Time keeping has been important from at least the beginning of this world. Creation itself occurred in the context of time. From the rotation of earth on its axis, to the rhythm of sun, moon and stars, to the oscillations of a pendulum, to microwave frequencies and atomic vibrations we are continually exploring our options with measuring time. All nature seems to keep time, from the starry host to the molecules that make us up.
Yes, your body has a clock that dictates biorhythms. We are familiar with the wake and sleep cycles involved in our circadian rhythm, but apparently they exist with feeding patterns, brain wave activity, hormone production, cell regeneration, and other important biological processes that I think will be fascinating to explore in this and future articles.
This clock may have more to do with our health than we may yet realize. Consider, for example, that researchers are describing Crohn’s disease as being related to “circadian misalignment,” resulting from “alterations in circadian system at different levels.” But let’s begin with some basics, like our daily schedule. Before the circadian rhythm was said to exist as a result of fruit fly experiments in 1935, or the term was coined in the 1950s, Ellen White shared the principle of physiological rhythm and time with the term regularity. She said;
“Regularity in eating is very important for health of body and serenity of mind.”1
“Regularity in eating is of vital importance. There should be a specified time for each meal.”2
“The observance of temperance and regularity in all things has a wonderful power.”3
“Neither should the meals be delayed one or two hours to suit circumstances, or in order that a certain amount of work may be accomplished. The stomach calls for food at the time it is accustomed to receive it. If that time is delayed, the vitality of the system decreases . . .”4
The modern term for meal timing and its affect on our physiology is called chrono-nutrition. Chrono-nutrition takes in regularity, or the lack of it, frequency, and timing. It looks at whether when we eat affects our health as dynamically as what we eat. A review of research done on this topic suggests that eating irregularly is linked to a higher risk of metabolic syndrome including high blood pressure, type-2 diabetes, and obesity.5
Two randomized controlled intervention studies were conducted that had some very interesting results. One study was done with lean women and the other with obese women. Both studies found that women experienced higher post meal insulin levels in response to irregularity than when they ate regularly. When they ate regular timed meals the peak insulin response to the meal was lower, suggesting that eating at irregular times could affect insulin sensitivity/resistance. In addition to this, researchers observed that eating at regular times resulted in less calories consumed in the day, increased calorie burning post meals, and lower total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol.6,7
In a cancer prevention study involving 644 participants, researchers found irregular breakfast and food timing to be associated with being overweight, waist size, and inflammation. The researchers made some observations, which I will seek to simplify.
“It is hypothesized that consumption habits influence cardiometabolic health partly through a circadian mechanism, as food intake is known to entrain peripheral circadian oscillators. The oscillators represent a feedback loop of circadian-related gene expression and proteins, which have downstream metabolic effects that influence weight status. Breakfast consumption may be particularly important in entraining circadian oscillators compared with other meal times. Animal studies have shown that the first meal of the day determines the circadian phases of peripheral clocks, possibly because it is the first meal following a prolonged overnight fast.”8
What I hear them saying is that the timing of meals has an influence on our biological clock in other “peripheral” areas of our physiology. These other areas may seemingly be unrelated to meal times. When we eat, especially breakfast, “entrains”, or sets the rhythm for other biorhythms to sync with; in essence leading the concerto of the day. That is pretty fascinating.
The wisdom of Solomon in Ecclesiastes 3 points to time as being a crucial part to perhaps everything that is done under heaven. But even in heaven itself, when there is no more a time to die or a time to kill and when the time of weeping and mourning is behind us, time will still be kept for all eternity. “And it shall come to pass that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh shall come to worship before Me, says the Lord” (Isaiah 66:23, NKJV). Glorious time will keep on ticking.
- 1.White, Ellen G., Counsels on Diet & Foods, p. 175.
- 2.White, Ellen G., Ministry of Healing, p. 303.
- 3.White, Ellen G., Child Guidance, p. 395.
- 4.White, Ellen G., Counsels on Diet & Foods, p. 179.
- 5.King's College London. (2016, June 22). Is 'when we eat' as important as 'what we eat'? ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160622102328.htm
- 6.Pot, G. K., Almoosawi, S., & Stephen, A. M. (2016). Meal irregularity and cardiometabolic consequences: results from observational and intervention studies. The Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, 75(4), 475–486.
- 7.Pot, G. K., Hardy, R., & Stephen, A. M. (2014). Irregular consumption of energy intake in meals is associated with a higher cardiometabolic risk in adults of a British birth cohort. International journal of obesity (2005), 38(12), 1518–1524.
Guinter, M. A., Campbell, P. T., Patel, A. V., & McCullough, M. L. (2019). Irregularity in breakfast consumption and daily meal timing patterns in association with body weight status and inflammation. The British journal of nutrition, 122(10), 1192–1200.