Timing of Food Intake Impacts Mental Health, Study Says

New research has discovered that the time at which an individual consumes food may impact their mental health. Focusing on what you eat is important for your overall health, but did you know that paying some attention to when you eat may also be good for your mental health? Research has found that abnormal eating times may contribute to poor mental health, including anxiety and depression, as well as weight gain and cardio-metabolic illnesses.

Researchers believe that the circadian clock, which aligns the internal processes in our body at optimal times during the day based on environmental cues such as food and light, may be impacted by an individual’s eating rhythms. They hypothesize that when this primary clock in the brain isn’t in sync with eating rhythm, it affects the ability of the brain to function optimally.

While the brain makes up only 2% of an individual’s body mass, it consumes almost 25% of energy and is especially impacted by changes in a person’s calorie intake, which means that having irregular meal times may have negative health outcomes on an individual.

While the underlying mechanisms remain unknown, researchers believe that there exists an overlap between the neural circuits that govern mood and eating. Digestive hormones also  have an effect on dopamine, which plays a huge role in pleasure, energy and mood.

Researchers also highlight that irregular meal times and modified eating rhythms may contribute to poor mood, noting that irregular meal times may also be a significant cause of mood disorders.

Various studies have found that people with bipolar disorder or depression had abnormal meal times and displayed disturbed internal rhythms, which worsened mood symptoms significantly. Additionally, shift workers have also shown higher rates of anxiety and depression, which researchers hypothesize is due to their irregular eating times.

To help rectify this, individuals can optimize their eating rhythms through intermittent fasting, Evidence proposes that intermittent fasting optimizes the signaling of metabolic hormones, energy metabolism and brain function. Intermittent fasting, which is sometimes referred to as time-restricted eating, has also demonstrated that it can prevent the anxiety and depressive symptoms individuals present with. Additionally, eating at regular times may also decrease the risk of issues such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity.

Researchers recommend that individuals align their eating rhythms with the sun’s schedule to help keep mental illness at bay and for lasting benefits for their overall well-being. This is, of course, in addition to paying attention to what one eats.

With mental health cases on the rise, one can only hope that companies such as Cybin Inc. (NYSE American: CYBN) (NEO: CYBN) register breakthroughs in their quest to commercialize new lines of treatments for these clinical indications.

NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Cybin Inc. (NEO: CYBN) (NYSE American: CYBN) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/CYBN

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