But what exactly is it?
The body clock is a part of the brain that's located in the hypothalamus. It's called the superchyosmatic nucleus (SCN) and it synchronises our sleep and wake with the day-night cycle. It's a part of the brain that's essential for good health.
To get a better idea of what makes our body clock tick, Grant Hackett visited Dr Gerard Kennedy, a chronobiologist from Victoria University. Dr Kennedy's role is to investigate why the body behaves the way it does in relation to time.
According to Dr Kennedy we have one main clock that's like a master clock and synchronises all the other cells in the body. "Each cell has its own little clock which ticks away, but without the master clock they quickly lose synchronicity," he said. "It's a bit like the maestro of the orchestra conducting all the other instruments which are the other cells in the body."
So why is it that some people prefer to go to bed late and wake up early, while others are early to bed and early to rise?
Dr Kennedy believes that everybody's clock has a different inherent period. That is it is slightly away from 24 hours. "As most people's body clocks are 25 hours it needs to adjust to 24 because the earth's clock is 24 hours and some people's clocks might be a bit longer than 25 hours, say even 26 or 27," he explained. "That person would be the type of person who likes to go to bed very late and we call them the owl type."
Dr Kennedy added that the owl type might naturally select occupations like a chef, where they go to work at 4pm and work until 1am or 2am. They then come home in the day and go to bed late. Meanwhile the early-to-bed person is known as a lark. The larks tend to have a body clock with a cycle slightly less than 25 hours.
"We call them the lark because they are the early bird," Dr Kennedy said. "We also call them party poopers sometimes because they like to go home from the party early."
Is it possible to reset or manipulate our body clock?
"It's very hard for a person that's an early-type to become a late-type, and vice versa, but each person can manipulate their body clock to some degree," Dr Kennedy said. "It's a lot easier for the late person to manipulate their clock because they can delay their clock a lot more easily than an early type person."
Jet lag is also linked to our body clock. When we fly from Australia to the UK or the US we have to readjust our clock and it usually takes people at least five days to readjust. In fact, flying from east to west is said to be best because we can delay our sleep time, but it usually takes five or six days to retrain.
However, Dr Kennedy says that the best way to retrain it is to go outside in the new location and receive light as that is what resets the clock the quickest. It's also essential that we get to know and understand our body clock.
According to Dr Kennedy there are better times of the day to do certain things. Here are some tips:
- 7am - If you're trying for a baby, this is the best time because this is when our hormones rise and sperm counts peak.
- 10am - is a good time to attend to your "to do" list because your concentration levels are at their highest.
- 12pm - Your verbal reasoning skills hit their strides around midday, so this is the best time to have an argument. And if you're after a pay rise, now's the time to hit up your boss!
- 2pm - is a great time to visit the dentist because your body is best prepared to deal with it as your pain tolerance is high.
- 6pm - Research suggests this is the safest time to exercise for muscle strength and stamina. But if you want to burn fat, then early morning is best.
- 7pm - You can now enjoy a glass of wine over dinner. Your digestive system is at full capacity at this time, which means that the liver can metabolise alcohol faster.
- After 10pm our libido reaches its highest point.
But what if your day doesn't start when the sun rises, especially if you are one of the 17 percent of people in the Australian workforce who is a shift worker?
Grant met with senior station officer Darren McQuade to get an insight into a shift worker's life. Darren has been a firefighter for 21 years. During this time, Darren has become accustomed to shift work and has learnt to cope with it. "On a night shift we have the ability to sleep if there are no calls, but it does have an effect long term," he said.
As a result, it's important that shift workers know how to reset their body clocks as best they can.
Dr Kennedy suggests that a shift worker wear dark sunglasses when they drive home after their shift in the morning, have a quiet room to sleep in and make sure they get a good six hours sleep. If possible they should try to work regular shifts and avoid taking extra ones. During days off shift workers should maintain a regular activity cycle and eat well, but not overeat at night. Regular exercise is also important. But vigorous exercise should be avoided two hours before bedtime.
Source. www.ninemsn.com.au
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