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Biological Clocks, the Master of Our Health

Feb 11 by Ewcopywriting Leave a Comment

Chances are, you’ve heard of the term “biological clock,” while this is often times associated with women’s fertility and childbearing abilities, the truth is, almost all of the body’s biological processes are coordinated and timed by these internal biological clocks. The human body is comprised of a variety of biological clocks and rhythms. While these rhythms were once a mystery to scientists and doctors, there is now a growing body of research that can explain how almost all of our biological processes, from sleep to digestion to blood pressure control and brain function, are all linked to internal clocks and rhythms.

This new understanding of the body’s rhythms and internal clocks is known as the science of chronobiology, or the study of internal clocks and timing, and this research is paving the way for new advances in health and medicine.

The Clocks and Rhythms of Life

There are many different types of internal clocks that govern our bodies. Three of which are circadian, ultradian and infradian rhythms.

About Chronobiology

Circadian rhythms, which are the most well recognized, correlate with the 24-hour light/dark cycle of the earth’s rotation. These types of rhythms control various processes that occur once per 24-hour period, such as the human sleep-wake cycle.

Ultradian rhythms, which govern shorter cycles such as hunger, heart rate, digestion and other processes that occur multiple times in a 24-hour day.

In contrast, infradian rhythms are cycles occur in cycles that last longer than the popular 24-hour circadian rhythms, with a complete cycle taking 28-hours or more. A good example of infradian rhythms are the hormonal cycles of adult human females, or the various cell processes and hormone levels that adjust according to the season.

These various body clocks work together to prepare our bodies for the demands of different times of the day, month, and year.

The Circadian Rhythm: The Master Clock

The circadian rhythm is the best understood of body’s internal clocks as it is present in nearly every known living organism. This 24-hour clock governs a diverse range of processes such as sleep, DNA repair, and cell regeneration.

While primitive cells are damaged by the sun and heat during the day, they are able to use the nighttime hours for necessary DNA repair and other healing processes. Although the human circadian rhythm is far more complex than the concept of daytime damage and evening repair, this formula is the most comprehensive explanation of how our body uses the night time hours as a time for cell repair, regeneration, and a chance to chemically prepare for important events. This evening reset ensures that all biological processes occur at the right time and in the right order.

How the Body’s Clocks Are Set

All clock-like and rhythmic processes are timed carefully by our brain, specifically, by the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus receives timing cues called zeitgebers, or external or environmental cues, and uses them to keep clocks in sync with each other and with the demands of our environment.

For the circadian rhythm, our retinas receive the zeitgeber of light from the environment around us and passes the light signal to the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus then signals the pineal gland to suppress melatonin production (a hormone that makes us sleepy) while telling other areas of the brain to increase production of hormones associated with wakefulness.

In contract, when our retinas sense lower, or a lack of external light, the hypothalamus assumes nightfall is coming. This is especially true if the lowered light is combined with other cues indicating night as well, such as a lower temperature. The hypothalamus then gives the pineal gland the green light to make melatonin, and the body prepares itself for sleep mode.

Internal Clocks and Your Health

Your Body Clocks: The Internal Master Timekeepers 1

The body’s internal clocks are not just important for our sleep patterns, but essential for whole body health as well. For example, if our internal clocks do not signal for DNA repair to occur, and this process is skipped or not taking place properly, the body’s cells will begin to lose their ability to function, which can then result in gene mutations, illness and can even lead to cancer.

Depending on the ability for our body to maintain proper internal clock cycles, these biological rhythms can either work to our benefit and ultimate well-being, or work against us. One branch of the science of chronobiology is chronopharmacology (also known as chronotherapy), which researches therapeutic approaches based on the basic principles of chronobiology and the understanding of the body’s rhythms and internal clocks.

Chronotherapy works effectively through combining the optimal ingredients and medication formulas, the right dosage amounts, and an understanding of the select organs or relationships involved, in order to deliver the substances at the most effective time of day to yield the best results with less side effects.

