A research study presented at Neuroscience 2009, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in October helps in gaining deeper understanding on the way body and mind get affected by disturbed circadian rhythms.
Weight gain, impulsive behavior, slower thinking and shrinking in the size of the brain are some of the consequences discovered. The study by Rockefeller University researchers was supported by Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the National Institute of Mental Health, and Sepracor.
Knowledge Gained from Research on Disrupted Circadian Rhythms:
- An important aspect of this phenomenon is the day-night cycle involving exposure of light for a certain duration of time and lack for it for a certain period.
- But, when activities of modern lifestyle like working and travelling at night times become routine, this important cycle gets disturbed.
- To understand the health implications of extended light exposure, the researchers exposed experimental mice to a 20 hour day-night cycle instead of the normal 24 hour exposure.
- Several mind and body changes in these mice were noticed in comparison to healthy mice, as a consequence after the end of six-eight weeks of study.
- The disrupted day-night cycle mice were less active, more impulsive, with reduced flexibility of mind, changes in body temperature cycles, hormonal changes related to appetite and increased insulin levels.
- These changes are supposed to be the reasons for weight gain found in disrupted day-light cycle mice when compared to healthy mice even though both the groups were fed the same diet.
- Such disruption also brought changes in the brain size by shrinking it and causing behavioural changes in the mice.
Significance of the Research on Disrupted Circadian Rhythms: Though it is unrealistic to say that we should stop night work-shifts and travelling at night, awareness of the possible health fallouts may compel us to plan our schedules appropriately. Striking a balance between health aspects and work obligations is the need of the hour than ever before.
