Eating Salt Can Change Your Body's "Biological Clock"
Increasing salt in your diet while reducing carbohydrate intake can help you transform from a late riser into an early bird. By making slight adjustments to your eating habits, you can change the operation of your body's internal clock.
Researchers such as Hidehiro Oike from the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization in Japan are studying the effects of food on the biological clock. In their investigation of laboratory mice, they discovered that adding salt to food caused the "clock genes" in the mice's kidneys to be advanced by two hours.
The researchers then changed the carbohydrates in the mice's diet from 50% to 0.73% and had the mice eat for two weeks. The data showed that the mice's biological clocks were advanced by 4 to 8 hours, turning them from "night owls" into "diligent mice" that sleep and wake early. Polyphenols in red wine have the opposite effect of salt, slowing the biological clock by 3 hours; caffeinated beverages also have this "slowing" effect.
A disrupted biological clock can disrupt a person's life rhythm, not only causing insomnia but also having adverse effects on people with diabetes, among others. Properly controlling salt and coffee intake in your daily diet can help regulate a disrupted biological clock and advance the treatment of diseases.
This research is still in its early stages, but the researchers believe that as the study continues, it will be feasible to regulate the biological clock through diet. This is good news for people who frequently travel abroad. Perhaps one day, they can adjust their biological clock through diet before traveling to adapt to jet lag.