Circadian Rhythm

New Advances in Mapping the Circadian Clock

From discovering that the circadian rhythm exists to identifying the hormones and genes underlying it, the science of chronobiology has come a long way in the past century. New research technologies and methods have brought even more discoveries in just the last several years. We now know more than ever before about how our biological clocks operate, with new discoveries being released regularly. The latest research provides more insight into the “control center” of our circadian rhythm: the suprachiasmatic nucleus.

The Wiring of the Suprachiasmatic Nucleus

When it comes to the circadian clock, timing is everything, which makes the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus one of the most important regions of the brain. This region is not just centrally located, but central to many essential elements of our internal clocks as well. These internal clocks in turn regulate diverse processes, from metabolism to DNA repair to mental health. While the suprachiasmatic nucleus is small, it can affect almost every aspect of our health.

A new study relating to mapping the circadian clock shines light on the way the suprachiasmatic nucleus, or SCN, is wired. This was previously very difficult because the constant high activity of this region made it difficult to identify patterns. In the recent study, researchers used a toxin from pufferfish to reduce the “noise” in the SCN that had previously made the organ difficult to study empirically. The results? Scientists were able to see that each cell of the SCN appears to have its own innate signaling rhythm. These patterns combine to create the overall pulse of our internal clocks. The innate clocks of the cells are coordinated through a maze of neurons connecting them to other cells in the organ. When pufferfish toxin was used to disable these neurons, the activity went from smooth and coordinated to chaotic. The “wiring” in this region is clearly tightly controlled and interconnected via this neuronal network.

Mapping the Circadian Clock: Hormonal Messengers and the SCN

Neurons are not the only means of communication between the cells of the SCN; neurotransmitters also play an important role. In 2005, scientist Eric Herzog and a team of researchers at Washington University discovered that a hormone called VIP acted as a chemical messenger between cells of the SCN. The importance of VIP, or vasoactive intestinal peptide, was surprising due to the fact that this hormone mainly functions in the gastrointestinal tract. This month, the same team announced the discovery that GABA also plays a role. It appears that GABA has a weaker effect than VIP, yet plays an important role in signaling pathways that set the internal beat of the circadian rhythm.

This brings up an important question: Why do the cells of the SCN communicate in such a wide variety of ways? There is no firm evidence at this time, but researchers believe that the multiple means of communication allows them to respond better and more quickly to changes in the environment. A variety of messengers ensures that messages are always delivered on time.

Health Implications of Mapping the Circadian Clock

Despite new knowledge about the inner workings of the circadian rhythm and the importance of internal clocks in almost every aspect of our health, people in the United States and the rest of the Western world struggle more than ever to get enough sleep. Constant high levels of artificial light ensure that our brains struggle to adjust to nighttime, while other aspects of modern lifestyles often keep people awake well into the night. All of this has a devastating effect on public health in a variety of ways. The rates of diseases linked to disrupted circadian rhythm, such as diabetes, are higher than ever before and increasing steadily every year. Mapping the circadian clock will help scientists and doctors to lower the ever-growing rate of circadian disorders and create better treatments for people who suffer from them.

One takeaway message from the growing body of research in chronobiology and circadian rhythm is that maintaining internal clocks is crucial to whole body health. It may be time for modern people to turn off their alarm clocks and cell phone clocks, and listen to their circadian clocks instead.

Are Brain Salts Responsible for Sleep-Wake Cycle Regulation?

May 13 by Ewcopywriting Leave a Comment

A precise balance of salts in the body is important for a variety of biological functions, from nerve activity to fluid balance. With this in mind, it should come as no surprise that salts are also involved in maintaining a healthy sleep-wake cycle. However, new science reveals that salts appear to play a much bigger role than expected, acting as part of the regulation system of our circadian rhythm.

Electrolyte Balance and Brain Function

When ingested and absorbed into our body fluids, salts such as sodium and potassium become ions. These ions, also called electrolytes, are key parts of many biochemical reactions. They are also conductors of the electrical currents needed for muscle activity, neuron signaling and more. Salt balance is important to health. The role of salt in brain signaling is one reason the body works hard to keep sodium and potassium levels within a very narrow range.

When our neurons receive an impulse, sodium channels along the axon, which looks like a long open tail. Salt flows into the cell quickly, causing the electrical balance to change. This creates a current that is passed down the axon, opening sodium channels along the way. This current is passed to another cell, which repeats the process until the message has reached its target location. The majority of signals in the brain are transmitted using this process. Many disorders that affect both sleep and cognitive function, such as schizophrenia, have been associated with aberrant or faulty signaling of sodium channels.

