Circadian Rhythm facts

While investigating facts about Circadian Rhythm Disorder and Circadian Rhythm Sleep Disorder, I found out little known, but curios details like:

Stefania Follini, an Italian interior designer recruited by NASA in '89 for an experiment in Circadian Rhythms, where she spent 4 months in underground isolation proving our bodies naturally fall into 28 and 48 hour days

how circadian rhythm works?

Housecats have no Circadian rhythm, meaning they are equally (in)active at all times of day

What circadian rhythm means?

In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across answering what's circadian rhythmicity. Here are 27 of the best facts about Circadian Rhythm Fasting and Circadian Rhythm Definition I managed to collect.

what's circadian rhythm?

1. Humans can reset their circadian rhythm by only fasting once for 12 hours straight, and then take a heavy breakfast when they wake up

2. People who are prone to staying up past midnight and sleeping in til the afternoon could possibly have a circadian rhythm dysfunction known as Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder.

3. In the last 25 years, while playing at night and at home, West Coast football teams have beaten East Coast football teams 70 percent of the time. The reason? Circadian Rhythm.

4. That, on a daily basis, birch trees droop their branches and slow their processes down starting 2 hrs after sunset and lasting until the morning; scientists compared this to our going to sleep. It’s suspected all living organisms are subject to the circadian rhythm, which includes plants.

5. Some reptiles have a "third eye" on top of their skull which lets light pass through bone to the brain, effectively regulating their circadian rhythm.

6. Fruits and vegetables have circadian rhythms (they can tell day from night) and can become jet-lagged

7. Humans have an innate circadian rhythm of 25 hours when external cues are removed, as opposed to earth's 24 hour days. One day on Mars is 25 hours.

8. Many older orders of vertebrates have a third "eye" connected to the pineal gland to detect light and manage circadian rhythms. Mammals lack this eye but retain the gland.

9. Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder, in which the brain's circadian rhythm is delayed 2+ hours from the normal cycle, resulting in a total inability to sleep until extremely late. Often misdiagnosed as insomnia, DSPD patients have consistent sleep patterns, and don't have trouble staying asleep.

10. Our biological day/night cycle (circadian rhythm) makes judges more merciful in the morning and after lunch, and less often before breaks...and we're all susceptible to the same mechanism.

Why is my circadian rhythm off?

You can easily fact check why is circadian rhythm 25 hours by examining the linked well-known sources.

The non-24-hour sleep–wake disorder, which affects a person's circadian rhythm, giving them a biological clock of over 24 hours - often around 25, but up to 26. This means the affected can rarely function in a 24-hour society. It is incredibly rare, however, with 0.03% of people having it

Sleeping longer on the weekend actually makes us more tired, according to research into circadian rhythms - source

A person working night shift, which causes disruption to the circadian rhythm, is at greater risk of various disorders including increased likelihood of obesity and increased risk of cardiovascular disease. - source

There are studies that show an association between vitamins and other sleep disorders. Studies have reported that B-12 shortens the length of the sleep-wake rhythm and affects the circadian aspect of sleep propensity

Researchers have found that a magnetically sensitive protein called Cryptochrome that mediates circadian rhythms in plants and animals helps birds to sense the earth's magnetic field and use it to navigate over long distances. - source

What happens when circadian rhythms are disrupted?

Some animal species have a Parietal or Third Eye which is part of the epithalamus and helps in the regulation of circadian rhythm and hormone production for thermoregulation.

How circadian rhythm affects sleep?

Wakefulness and sleep are under the control of the circadian rhythm, and not the other way around. That is, your circadian rhythm will march up and down every twenty-four hours irrespective of whether you have slept or not. Your circadian rhythm is unwavering in this regard.

Aside from unique dream content, some blind people cannot perceive light and they may be subject to a unique sleep disorder called a nonentrained circadian rhythm; they are also more likely to report feelings of touch, taste, and smell in their dreams compared to sighted people.

There is a 9 hour natural transition video from dusk till dawn with natural sounds to help sleep and gain your circadian rhythm in focus.

Researchers found that the overall rate of ischemic stroke was 8 percent higher during the first two days after a daylight saving time transition. Studies have shown that disruptions in a person’s circadian rhythm, also called an internal body clock, increase the risk of ischemic stroke.