Here’s all you need to know about Circadian Rhythm

 

Here’s all you need to know about Circadian Rhythm

In 2017, the Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded to Jeffrey C. Hall of the University of Maine, Michael Rosbash of Brandeis University and Michael W. Young of Rockefeller University "for their discoveries of molecular mechanisms controlling the circadian rhythm". They successfully peeked inside the human biological clock and elucidate its inner working. Their discovery explained how plants, animals, and humans adapt their biological rhythm so that it is synchronized with earth’s revolution.

So what exactly is a Circadian Rhythm? And how does it affect our body and what is its importance? We shall discuss that here.

Circadian Rhythm is also known as your sleep/wake cycle. Circadian Rhythm is a roughly 24-hour cycle in the psychological processes of living beings. There are times when you tend to feel that you are energized and drowsy at the same time every day, you have your circadian rhythm to thank to. They determine the sleeping and feeding patterns of all living beings. For most adults, the biggest dip in energy happens in the middle of the night and just after lunchtime. Those times can be different if you’re naturally a night owl or a morning person. You also won’t feel the dips and rises of your circadian rhythm as strongly if you’re all caught up on sleep. It’s when you’re sleep-deprived that you’ll notice bigger swings of sleepiness and alertness.


Researchers began studying biological rhythms more than 50 years ago. Studies conducted on fruit flies by Colin Pittendrigh and on humans by Jurgen Aschoff are considered to be the foundation of the beginning of modern research. But the studies of biological rhythms dates way back to 1700s, when a French scientist- Jean-Jacques d'Ortous de Mairan, conducted experiments and published a monograph describing the daily leaf movement of a plant. De Marian observed that the daily raising and lowering of leaves continued even when the plant was placed inside a closed room with no exposure to sunlight. This study suggested that the movements of the plant represented something more than a simple response to sunlight and were controlled by an internal clock. The term circadian was coined by Franz Halberg in the 1950s.

Learning more about the genes which are responsible for the circadian rhythm of a human body will help us to understand biological systems and the human psychology. Cognizing on what makes biological rhythm tick may lead to treatments for mental disorders, jet lags, sleep disorders, obesity and other health problems. It can also be helpful to improve ways of individuals to adjust their routine to a night shift jobs.

The researchers hope that these initial findings will be a basis for further investigation. Now that CLOCK has been identified as a molecule of interest, it will help to focus future investigations into the molecular mechanisms. There is still much to learn about CLOCK and its role in human psychology, but now that scientists know the genes involved in it, research can begin chipping away at the details.