RHYTHMS IN HUMAN BODY
What is rhythm?
Rhythm simply means repetition of a feature. If we analyze we will know that everything in this universe has rhythm. Be it music or dance or other entities of universe they all have rhythm. If we observe our daily life it too has rhythm. Even matter which appears still is vibrating in its own rhythm. Matter is composed of energy and can be annihilated into energy and this energy is simply rhythms and therefore it can be concluded that everything is rhythm. Since it is a medical magazine here we are going to discuss rhythm in context of some very interesting features of human body.
INTRODUCTION TO RHYTHMS OF HUMAN BODY:
There are activities in our body which happen rhythmically (that happens in only certain time of day and repeats itself in a particular pattern). we observe some of them, some of them are observed but not analyzed and some of them are observed only through detail studies of human body and not observable by general population.
Few Examples of such activitiesGENERALLY OBSERVED FACTS
1.)1. Body temperature is lowest before waking up in the morning, and highest in the late afternoon.
2.) The large bowel is most active and efficient during the early morning hours i.e. the urge to purge is most during early morning than other time of day.
3.) Births peak in the morning and early afternoon and so do suicides.
4.) People have sexual urge more at night just before going to bed than other any time of the day.
5.) If we have a very good routine we will observe that we do same type of thing at same time of day and generally have same type of mood at same time.
FACTS OBSERVABLE ONLY BY DETAILED STUDIES
1.) Doctors often prescribe taking medicines at certain times of day. This is because drugs give more efficacy and minimum toxicity at particular time.
2.)The liver is more active during the night than it is during the day.
3.)Red bone marrow produces more blood cells during the night.
4.)Most digestive enzymes are secreted during the day.
5.)Different types of cells have different life spans and are turned over at specific intervals.
6.) Bile secretions peak at midday.
Apart from the fact mentioned above there are many other activities that occurs rhythmically.
so what is responsible for maintaining this rhythm in our body ?
CAUSE OF BIOLOGICAL RHYTHM
CIRCADIAN RHYTHM "A circadian rhythm is any biological process that displays an endogenous, entrainable oscillation of about 24 hours. ", wikipedia
The rhythm is not only observed in humans but widely in many plants, animals and microorganisms. A circadian rhythm is built in and adjustable to environment.
FOUR CRITERIA OF BIOLOGICAL RHYTHM TO BECOME CIRCADIAN RHYTHM
1.)The rhythms repeat once a day.
2.)The rhythms persist in the absence of external cues.
3.)The rhythms can be adjusted to match the local time.
4.)The rhythms maintain circadian periodicity over a range of physiological temperatures; they exhibit temperature compensation.
