Late-night eating and melatonin may impair insulin response, Dr. Rhonda Patrick

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New video on how late-night eating may suffer from an impaired insulin response and elevate blood glucose thanks to melatonin.

Melatonin isn't just a sleep hormone. In its role as a regulator of circadian rhythm, it regulates over 500 genes. One of the important functions emerging evidence suggests it plays is in the regulation of insulin production in the pancreas, where it binds to receptors and signals the temporary (overnight) suppression of insulin production.

This wasn’t a problem in our pre-industrial past, but in today’s environment of 24-hour food availability, it can have far-reaching effects on health. When food consumption regularly occurs outside normal daylight hours, the risk of hyperglycemia – higher than optimal blood glucose levels – increases.

Chronic exposure to elevated glucose increases our risk of developing diabetes and other metabolic disorders. But, over time, elevated blood sugar - even within just high normal ranges - has an association with brain volume losses in the hippocampus and the amygdala, areas involved in memory and cognition.

This brief episode explains how restoring our dietary and sleep pattern to one that more closely syncs with those imposed by nature can improve our health and potentially prolong our healthspan.

When it comes to a ketogenic diet--I think we pretty much need to redo the meal timing studies--of which we need more of in the first place. Unlike even most low carbers, my very high fat intake while in maintenance means that I'm probably burning more fat versus glucose or protein as a percentage when I'm fed than when I'm fasted, a reversal of the usual situation for people on a higher carb or even on a higher protein intake.

I'm playing it by ear. The main reason I'm on a ketogenic version of a low carb diet is versus anxiety/bipolar/schizoaffective issues. There seems to be a strong relation of how I feel to meal timing and the nature of the meals.

I noticed I was more anxious at the beginning of the work week. I was eating a bit of extra protein on the weekend, I'm finding so far that that observation holds, if I keep it back, that helps. Also found that a total fast had me anxious as well. I think that may be consistent. I'm fairly lean. The leaner you are, the more of your metabolism during a total fast is going to be fed from your lean mass. A very heavy person fasted might burn 90 percent or more calories as fat, a very ketogenic ratio, where a leaner person might burn more like 70 percent from fat. So eating more protein is likely to be comparable to fasting in that a greater percentage of calories I burn is going to be protein, versus eating a higher fat ratio (around 85 percent).

There's a daily variation to my mood eating this way. I'm actually slightly down in the morning, but it's not too bad because there aren't a lot of people around. I eat most of my protein at breakfast, and most of my fat at supper, which I eat around 2 in the afternoon, just before leaving for work. I tend to be down in the morning, as I said, and I tend to be up during my work day. If I undereat, or eat more protein, or eat my protein closer to my work day, things are a lot scarier at work then.

Eat carbs--if things go well, in a couple of hours it's mostly glycogen or otherwise disposed of. Eat fat--five, six hours, maybe even longer, you can still be in the process of digestion/assimilation of that fat.

I am still reading Sugar, Sleep, and Survival because it is so densely packed with interesting info. It has amazing stuff based on the hundred years or so we’ve been living with artificial light, and just how messed up that can make our body rhythms.

^ looks interesting - requested it from the library. If you haven't yet, do read Dr. Matthew Walker's 2017 book Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams.

It is in my stack!

Just avoiding blue light after sunset does wonders.