Jun 3, 2016 06:08 PM
https://aeon.co/essays/soon-we-will-see-...f-medicine
EXCERPT: [...] All life on a rotating planet is ruled by circadian rhythms. Chronobiology research has brought the importance of healthy sleep to the fore, and we have made great strides in understanding jetlag. But if we stop there, we’re missing the larger point, which is that our bodies in all their complexity live and die by the clock. For decades now, scientists have understood that every bodily function is under the control of the bodyclock. In other words, physiology is four-dimensional – we might as well be different animals during the day than we are at night.
Plenty of good science has been done, but the applications of this research, especially in medicine, are just beginning. A particularly promising approach seeks to bring the bodyclock into the clinic through ‘chronotherapy’. While chronotherapy sounds like it might be a kind of technique for righting a circadian system that’s out of kilter, in fact it relies on a functioning rhythm for precision-guided medical interventions. Using chronotherapy, the ticking of the bodyclock can help us fight cancer, safeguard our hearts, time our meals, and even make better use of our brain’s intelligence....
EXCERPT: [...] All life on a rotating planet is ruled by circadian rhythms. Chronobiology research has brought the importance of healthy sleep to the fore, and we have made great strides in understanding jetlag. But if we stop there, we’re missing the larger point, which is that our bodies in all their complexity live and die by the clock. For decades now, scientists have understood that every bodily function is under the control of the bodyclock. In other words, physiology is four-dimensional – we might as well be different animals during the day than we are at night.
Plenty of good science has been done, but the applications of this research, especially in medicine, are just beginning. A particularly promising approach seeks to bring the bodyclock into the clinic through ‘chronotherapy’. While chronotherapy sounds like it might be a kind of technique for righting a circadian system that’s out of kilter, in fact it relies on a functioning rhythm for precision-guided medical interventions. Using chronotherapy, the ticking of the bodyclock can help us fight cancer, safeguard our hearts, time our meals, and even make better use of our brain’s intelligence....