Circadian Time

Transcript

Time. It’s not what we think it is. It’s not just the hours, minutes, and seconds. There is a different time that we didn’t invent. A time that’s not powered by batteries, but generated from within us. It’s called circadian time.

Circadian time is kept by our circadian clock in our brain and regulates the function of almost every biological system in our bodies, including our sleep and metabolism. Our circadian clock is synchronized by the daily light-dark cycle, aligning us with the rotation of our planet and the world around us. As a result, we evolved to wake at sunrise and sleep soon after dark.

But over the last century, our lifestyles have changed dramatically. Man-made light lets us change our sleep patterns and meal and exercise timing to fit into our busy schedule. Some even work at night. Brightly lit electronic devices join us in bed and alert us just before we try to sleep. Jet travel lets us move more quickly across time zones. These innovations have inadvertently disrupted our circadian rhythms. We have never before been more distracted from our biology, and it seriously damages our health, well-being, and performance.

While we won’t give up our modern lifestyles, we must begin to take our biological circadian time seriously. Circadian time will even help us beyond lifestyle and is becoming the new frontier in personalized medicine. By knowing our circadian time and being able to control it, we can live our best and most productive lives.