The circadian rhythm keeps an organism’s body in sync with night and day in order to keep the body systems in order. The word circadian comes from the latin word circa diem, which means about a day (JCI). It was first identified in 1729 by Jean Jacques d’Ortuous de Marian, a french astronomer, geophysicist, and more importantly, a chronobiologist. Chronobiology is a type of science that examines the natural phenomenons and rhythms such as the circadian rhythm (Serendip). He was born on November 26, 1678 and died on February 20, 1771. With his interest in chronobiology, the study of day and night’s effects on living organisms, he proved the existence of circadian rhythm in plants. To come to this conclusion, he observed that the a type of plant, the Mimosa pudica, still opened its leaves during the day and closed them at night when put in a completely dark environment. With this shocking discovery, he “concluded circadian rhythms persist[s] without environmental cues” (The Guardian).
“A circadian rhythm is a roughly 24 hour cycle in the physiological processes of living beings, including plants, animals, fungi and cyanobacteria” (Science Daily). The biological clock that the circadian rhythm relies on to function is regulated by the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), which is also called the pacemaker in the hypothalamus portion of the brain. The hypothalamus controls a variety of functions in the body from the nervous systems to the endocrine system. It is located in the center base of the brain and encloses the ventral part of the third ventricle. Located inside the hypothalamus, the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) connects to the optic nerve which receives light and is made up of a cluster of nerve cells, around 20,000 neu...
... middle of paper ...
...ine, n.d. Web. 27 May 2014. .
"Result Filters." National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, n.d. Web. 27 May 2014. .
"Result Filters." National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, n.d. Web. 27 May 2014. .
"Result Filters." National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, n.d. Web. 27 May 2014. .
"Sleep Drive and Your Body Clock." Body Clock & Sleep 2. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 May 2014. .
"Talk of Circadian Rhythm." Serendip Studio. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 May 2014. .
Nelson, H., Walker, M., Zackher, B., & Mitchell, J. (n.d.). Result Filters. National center for biotechnology information. Retrieved February 9, 2014, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?LinkName=pubmed_pubmed_pmh_cited&from_uid=15233153
The body’s internal clock, commonly known as circadian rhythm, does not sync with the DST’s clock. This disconnect between the body’s clock and the DST’s clock can engender feelings of “restlessness, sleep disruption, and shorter sleep duration” (O’Connor).
4. Circadian Cancer Therapy. William J. M. Hrushesky, Ed. CRC Press, Inc., MI, 1994. pp 3-9, 279-281.
There are many ways in which scientists and researchers try to understand the molecular uniqueness and physiology of living organisms. One of these ways is the Circadian clock, this clock transfers the physiology and behaviors of mammalians into rhythms that are coordinated with the 24hr solar system. This system can be affected by environmental factors such as the food, temperature and parasites. The circadian rhythms play a role in gene expression to produce protein. Gene expression is displayed through the central dogma of (DNA RNA protein). How the clock work with the 24hr solar day is that it allows gene expression every 24hr to tell when a physiological process is most active. And any damage made to the DNA is more effective
Circadian rhythms are endogenous and self sustaining in all animals and plants. These rhythms are present in the absence of environment clues such as light, temperature and social clues. In absence of clues, animals free run in constant darkness due to programmed genetic interactions. Some of the genes involve in this processes are Per, Clock and Cry. The expressions of these genes are tightly regulated at molecular level by proteins which bind to promoters and repressors to create a rhythm throughout the day. For example, bmal and clock bind to ebox region to produce cry and mper proteins (Hong and Chong, 2007). These proteins are concentration dependant which means high level binds to repressor region to avoid further transcription. Such oscillations work on close to 24 hour cycle in animals and plants. These processes occur without any environmental clues. In case the environment clues are introduced to animals, they tend to synchronize internal clock with external signals. One such example of synchronization is shown in dorsophilia which increase Tim protein at night and the presence of external light decrease the production of Tim protein. This results into phase delay in dorsophilia (Leuloup and Goldbeter, 2001).
