The Human Body Clock

Our body has a 24 hour biological clock which is created and regulated by light.

Our central body clock is located deep inside our brain and is said to be the size of a grain of rice.

There are also other body clocks in the heart, liver, kidneys, lungs and liver.  But the central body clock in the brain is like the conductor of an orchestra which keeps time and instructs the rest of the body’s organs when to perform at their best.

Understanding the way that our body clock works and where it has gone wrong is one of the keys to resolving insomnia naturally.

Let’s take a look at the way our body clock operates at crucial times of the day.

Between 10 am and 12 noon (if we’ve had a good night’s sleep), we are said to be at our intellectual best. We can think more clearly.  We tend to be more productive and more efficient.But according to Professor Horne of Loughborough University, the human body is designed to have two periods of sleep a day.  This is why we have what he calls a “post lunch dip”.  After lunch time, our thinking processes tend to slow down and we are more prone to microsleep.

Apparently 25% of all motorway crashes in the UK are caused by microsleeps when driving.  Drivers are three times more likely to fall asleep at 2pm than they are during the rush hour.

Between 6-8pm, the body temperature is at a natural high.  Many of us are having a big meal at this time of the evening.  However our bodies are designed to consume a big breakfast, large lunch and small supper.  This is because insulin doesn’t work for us as well at night as it does earlier in the day and we deal with calories better when we eat large meals earlier in the day.

Our lifestyles are such that many of us may have no time for breakfast, grab a sandwich at lunch and then have a massive meal at night.  This is more convenient for us but not conducive to good health or natural sleep.

Between 3 am and 6 am, our body temperature drops, our blood pressure is lower and our low point of metabolic activity is at 4 am.  If we wake up between 3 am and 5 am, we are liable to find it more depressing than if our sleep is interrupted earlier in the night.  This is because our body is at the minimum point of operation.

2 am – 4 am is the most common time of death amongst those who are ill while 3 am-5 am is apparently the best time to be born naturally for both baby and mother.

People who have to work shift patterns during 3am – 6am find that they put their bodies under enormous strain precisely because the human biological processes are at their minimum level of activity even though they are awake, alert, active and busy.  Their body clock is out of sync with their lifestyle.  There is a strong risk of physical and mental health problems developing amongst this group of individuals who continually have to work “the graveyard shift.”

As we can see, modern life and the human body’s clock is not always compatible.  And disregarding the body clock can lead to ill health (including diabetes or cardio vascular problems) as well as insomnia.

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