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The Body Clock Guide to Better Health: How to Use Your Body's Natural Clock to Fight Illness and Achieve Maximum Health
Michael Smolensky ,
Lynne Lamberg , and
Michael, Ph.D. Smolensky
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We've all used the terms night owl and early riser; all felt the intense hunger pangs of midday and the subsequent ebb of energy after lunch; and all know what time of day we prefer to exercise or have sex. As explained in The Body Clock Guide to Better Health, these are normal cycles controlled by a sort of biological timepiece (housed in the brain's hypothalamus) that regulates everything from sleeping and eating patterns to heart rate, body temperature, and hormone production. These rhythms are vital to everyday functioning, yet, the authors claim, they're mostly overlooked when doctors prescribe treatment. This oversight, they suggest, diminishes the effectiveness of medical care; the potential for recovery and better health is enhanced when the timing of medication and other treatment is aligned with certain internal rhythms.
The Body Clock is an exhaustive guide to the merits of chronotherapy, which synchronizes healthcare with the patient's internal clock. This can be as simple as taking pain relievers at the time of day the body will best benefit from the medication, such as several hours before the patient's pain threshold will be at its lowest. (For most people, this is in the early morning; for this reason you're probably better off scheduling dental work in the late afternoon if possible.) Chronotherapy also has been shown to be effective for people managing chronic health problems such as asthma, fibromyalgia, and arthritis.
The authors, Michael Smolensky, who is director of the Memorial-Hermann Chronobiology Center and a professor at the University of Texas-Houston's School of Public Health, and Lynne Lamberg, a health writer, explain how monitoring one's clock by keeping a "chronorecord"--a personal chart that maps variations in mood, alertness, sleep cycle, eating habits, and symptoms of pain--can empower us in achieving long-term vitality. Chapter by chapter, they show how timing is everything, whether applied to weight loss, sleep, sex, exercise, or recovery from illness. In the section "Sickness and Health from A to (Nearly) Z," they address issues ranging from depression and hay fever to heartburn and skin disorders, giving practical advice on how to integrate awareness of the body clock and conventional treatment methods. For example, application of topical treatments such as moisturizers and hydrocortisone creams may be more beneficial in the afternoon than the morning because body temperature is higher and the skin more porous. Chronobiology may also explain the seasonality of illnesses: multiple sclerosis tends to worsen in late spring and summer; testicular cancer is diagnosed more in winter; and postmenopausal women detect their own breast cancers most frequently in the fall, probably due to "annual cycles in ... hormone activity or seasonal changes in melatonin secretion."
Aside from the insight we gain into our body's rhythms, perhaps The Body Clock's most valuable contribution is its advocacy of a more holistic understanding of bodily cycles and our capacity for healing. While not a replacement for conventional medical care, chronotherapy may at least give a helping hand in the process of recovery and health maintenance, adding a more personal dimension to the ordinary routines of conventional medical care. The Body Clock is an engaging resource for those who take, or want to take, an active role in wellness. --Rebecca Wright
Book Description
A medical breakthrough explained by the leading authority on the connection between health and your body clock.Chronotherapy -- adjusting the care of the body to coincide with the body's natural clock -- is poised to be the next major revolution in medical science. An understanding and awareness of these rhythms will enable us to maximize the effects not only of medications and other treatments but also of diets, exercise programs, and other daily routines. The Body Clock Guide to Better Health combines a detailed discussion of major issues, such as sleep, exercise, and nutrition, with a comprehensive A-to-Z reference to specific disorders. Among the health concerns it addresses are AIDS, arthritis, asthma, ADD, cancer, depression, diabetes, digestive problems, allergies, heart disease, chronic pain, sexual dysfunction, and complications from pregnancy. General chapters explore the big picture -- including monthly cycles and life cycles -- and provide invaluable advice on foods and dietary supplements, fitness, better sex, jet lag, and more. The Body Clock Guide to Better Health offers readers the dual benefits of improving the treatment of specific conditions while boosting their overall health and wellness.
Customer Reviews:
Be Your Own Chronobiologist.......2005-11-23
This extremely important book is written for the general public and inspires us to become amateur chronobiologists ourselves because we are the ones who can make many more discoveries that will benefit our health. Having become curious as to why I get really strong cravings to eat junk food only in the evening, three years ago I found that bright light in the afternoon either from the daylight or from a light box, stops my food cravings. In the chapter "Time to Eat" the book says that people with the eating disorder bulimia often consume vast quantities of food in the evening. Perhaps I have found one of the reasons, and one of the cures for the so-called obesity epidemic. This could put Overeaters Anonymous out of business. The chapter "How Your Body Clock Works" says that we need three to eight hours of daily daylight in order to synchronize our body clock. Yikes! Who gets this amount ? Perhaps all the beautiful buildings we are building that keep us indoors are damaging our health in many unknown ways. I hope that schoolchildren are learning about this important topic in science class. But I guess being in school all day isn't helping.
