One of our members recently sent us a link to The Secret Life of Your Body Clock, about the importance of letting your body follow its own natural sleep – wake cycle.
The Secret Life of Your Body Clock
This video makes several important points.
- Your biological clock dictates psychological behavior. It determines when your brain is most alert and when you want to eat and sleep.
- Age affects the biological clock. Seniors often go to bed early, while adolescents and young adults like to stay up late.
- Biologically, teens are less alert in the mornings, while adults may perform best in the mid-morning hours.
- Between the hours of 8 a.m. and 10, blood pressure rises. The risk of heart attack is three times greater between 6 a.m. and noon.
- After lunch, people feel an energy dip. A higher percentage of car accidents occur at 2 p.m.
- From 4 p.m. to 6, body temperature and alertness are increasing. This is the best time for exercise.
- Large evening meals are unhealthy.
- Light is the single most influential external force on the body clock.
- A mismatch between lifestyle and the natural body clock stresses our bodies: Humans rarely adjust to shift work patterns. See below.
- Older people tend to die between 3 a.m. and 6 the same hours newborns tend to enter the world.
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Adapted from Films on Demand
http://digital.films.com/play/NNQN3V
As modern life has evolved, many ignore their internal rhythms and pay a price for it: Risk for every major disease increases. This is illustrated by studies like this one on shift workers who work long hours overnight and try to sleep during the day.
Shift work disorder: overview and diagnosis.
Roth T.
Sleep Disorders and Research Center, Henry Ford Hospital Sleep Center, Detroit, Michigan, USA.
Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. 2012 Mar;73(3):e09.
Abstract
Shift work disorder is a type of sleep disorder that occurs when an individual is unable to successfully synchronize his or her internal clock with a work schedule that requires staying awake and working when it is dark and sleeping when it is light. Approximately 10% of shift workers suffer from this disorder, which seriously impairs their ability to function. Shift work disorder is associated with increased risk of gastrointestinal problems, cancer, depression, heart disease, excessive sleepiness and accidents, and decreased productivity. This report describes the prevalence, diagnostic criteria, differential diagnosis, and clinical consequences of shift work disorder to help clinicians recognize this impairing condition.
© Copyright 2012 Physicians Postgraduate Press, Inc.
PMID: 22490262, NIH, NLM: PubMed access to MEDLINE’s biomedical citations
Circadian living for optimal brain function
The BBC video provides a good introduction for the Circadian Living page of LivingTheCRWay.com. It was essential to create the information provided in the Circadian Living Clock, which guides members to maximize their health benefits by following the 24-hour light/dark cycle.
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