This type of research has led to many insights into treating diverse diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Other research has taken this approach to ensure that  chemotherapy is now timed to hit cancerous cells at the most vulnerable time in their cell cycle, which reduces the risk to healthy cells.

From a scientific perspective, the body’s internal clocks are fascinating, but they are even more fascinating from a medical standpoint. Understanding the complicated processes the body undergoes, and the various timing associated with them, is leading to a better understanding of the interaction between health and disease, and allowing researchers to develop new and more effective treatment options. Because our body’s biological clocks are essential to our health, focusing on maintaining and treating biological rhythms and rhythm disorders is a new and promising field of health care and preventative health.

 

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Filed Under: Circadian Rhythm Tagged With: biological clock, chronobiology, chronotherapy, circadian, circadian rhythm, internal clock

Chronotherapy Offers New Hope for Rheumatoid Arthritis

Mar 02 by Ewcopywriting Leave a Comment

Rheumatoid arthritis is a debilitating autoimmune disease that can lead to joint pain and a host of other health issues. As with many autoimmune diseases, patients often have to try many therapies before finding one that works. Unfortunately, some never get total relief of debilitating symptoms. However, a new paper on chronotherapy and rheumatoid arthritis suggests that carefully timing medications may lead to more relief of symptoms as well as fewer side effects.

The Circadian Rhythm of Autoimmune Disease

The immune system runs on a distinctive circadian rhythm, as well as seasonal and other rhythms, so it is no surprise that autoimmune disease does so as well. Immune system tends to peak while we are sleeping, allowing the body to detect and repair inflammation when it can be quickly repaired. Glucocorticoids, which suppress immune activity, as well as performing many other essential tasks, peak early in the day. There are also many other hormones that affect the immune system and show a 24-hour cycle.

Because of the circadian rhythm involved in immune activities, it is no surprise that many autoimmune diseases show a 24-hour cycle. In rheumatoid arthritis, also known as RA, pain and stiffness in joints are worse in the morning, usually immediately upon waking. This timing of symptoms is so predictable that it is used to differentiate RA from other joint diseases in diagnosis.

A Day with RA

Chronotherapy Offers New Hope for Rheumatoid ArthritisPeople with rheumatoid arthritis develop inflamed nodules on their joints that can make movement painful. Over time, these nodules can degrade healthy joints so that they don’t function well. In general, people with rheumatoid arthritis wake with joint pain, swelling, and stiffness. This is likely to due to an increase in IL-6, an important immune mediator of inflammation. The glucocorticoid peak in the morning gradually decreases symptoms, which are generally manageable throughout the day.

The intense morning pain associated with rheumatoid arthritis begins early enough in the morning that it can interfere with sleep, leaving people who have this disease fatigued. While people with RA are more likely to use pain medication in the morning, other medications such as immune suppressants generally are not given at any particular time. A new paper suggests that this may be a mistake.

Chronotherapy and Rheumatoid Arthritis

How can chronotherapy be used to help rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases? Researchers suggest that taking a delayed release glucocorticoid at night that prevents the immune system from reaching as high of a nighttime peak, may alleviate much of the morning stiffness and other symptoms. People with RA commonly take glucocorticoids but often do so in the morning. Levels are often too low at night to have a large effect at the time when they are most needed.

This approach may also be helpful with methotrexate, monoclonal antibodies and other medications used to treat RA. These drugs target very specific cellular processes. Taking them when they are most likely to have an impact could mean a more effective treatment, as well as lower dosing and fewer side effects.

New and sophisticated drugs are coming out every day for autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, offering hope to people who desperately need answers. Understanding the circadian and seasonal rhythms of autoimmune diseases will lead to more effective treatments, which ultimately means more quality of life for those who desperately seek it.

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Filed Under: Bone & Joint Health, Chronotherapy, Circadian Rhythm Tagged With: chronotherapy, chronotherapy and ra, inflamed joints, inflammation, joint, joint health, ra, rheumatoid arthritis

Melatonin: The Master Circadian Rhythm Regulator

Feb 03 by Ewcopywriting Leave a Comment

Melatonin plays an important role in regulating the circadian rhythm.  In addition, this hormone is showing promise as a treatment for a variety of health problems.

