Meal Times, Our Biological Clock and its Connection to Weight Loss

It’s no breaking news that the human body has its own inherent biological clock, a 24-hour cycle that creates in us a circadian rhythm, which drives our internal psychological and mental changes. These circadian rhythms, which are found in most living beings including plants and microbes, are influenced by our environment and respond to the light outside.

Our circadian rhythms and biological clocks are both controlled by a master clock in the brain which coordinates all the body’s clocks together for harmonious functioning of all our systems. It has been known by experts that these clocks altogether influence our hormones, sleep cycles, body temperatures and metabolic functions like hunger and thirst.  

However what’s interesting is that a new research has investigated and delved deeper into the relationship of a person’s metabolic activity, specifically meal times, with their body clocks. Researchers from the UK, from the Faculty of Health and Medical Science at the University of Surrey, examined how a 5-hour delay in meal times would affect the body’s master clock and the circadian rhythms.

The motive was to firmly establish the link of what the world earlier knew to be connected, which is a person’s metabolism, eating habits and diet with our biological clocks, although there wasn’t data collected to actually prove it. Hence they set to investigate the matter as the revealing information could help greatly in medicine especially with people who have obesity issues and weight related diseases.

Their consequent study is published in the Current Biology Journal with the result of their investigations. In the study, the team at the University of Surrey collaborated with 10 adult males of good health who were given three meals daily with a 5-hour interval. For some, the meals were given late after 5.5 hours of waking up whereas for others they were given soon at 30 minutes after waking up.

The meals all had the same nutritional composition and number of calories so that only the delay in the timings of the meal would affect the circadian rhythm. The team measured the participants’ circadian rhythm in a constant routine of 37 hours, as that’s the proper research protocol required to correctly observe human’s 24-hour biological clock. Other measures included involved dim lighting, very low physical activity, and small snacks at equal intervals with no sleep.

The study concluded that the two major elements that were affected by the delayed meals were blood sugar and gene expression. When the delayed meal plan was implemented the blood sugar cycles in the body were also delayed by 5 hours. This indicated a delay in the body’s metabolic cycles, something that was expected but to a much lower degree, however, the change in gene expression was surprising.

A gene called PER2 had a 1-hour delay in its expression. The said gene contains the code for a key component of our clocks and its delay was expressed in the body’s fat tissues. The researchers mentioned that people who have circadian rhythm problems can have meals at specific intervals that would help reset the body’s clocks.  The application of the practice of interval meals could be helpful for people who work night shifts or have regular jet lags.

Meal times, however, are not restricted to helping people with disorders of the body’s clocks but they can also address a grave condition facing the modern humanity, one that is related to our unchangeable sedentary lifestyles and poor nutrition. When it comes to tackling obesity and pursuing weight loss meal timings can play a significant role in addressing the issue through influencing metabolic function.

The timings of the meal can affect our regulation of weight, addressing diseases related to being overweight and as mentioned above, the circadian rhythms which in return affect the sleep cycles of the body.

The efficient way to achieve this is to instill eating habits which promote a faster weight loss where you spread meals evenly throughout the day in small portions and with a properly balanced diet. Breakfast in the morning, early lunch before 3 pm and early dinner before the sun’s setting are the best times for meals along with healthy snacking distributed in the middle. Eating regular small portions results in an ongoing metabolic activity and a longer overnight fast like from 8 pm to 6 am has also been shown to help.

Longer overnight fasts in return will not just make your digestion better and fire up a great hunger for the morning but will also allow people to sleep soundly and promote cell regeneration as your body will not be busy digesting food.

Following the bodies’ natural cycles promotes not just weight loss but an overall well-being and allows the person to wake every day refreshed from a peaceful sleep. The harmony that our bodies require from our lifestyles has been hard wired into the evolution through the body’s clocks thus its following results in a high quality of life and better body health.