Salts and Your Sleep-Wake Cycle

Because the brain is dependent on sodium and potassium balance to send and receive information, electrolyte imbalances can have a variety of effects, including disruption of the sleep-wake cycle. When people have even mild imbalances of salts, they will suffer from changes in their sleep patterns, fatigue, fuzzy thinking and even dementia. These are all symptoms we associate with disrupted sleep-wake cycles as well. Are these coincidental side effects, or could salts actually function as regulators of the circadian rhythm? This is what a set of Danish researchers set out to discover.

Salts, Neuromodulators and Sleep

Scientists know that neuromodulators such as cortisol and melatonin play a huge role in regulating the sleep-wake cycle. These neuromodulators affect salt balance by opening sodium channels as a means of signaling. Salts appear to act independently of these hormones, as they are controlled by non-hormonal means. While the relationship between neuromodulators and salts is still a subject of study and debate, salt appears to be an independent variable affecting sleep. When salts were injected into the brains of mice, their wakefulness, or lack thereof, changed in a predictable way. Researchers were able to put a mouse to sleep, or wake them, simply by adding salts. The relationship between neuromodulators and salt balance may actually be the mechanism by which they cause sleepiness or wakefulness.

This may seem far-fetched, but it is not an unusual way to control neural activity. The activity of sodium channels is an important regulator of many brain processes, so many hormones and pharmaceuticals work on cells by opening or closing these channels. It is possible that changing salt levels are an important way that the brain controls the sleep-wake cycle.

The Future of Sleep Disorder Treatment?

Obviously, people with sleep disorders cannot be treated by a shot of salts into the brain as the mice in the study were. However, there may be other applications for these findings. Many drugs act by changing the activity of salt in the brain. For example, many epilepsy drugs block the activity of voltage-gated sodium channels, which transmit most neural signaling. In short, people who suffer from circadian disorders may soon have a medication to help them regulate their sleep-wake cycle if other research supports the conclusion of this study.

While no one should begin eating more salt to treat a circadian disorder, this new discovery is nonetheless promising. Understanding how different variables such as salt balance affect the brain, and by extension, our sleep-wake cycles will allow us to better understand how circadian disorders develop. This can, in turn, lead to more effective treatments for people who suffer from sleep disorders.

The Circadian System and Glucose Regulation

May 07 by Ewcopywriting Leave a Comment

Glucose metabolism and regulation are central to human health. We depend on a complex system to ensure that glucose is funneled to the areas where it is needed at the correct times and in the correct amounts. Many diseases, including diabetes, obesity and metabolic syndrome have been linked to dysregulation of glucose and insulin. New research suggests that the circadian system and glucose regulation are closely linked.

Glucose Regulation: A Primer

It is crucial to your health that glucose levels remain balanced within a very narrow range. The two hormones in charge of this are insulin and glucagon. Insulin “opens” gates in your cells so glucose leaves the bloodstream and can be used as fuel. In addition, liver cells store glucose so it can be used later. Glucagon does the exact opposite, closing gates on cells and causing the liver to release stored glucose into the bloodstream.

Once in cells, glucose is converted to usable energy in a process known as glycolysis. Glycolysis breaks down glucose into smaller carbon elements that can be used to fuel cells. In addition, some cells undergo a metabolic process called glycogenesis in which glucose is converted to a compound known as glycogen so it can be stored and used later.

The Circadian System, Glucose Regulation and Metabolism

The body controls glucose carefully because it is so important. If cells lack glucose then they starve, but too much prevents key cell processes from occurring. There are many factors involved in glucose regulation and metabolism because it is so tightly controlled. New research suggests that the circadian rhythm plays an integral role.

People who work odd shifts or otherwise have a disrupted circadian rhythm are more likely to suffer from metabolic syndrome. This is due to a newly discovered connection between the circadian system and glucose regulation and metabolism. Glucose control is intimately controlled by circadian rhythm. People who work odd hours have this system disrupted, so they have abnormal fluctuations in insulin and glucagon production. Over time, this can lead to insulin resistance, the problem underlying type 2 diabetes and a variety of metabolic diseases.

Cortisol: The Missing Link?

How exactly does circadian rhythm tie into glucose regulation? Cortisol is suspected as the main link between the circadian system and glucose. Cortisol is one of the main hormones of the circadian rhythm. It also governs blood glucose to a great extent and creates the diurnal rhythm seen in glucose and insulin levels. When people take glucocorticoid drugs that are broken down into cortisol, they often suffer problems with regulating their blood glucose as a side effect. Consistent use of glucocorticoids can lead to insulin resistance.

People who work odd shifts or otherwise live with circadian rhythm disruption have higher levels of cortisol overall. Cortisol normally peaks just before waking and declines slowly throughout the day. This is linked to the drop in insulin in the evening when cortisol levels are at their lowest. Without a normal circadian rhythm, cortisol levels drop more slowly and insulin remains high. Over time this can lead to resistance. Cortisol is likely the link between the circadian system and glucose dysregulation.

