Circadian Rhythms

Scientists have long suspected that metabolic disorders, such as type 2 diabetes and obesity, could be linked to our circadian rhythm or biological clock. For example, laboratory mice with altered biological clocks often become obese and develop diabetes. Now biologists at UC San Diego have discovered that a chemical, which affects the activity of a key protein that regulates our biological clock, can repress the production of glucose by the liver, offering a promising new direction for the development of a new class of drugs to treat diabetes.  Read More

Circadian rhythms are a roughly 24-hour cycle governing biochemical, physiological, or behavioral processes that have been widely observed not only in humans, but other animals, fungi, cyanobacteria and plants. In plants, circadian rhythms help synchronize biological processes with day and night to control photosynthesis, tell the plant what season it is, and the best time to flower to attract insects. Yale University researchers have now identified a key genetic gear that keeps the circadian clock in plants ticking, offering the prospect of engineering plants that can grow all year round and in locations where that's is not currently possible.  Read More

A group of Cambridge scientists have successfully identified the mechanism that drives our internal 24-hour clock, or circadian rhythm. It occurs not only in human cells, but has also been found in other life forms such as algae, and has been dated back millions of years. Whilst the research promises a better understanding of the problems associated with shift-work and jet-lag, this mechanism has also been proven to be responsible for sleep patterns, seasonal shifts and even the migration of butterflies.  Read More

In bad news for regular jet-setters and shift workers, research by psychologists at the University of California, Berkeley, has shown that acute disruption of circadian rhythms can cause memory and learning problems long after people have returned to a regular schedule. While similar effects have been shown in jet-lagged subjects, the UC Berkeley study is the first to look at long-term effects and changes in brain anatomy after the subjects have recovered from jet lag.  Read More

Designers Eoin McNally and Ian Walton have come up with the concept of a ‘Glo Pillow’ that uses an LED fabric substrate below the surface of the pillow to wake the user with light. Forty five minutes before the alarm is due to activate, the pillow begins to glow. The light intensity increases gradually from 0 lux to 250 lux, simulating a natural sunrise and helping to calibrate the body clock by waking the body naturally. The LED fabric substrate also functions as a display, showing the time on the pillows surface using a grid of LEDs inside the pillow.  Read More

June 28, 2007 Waking at just the right moment can have a drastic effect on how well-rested a person feels, the trick is knowing exactly when that is. This is the principle behind the aXbo ‘sleep phase alarm clock’- a device that monitors phases of sleep and wakes the user at the optimum moment to maximize their feelings of well-being and vitality.  Read More

June 19, 2007 Ever wondered exactly why eating at night makes you put on weight, why some people are "night owls" or what controls your metabolic energy levels through the day? Instead of only 15% of our genes being regulated by circadian rhythms, as previously thought, researchers have discovered that ALL mammalian genes are affected by nature's daily clock - our entire bodies are regulated by genes whose expression oscillates on a daily cycle. What's more, if we're not exposed to a proper daily cycle of light and darkness, our genes don't have a reference point to synchronise to - and they can gradually get more and more out of sync with one another, causing organs to function ineffectively.  Read More