Understanding the misery zone and old familiar habits
• The starved brain phenomenon and its role on habits and chronic stress
• One small method to break the cycle of bad habits and enhance both rhythms

Episode Show Notes:

A few nights ago I woke up around 3:45 am. I can’t remember exactly what woke me up, but I thought I’d be able to just go right back to sleep. To my surprise, it wasn’t that easy. I found myself tossing and turning, ruminating a million and one thoughts.

Yup, this is exactly what my business coach was talking about; my rumination of the past and the constant thinking about the future. Sadly though, it occurs usually in the middle of the night, and happens more often than I would like.

In the abyss of my rumination I caught an interesting thought, which was “what did I do or eat that affected my sleep?” So, I did a mental recount of my eating pattern from the previous day.
For breakfast, I had two slices of toast with avocado, tomatoes, and topped with two veggie eggs scrambled, some berries on the side and a cup of hot tea.

Delish – And, very satisfying!

But, no, that wasn’t the problem.

“OK, what about Lunch?” I thought.

At this point I was sitting up in my bed because I was upset that I couldn’t remember what I had for lunch. Then I realized “wait, I didn’t have lunch.” I had to leave the office that day to run some errands, and I made it back just in time for my next consult. So, I didn’t have time to eat.

Obviously, this is where things start to get unhinged.

I remembered when I was a little kid and I’d get upset. My mother would ask me to either “get something to eat” or “go for a 10 minute walk”. Like most moms, she knew me like the back of her hand. She knew that when I didn’t eat, it wasn’t a pretty sight. I’d get hangry and easily irritated, and I’d scream, yell, and insult people, but wouldn’t realize I was doing it.

It was like an outer body experience. Out of sight of my consciousness. Automatic! To this day, it is one of my worst habits, and like I explained in my last episode, these old habits have a way of blinding us to our misery zone.

At this point in the middle of the night I was feeling upset and disappointed, and I knew that my rumination had more to do than just skipping lunch.

To tie back to that little child in me, I also realized I wasn’t 100% for my clients after lunch. I pushed one client too far, and didn’t notice the ambivalence created by my pushing. This in turn created negative emotions between us, and the session ended poorly. But, I had to jump right into my next consults and then straight until 6pm.

I skipped lunch. I was hangry and didn’t see it. I was blinded by my habits and what was going on.

As I started realizing this in the middle of the night, things were a little clearer. My hunger from skipping lunch created a domino effect with my emotions. In fact, I often tell people that maintaining an adequate eating rhythm will provide the body, and the brain, with the energy to function optimally.

Therefore, we avoid the starved brain phenomenon.

Sometimes it’s easier to spot when the shoe’s on the other food. I wonder if that’s one of the secret ingredients of a good dietitian. Hummm?
A
s you may know, the human brain runs mostly on glucose as a source of energy. When the body is not getting a regular supply of glucose from food, it will take it from glycogen stores in the liver and muscle, and when that runs out, it’ll take it from lean tissues like organs such as our digestive tract.

The funny thing is that the human brain weighs less than 2 pounds, yet it uses more than 25% of your body’s energy!

Mic-drop!

In other words, it’s an energy hog compared to all the other organs and systems in our body.

But of course, this is a survival mechanism. The brain’s need for energy is vital because it is so intricately involved in managing and processing all the body’s daily functions. Not to mention our whit, memory, emotions, and sanity.

Therefore, our bodies are so well designed to protect us, that even if we don’t eat, our body can shift systems to make sure our processing center stays intact. However, the body doesn’t enjoy doing this for very long. This is why maintaining an adequate supply of energy from food is critical.

Diets, weight-loss programs, restrictions, and avoidances will disrupt this intricate system for a prolonged period of time, and the body therefore senses a state of chronic semi-starvation.

Yup, I was thinking through all of this in the middle of the night.

It was just what my business coach was talking about. This was my hunger voice. The food police voice that was really telling me I needed to eat. Dinner didn’t turn out much better.

I had to take my daughter to her taekwondo class, which got out late. It was now about 8:15p and I still haven’t had dinner. Needless to say, I was quite pissy. I was rude to both my daughter and wife that night, and something was bugging me but I couldn’t put a finger on it

What was worse was that I didn’t even realize I was being ugly. I was in my misery zone again!