We are only just beginning to realize the effect that sleep has on us. Not only is it important to get enough sleep, but to get the right quality of sleep and at the right times. Many modern chronic diseases that are on the rise may be influenced by an epidemic of disrupted circadian rhythm in the modern world. Sleep may indeed be the best doctor and the best medicine.

Melatonin: A Casualty of Modern Technology?

Apr 22 by Ewcopywriting Leave a Comment

Today’s society has access to a wider range of entertainment, education and convenience than ever before thanks to modern technology. Cell phones, tablets and laptop computers are more portable than ever, allowing us to lead lives in which we are constantly in touch. However, the huge preponderance of screens we’re exposed to emanate unnatural light that can prevent human brains from making melatonin at the levels needed for good function. Low melatonin levels in the population are causing a variety of health problems, affecting more than just sleep.

Melatonin and Your Health

Melatonin is a hormone secreted by the pineal gland of your brain in response to a lack of light. While most people associate melatonin with sleep, it actually controls hundreds of activities related to metabolism and the cell cycle. Melatonin is also a powerful antioxidant, helping to repair oxidative stress that’s occurred during the day. It serves as a cue for the production of other hormones, including female reproductive hormones, as well. In addition, melatonin is crucial in turning on genes that produce proteins that are needed for DNA repair and other restorative processes that mainly occur when we sleep.

When people have low melatonin levels, the most obvious symptom is a disruption of the circadian rhythm. However, the effects of low melatonin are far-reaching and can impact almost every system in the human body.

Low Melatonin Levels: A Modern Epidemic

Artificial light has become ubiquitous in modern life. From the television to the smartphone, this light is all around us. While humans once went to bed with the sunset, we now can be productive long into the night. This constant unnatural light interferes with our body’s production of melatonin. This is not merely theoretical; research has repeatedly linked insomnia and other sleep disorders to the use of devices with lighted screens. Heavy cell phone use is linked to increased sleep disorders as well as a higher prevalence of depression, mental health problems and other disorders linked to a lack of sleep.

The High Cost of Low Melatonin

Melatonin is a master hormone that governs a variety of crucial cell processes, so a deficiency can have wide-spread consequences. Some effects of low melatonin are not surprising: Fatigue, depression and lowered mental function. However, low melatonin levels have also been linked to a variety of autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and IBS/IBD.

The reason for this link appears to lie in melatonin’s role in the immune system. Autoimmune diseases are characterized by an increase in the Th-17 subset of T-helper cells, which produce a cytokine called IL-17. This protein is important in protecting our bodies against infection, but when it is produced unchecked it causes much of the inflammation and damage that we associate with autoimmune disease.

Melatonin appears to lower levels of IL-17 by putting Th-17 cells “to sleep.” These cells are less active when there are high levels of melatonin and more active during the day when melatonin is low. The presence of increased IL-17 in people who have low melatonin levels suggests that a disturbed circadian rhythm can have even more destructive effects than previously believed.

New Treatments, New Hope

It is difficult or even impossible for most people to divorce their lives entirely of technology and screens. However, this does not mean we must resign ourselves to lives with fatigue and other negative health effects of low melatonin levels. People can choose to turn off screens and dim lights one to two hours before bed to allow melatonin levels to rise. In addition, there are melatonin supplements that can raise levels of this crucial hormone to the amounts needed to stimulate crucial processes such as sleep, cell repair and immune modulation.

Maintaining a healthy circadian rhythm is difficult in the modern world, but more important than ever. Although technology has made our lives better in many ways, it is a mixed blessing. Low melatonin is a risk to your health that can be successfully treated with lifestyle changes and supplementation, allowing you to enjoy good old-fashioned health in the modern day.

Discovered: Magnesium Keeps Your Body Clocks Running on Time

Apr 20 by Ewcopywriting Leave a Comment

Although we often associate vitamin deficiencies with past eras, they are a modern epidemic as well. While most people today generally get enough vitamins in their diet to prevent serious diseases such as rickets and scurvy, many still live with sub-clinical levels that aren’t sufficient for optimal cellular function. This can lead to vague symptoms such as fatigue, malaise and sleep disturbances. New research has discovered that magnesium, a mineral in which many people are deficient, may be especially important for preventing sleep disorders and maintaining a healthy circadian rhythm.

Magnesium: A Foundational Element of Life

Like many essential minerals and vitamins, magnesium plays a variety of roles in the human body. It is a cofactor in more than 300 biochemical reactions, with more yet to be discovered. When we lack this important mineral, even with a small deficiency, we have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease as well as symptoms that include memory loss, insomnia and muscle cramps. The link between magnesium and sleep disturbances has been of special interest to researchers because the exact mechanism behind this connection was previously unknown.