Many people have heard of melatonin. It has become a popular supplement in recent years because of its important role in regulating the circadian rhythm. When people suffer from a melatonin deficiency, they may also suffer from insomnia and even more serious disorders such as cancer.

What Is Melatonin?

Melatonin is a hormone made by the pineal gland of the brain. All mammals make melatonin and use it in similar ways. When our retinas sense low levels of light, they send messages to the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus, another brain structure. The hypothalamus then tells the pineal gland to make melatonin, which then acts on almost every cell in your body.

Melatonin is best known for governing our sleep-wake cycles, but it has a variety of other roles. Melatonin is a powerful antioxidant, prevent aging in our cells. It may also play other roles in aging. In addition, melatonin may be important in the regulation of female hormones and a variety of other biochemicals.

The Master Clock of Your Sleep-Wake Cycle

While melatonin plays a variety of roles, it is most important in regulating the circadian rhythm, including sleep-wake cycles. Melatonin is secreted when our brains sense that it is night, and then released continuously as we sleep. Peak levels occur at around 3 or 4 a.m. After this, levels falls sharply and the brain begins to make other hormones that are associated with waking.

Melatonin helps us to fall asleep and stay asleep long enough to get adequate rest. In addition, the presence of melatonin lets your body know that you are asleep so it can perform important repair processes. Because melatonin is an antioxidant, it even participates in important cell repair. These repair processes not only make us feel more rested, but also play an important role in slowing aging and even protecting against cancer.

Melatonin and Illness

Besides regulating the circadian rhythm, melatonin has been found to be helpful in a variety of illnesses. First, it has been used successfully to treat disorders of the circadian rhythm such as jet lag, insomnia and disorders associated with shift work. It has also been found to assist healthy sleeping behavior in mental health and developmental disorders where insomnia is a major feature, such as autism and schizophrenia. It has even shown promise in the treatment of some cancers.

Resetting Your Circadian Rhythm

Because melatonin is the master clock of the circadian rhythm, it is extremely effective in treating problems related to the sleep-wake cycle. People who suffer jet lag after traveling across time zones can use melatonin to naturally fall asleep at an earlier time without the side effects of other sleep medication. Shift workers and people who work odd hours can use melatonin to tell their body that it is time to sleep in the absence of the presence of bright light or other wakefulness cues.

Understanding the human circadian rhythm and the role of melatonin in regulating the circadian rhythm is allowing doctors and scientists to devise new and innovative treatments. New effects of melatonin are being studied, so it is likely that this hormone will become a more important medical treatment in the future.

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Filed Under: Circadian Rhythm, Melatonin, Sleep Tagged With: chronobiology, chronotherapy, circadian, circadian rhythm, circadian rhythm regulator, melatonin, melatonin 411, melatonin and cancer, melatonin and sleep, sleep, sleep-wake cycle

Take Your Blood Pressure Medication Before Bed for Best Results

Jan 22 by Ewcopywriting Leave a Comment

A new study finds blood pressure medication may be more effective and even prevent death due to cardiovascular disease when taken at night.

Treating hypertension, or high blood pressure, is a challenge for many health care workers. While there are many medications available, it can be difficult to find the right combinations and doses that will keep blood pressure under control with minimum side effects. A new study suggests that the time when people take their blood pressure medication may be an important factor in hypertension control.

What Causes Hypertension?

There are several causes of hypertension. As people age, many develop atherosclerosis, or hardening of their blood vessels. This keeps their vessels from stretching to accommodate changes in blood volume, which leads to higher pressure in the circulatory system. Second, many people also develop lipid deposits in their arteries as they age, which further constricts their blood vessels and raises pressure.

One last and highly-treatable factor in blood pressure is the Renin-Angiotensin-Aldosterone System, or RAAS. This system releases hormones that control the excretion of fluids and electrolytes. Retaining fluid and electrolytes as a result of abnormal activity in the RAAS is a major cause of hypertension. For this reason, this system is the target of the most commonly-used classes of blood pressure medication, including ACE inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs).

