NOBEL PRIZE FOR THE DISCOVERY OF THE BODY CLOCK

Below, we explain why this discovery is so important.
– Jeffrey Hall, Michael Rosbash, and Michael Young were awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for “the discoveries of molecular mechanisms controlling the circadian rhythm.”
– Your circadian rhythms, also known as the internal body clock, help regulate when you’re awake or feel sleepy, among other things.
– Ignoring the body clock means ignoring biology, and this can have serious health consequences.

Whether you are a lark or an owl is not a random preference or inclination. It’s something that’s a fundamental part of our biological makeup—and ignoring it is at our own risk.
On October 2, 2017, Jeffrey Hall, Michael Rosbash, and Michael Young were awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for “the discoveries of molecular mechanisms controlling the circadian rhythm,” announced by the Nobel Committee.

In other words, these scientists played a key role in discovering how cells in organisms regulate the internal body clock, also known as the circadian rhythm or chronotype, determining whether people feel alert or sleepy.
This discovery was considered Nobel Prize worthy because it shows how biology regulates the body clocks for living organisms ranging from fruit flies, which these researchers worked with, to humans.

Chronobiologists, who study this kind of science, consider this discovery very important because it’s only after accepting body clocks as a biological fact that we can fully appreciate how big a role they play in our health. Our body clocks have huge effects on things like cancer risk, mental health, and obesity.

“Some people still think the body clock is something esoteric rather than a profoundly biological function,” Till Roenneberg, a chronobiologist, wrote in his book “Internal Time: Chronotypes, Social Jet Lag, and Why You’re So Tired” in a section introducing some of Rosbash’s work with fruit flies.

Some think the biological clock causes issues only for “sensitive people”, according to Roenneberg. This would explain the common sentiment that it’s possible for people to change their natural rhythms to fit a schedule that a job or school requires. However, we know that biological clocks can be changed only to a limited degree, and for some people, not much at all.

“Yet the biological details, right down to the molecular and genetic levels, prove how much biology is behind our internal timing system,” Roenneberg wrote.

Plants also have internal body clocks. Plants open during the day and close at night, but Jean Jacques d’Ortous de Mairan found that even plants kept in constant darkness continue to follow a similar rhythm.

NIGHT AND DAY ON A GENETIC LEVEL

As a press release from the Nobel committee explains, the three Nobel laureates in 1984 first isolated the “period gene” that regulates the internal clock of fruit flies. (The gene had been discovered in the 1970s but wasn’t isolated.)

Hall and Rosbash discovered that this gene played a central role – it causes cells to produce the PER protein, which accumulates during the night and decreases during the day. The scientists determined that the period gene would cause the PER protein to build up until it switches off the period gene. Once protein levels degrade enough, the gene switches back on, coding for more protein production.

In 1994, Young found a second clock gene called “timeless”. It creates a protein that binds with the PER protein, giving it the ability to enter the cell nucleus to block activity. Another gene he discovered helps regulate this process to match a 24-hour cycle.

Other aspects of biology, including hormones and other genes, help regulate this internal clock as well. Light plays a crucial role, helping trigger phases of the body clock. It’s also the reason we all have an internal clock in the first place.

As biological creatures, we can’t all be at our peak energy throughout the day. Sometimes we need to be on high alert and able to react quickly; at other times, we need to eat, rest, and sleep to regain energy. Our body clock regulates these phases, which is why most of us sleep at night and are awake during the day; but there’s significant variation among people as to when they feel most awake and most sleepy, regulated by genetics and other factors.

Understanding there’s a physical cycle and biological factors that all work together helps explain why it’s hard to suddenly stay up all night, adjust to a new time zone, or start waking up earlier: your entire body, down to your cells, needs time to adapt.

DEADLY CONSEQUENCES OF IGNORING THE BODY CLOCK

Due to an internal clock, we have a certain schedule, though it isn’t always the one we want, as some of us are night people and others morning people.

But it’s at least a schedule that defines when we’ll be sleepy, when we’ll be hungry and best process food, when we’ll be most mentally alert, and when we’ll be most physically capable.

However, when our lives aren’t matched with our body clocks, things start to go haywire. Nightshift work and exposure to bright light at night (which can start to shift the body clock) can disturb the internal circadian rhythm. The same thing happens when you’re flying to a new place.

People whose schedule changes regularly and who have no consistency, can experience the biggest problems. They are more likely to gain weight, have a mental illness like anxiety or depression, and undergo biological changes significant enough that the International Agency for Research on Cancer has classified shift work as a “probable human carcinogen.”

That’s why, more than anything else, sleep researchers say that having a regular schedule is key.

Trying to match your life to your circadian rhythm isn’t just a matter of preference — it’s an issue of biology that could explain why on a certain schedule you thrive and on another everything feels wrong.
* ”Internal time: chronotypes, social circadian rhythm disruption, and why you’re so tired”
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Autor Kevin Loria