Magnesium and the Circadian Rhythm

A new study of magnesium and the circadian rhythm has found that this mineral is one of the chief players in our cells’ internal clocks. Magnesium levels in our cells oscillate, or rhythmically increase and decrease, throughout the day in a predictable pattern. The level of magnesium in a cell determines when the cell will be in high metabolic activity or in a period of rest and repair. When researchers adjusted magnesium levels in cells, the activity rate changed accordingly. These findings shed light on how magnesium deficiency may relate to sleep disorders and offers a possibly promising treatment for those who suffer from insomnia.

People who have low levels of magnesium in their diet, even levels that are not low enough to cause more serious symptoms, may not have enough magnesium to support optimal metabolism and a healthy circadian rhythm. This is especially concerning because the Western diet does not include a high amount of fruits, vegetables, soy, whole grains and other magnesium-rich foods. Knowledge of the link between magnesium and the circadian rhythm may encourage people to eat a more nutritious diet or supplement with magnesium, especially if they wish to sleep better.

Good Nutrition: The New Wonder Drug

Doctors and scientists are just beginning to discover the connections between good nutrition, good sleep and whole-body health. The link between magnesium and the circadian rhythm is one of many connections between essential nutrition and a healthy internal clock. The unique timing of fluctuations in magnesium levels in cells suggests that this mineral may be best used in a chronotherapeutic way. In other words, there may be optimal times during the day for people to take a magnesium supplement or eat foods rich in this nutrient. For example, choosing a bedtime snack that is high in magnesium may help people who struggle with insomnia to sleep better. Magnesium is already being used as an adjunct therapy for delirium, a disease that is deeply entwined with circadian rhythm disruption.

Understanding the way that different nutrients interact with the circadian rhythm can help researchers to develop more effective treatments for common ailments such as insomnia. This knowledge can also help when it comes to chronotherapy, the science of timing medications and therapies so they will be present during the time in the cell cycle when they can best be used. New medical discoveries in the field of chronobiology can help improve lives by allowing doctors to treat diseases in safer and more effective ways, in sync with the body’s natural rhythms.

Melatonin and Depression: Exploring the Connection Between Mood and the Circadian Rhythm

Apr 14 by Ewcopywriting Leave a Comment

Depression is one of the most common mental illnesses in the developed world and one that takes a huge toll on both sufferers and their loved ones. Depression also costs the nation as a whole, with its economic impact estimated at more than $50 billion a year in the United States alone. New research on the link between melatonin and depression suggests that melatonin may be an effective natural way to offer relief for this difficult-to-treat illness.

Sleep, Melatonin and Mental Illness

Melatonin deficits have been linked to mental illness of all kinds, from schizophrenia to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Insomnia, sleeping too much and at odd hours and other sleep disorders are common and recognized symptoms of many types of mental illness. While researchers once believed this was just a result of emotional distress, these illnesses are now known to be directly affected by and linked to low melatonin and the resulting sleep disorders.

Clearly, sleep is essential to our mental well-being in a variety of ways. This link led researchers to begin looking at the relationship between melatonin levels and one of the most common mental illnesses on the globe: clinical depression.

The Link Between Melatonin and Depression

Low melatonin has been found in several research trials to be a contributing factor in major depressive disorders. In fact, scientists can predict the severity of depression symptoms from salivary melatonin levels. While low serotonin was once believed to be the main cause of depression, we now know that the human brain is not so simple. Neurohormones such as serotonin and melatonin affect each other due to the interconnected nature of the brain. Melatonin appears to be especially important in developing depression and in treating it as well.

Melatonin, combined with light therapy, has been used for years to treat Seasonal Affective Disorder, which is considered a form of depression. A new study is examining whether this supplement may be useful in treating non-seasonal depression as well. This research follows a much smaller groundbreaking study in the early 2000s that discovered melatonin was useful as a treatment for patients who had refractory, or difficult-to-treat, depression. A growing body of unrefuted evidence suggests that this natural supplement, which is affordable and available without a prescription, may be an important part of correcting neurotransmitter imbalances that cause depression.

Treating Depression in a New Generation

While current depression treatments such as SSRIs work for most people, there are many who struggle to live with and move on from this devastating illness. Researchers are currently looking at new ways to approach the issue of depression and mental illness in general. Melatonin appears to affect levels of both serotonin and cortisol, both of which are imbalanced in people with depression. Stabilizing melatonin levels may help other neurotransmitters to return to healthy levels. This approach to depression, addressing a root cause rather than symptoms, may be the most effective in treating a complex and multifactorial psychological disorder.

Research in chronobiology is shedding light on the strong connections between circadian rhythm and disease. Sleep is essential for good health, so stabilizing sleep cycles may improve illnesses of all kinds. In the case of clinical depression, melatonin may even be a viable stand-alone treatment. While more research will be needed before melatonin becomes a primary treatment for depressive disorders, evidence indicates that treating disorders of the circadian rhythm may be a new and more effective approach to mental illness.