[Steemstem #1] Human Biological Clock...[Nobel Prize Medicine 2017]

Dear Steemers!!!
Nobel Prize Ceremonies of this year 2017 has started and the first category announced for Nobel Prize is Medicine. This year the Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded to 3 U.S. Scientists. Although, the work they did was about basic Science but it has a vast importance in our lives. This is also probably the first time when a Nobel Prize is given for basic Science in Medicine.
Img Source
The Scientists who received Nobel Prize are Jeffrey C Hall, Michael Rosbash, Michael W Young. They received the Nobel Prize for their work on Human Biological Clock or Scientifically put Circadian Rhythm. In other words they proved how and why does a body react in a certian way to its environment. They established a key principle for the biological clock that helps to regulate the sleep pattern, feeding behaviour, hormonal control, blood pressure and body temperature.

What is a Circadian Rhythm?

Img Source
Circadian Rhythm is the Biological Process that displays an endogenous oscillations of about 24 hours. It is observed in plants, animals, fungi and even cyanobacteria. E.g, All the biological processes like sleeping, hunger, hormone production, etc that occur within the organism or cell and show proper relation between the oscillation of Environment. All these biological processes have a significant effect on the outcome of body in the means of health And strength, both mentally and physically.

This discovery proved the old famous saying, "Early to Bed, Early to Rise, Makes a Man Healthy, Wealthy and Wise".

Their discoveries explain how plants, animals and humans adapt their biological rhythm so that it is synchronised with the Earth's revolutions.

Using fruit flies as a model organism, the scientists isolated a gene that controls the normal daily biological rhythm.
Their findings revealed that this gene encodes a protein that accumulates in the cell during the night, and is then degraded during the day.

Img Source
One of the biggest challenges for large organisms like us is making sure all our internal clocks run in sync with one another. This coordination allows female pituitaries and ovaries to match up when triggering ovulation; our pancreas, gut, and hypothalamus to link up to make us both hungry and ready to digest; and sleep to be timed to when our muscles are ready to cool down and enable healing, as well as when our brains are most free for maintenance and memory formation.
Well, that’s how nature had worked it out, anyway. In the 21st century, we’ve messed up that internal coordination with things like artificial light, fast-food binges at 2am, shift work, and early college-class schedules. These forced schedules mess with our body’s natural and flow of when we should be sleeping and eating according to where the sun is in the sky, and it’s wrecking havoc on our systems.
Circadian disruptions are likely contributors to the obesity epidemic, the increasing cancer rates, the autism epidemic, the increase in Alzheimer’s and other dementias, and the growing dissatisfaction within public education. Because every part of our body has been imbued with an innate circadian rhythm to keep all the clocks ticking in sync, every piece of us is susceptible to circadian disruption.

How does Circadian Rhythm Affect us?

• Sleep

Circadian Rhythm has a definite control over when you get sleepy and when you are at your full potential mentally. Normally night is the time for a bofy to take u rest and during the high hours of day like late afternoon sometimes. Any disruption from the normal cycle like night shift work will cause the body to behave abnormally giving rise to restlessness, tiredness, and sometimes even some disorders.
Img Source

• Nutrition

This 24 hour Cycle also controls when you get hungry. Have you ever wondered why don't you feel hungry at night and only eat during day. The cycle helps to metabolize the food into energy during the day and convert the food into fat during night.

• Jet Lag

It is the lag that occurs in our various systems when they fail to sync with each other in any sudden change of environment. The lag occurs because some of the systems recover and catch up immediately while some take time. During this time a person may feel dizzy, tired, or even restless.

• Mental Focus

Every person has a unique period in the day when he/she is at highest potential or performance. Although, it is different for everybody, but fresh early mornings are said to a common period when Every individual have better efficiency.
At the time of high performance, new brain cells and new synapses occurs which make the person razor sharp.

• Fertility

This is best example of Circadian Rhythm. The Time of ovulation in females is controlled by it. Even Hormones are controlled by This cycle.

• Aging

Img Source
When you age, your different biological processes fail to sync with each other. The more the lag and difference, the more are the chances to develop mental as well as physical disorders.
Sufficient Sunlight during day and Adequate sleep during night will help to minimize the lag and can keep you robust.

Importance of Circadian Rhythm

These Nobel laureates showed that internal clockwork could be mapped on a schedule, which seeded an exponential expansion in time-focused biological discovery.
Re-examination of other scientific fields through the lens of circadian rhythms has heralded the construction of “chronotherapy” in the medicine industry. If a drug is most toxic at a certain time of day, but most effective at another time of day, then timing the dose means you can use a smaller amount of the drug, and have fewer side effects.

We now also know that our circadian profiles are personal. Just as there is not one food that can grow a healthy society, when it comes to going to bed or eating breakfast, there is not one time that works for everyone.

About the Nobel Laureates

Hall was born in New York, Rosbash in Oklahoma City, and they both worked at Brandeis University. They are splitting the prize with Michael Young who was born in Miami and work at Rockefeller University.
Img Source
These Scientists were already pondering the concepy of body clock genes from 1960 to 1970s.
They started their work on this discovery in 1980s on a fruitfly. They isolated a gene controlling the normal daily biological rhythm of fly and named it as period. The protein encoded by period gene was seen accumilating at night and degradating during day. Further research revealed role of other genes in the complex system. They believed that the rhythm in fly would pertain in other biological systems and organisms as well and here we are today with that discovery.
Congratulations to all the winning Laureates of 2017 from any field.

Source

Quartz
GK
So this is it for Today.
Till next time

Steem On

May The Steem Be With Us

Have a read at my last post

Beautiful Sculpture

To all the Kashmiri people on Steemit...Karew Kousher Steemit Join Discordas Paith

Follow @mirhimayun