How drugs that hack our circadian clocks might one day improve our health

There's more to it than that. Our bodies are influenced by hundreds of molecular clocks throughout the body. There are clocks that regulate metabolism. It is not surprising that disruptions to our rhythms can have a negative effect on our health.

Scientists are trying to find ways to modify treatments to our rhythms. The clock drugs are being explored in the lab. Will we be able to change our clocks to improve our health in the near future?

The clock doesn't tick forward as much as it could over a 24 hour period. They are clusters of genes. Some genes can make something during the day. The genes can't make more overnight if enough of these genes have been made. The genes switch on again in the morning when levels of the proteins are too low. The cycle doesn't stop.

The brain's hypothalamus is where the master clock is located. The clock is thought to be synchronized. The amount of light entering our eyes, when we eat and sleep, and other aspects of our behavior are all influenced by the amount of light entering our eyes.

Many biological functions have been discovered to be affected by the clock. A study in mice found that almost half of the animals' genes follow a certain pattern. Just before dawn and dusk, most genes make moreProteins.

It is difficult to do the same research in people, but we know that many of the human genes work in the same way. The hormones and immune cells seem to change throughout the day.

Our gut flora seems to cycle over the course of a day. Some types of gutbacteria seem to be more abundant during the day while others are less abundant at night. The amount of Bacteroidetesbacteria was higher at night, for example. These patterns seem to be disrupted in people with type 2 diabetes, but we don't know what this means for our health.

People who work night shifts are more likely to have cardiovascular disease and cancer. It is not clear how much of this risk can be blamed on a disrupted rhythm, but research suggests that working overnight can change the timing of some genes. Some of these are important for the immune system.