Metabolic inversion: when night turns to day –

We propose to carry out many tasks during the day, including professional, personal and family commitments, health care, domestic activities… There are endless tasks!

But, what is not infinite, is our energy to end the day with everything accomplished, isn’t it?

The organization and distribution of these tasks during the day are important to complete them, however, this alone does not guarantee that, at the end of the day, you will do everything with disposition. We need to understand more about our human nature for this to happen.

To go deeper into this topic, I invited the nutritionist who is an expert in maternal and child nutrition Nathalia Escudeiro.

It reveals to us that, naturally, our day is already divided into parts:

Our physiology dictates the best times to perform activities that require more coordination, agility, strength or concentration. In a perfect orchestra, we secrete hormones and neutral transmitters that favor each moment, following an ideal cycle for our nature, called the circadian cycle.

“If we respected this natural cycle, with the rise in cortisol in the morning, we would be better able to carry out activities that require more attention. Around noon, a very complete meal could be digested more easily. In the mid-afternoon, we have periods that favor coordination, decision-making, and strength tasks. Until, around nine o’clock at night, the secretion of melatonin begins and we can finally rest and sleep. Our blood pressure and body temperature follow this cycle, providing a more restful and restorative sleep”, says Nathi.

However, modernity and the advancement of technology have forced us to reverse the functioning of this cycle. Since the emergence of electricity, which brought us light at times when we naturally don’t have the sun, to the present day, with the use of screens and electronics. White light, in particular, tends to disrupt the secretion of hormones that regulate the circadian cycle.making us unwilling to face the tasks we set out to do.

Furthermore, with the stress of urban life, we tend to consume foods that are more difficult to digest at the wrong time. We do physical activity without thinking about brain and muscle activity at that moment. The expert reinforces: we schedule important meetings at unfavorable times, leading us to carry out tasks without disposition and energy, and to have poor quality sleep. Not to mention when we don’t use coffee, sweets or other habits to keep us alert and willing.

Metabolic inversion, that is, this disorderly routine of schedules and activities, plus bad life habits (excessive use of coffee, alcohol and sugar, tobacco, fast food, sedentary lifestyle), is one of the greatest challenges for our health.

Let’s go to expert tips?

With that in mind, here are some tips for you to help your circadian cycle work in the most natural and favorable way possible:

Control the light of electronics, avoiding using screens close to bedtime. Activate the yellow light on your cell phone from 20-21h. Close to bedtime, reduce the brightness of the bedroom and other rooms in the house, avoiding exposure to white light. Avoid very hot baths in the morning, opt for colder temperatures. In the morning, perform activities that require greater concentration and reasoning. At lunch, around midday, have a very complete meal, but not too greasy if you are going to have meetings and agility appointments afterwards. At dinner, try to think about choosing foods that are easy to digest, favoring the period of sleep.

So it’s easy to understand that we can’t go against nature, right?

BIANCA VILELA is the author of the book Respire, master in exercise physiology from the Federal University of São Paulo (Unifesp), lecturer and content producer. She has been developing in-company health programs in large companies across the country for over 15 years. Here at , he talks about health at work, productivity and changing habits.

Instagram: @biancavilelaoficial