Are you having a peaceful sleep? Are you fresh, while waking up in the morning?  Then we can say that you are both physically and mentally healthy. If no, then we can conclude that your biological clock is not working properly.

Biological clock

         Each cell in our body has a biological clock, which controls the whole body and is responsible for our health. In case of any disturbance in this clock results in illness.

       Each living being’s lifestyle depends upon the earth’s revolution around the sun. Earth takes 24 hrs to complete one rotation and due to this phenomenon, day and night occurs. We wake up when the earth meets the sun. We get energy from the sun and start to live the Day. By evening, we get tired, and so we need sleep. This basic routine on which our body organs depend upon is called the Circadian Rhythms.

         This Circadian Rhythm is the clock that actively works in our brain. This cycle is the main reason for our hunger, digestion, sleep, hormonal changes, etc. Our mental, physical and psychological behavior depends upon this cycle. In case of any changes in that cycle, it will result in many abnormalities in our body.

        The biological clock present in every cell in our body is made up of protein. With the Signal from the protein, the brain understands the day and night changes. Then the brain differentiates the activities to be done day and night. Recently 3 scientists, Jeffrey C Hall, Michael Roshbach, and Michael Young have researched the working of the biological clock and awarded Nobel Prize too.  Let see how it works!

        Each cell consists of DNA and this DNA has a 'period' gene. This gene produces the 'Period' protein (PER), which is produced mainly during the nighttime and gets destroyed during day time. So the cell concludes the day and night by the presence of the protein gene.

      During the daytime, DNA produces a gene called 'timeless'. This produces a protein named 'TIM' which along with the 'PER' enters into the nucleus and switches off the period gene. 

          There is another gene called the 'Double time' gene, which produces a protein called 'DPT'. This controls the period of protein accumulation. These 3 genes are called clock genes.

        Now let's see how the /period' gene is produced only at night and how it identifies the night. This happens because of the sun. When the eyes see the sun, a signal is sent to the brain. The brain sends the signal to the cells. And the cells act accordingly.

          Our brain has a super clock called the suprachiasmatic nucleus. This is made up of 20000 neurons. Retina receives the light. Then the retina with the help of the rods and cones in the eyes sends the signal to the brain. The nature of the light is detected by the cell, melanopsin. Melanopsin sends the signal to the pineal gland. This pineal gland detects the signal and produces the hormone called melatonin in case of night. Melatonin is the reason for our sleep and the reason for the working of the clock gene.

       When the Daylight signal is received by the pineal gland, then the melatonin is stopped. If the melatonin is not present in the blood, the body cell detects the daytime and starts to work. This is how the body finds the day and night routine.

           Now raises the question, how the born blind person’s clockworks. As per studies, the clock is unstable for blind people and this disorder is called non-24-hour sleep-wake disorder. This disorder happens for people met with a head injury especially in the suprachiasmatic nucleus and people with extreme depression will also experience this.

           In this digital world, we are not living our life in sync with the natural clock. As a result, we end up with sleeping disorders, obesity, diabetes, mental illness. This happens when we bypass the natural routine. Few examples are as below!

-The blue light from the gadgets disrupts the brain in detecting whether it is day or night.

- Eating heavy food during the nighttime. The digestive organs, instead of resting it will be working due to improper patterns. So we need to have our supper as early as possible.

The main reason for the malfunctioning of the biological clock is improper sleep. By not sleeping properly we have disrupted the clock and diminished the efficiency of the organs. So we need to take some measures to reset the biological clock.

- We need to sleep at least 7-8 hours. 

- We should not use gadgets 2 hours before sleep. This affects the melatonin secretion because of difficulties detecting whether it is a day or night.

- Try to have a nap only for 20 minutes in the afternoon.

- Try to have supper as early as possible.

In these ways, we can sync the biological clock with nature and we can stay healthy.