It was all a domino effect. I skipped lunch, didn’t snack, then had a somewhat late dinner. This all led to a break in my eating rhythm. My mind was a bit of a mess, which allowed the old misery demons to flood my brain. I was blinded by the starved brain demons.

An adequate eating rhythm was the catalyst. That rhythm my body needs to keep my metabolism optimal. That rhythm that helps keep my mind sharp. The regular nourishment that helps my body run efficiently, and keep my energy levels where they need to be.

Therefore, whatever woke me up at night wasn’t enough to keep me awake, it was the hunger that led to the hangries, that then led to rumination at night. It affected my circadian rhythm, my sleep.

Now don’t get me wrong, the one off times we skip a meal isn’t alone going to lead to a mental breakdown, or psychological disorder. It’s the chronic dieting or war with food that creates this starved mind. This starved mind makes it difficult to manage the mental and emotional challenges. And remember, we do this chronically, out of our line of consciousness.

My sleep challenges were a consequence of this domino effect.

I woke up in the middle of the night to realize that I need to prioritize my meals. But, I just couldn’t see it because at this point in the night, I’m so upset I can’t go back to sleep.

It’s all connected!

I often tell clients that the rhythm of eating is what helps us be productive, creative, sharp, empathetic, and helpful. But, it also affects our sleep. The domino effect bled into the evening, and I slipped into my misery zone. My mind didn’t have time or a chance to catch what was going on.

This is what we call habit. We react instead of responding, which means that we fall into old familiar behaviors, and then out of nowhere we snap at someone, cut corners, or make mistakes.

The domino effect of one mindless habit after the other continues into the night. Over time, the rhythm is so erratic that our body has to make sacrifices. This chronic effect damages the vital homeostasis that keeps us healthy.

For example, when we skip a meal, eat too little, survive on coffee instead of food, we create a form of stress on the body. Stress stimulates the HPA Axis (hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis) to release cortisol. Cortisol is the hormone that stimulates the liver and muscles to release glucose in the blood, which in turn causes the pancreas to create more insulin.

Remember, this is happening outside of the regular rhythm of the body because there is not enough food. Therefore, chronic stress overworks these organs and tissues, which can lead to insulin resistance, or tears and stress on the blood vessel walls.

Over time, the body starts developing cardiovascular complications and challenges. Again, it’s a domino effect.

Our sleep is vital to help us recover, recharge, and rebuild our health and energy stores. This is our healing and repair mechanism. Therefore, one thing leads to another, and we end up disrupting the sleep rhythm, the rhythm that heals our bodies.

When I don’t get a restful night of sleep, I get headaches the next day. I feel a stronger desire to eat more. I have a harder time concentrating, I’m more sensitive, easily irritated, and I revert back that little boy in me.

This is my comfort zone. My misery zone! It’s not pretty.

For others, their comfort zone might mean zoning out; disengaging with people; not responding to emails; falling into depression or anxiety; or for some it may be even more worse. Some may revert to addictions like alcohol, drugs, smoking, sex, or more severe reactions like intense hostility or violence.

Our eating rhythm and circadian rhythms are so intricately connected. Ironically, it’s hard to see that when we chronically deprive ourselves of these basic human needs, much of our humanity begins to crumble.

As I record this, I wonder how many of you are thinking “man, he really gets deep with this stuff. I’d hate to be in his brain in the middle of the night.” If you are, that’s ok, me too!

Funny thing is this entire thought process happened in about 5 seconds in the middle of the night, but was enough to create a strong emotional reaction, so now I couldn’t go back to sleep.
The combination of a disrupted energy and relaxation state can lead to poor sleep patterns.

So, what can we do?

I hate to sound like a broken record, but yup, it starts by slowing down. Pay attention to those habits that keep us stuck in rut. Think back to the previous episode. Write down the mindless habits in order to better see what and how to create a small interruption.

That small interruption is a subtle reminder to make the change. It’s not about willpower, dedication, determination, or discipline. It takes One Small Bite or interruption to get things started.
Then it takes dedication, determination, and consistency to repeat the new habit so it becomes automatic. Listen to my last episode 167 so you get a full explanation of this process.

Ok, your turn. Take a moment to pay attention to your habits, write them down, and create that friction so that change starts to happen.

I’d love to hear from you. How’d it go? Let me know.

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Chop the diet mentality; Fuel Your Body; and Nourish Your Soul!