Re: Circadian rhythm, WAS Glutathione deplet...methyl block...sleep probs

[Guest guest]

Hi, .

There's a part of the brain called the suprachiasmic nucleus, and

that's the home of our biological clock. This is an oscillator that

has a natural (free-running) period a little longer than 24 hours.

It receives a synchronization signal from some photoreceptors in the

retinas of the eyes. This signal comes from the light/dark cycle of

the sun, or of artificial lighting, if it is used, and it locks in

the oscillator so that it tracks with day and night. If you put

somebody in a cave that's dark all the time, their biological clock

does not get a synch signal, so it runs at its natural period, which

is longer than 24 hours.

A paper has been published that reports that the biological clock in

the suprachiasmic nucleus is running normally in PWCs, but for

reasons that are not understood, the cortisol and melatonin do not

necessarily track with this clock as they normally do. In many

PWCs, they drift with longer cycle time than 24 hours, so that the

sleep/wake cycle keeps drifting forward as the days go by. But this

is apparently not due to the clock itself operating abnormally.

Rich

>

> I still don't understand circadian rhythm. Not even in a basic

> sense. It's not one set thing for all people, everywhere...right

or

> wrong? ...I am thinking it's this magic thing that gallops around

the

> earth coincident with rotation of the planet. No little notches

that

> overlay the meridians?...probably not? We can't pick and choose

one

> for our very own?...probably not? That is, no free will at

> all?...probably not?

>

> Anyone who can give me a Circ Rhythm 101 or point me somewhere

with

> links?

>

> Much appreciated ahead of time again.

>

>

> quietly celebrating the loss

> of her " broken feet "

> in Champaign IL

[Guest guest]

Fascinating. Thank you, Rich. You don't, by chance, know where that

paper can be found, do you? Or another key word to stick in, in a

search for it?

Now to figure out how cortisol and melatonin and serotonin and

dopamine all work or don't work with each other and are disrupted.

I run longer than 24 hours, I notice. Ultimately, though, unless

you're running cave experiments, this is nothing you can creatively

change or otherwise mess with?

Another question, Rich: When you go on tour, will you let us know

ahead of time, so we can get half-price tickets? I'd love to

hear one of your seminars.

>

> Hi, .

>

> There's a part of the brain called the suprachiasmic nucleus, and

> that's the home of our biological clock. This is an oscillator

that

> has a natural (free-running) period a little longer than 24 hours.

> It receives a synchronization signal from some photoreceptors in

the

> retinas of the eyes. This signal comes from the light/dark cycle

of

> the sun, or of artificial lighting, if it is used, and it locks in

> the oscillator so that it tracks with day and night. If you put

> somebody in a cave that's dark all the time, their biological clock

> does not get a synch signal, so it runs at its natural period,

which

> is longer than 24 hours.

>

> A paper has been published that reports that the biological clock

in

> the suprachiasmic nucleus is running normally in PWCs, but for

> reasons that are not understood, the cortisol and melatonin do not

> necessarily track with this clock as they normally do. In many

> PWCs, they drift with longer cycle time than 24 hours, so that the

> sleep/wake cycle keeps drifting forward as the days go by. But

this

> is apparently not due to the clock itself operating abnormally.

>

> Rich

>

>

[Guest guest]

Hi, .

The abstract is below. You can find other papers on this topic if

you go to PubMed and type

chronic fatigue syndrome and circadian

into the search box and hit Go.

Rich

Clin Physiol. 1996 Jul;16(4):327-37.

Dissociation of body-temperature and melatonin secretion circadian

rhythms in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome.

G, Pirmohamed J, Minors D, Waterhouse J, Buchan I, Arendt

J, RH.

Department of Medicine, University of Liverpool, UK.

Many patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) display features

of hypothalamic dysfunction. We have investigated aspects of

circadian rhythmicity, an important hypothalamic function, in 20 CFS

patients and in 17 age- and sex-matched healthy control subjects.

There were no differences between the two groups in the amplitude,

mesor (mean value) or timing of the peak (acrophase) of the

circadian rhythm of core temperature, or in the timing of the onset

of melatonin secretion. However, the CFS patients showed no

significant correlation between the timing of the temperature

acrophase and the melatonin onset (P < 0.5), whereas the normal

significant correlation was observed in the controls (P < 0.05).

Dissociation of circadian rhythms could be due to the sleep

deprivation and social disruption, and/or the reduction in physical

activity which typically accompany CFS. By analogy with jet-lag and

shift-working, circadian dysrhythmia could be an important factor in

initiating and perpetuating the cardinal symptoms of CFS, notably

tiredness, impaired concentration and intellectual impairment.

PMID: 8842569 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

>

> Fascinating. Thank you, Rich. You don't, by chance, know where

that

> paper can be found, do you? Or another key word to stick in, in a

> search for it?

>

> Now to figure out how cortisol and melatonin and serotonin and

> dopamine all work or don't work with each other and are disrupted.

>

> I run longer than 24 hours, I notice. Ultimately, though, unless

> you're running cave experiments, this is nothing you can

creatively

> change or otherwise mess with?

>

> Another question, Rich: When you go on tour, will you let us know

> ahead of time, so we can get half-price tickets? I'd love to

> hear one of your seminars.

>

>