“Circadian rhythm sleep disorders are a family of sleep disorders affecting, among other things, the timing of sleep. People with circadian rhythm sleep disorders are unable to sleep and wake at the times required for normal work, school, and social needs. They are generally able to get enough sleep if allowed to sleep and wake at the times dictated by their body clocks. Unless they have another sleep disorder, their sleep is of normal quality.

Humans, like most animals and plants, have biological rhythms, known as circadian rhythms, which are controlled by a biological clock and work on a daily time scale. These affect body temperature, alertness, appetite, hormone secretion etc. as well as sleep timing. Due to the circadian clock, sleepiness does not continuously increase as time passes. A person’s desire and ability to fall asleep is influenced by both the length of time since the person woke from an adequate sleep, and by internal circadian rhythms. Thus, the body is ready for sleep and for wakefulness at different times of the day.”

So , as you can tell from this snippet , Circadian disorders have to do with the Rhythm schedule the human body is used to.

If you suffer from Circadian Rhythm disorder, we don’t have to tell you a whole lot more about it , other than it can be devastating to a person and their loved ones as well.  So continuing on our research articles ,we have tested several methods of restoring the body’s circadian clock , and promoting ‘normal’ function.

These methods were :

Chronotherapy

Chronotherapy means rescheduling or shifting sleep/wake patterns in the hope that out-of-sync rhythms could be gradually pushed back to their normal pattern. This therapy was first used when researchers discovered circadian rhythm disorders, but didn’t recognize that circadian rhythms weren’t self regulating; they depended on external signals or ‘zeitgebers’ to reset each day. Without knowing what these zeitgebers were, researchers were unable to effectively manage circadian rhythm problems.

Melatonin

In the early 80’s, Dr’s Lewy and Sack at the National Institutes of Health discovered that melatonin was closely related to circadian rhythms, and that measuring melatonin levels was an accurate indication of what was happening to these rhythms. If that was the case, why not take melatonin tablets at certain times to push rhythms back to normal? This seemed to help, but it was apparent that melatonin alone couldn’t sustain a normal rhythm and that a more powerful signaler was needed.

Type of light

In addition to timing, it turns out that the type of light is very important. Very bright light has been shown to work, but it may also be inefficient and may over-stimulate the rod and cone cells. Recent discoveries show that the melanopsin photoreceptor is responsible for mediating the circadian response, and melanopsin responds to a specific wavelength of blue light. This wavelength discovery is called the ‘action spectrum’ of light.

Organic Supplements

These overall were our favorites, and far surpassed chronotherapy and melatonin supplements. In particular , we tested This product here , that can also be found in detail on our website. Surprisngly enough, this supplement helped with many types of sleep disorders, including REM and shift related disorders. The effects on Circadian sleep disorders was very positive, showing 9/10 trials were successful.