The Timing of Blood Pressure

Resized_Blood_Pressure_256145749The RAAS is tightly-timed and runs on a circadian rhythm, which means that hypertension also has a distinct 24-hour cycle. In a healthy person, blood pressure rises shortly before waking as the RAAS goes into high gear. It reaches a peak around noon and then slowly falls until bedtime. It reaches an all-time low when people finally fall into deep sleep.

However, in people with hypertension, especially hypertension that doesn’t respond to medication, blood pressure fails to fall at night. People with higher nighttime blood pressure, called non-dippers, are more likely to suffer heart attacks and strokes, especially late at night and in the early morning.

Can Timing Blood Pressure Medication Help?

In a recent chronobiology study, people with hypertension were followed for more than five years. Some took their blood pressure medication in the morning, which is typical, while others took it before bed.

The people who took their blood pressure medication at night had lower blood pressure. In addition, they had one-third the amount of heart attacks and strokes. This is not the only study suggesting that taking blood pressure medication at night has health benefits. Another recent study found that people who take their medication at night have a lower risk of developing diabetes, a common complication in hypertensive people.

Chronopharmacology and Health Care

Chronopharmacology, a sub-discipline of chronobiology, is one of the fastest growing fields in medicine. New studies are published almost every week suggesting that when we take medication can have a huge effect on treatment, side effects and even death rates. Circadian rhythms dictate almost every cell process, including how we use and metabolize medications.

One in three adults, or about 70 million Americans, suffer from hypertension. Of these people, only about half have their condition under control. These new studies on chronopharmacology and blood pressure medication offer hope that people may find better control of a difficult-to-treat disease and lead longer, healthier lives.

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Filed Under: Chronotherapy, Heart Health Tagged With: blood pressure, blood pressure medication, chronotherapy, high blood pressure, hypertension, timing blood pressure medication

Chronotherapy: Harmonizing Disease Treatment with Internal Body Clocks

Jan 15 by Ewcopywriting Leave a Comment

Do you suffer from a chronic medical condition? If so, this review of the advancements in chronotherapy may prepare you to better advocate for your healthcare.

For generations, people have been saying that timing is everything. In recent years, breakthroughs in healthcare have brought a whole new meaning to this old saying that affects not only our daily routines, but most importantly, our overall health.

Chronotherapy and the Circadian Rhythm

Although not a new concept, the use of chronotherapy is steadily expanding. Chronotherapy, a subset of chronobiology, is the science of delivering medications and therapies in harmony with the circadian rhythms of the body and of certain diseases. Today, various treatments continue to be administered to coincide with our body’s internal clocks for optimal outcomes.

Circadian rhythms control fluctuations in the chemistry of our body hourly, daily and seasonally. Endogenous in nature, the circadian rhythm is influenced by signals within our environment including light, temperature and food intake. These signals tailor the circadian rhythm into a predictable 24-hour pattern.

Disease-Specific Circadian Rhythms

Just as every person’s body has its own circadian rhythms, so do certain diseases. Extensive research shows that the diseases that follow patterns of circadian rhythm can have improved outcomes, as treatment with chronotherapy can positively influence the manner in which they are managed.

Having knowledge of the circadian rhythms of specific diseases allows healthcare providers to utilize chronotherapy for better treatment outcomes, as drugs can be administered during time periods that will provide the best symptom management.

The extensive research on circadian rhythms and chronotherapy has revealed a great deal of information that is beneficial to the management and treatment of certain diseases. The findings specific to arthritis, bronchial asthma and cardiovascular disorders will be explored.

Arthritis

shutterstock_190283078Both rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and osteoarthritis follow their own circadian rhythm. The Journal of Global Trends in Pharmaceutical Sciences reveals a study that suggests chronotherapy for all types of arthritis using non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) should be timed to ensure the highest drug levels in the blood coincide with an individual’s peak pain levels.

