Biorhythms, daily routine and our health

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

"Ogonyok" published an interview with the chairman of the problem commission "Chronobiology and Chronomedicine" of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor Sergei Chibisov. We have selected the most important from this interview.

About melatonin and SARS

- Late autumn, when daylight hours are sharply reduced, is a very difficult time for the body. Fall depression and drowsiness, which peak in November, are associated with disruptions in the production cycles of the hormones melatonin and cortisol.

The first hormone is responsible for the daily and seasonal rhythms of a person, for normal sleep and, accordingly, normal wakefulness. But in order for it to form, the body must have its predecessor - serotonin, which is produced during daylight hours.

The shorter the daylight hours, the less melatonin we have, which is responsible for changing sleep and wakefulness. For the body, this is stress, to which it reacts by releasing cortisol. And cortisol is a substance that is directly related to the violation of biorhythms and impaired immune function.

And since we are now living in a COVID pandemic, the reduced immunity, among other things, inevitably leads to an increased susceptibility to infectious diseases. Usually, it is in the fall, with a decrease in daylight hours, that we record a surge in infectious diseases, including all sorts of acute respiratory viral infections and influenza.

Lack of light and depression

- In fact, the lack of light is a very serious medical problem. It has long been known that in northern countries, where 280 out of 365 days of the year are cloudy, depression, mental illness, and suicide attempts are more common.

That is why, for example, a special Light Therapy Service has been created in Holland today. During treatment, the patient is seated in a room where everything is painted white, and a lamp is turned on, which emits light waves similar to the sun. The session lasts approximately 10 minutes, the duration of treatment depends on the specific case.

About change of residence

- There is such an old Russian, but in fact an international proverb "Where I was born, I came in handy there." It is absolutely correct from the point of view of biorhythms: a person will live as long as possible in his usual conditions, where he was born.

Naturally, if there is a normal social environment around. We know many stories about how people come to the Far North, live there for 10-15 years, earn money, and then move to finally build a house on the Black Sea coast. Most often, unfortunately, they only manage to build the foundation. Because a person has to adapt again and again to new living conditions, and when the move occurs in old age, it is very difficult.

Equally harmful from the point of view of biorhythms are the rotational method of work on the maintenance of oil rigs and other facilities, the work of machinists, tellers, and so on.

About the dangers of light at night

- When we go to bed, lights or neon signs shine through our windows, and any light source at night instantly stops the production of that very vital melatonin, which, as we said, is responsible for regulating the sleep-wakefulness cycle. … And since melatonin is produced less in the elderly, this is the basis of desynchronosis, the path to the emergence of diseases.

There are many works in which it is shown that if melatonin is not formed, then first of all sleep is disturbed, followed by blood pressure indicators, heart rate, hydrochloric acid secretion in the stomach, and the release of various kinds of hormones. For the body, such a state is stress, and stress contributes to the production of an increased amount of glucocorticoids by the adrenal glands, in particular cortisol, which has many very undesirable consequences.

In particular, the phenomenon of the so-called early morning deaths is associated with it.

About morning stress

- For the body, awakening is, in fact, stress. It is no coincidence that, according to statistics, acute heart attacks and strokes most often occur in the early morning hours.

At this time, you need to treat the body very carefully, and we often arrange an additional test for it. For example, these include morning runs, which, apart from harm, do nothing. Back in 1982, I wrote in Izvestia that the morning “run from a heart attack,” which was then actively promoted by the American Jim Fix, was in fact a run to death. By the way, Fix himself died at 52 from a heart attack while jogging.

This does not mean that physical activity is unnecessary. But all that can be done in the morning is gymnastics that doesn’t take your breath away. It should be borne in mind that for the body, enhanced physical activity is shown after 12 and until about 3 o'clock in the afternoon. A moderate load is possible until 7 pm, and then fitness will only be harmful.

About the daily routine

“Light therapy does exist and can help overcome seasonal fatigue and depression. To do this, you need to spend at least 15 minutes outside in the sun during sunny weather. If there is no sun, then you need to stay outside in natural light for at least about an hour. This stimulates the production of the melatonin precursor.

But in fact, it is very, very difficult to restore the rhythm of sleep - wakefulness. For this, in particular, you need to observe the daily routine as much as possible - try to go to bed on time and get up on time.

It has been proven that the tougher the daily routine, the longer a person lives. It is necessary to minimize jetlags - flights across several time zones. It's one thing when you fly on a business trip or on vacation once or twice a year, and quite another when it's part of your daily work.

Today, there is a fair amount of serious medical research that proves that pilots and flight attendants are more susceptible to a number of cardiovascular diseases, malignant neoplasms, gastrointestinal disorders and peptic ulcer disease to a greater extent than other people.

This, incidentally, applies to the shift work of doctors and nurses, who work two days later. There are thousands of examinations both in our country and abroad that during shift work, women are more likely to develop breast cancer.