A report from The Siasat Daily examines how the disruption of a biological clock can impact can affect everything from the sleep/wake cycle to mental alertness.

Deep inside your brain you have an internal “clock” that maintains awareness of your daily cycles and internal rhythms or patterns.

Your sleep/wake cycle, hunger/eating patterns and mental alertness patterns are examples of circadian rhythms that are kept in sync by your biological clock. These rhythms influence mood, stress levels, and even heart function and immunity. When working normally, our circadian rhythms help us maintain healthy schedules and habits.

Occasionally, however, our biological clocks can get out of sync, potentially causing disruption of our sleep patterns, alterations in mood, changes in hormone levels (cortisol, thyroid), and fluctuations in blood pressure. Some people have genetic predispositions or body chemistry abnormalities that account for their biological clocks’ tendencies to become more easily disrupted. But in most cases it is lifestyle choices that create the disruptions. Jet lag, shift work, sleep deprivation, and alcohol or drug consumption are all factors that affect our biological clocks, and these factors are under our control.

View the full story at www.siasat.com