At the Interface of Lifestyle, Behavior, and Circadian Rhythms: Metabolic Implications

Abstract

Nutrient metabolism is under circadian regulation. Disruption of circadian rhythms by lifestyle and behavioral choices such as work schedules, eating patterns, and social jetlag, seriously impacts metabolic homeostasis. Metabolic dysfunction due to chronic misalignment of an organism's endogenous rhythms is detrimental to health, increasing the risk of obesity, metabolic and cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer. In this paper, we review literature on recent findings on the mechanisms that communicate metabolic signals to circadian clocks and vice versa , and how human behavioral changes imposed by societal and occupational demands affect the physiological networks integrating peripheral clocks and metabolism. Finally, we discuss factors possibly contributing to inter-individual variability in response to circadian changes in the context of metabolic (dys)function.

Chronic Stress Contributes to Osteosarcopenic Adiposity via Inflammation and Immune Modulation: The Case for More Precise Nutritional Investigation

“…The relationship between circadian rhythm and epigenetic changes in immune system, metabolism of nutrients, and different diseases (e.g., cardiovascular, obesogenic, metabolic) has been extensively studied. See review [79]. Moreover, the connection between circadian rhythm and mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathways (crucial for numerous biological processes and metabolism of bone, muscle, and adipose tissue) has been reported recently [80].…”

“…Accordingly, the robust circadian rhythm is necessary for the proper functioning of all body processes. Unfortunately, modern humans' lifestyle and the way humans organize their sleeping and eating activities (either by choice or necessity) is such that it often leads to violation and major misalignments of circadian rhythm, leading to increased risks for serious metabolic disturbances and diseases of modern time, including obesity, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and metabolic syndrome [79]. For example, even adolescent girls with evening chronotypes and social jet lag showed greater obesogenic phenotypes, compared to their normal-morning chronotype counterparts, despite that the duration of sleep was taken into account [81].…”

Energy, Nutrient and Food Intakes of Male Shift Workers Vary According to the Schedule Type but Not the Number of Nights Worked

“…Digestion, nutrient metabolism and energy homeostasis are regulated by the circadian activity of hormones (e.g., insulin, glucagon, corticosterone, leptin, ghrelin) and enzymes involved in cholesterol, amino acid, lipid and glucose metabolism [21,22]. From a nutritional point of view, humans are programmed to alternate between periods of food intake (day) and fasting (night) [23,24] and shifting from this, especially eating in typical fasting time, can alter health outcomes [25].…”

Biobehavioural approaches to prevention and treatment: A call for implementation science in obesity research

“…Two years prior to this IOM report, the use of the term “biobehavioural” as related to obesity can be found . Decades of previous work have gone deeply into discovering detailed mechanisms to understand the contributing factors driving obesity and its complications, and by leveraging these discoveries from recent decades, scientists in our community can develop new and creative approaches using the biobehavioural framework. This mechanistic research has resulted in a broad but fragmented literature base that needs to be more fully integrated into a systems approach.…”