People who suffer from RA are more likely to experience joint pain and finger swelling during the morning hours. Those with osteoarthritis have less pain during the morning compared to the rest of the day. Many arthritis sufferers rely on NSAIDs for pain relief, but because they can have bothersome side effects, the timing of administration is not only important for their effectiveness, but in reducing the risk of side effects as well.

As symptoms of RA are worse in the morning, the administration of long-acting NSAIDs such as ketoprofen, indomethacin and flubiprofen at bedtime provides the maximum therapeutic effect and minimizes their side effects.

Certain mechanisms of RA, including higher cortisol levels during the day and pro-inflammatory conditions during the night related to elevated levels of prolactin and melatonin, have led researchers to believe that a practical approach to managing this debilitating disease would be the chronotherapeutic use of corticosteroids to increase their efficacy and reduce the risk of adverse events.

One scientific report references a study performed by Buttgereit and co-workers, which highlights the clinical relevance of the chronotherapeutic use of glucocorticoid therapy in low doses for RA suppression, as morning stiffness can be effectively reduced by an evening dose of a modified-release prednisone tablet.

Bronchial Asthma

Compared to other diseases, asthma has more circadian variations. While studying the circadian rhythm associated with asthma, researchers determined the lung function of even healthy individuals dips during the early morning hours; a phenomenon that’s more pronounced in those with asthma. The decrease in lung function can be significant, between 25 to 50 percent.

Also, airway resistance in asthmatic individuals increases progressively during the night, leading to frequent awakenings and sleep disturbances. According to the Journal of Global Trends in Pharmaceutical Sciences, the risk of having an asthma attack is 100-fold greater during the night than during daytime hours.

Upon reviewing data from several clinical studies, researches introduced a proposed chronotherapeutic approach to the management of nocturnal asthma, which is as follows:

  • In the morning – Use of a long-acting beta agonist, such as salmeterol (serevent). Studies found that asthma patients who were administered salmeterol in the AM had a significantly-reduced percentage of night awakenings and their lung function was significantly increased.
  • At 3 p.m. – Use of an oral corticosteroid.
  • Between 6-7 p.m. – Use of sustained-release theophylline. Researchers advise that an individual’s period of wakefulness should be considered with this chronotherapeutic approach, as the pharmacokinetics of theophylline can be altered in those that work the night shift.
  • At bedtime – Use of a leukotriene modifier, such as montelukast (singulair).

Cardiovascular Disorders

shutterstock_101194774shutterstock_101194774Several functions of the cardiovascular system follow a circadian rhythm, including heart rate, blood pressure, platelet aggregation, blood flow and cardiac output.

Upon waking in the morning, heart rate and blood pressure are high with a rise in systolic blood pressure by 20-25 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure by 10-15mmHg. This hypertensive state in the morning is a physiological condition described as the morning surge.

Several trials have been conducted exploring the chronotherapy of hypertension, which has established that changing the time of a treatment, rather than the combination of the treatment, may be a better approach to controlling blood pressure. Their reasoning is related to findings that blood pressure is reported to be highest in the mid-morning, progressively falling throughout the day with the lowest blood pressure to be noted at 3 a.m.

In the morning, the release of cortisol and catecholamine is high. There is also an increase in platelet aggregation. For these reasons, more myocardial infarctions are believed to occur in the morning, with 34 percent taking place between the hours of 6 a.m. and 12 noon.

Other Disorders Governed by Circadian Rhythms

There are other significant medical conditions that follow circadian rhythms as well. Treatment with chronotherapy is expanding. However, not all healthcare providers are on board with this concept yet. The purpose of this article is by no means to provide medical advice, but people who have poorly-managed medical conditions should be aware that additional treatment methods may be available so they can better advocate for their healthcare.

Other significant medical conditions that follow circadian rhythms include:

  • Glaucoma
  • Innate immunity
  • Diabetes
  • Epilepsy
  • Gastric ulcers
  • HIV/AIDS
  • Pain
  • Cancer
  • Allergic rhinitis
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Filed Under: Chronotherapy Tagged With: biological clock, chronobiology, chronopharmacology, chronotherapy, chronotherapy treatment, circadian, circadian rhythm, internal clock

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