05/31/2019
"Before there was electricity or the internet or screens illuminated by thousands of liquid crystals rotating polarized pulses of photons, humans mostly lived by the daily comings and goings of the yellow burning ball of gas in the sky. Like every other organism that walks, flies, swims, scurries, sways, or photosynthesizes on Earth, people evolved circadian rhythms tuned to this solar circuit.
Yours, like that of most other organisms, is controlled by waves of proteins encoded in just a handful of master clock genes. Every day, as if tracing the rise and fall of the sun through the firmament, concentrations of special timekeeping protein complexes surge and ebb inside nearly every cell in your body, in a sinusoidal curve that repeats itself every 24 hours. These proteins predictably bind and release your DNA, flipping thousands of genes on and off in synchronized choreography. They dictate more than just your sleep patterns. Fluctuations in most of your critical body functions, including blood pressure, body temperature, metabolism, and even your moods and behaviors all run on a meticulous 24-hour schedule.
But lots of things can throw your clock out of whack—consuming calories at all hours of the day, binge-watching Netflix on a blue-tinged screen at 3 am, even just getting older. And when your internal timekeeper starts ticking off-beat, lots of other things start to go wrong, from depression and other mood disorders to metabolic malfunctions and heart disease. Which is why one of the newest ideas in the emerging field of circadian medicine is to create drugs that actually amplify the cadence of our internal timers. The scientists leading this charge think such “clock-enhancing molecules” could help astronauts in the future stay on Earth-time even as they’re up in orbit or en route to Mars. Closer to home, these drugs could one day be used to combat the obesity epidemic, stave off incurable diseases like Alzheimer’s, and even slow aging itself. ...
So until science delivers some magic clock-boosting pill, maybe just, you know, go outside more often."
.. and turn your screens to the warm colors during nighttime, keep regular sleep and eating habits, lead a lifestyle that considers the seasons and the lunar rhythms, use natural remedies such as herbs and essential oils for stimulation or relaxation to balance your circadian rhythm.
Almost all of the cellular functions in your body run on a 24-hour schedule. Keep that clock regular, and you could stay healthier, and maybe even live longer.
