The chains of habit are generally too small to be felt until they are too strong to be broken
– Samuel Johnson
Every living organism has a natural rhythm. These rhythms are disrupted by illness, particularly drug and alcohol use. A drug can create false sleep. A drug can stimulate alertness. A drug can suppress appetite. Another can stimulate appetite.
The science behind living rhythmically, strategies that promote and restore natural rhythms, and the role of sleep, nutrition, meditation, and exercise in the 21st century approach to healing oneself in recovery, are all important aspects of your experience with ART.
ART’s concept of living in the NOW (No Other Way) is central to living a life in recovery. Similarly, mindfulness is a state of active, open, non-judgmental attention on the present. Many treatment programs and practitioners are employing mindfulness in the care and management of patients with mood, anxiety, and substance use disorders. These diseases and symptoms tend to cluster together.
The scientific basis of the effectiveness of mindfulness has been established. Specific activities, such as breathing, and strategies, such as yoga, are commonly employed.
Alpha Rehabilitation Treatment incorporates these activities and strategies in our treatment programmes.
Let’s explain how these techniques support the restoration of circadian and ultradian rhythms, and why this is important to recovery.
What are Circadian and Ultradian Rhythms?
Circadian Rhythms are any biological process that displays endogenous, entrainable oscillation around 24 hours. It comes from the two Latin words, Circa- around/ approximately and Diem- day. The wavelength of daylight hits the retina and goes through the Suprachiasmatic nucleus (a tiny region of the hypothalamus responsible for controlling circadian rhythms) to the hypothalamus, to the pineal gland where it blocks the release of melatonin. When the release of melatonin is blocked, or turned off, it signals that the brain needs to wake up. We do not recommend melatonin as a sleep aid – (if you have been given it as a pill the night before it may hang around the brain and block your wake cycle. Sleep hygiene is not just about sleeping – it is about being able to be awake the next morning too.
Ultradian rhythms are ones that occur on less than a 24-hour cycle. The hemispheres of the brain – cycle about every 90 to 120 minutes. It is important to give the brain a rest every two hours, or productivity is reduced and fatigue sets in.
Sleep loss accumulates and the taking of pills to get to sleep makes it hard to respond to natural light inputs in the morning, which further affects our ability to get a good night sleep the following night. As hours of wakefulness accumulate, adenosine accumulates in the cortex and sleepiness should follow. Caffeine blocks the binding of this molecule which signals that we should sleep. If we release the adenosine with caffeine too late in the day – when bedtime comes around, we will find it difficult to sleep. Additionally, many people take caffeine in the morning to wake up. Since adenosine is at its lowest point in the day after a good night’s sleep, caffeine is doing nothing to get us going. What is contributing to the sense of being awake and alert is the secondary inputs of the esophagus and gut adding to the exposure of the skin and retina to light.