Plant life underlies all of the agriculture that produces our food. Plants including crops have internal clocks that are important for their growth. This might seem surprising, but plants need light to power the photosynthesis that drives their growth, and there is only daylight for part of each 24 h day. This means that the […]
Archive | Clocks in the Spotlight
My Life With Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder, Part I
This is the first blog post in a new series on Patient Stories. These posts present first person accounts of those suffering from circadian rhythm-related disorders. As daylight fades, my brain and body start to wake up, and by the time it’s dark out, I’m feeling my best – physically and mentally. From reading to […]
A heart clock rhythm orchestra – a different tune at different times in the day
Have you ever had your blood pressure checked at the doctor’s? Did you assume your blood pressure stayed the same all day? It does not! It is in concert in a circadian rhythm orchestra with low base notes during the night and high peak notes during the day guided by a conductor in the brain […]
A link between clocks and cancer?
Many of us often choose to sacrifice sleep to either do extra work or enjoy night life activities. No matter which one it is, we usually feel that making up the lost sleep later will put our bodies right again. Well… although this may help relieve some sleep debt, disrupting your circadian rhythm too often […]
Natural blues
Light is a key driver for synchronizing our internal, circadian rhythms to the external light and dark cycle. In my last blog post, you learned about how our eyes not only enable us to see the world (through the cones and the rods), but that they also signal whether it is light or dark around […]
