You’re body clock has that uncanny ability to kick in when it is most unwanted; You look forward to those Sunday lie ins all week long and then you still wake up at the work day time and you’re not only awake but wide awake! Or conversely, fighting to stay awake on a Friday night out that you’ve been looking forward to for a while. Yes, our body clock’s can be both a blessing and a curse!
But that’s not all your body clock is responsible for, there are many vital biological processes that carry on day in day out but that rely on nature’s Circadian Rhythm to allow them to function correctly. The term ‘Circadian’ literally means ”approximately one day”, coming from the latin, circa, (around), and diem meaning day. These range from homeostasis, (control of body temperature), to the release of digestive secretions and hormones. It also has an influence on the most favourable time of day to exercise, (early evening), to the time that most heart attacks occur, (in the morning). When left to its own devices your body clock operates on a cycle of just over 24 hours, therefore synchronising your body with the day and night.
The ‘body clock’ to which we all refer is actually a group of about 10,000 cells situated in a part of the brain called the hypothalamus. This control centre is located close to the optic nerve which also plays a significant part in our circadian rhythm, in that the volume of light coming in through our eyes helps keep our body clock in synchronisation with day and night, and as the day lengthens in summer our clock is reset by minute adjustments each day.
Your cycle of sleeping and being awake depends on ambient light and temperature and changes to them will affect that cycle. Melatonin, is a hormone that is secreted when the light levels dim in the evenings, by the pineal gland in the brain, and plays a fundamental role in regulating sleep cycles in that it tells our body it is now time to sleep. Many modern day features play havoc with our body clock such as irregular mealtimes, work or emotional stresses and alarm clocks, to name but a few!
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