In 2017, three American scientists were awarded the Nobel Prize for discovering the secrets of the biological clock. That there is a clock in our body that is linked to our health.
A biological clock is a clock that tells you when to eat, when to go to bed, and when to wake up. This clock is made up of regarding 20,000 neurons in the hypothalamus of the brain. Not only humans, but also other animals, plants, and even bacteria have biological clocks. Cats are most active at dawn and dusk, and morning glory blooms in the morning and closes during the day because of the influence of the biological clock.
The more you spend your daily life synchronized with your biological clock, the better it is for your health. It means sleeping when it is dark, waking up when it is bright, and living an active life during the day.
The biological clock affects the secretion of hormones, and when sleep is insufficient or irregular, ‘leptin’, a hormone that controls appetite, is not well controlled. This often leads to hunger and ultimately weight gain.
Melatonin, a hormone that helps regulate sleep, is secreted when it gets dark under the influence of the biological clock.
Your circadian clock can also help you find the time to maximize the effectiveness of your workouts. Because of the influence of the biological clock, morning exercise is more effective in reducing blood sugar levels than evening exercise. Evening exercise makes good use of stored energy to increase endurance during exercise. This means that you can find the optimal exercise time according to your exercise goals.
Even following American scientists won the Nobel Prize, the study of the biological clock continued. A recent study found that eating at a fixed time each day or eating within a limited time can help prevent obesity and metabolic diseases. It has been confirmed that the time of day when taking a drug is the best time to listen and, conversely, whether side effects are easy to occur, etc. are related to the biological clock.
The importance of the circadian clock is also confirmed by a person who has a genetic mutation in the circadian clock. People with the mutation tend to have abnormal sleep patterns. A life that is not synchronized with the biological clock is also a problem. People with chronically irregular sleep patterns due to shift work are at higher risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular disease.
In order for the biological clock to work well, we need to maintain a healthy lifestyle that we are familiar with. Get regular sun exposure, stay active during the day, go to bed at night, and minimize exposure to caffeine and artificial light before bed to ensure your vitamin D is produced.
By Moon Se-young, staff reporter pomy80@kormedi.com
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