Another reason for the difficulty of sleep research is the pace of discovery. The field moves too fast for its own good. As a result, no comprehensive beginner’s text is available in the field of circadian rhythms. By the time...
Sleep is one of our basic needs to survive and to function in day to day operations, but not everyone needs the same amount of sleep. Some people can survive on very little sleep, i.e. five hours a night, and some people need a lot of sleep, to the extend that they are sleeping up to 10 to sometimes 15 hours a night (Nature, 2005). According to Wilson (2005) the general rule states that most people need from seven to eight hours of sleep. The deprivation of sleep in our society in continually increasing with the demands in society increasing work loads, the myth that a few hours of sleep is only necessary to function properly and that sleep is sometimes considered as killing time (Nature, 2005). Sometimes sleep deprivation is also caused by other situations like sleep disorders, i.e. sleep apnea, chronic insomnia or medical conditions such as stress (Wilson, 2005).
"Result Filters." National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2014.
Segal, E. A., Cimino, A. N., Gerdes, K. E., Harmon, J. K., & Wagaman, M. (2013). A
The circadian rhythm is a predictable pattern that a species follows during a twenty-four-hour cycle. Circadian rhythms of species are associated with the external cues, which can be factors like sunlight, moisture, and temperature. When mammals are presented with an environment that does not have many external cues, the expectations are that there would be a weak or no evidence of a circadian rhythm. Contrary to this expectation, subterranean rodents have shown evidence of circadian rhythm, even though the environment they live in has few external cues. Prior scientific research done by other scientists indicated that the rodents acted in a predictable manner due to heat regulation against the hot and cold. In this study, the authors looked at the Ansell’s mole-rat (Fukomys anselli) to better understand whether social or environmental cues were more important in the creation of the circadian rhythm. Through this experiment, the authors attempted to answer five questions: is there a noticeable circadian rhythm that Fukomys anselli follows, is the circadian rhythm emerging due to the temperature of the environment, is the circadian rhythm emerging due to social effects, are Fukomys
Cain, M. L., Urry, L. A., & Reece, J. B. (2010). Campbell Biology. Benjamin Cummings.
The methods used for this lab came from Leady, B. (2014) Fundamentals of Life Science Lab Manual. Toledo, Ohio: University of Toledo. No changes were made.
Sleeping is something that is an essential part of human nature and is a must in order for one to be a functional human being. Sleep is an idea that is accompanied by many wives’ tales, including the ideas that one needs seven to eight hours of sleep each night and alcohol helps one fall asleep and sleep more soundly. One myth about sleep is that during sleeping, one is in a state of nothingness. In truth, however, it has been discovered that during sleep the brain is active, variations in heartbeat and breathing occur, and the eyes and ears are active throughout the time of sleep. These activities during a person’s sleep are important because they help that person be more aware, awake, and alert during consciousness. If all of these important activities occur during sleep, why is it that people are so willing to short themselves of this vital activity? Although much about sleep still remains a mystery, research and experiments continue to show how important sleep is to each and every person. Throughout this paper, I will discuss sleep and the effects that it has on performance and health, especially in college students. A college student’s sleeping pattern is a reliable indicator to their level of performance in the classroom and other school-affiliated activities, as a lack of sleep leads to decreased performance. Sleep is directly related the level of performance and health in an individual; the more rested a person is, the better that person will perform and feel (Dryer, 2006).
Important public policy issues have arisen in our modern 24-hour society, where it is crucial to weigh the value of sleep versus wakefulness. Scientific knowledge about sleep is currently insufficient to resolve the political and academic debates raging about how much and when people should sleep. These issues affect almost everybody, from the shift worker to the international traveler, from the physician to the policy maker, from the anthropologist to the student preparing for an exam.
In a majority of circadian rhythms there seems to be major components which include an endogenous component (which is regulated by an internal clock located in the hypothalamus) and an exogenous component. This exogenous component is made up of different clues in time in the world around us....