Imagine if today you lived in an underground cave with no sunlight at all, but you could control the switch of the light and decide when to turn it on and when to turn it off, would you still have the concept of day and night? Will your body still function as it does now? The answer is that even when there is no sunlight, there is a clock in your body that keeps running–this clock is called “circadian rhythm”, also known as “circadian rhythm”.biological clock”.
The circadian rhythm is affected by sunlight, and the setting is adjusted according to the external environment
Under the influence of circadian rhythm, the body will operate at an appropriate rhythm like a symphony orchestra, and because of the circadian rhythm, the cells in the body will not operate independently, but can watch the ensemble and coordinate with each other . Circadian rhythm affects all functions of the body, and more than half of the genes are rhythmic (that is, they will change and behave differently at different times).
The circadian rhythm is mainly affected by the blue light in the sun. When the blue light hits the retina, the retina will send the received signal to the brain, so that the clock in the brain can be corrected with the external environment.
Dr. Su Shengjie, deputy director of the Lianqing Clinic of Lian’an Preventive Medicine Institute, said that even in the absence of sunlight, the biological clock will probably cycle at a frequency of about 24.5 hours, and sunlight only determines when the rhythm starts. This is also why when we cross the border, we often have jet lag problems, because we take Taiwan clocks to different time zones, and the sun shines at different times, so we need to re-adjust the settings.
Prepare related systems The best conductor of the body – the circadian rhythm
Circadian rhythms send signals for a series of changes in the body that prepare us for what’s to come. For example, during the day, the body expects that we may be engaged in production work, food collection, and other activities, so the circadian rhythm’s instructions to the digestive system are to make related systems, such as the gastrointestinal system, get ready first.
Does it matter if the body is ready and the expected activity doesn’t happen? Su Shengjie’s answer is probably not, but if it happens, then the body will save effort to execute it. Take insulin as an example. The pancreas expects that the body will eat during the day, so it is always ready to release insulin, and it will work at any time when sugar comes. But even if you don’t eat, you have nothing to lose. Conversely, if you eat too late, the pancreas will not expect it, and it may not be able to secrete enough insulin in time, causing blood sugar to soar rapidly.
There are coups to stabilize the circadian rhythm and learn to treat the body in the most efficient way
The modern life style is quite different from the habit of doing things at sunrise and resting at sunset. Many activities, such as eating three meals and exercising… These activities that should happen during the day have been moved to the evening. Because the body operates with a certain tolerance, it may not cause serious problems in the body, but this kind of life style also prevents us from treating the body in the most efficient way.
When the operation of the circadian rhythm conflicts with the external environment, insomnia, light sleep, or evenmetabolismPoor health, obesity and other problems, on the contrary, if you follow the rhythm, you can sleep better and your body can operate in a more efficient way.
Su Shengjie reminded that if you want to stabilize the circadian rhythm, you can first reduce the interference of environmental factors, reduce the stimulation at night, do not overuse 3C products, reduce exposure to blue light, and do not do strenuous exercise at night. Expose to the sun for about 30 minutes, and move first during the process to tell the body that it is daytime. After a period of correction, the circadian rhythm will naturally become stable. Generally, sleep is used as the anchor benchmark of the circadian rhythm, and the stability of the rhythm is evaluated from the quality of sleep.