Invaluable, just when a friend needed it.......2004-12-12
I had bought this book but hadn't really paid attention to it -- bought it for one thing, found that, then put it on my medical reference shelf. Then a friend started having a sleep disorder that was really ruining his life. He went to one sleep specialist who put him on a medication for which even the pharmacist thought she had prescribed an awfully large dosage, and it didn't help that much, so she sent him to another specialist, who recommended a light box in the morning. He bought the thing, but thought it was kind of nutty, and after I set it up for him I came home and looked in this book and found a whole section explaining various forms of sleep disorder, with three or four possible explanations for his, including why and how the light box might work. I also realized that he and his wife do not close the blinds in their bedroom, which is a factor I don't think they ever considered. So I am buying a second copy of the book for them. What doctors fail to do, so often, is explain why they are doing something -- or explain it skimpily, or you can't take in what they do say because you are hearing new information that sounds weird...whatever, I know the explanations in this book are going to be useful to my friend, and now I will look through the other sections to see what else is there. Thank you, Smolensky and Lamberg.
Not enough as I wanted........2004-10-31
Good information and tips, but most of them already known before. However, it`s ok if you know absolutely anything about body cycles
Disappointing.......2001-08-06
I bought this book on the strength of its good reviews but was disappointed. It did not deliver the depth of information which I expected. A much better coverage of related issues can be found in Dennet's "Promise of sleep".
Keeping In Time With Your Body.......2001-07-11
Did you know that the majority of people don't know how to tell time? Body time, that is, and "everybody" includes a lot of doctors and other health professionals. The Body Clock Guide to Better Health explains about your body's personal body rhythms and a new field of medicine called chronomedicine.
Body time matters in almost every phase of your life. It's especially essential in keeping you healthy. The time of day you take your medication can affect how well the medicine works and whether there will be side affects. The time of day you take diagnostic tests - blood tests, urine tests, even your blood pressure, can make a change in what results the test shows.
The study of the body and time has been going on for many years. Way back in 1735, an astronomer in Paris noticed the way a plant responded to morning and night. He wondered if it was the light that caused the responses, and to find out, locked the plant in a dark closet. Much to his surprise, despite the lack of sunlight, the plant still raised its leaves in the morning and lowered them at night. It took many more years to discover just how the system worked.
Are you a lark, an owl or a hummingbird? Smolensky and Lamberg explain just what these three types of body rhythms are and how they affect you and your lifestyle. They suggest you should study your own body rhythms to find out if you are a day or a night person or somewhere in-between.
Your body clock affects not only your physical reactions, but your mental ability as well, and can explain a lot of mood swings. The Body Clock Guide talks about the different stages of sleep from very light sleep to the deep, healing sleep everyone needs. What is REM sleep? You'll find the answer in this book, and also discover just why you need to get adequate sleep and what sleep deprivation does to you.
Chapter Eight takes you through the years from babyhood to the teens and explains the differences for each age group. Babies are already cyclic in their sleep patterns, and tend to sleep more at night than during the day starting on their second day of life. Do you know why teens are like zombies in the morning? The Body Guide explains the changes in sleep needs for these difficult years.
Your body clock and rhythmic cycles affect so many things. Exercise and sports, for instance. Should you exercise in the morning or later in the day? Does your menstrual cycle make a difference? When you exercise and the type of exercise can make a difference on how well or how poorly you sleep. How our bodies handle food is also governed by when we eat, and the food we eat has an influence, again, on how well we sleep.
The Body Guide also covers sexuality and the best times to engage in sex. Want to get pregnant? Keep track of your body's rhythms. Most people know about the hormonal changes in a woman's body as she moves into menopause. But were you aware that men approaching mid-life also experience hormone changes? The Body Guide goes on to discuss how to cope with jet lag and about the use of chronobiology in the workplace to improve working conditions and accommodate those with a different body rhythm or those who have to work shift work.
Healing depends on your own body rhythm. The Body Guide gives a list of illnesses from A (AIDS) to U (Urinary disorders,) and explains when their symptoms are most and least troublesome over the day and when it's best to treat them.
And what is to come? The authors believe that in the twenty-first century, there will be better health through the use of chronotherapy. Computers will facilitate the way we keep track of our body rhythms and the times our bodies exhibit unusual patterns. Further research and education will foster a deeper understanding of chronobiology.
Throughout the book you'll find charts, illustrations and self tests to help you understand chronobiology and your own body rhythms. Also included are diaries to help you keep tabs on your health. For those who want to learn more, the authors have included an extensive list of resources.... I would recommend The Body Guide to Better Health to anyone who wants to learn what makes his or her body tick.
