2017 Nobel Prize in Medicine sheds “Light on Light”, the science of shut eye

It may be a lot less glamorous, or award worthy, than the research on cancer immunotherapy and editing genes, but don’t underestimate the significance of your biological clock (aka circadian rhythm) and its impact on your daily life.

Three scientists:  Hall, Rosbash and Young, were recognized in Stockholm this year, for their fundamental research on how humans, animals and plants, sync up their biological clocks with the earth’s revolutions.

Your important bodily functions work on a 24-hour cycle, regulated by a gene and a group of proteins that work together to control your daily rhythms. This precise clockwork functions at a cellular level, as the protein PER builds up during the night and deteriorates throughout the day.  Things like body temp, hormones, sleep and metabolism, operate in shifts, nocturnally and then throughout the day.

This all relates to light exposure, a critical influence in sleep science.  Luminosity explains the reason you experience jet lag over different time zones, or disrupt your sleep quality when you’re binging on TV, surfing the net on your laptop and your cell phone.

Good sleep hygiene involves powering down and desaturating the light emitted from your electronics, a few hours before bed.  Comprehending the nuances of your biological clock has opened up a lucrative market for drug companies, but these pharmaceuticals are fraught with side effects.  You’ve heard many of the horror stories.

On the other hand, Dr. Dave’s Best Sleep Wizard, an all-natural sleep aid, is designed to get you to sleep and keep you there, cycling through all stages (both rapid eye movement and non-rapid eye movement sleep) so you awaken, renewed, refreshed and free of side effects. 

Quality sleep at night, is necessary to optimize your day. Here’s the short list of benefits:

1. Reduces your risk of heart attack
2. Helps fed off strokes
3. May mitigate your cancer risk
4. Improves immune function
5. Balances your moods and emotions
6. Improves your efficiency and effectivity at work

Clearly, an “underslept” brain and body deteriorates your normal daily functioning in many ways. Depression, dementia, compromised learning capacity and attention deficit disorder are a few of the many maladies associated with sleeplessness. 

During the deep stage, your breathing and heartrate slow down as your muscles completely relax.  Cycling through this phase is related to that well rested feeling you experience, in the morning, setting the stage for your dynamic days.

So, thank you, premier scientists Hall, Rosbash and Young, for shedding “light on light”, the cellular influences that effect circadian rhythms.  Make the most of your sleep cycles.  Try all natural, Dr. Dave’s Best Sleep Wizard to jump start your days.