Circadian Rhythm

Circadian Rhythm is the regular recurrence, in cycles of about 24 hours, of biological processes or activities, such as sensitivity to drugs and stimuli, hormone secretion, sleeping, feeding, etc. This rhythm seems to be set by a 'biological clock' which seems to be set by recurring daylight and darkness.

How Does the Suprachiasmatic Nucleus (SCN) Control Circadian Rhythm?

Circadian rhythms are biological cycles within organisms that allow them to adjust their physiology and behavior to anticipate and adapt to changes in the outside environment. Circadian rhythms are maintained with the help of circadian clocks, the main circadian clock in mammals is the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN).

What is the Circadian Rhythm?

Circadian Rhythm and Weight Loss

Artificial Light Exposure and Circadian Rhythm

Circadian rhythm length variations - early birds and night owls

Circadian Rhythm Sleep Disorders

Social Jetlag and Sleep

How Does Airplane Travel Affect the Human Body?

The Circadian Rhythm and the Immune System

Memory Recall and Circadian Rhythm

Latest Circadian Rhythm News and Research

New research project to explore the impact of urban lighting on health and wellbeing

While EU cities have worked on improving urban lighting services, this has mostly focussed on efficiency, reducing costs and lowering emissions.

4 Mar 2021

Small wearable sensor can detect stress biomarker in sweat

We've all felt stressed at some point, whether in our personal or professional lives or in response to exceptional circumstances like the COVID-19 pandemic. But until now there has been no way to quantify stress levels in an objective manner.

6 Feb 2021

Scientists study how different genes dance to the circadian rhythm

In 2017, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine went to three scientists who uncovered the molecular mechanisms that control the circadian rhythm, otherwise known as the "wake-sleep" cycle.

29 Jan 2021

World's first fully reversible manipulation of the circadian clock

The Nagoya University Institute of Transformative Bio-Molecules research team of Designated Associate Professor Tsuyoshi Hirota, Postdoctoral Fellow Simon Miller, Professor Kenichiro Itami and graduate student Tsuyoshi Oshima (Research Fellowship for Young Scientists, JSPS), in collaboration with the group of Professor Ben Feringa and Postdoctoral Fellow Dušan Kolarski of Groningen University in the Netherlands, have achieved a world first: fully reversible manipulation of the period of the circadian clock using light, by exchanging part of a compound with a light-activated switch.

25 Jan 2021

Researchers discover unexpected role for the clock gene in prostate cancer progression

Our biological or circadian clock synchronizes all our bodily processes to the natural rhythms of light and dark. It's no wonder then that disrupting the clock can wreak havoc on our body.

15 Jan 2021

Brain protein indicates a link between circadian rhythm dysfunction and Alzheimer's Disease

Fractured sleep, daytime sleepiness and other signs of disturbance in one's circadian rhythm are common complaints of people with Alzheimer's disease, and the problems only get worse as the disease progresses.

17 Dec 2020

Can melatonin help prevent severe COVID-19?

A team of researchers at the University of Toronto in Canada has found that melatonin can be an adjuvant to augment the efficacy of anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. They believe that the drug is a potential “silver bullet” to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

3 Dec 2020

Researchers identify a neural pathway that links circadian clock, stress, and wakefulness

A Nagoya University-led research team in Japan has found a new neural pathway that links the circadian clock, stress, and wakefulness in mammals.

27 Nov 2020

Wearing blue-light glasses before sleeping can improve sleep quantity and quality

During the pandemic, the amount of screen time for many people working and learning from home as well as binge-watching TV has sharply increased. New research finds that wearing blue-light glasses just before sleeping can lead to a better night's sleep and contribute to a better day's work to follow.

15 Oct 2020

Researchers identify a novel protein that repairs DNA

Researchers from the University of Seville, in collaboration with colleagues from the Universities of Murcia and Marburg (Germany) have identified a new protein that makes it possible to repair DNA.

14 Oct 2020

Regular moderate physical exercise can significantly reduce cancer risk

Disruption to our circadian rhythms due to a mismatch between environmental influences, such as exposure to light or mealtimes, and our internal 24-hour clock (circadian rhythm) is a possible cause of cancer.

13 Oct 2020

Tuned lighting helps improve sleep in nursing home residents, study finds

Nursing home residents tend to fall asleep at all hours of the day, and during the night, their sleep may be interrupted by periods of wakefulness.

6 Oct 2020

Circadian rhythm affects SARS-CoV-2 infection and host immune response

In an interesting bioRxiv preprint paper, French researchers show that the time day can affect infection with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), as well as guide subsequent host immune response – implying that circadian rhythm may well be a novel target for managing viral progression.

14 Sep 2020

Study: Lipoic acid supplements promote weight loss in certain obese adults

A compound given as a dietary supplement to overweight but otherwise healthy people in a clinical trial caused many of the patients to slim down, research by Oregon State University and Oregon Health & Science University showed.

12 Aug 2020

Increase in blood sodium levels influences the biological clock of mice

A new study from McGill University shows that increases in the concentrations of blood sodium can have an influence on the biological clock of mice, opening new research avenues for potentially treating the negative effects associated with long distance travel or shift work.

9 Jul 2020

Researchers develop less invasive genetic tools to understand cellular activity

Graduate student Ubadah Sabbagh placed a cold glass slide on the microscope. It was getting late and the lab was quiet.

24 Jun 2020

Sleep deprivation reduces positive feelings

Sleeping less than normal impacts how we feel the next morning.

22 Jun 2020

Sleeping less than normal can reduce positive feelings

"Not in the sense that we have more negative feelings, like being down or depressed. But participants in our study experienced a flattening of emotions when they slept less than normal. They felt less joy, enthusiasm, attention and fulfilment," says Associate Professor Ingvild Saksvik-Lehouillier at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology's (NTNU) Department of Psychology.

18 Jun 2020

Irregular circadian rhythm in older adults associated with increased risk of Parkinson's disease

Older men who have a weak or irregular circadian rhythm guiding their daily cycles of rest and activity are more likely to later develop Parkinson's disease, according to a new study by scientists at the UC San Francisco Weill Institute for Neurosciences who analyzed 11 years of data for nearly 3,000 independently living older men.

15 Jun 2020

Researchers identify link between methylation and the body's circadian rhythms

Every second of every day, countless biochemical reactions take place in our bodies' cells. The organization of this complex system is the result of billions of years of evolution, fine-tuning our functions since the first primordial organisms.

12 Jun 2020