Book Description
Why can’t teenagers get out of bed in the morning? How do bees tell the time? Why do some plants open and close their flowers at the same time each day? Why do so many people suffer the misery of jet lag? In this fascinating book, Russell Foster and Leon Kreitzman explain the significance of the biological clock, showing how it has played an essential role in evolution and why it continues to play a vitally important role in all living organisms.
The authors tell us that biological clocks are embedded in our genes and reset at sunrise and sunset each day to link astronomical time with an organism’s internal time. They discuss how scientists are working out the clockwork mechanisms and what governs them, and they describe how organisms measure different intervals of time, how they are adapted to various cycles, and how light coordinates the time within to the external world. They review problems that can be caused by malfunctioning biological clocks—including jet lag, seasonal affective disorder, and depression. And they warn that although new drugs are being promoted to allow us to stay awake for longer periods, a 24/7 lifestyle can have a harmful impact on our health, both as individuals and as a society.
Customer Reviews:
A must-read.......2005-06-18
A comprehensive and fascinating book about the last few decades of chronobiological research. Are you an "early bird" or a "night owl"? Do you want to know how to deal with jet lag and winter blues? Are you interested in biological rhythms from a scientific or professional point of view? The you have to read this book immediately. It contains nearly everything you always wanted to know about rhythms but were afraid to ask. It's a must-read for medical professionals, psychologists, teachers, trainers and consultants of all kind.
A must-read.......2005-06-18
A comprehensive and fascinating book about the last few decades of chronobiological research. Are you a "early bird" or a "night owl"? Do you want to know how to deal with jet lag and winter blues? Are you interested in biological rhythms from a scientific or professional point of view? The you have to read this book immediately. It contains nearly everything you always wanted to know about rhythms but were afraid to ask. It's a must-read for medical professionals, psychologists, teachers, trainers and consultants of all kind.
The Protein Tick and the RNA Tock.......2005-01-11
What do the disasters of the _Titanic_, the _Exxon Valdez_, Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, and the Union Carbide plant explosion in Bhopal all have in common? They involved human error, and they all happened when the humans ought, by biological fiat, to have been sleeping. We are ruled by our clocks now, but even in the unnatural world we have made for ourselves, we cannot get away from the natural clocks that our cells expect us to follow. Like almost all living things in the planet, from plants to bacteria to birds, we have "a biological clock that was first set ticking more than three billion years ago." In _Rhythms of Life: The Biological Clocks that Control the Daily Lives of Every Living Thing_ (Yale University Press), Russell G. Foster, a professor of molecular neuroscience, and Leon Kreitzman, a writer and broadcaster, have examined the investigations of a relatively new science, chronobiology, to show just how much sway natural time has over us and other organisms. It isn't just a tale of sleepy people in control making bad judgments, although cognition and prudence do have their daily cycles. We tend to have babies (natural birthing) in the early mornings, and heart attacks in the later morning, and lovemaking around 10 p.m. Physical coordination, liver metabolism, body temperature, heart rate, kidney function, and much more all are paying attention to the biological clock, and when we jump time zones or do shift work, we do so at our peril.
Many of these cycles are specifically examined here, along with the historical hunt for the biological roots of the rhythmicity. A couple of the chapters dealing with the dance of molecules will be daunting for those uninitiated into the basics of cellular biology, but they do well to show the intricacies of the molecular mechanisms and the depth of work that has been done in this field. There are not just daily rhythms, but annual ones. Migratory birds the whole world over know when to start their travels north or south; they do so not by counting the days or paying attention to when the weather changes, but by regulation from the annual changes of lengths of day and night. Plants cannot migrate, but they are regulated by day length, too; wheat flowers, for instance, when the days get long enough, and barley does so when the days start to shorten. The almost universal attention that species pay to daily or annual changes indicates that success comes from being able to predict when winter, or summer, or nightfall, or other events, are coming, and from timing leaf drop, coitus, or swimming upstream to meet the optimum times and conditions. Evolution has selected the species that are best able to predict the future.
