Human Health
Timing of medical treatment in coordination with the body clock may significantly increase efficacy and reduce drug toxicity or adverse reactions. For example, appropriately timed treatment with angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEi) may reduce nocturnal blood pressure and also benefit left ventricular (reverse) remodelling.
A number of studies have concluded that a short period of sleep during the day, a power-nap, does not have any measurable effect on normal circadian rhythms, but can decrease stress and improve productivity.
There are many health problems associated with disturbances of the human circadian rhythm, such as seasonal affective disorder (SAD), delayed sleep phase syndrome (DSPS) and other circadian rhythm disorders. Circadian rhythms also play a part in the reticular activating system, which is crucial for maintaining a state of consciousness. In addition, a reversal in the sleep–wake cycle may be a sign or complication of uremia, azotemia or acute renal failure.
Studies have also shown that light has a direct effect on human health because of the way it influences the circadian rhythms.
Read more about this topic: Circadian Rhythm
Famous quotes containing the words human and/or health:
“Rigid, the skeleton of habit alone upholds the human frame.”
—Virginia Woolf (1882–1941)
“To get time for civic work, for exercise, for neighborhood projects, reading or meditation, or just plain time to themselves, mothers need to hold out against the fairly recent but surprisingly entrenched myth that “good mothers” are constantly with their children. They will have to speak out at last about the demoralizing effect of spending day after day with small children, no matter how much they love them.”
—Wendy Coppedge Sanford. Ourselves and Our Children, by Boston Women’s Health Book Collective, introduction (1978)