Introduction

Many may believe that the secret to staying young is to turn back time using “magic” potions and treatment regimens.

Manipulating Our Internal Clock

A team of researchers says “promising” results can be achieved by manipulating our internal clock.

US researchers suggest we can improve our physical and mental health – and even slow down aging – by adopting daily habits that help properly synchronize our internal clocks so they function at optimal efficiency.

The Circadian Rhythm

The body’s internal molecular clock operates on a daily cycle, regulating vital functions such as sleep, appetite, and metabolism in what is called a circadian rhythm.

Today, the circadian clock is believed to be present in almost every cell and tissue of our body, and the “master clock,” called the suprachiasmatic nuclei, is located in the brain.

However, as we age, our biological timers can become out of sync with each other, according to a study conducted by Northwestern University in the US and published in the journal Chaos.

This may mean that the vital systems that regulate body and brain functions are not working in a healthy and synchronized manner as they did when we were younger.

Scientists warn that research is increasingly linking “circadian desynchronization” to serious problems such as cardiovascular disease, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cancer.

Biological Clock and Cognitive Decline

Moreover, according to research conducted by biologists from Cleveland State University in the United States, the damage is not only physical.

In a review published last year in the journal Nature Reviews Neuroscience, they presented evidence that our biological clock regulates important functions such as the body’s systems for repairing faulty DNA, as well as a vital maintenance process called autophagy, which cleanses our brains of damaged cells.

The Cleveland researchers warn that circadian rhythms are “significantly affected by aging, which may contribute to cognitive decline in the aging brain.”

They said circadian rhythms are “markedly disrupted” in patients with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, suggesting that clock desynchronization may be at least partially responsible for these conditions.

The research team explained that experiments carried out on rodents suffering from dementia-like symptoms to restore the accuracy of their biological clocks resulted in improvements in their “cognitive performance” and longer lifespans.

Improving Circadian Rhythms for Anti-Aging

The report, published in the journal Nature Reviews Endocrinology, says that if we can improve the synchronization of circadian rhythms later in life, it could “effectively delay the aging process” as our bodies manage themselves more efficiently.

Researchers from Northwestern University explained that different body clocks are influenced by different external signals that are adjusted every day.

Dr Yitun Huang, who led the study, said the brain’s clock is influenced by sunlight, for example, while peripheral organs such as the liver are calibrated by the timing of meals.

He warned that eating at the wrong time, such as midnight, could be particularly harmful.

Thus, meal timing promotes circadian synchronization. Restricting calories also improves the synchronization of our internal clocks, improving the activity of the body clock, which reduces harmful inflammation and protects brain cells from damage.

Source

Source: Daily Mail