In the famous experiments where humans lived in caves or other light-deprived environments, with no capacity to tell time, they eventually locked into their own cycles of a little more than 24 hours. Like most creatures, we have an internal daily rhythm which is not exact, but only approximate; the day night cycle (or for us, such cues as an alarm clock) "entrain" the internal cycle and keep it synchronous with the rest of the creatures on Earth. There are mutant rats and flies who have cycles that are too long or too short, and researchers have productively transplanted brain parts to find out where the actual clocks are. Chronobiologists (a term that even some chronobiologists think of as pompous) are not just doing ivory tower investigations. There are many practical implications of this sort of work. Breast cancers, for example, have an annual pattern of increased and decreased growths, and so searching for the cancer would be more productive at certain times of the year. Chemotherapy for cancers involves poisoning the cancer cells with drugs that are also poisons for regular cells, but cancer cells, with their out-of-control growth, lose their rhythm of growth and division that normal cells retain. Thus it is possible that administering anti-cancer drugs at the time of day when they will interfere the least with the normal cells could reduce the worrisome side effects of the drugs. Asthma is most prevalent at night; medicine for it would be best taken in higher doses at nighttime, rather than every eight hours. The timing of doses in some cases may be as important as what the doses contain. The authors have given a detailed but readable introduction into a new science that will have increasing importance for human health as more is learned.
Body Clocks vs. Mechanical Clocks.......2004-09-23
For the first few million years of life, time was measured by sunrise and sunset. Now we have switched to clocks. But the biological clocks that are within all of us don't know how to read clocks. Breakfast, lunch and dinner occur at standard times. Tooth pain is lowest after lunch; proof reading and sprint swimming are best performed in the evening; labour pains more often begin at night and most natural births occur in the early hours; sudden cardiac death is more likely in the morning (from Chapter 1).
The study of biological clocks has gone on for a long time, but as a science is a fairly recent development. Research in just the last few years has dramatically altered the way scientists view them. This book is a snapshot of the way the science appears right now. The pair who wrote the book are a leading researcher in the field and a professional science writer. This is a good combination that gives good enjoyable writing combined with accurate reporting.
Book Description
This book is an introduction to a basic property of life, one mostly unknown to science and the public until the latter half of the last century: Humans, plants, and animals have within their bodies a kind of clock that synchronizes much of what they do throughout their lives to the time of day and the seasons, and in the case of the sea-dwelling organisms, the tides. This timepiece performs its service autonomously - it rules silently within us without us giving a thought to it. Three chapters are devoted to the human clock: its disruptive action in transmeridional travel and shift work, its oversight in most every aspect of our physiology, and how doctors being aware of its action can save lives. Other major subjects describe the role in piloting birds in homing and migration, guiding the seasonal reproduction of plants and animals, and its influence on shore dwellers. The book closes with a description of the clockworks' escapement.
Customer Reviews:
Fairly entertaining book about scientific discovery........2003-07-18
Palmer explains that he wrote this book because so many people he encountered were interested in what he does as a marine biologist. In truth it is a book about scientific curiosity and the process of discovery. I won't give away the ending, found in the last chapter. Had Palmer's objective been an exposition on biological clocks, the last chapter would have been first. Unfortunately, I already knew what was in the last chapter, so my appreciation for the book was somewhat dulled. Still, it is a short, well written, fairly entertaining book. Palmer does an excellent job in describing experiments and making them interesting, and in showing how often a verification of the obvious led instead to new paths of discovery. Not least, while Palmer's sense of humor is not terribly creative, he can be fun.
Average customer rating:
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Biological Rhythms and Living Clocks (Carolina Biological Readers)
J. D. Palmer
Manufacturer: Carolina Biological Supply Company
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Biological Rhythms and Living Clocks
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ASIN: 0317273388 |
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This book is the first attempt to summarize in popular form extensive experimental materials dealing with the extremely interesting problem of biological rhythms. It will take the reader into the exciting world of living nature, into the mysterious cell, following processes of metabolism, the movements of leaves and petals, and fishes and birds on long-distant migrations.
He will see that all organisms --from unicellular to highly organized animals including man-- measure time and that the material unity of living nature is also demonstrated by the identical organization of physiological processes in time.
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Monitoring the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty: Seismic Event Discrimination and Identification (Pageoph Topical Volumes)
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In September 1996, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), prohibiting nuclear explosions worldwide, in all environments. The treaty calls for a global verification system, including a network of 321 monitoring stations distributed around the globe, a data communications network, an international data center, and onsite inspections, to verify compliance. The problem of identifying small-magnitude banned nuclear tests and discriminating between such tests and the background of earthquakes and mining-related seismic events, is a challenging research problem. Because they emphasize CTBT verification research, the 12 papers in this special volume primarily addresses regional data recorded by a variety of arrays, broadband stations, and temporarily deployed stations. Nuclear explosions, earthquakes, mining-related explosions, mine collapses, single-charge and ripple-fired chemical explosions from Europe, Asia, North Africa, and North America are all studied. While the primary emphasis is on short-period, body-wave discriminants and associated source and path corrections, research that focuses on long-period data recorded at regional and teleseismic distances is also presented Hence, these papers demonstrate how event identification research in support of CTBT monitoring has expanded in recent years to include a wide variety of event types, data types, geographic regions and statistical techniques.
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