The Human Timepiece

With a new understanding of how our body’s work due to the further expansion of research at many universities, many have come to realize that our body clocks play a crucial role on our attitudes, performance, and behaviors. Chronobiologists, scientists that study the body clock, are starting to be recognized more than ever before.

What surprises most people is that our body clocks are in our brain (no bigger than a grain of sand) as well as in our body organs. It is like this because our body needs to know when our organs should work the most and the least. The brain keeps a track of the time with the sunlight; the light passes the eye to the back of the eye, then to the nerves of the brain, the light impulses trigger the release of chemicals onto the clock cells. That way, no matter how fast or slow your time clock moves, your brain will stay on a 24 hour schedule.

Now because our body clocks are affected by sunlight, we can use light to help us adjust to our lifestyles. For example, being around the sun in the morning wakes you up easier; on the other hand, in the evening the sundown makes you feel sleepier and slows down the body clock, getting you ready for sleep. Another example below:
Late-types: wear sunglasses in the afternoons and get as little light as possible.
Early-types: wear sunglasses in the morning and get as much sun as you can in the afternoons.

Many people have different body clock lengths; this depends of the person’s age generally. The teenage body to start off with is the most dysfunctional of the body clocks causing them to want to sleep in more, while older people (65+) generally have weird sleeping patterns due to their aging body clocks. The aging of older people’s body clocks dose the following things: the density/thickness of the lens in the eyes increases, so there is less light getting through, which makes their body clocks less synchronized. The best way to prevent this is to increase the lighting in their homes or wherever they are residing to put their clocks back on track a bit. As a result, you will see an increase in good mood, better sleep patterns, performance, and memory! In fact, it is even more effective than drugs.

Below I have provided for you a time-line of our body clocks; some are more useful than others. Just take a look and make a mental note of when you should do certain things or write it down if you want:

6 am – 8 am
• Teenage body is not fully alert at this time.

8 am – 10 am
• Your heart is most venerable at this time. Blood pressure increases most in the first 3 hours you are awake. In other words, less blood gets to the heart and you have an increased chance of a heart attack. Note: there is a 10%-11% deduction in blood pressure by exercising in the afternoon.
• Take it easy in the morning.
• Balance is at its best.

10 am – Noon
• Do your most important work during this time. We are best in terms of thinking at this time.
• Teen’s best time for thinking is from 11 am – 3 pm (this is when they should be going to school in my opinion).

Noon – 2 pm
• A good time to Microsleep (20 min nap) because our body’s are meant to sleep twice a day. Maybe have some coffee too if you really need to stay up. If you do both, try to have your coffee before your nap so you wake up more energized. I do not suggest having coffee every day though.
• Dangerous time of the day to drive because of increased chances of car accidents.

2 pm – 4 pm
• The transition stage of the day (Rhythms chance for later part of the day).
• 4 in the afternoon and 4 in the morning is when the healthy cells are least active. This can be very useful in when deciding to get augury or do certain treatments. We can develop better ways to cure disease.

4 pm – 6 pm
• Body temperature and alertness is at its highest. The high temperature serves as a good pre-workout warm-up.
• Performance is at its best.

6 pm – 8 pm
• More people are eating at this time when they should really be having their big meals in the morning. Your level of glucose in your bloodstream is more when you eat most of your calories at night (this means a better chance of getting diabetes and more fat storage). If you have a bigger breakfast and a smaller dinner, your body will be more prepared for sleep at night.

8 pm – 10 pm
• Because of the sunset, we go through another transitions stage, getting us ready for the night.

10 pm – Midnight
• Body clocks make our bodies much sleepier at this time.

Midnight – 3 am
• You are most exhausted at this time and have the least energy.

3 am – 6 am
• During this time we reach the lowest point in the day cycle. Body has minimal operation.
• Body prepares for sleep (temperature drops, blood pressure drops, blood thickness increases).
• We need to be asleep during this time! Or else we will cause our body too much strain.
• Chances of cancer and other diseases increase if we work at this time.
• Due to the fact that our bodies are most relaxed at this time, most births take place at this time.

I hope you found this information useful. Comment if you have any questions or thoughts.