• May 4, 2024

The night is to rest and the day to work. The hours of the body are marked by the hands of our biological clock; If we drastically change sleeping, eating or waking times, we will experience fatigue, nerves and bad moods.

All living beings have an internal chronometer that directs the physiological processes and behaviors that the organism carries out periodically and in a determined time. Heartbeat, blood pressure, respiration and reproductive activity fall into this category.

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Each watch marks its own time

Some rhythms have the characteristic of "adjusting their times" to periodic changes in the environment, such as the so-called circadian rhythms, which depend on variations of light-darkness and temperature to regulate aspects such as activity, rest, the need for food and body temperature. These rhythms last approximately 24 hours when studied under constant light and temperature conditions.

It has been discovered that biological rhythms depend on the function of oscillators that mark the tick of our internal clock. If we compare it with an artificial clock, the oscillator would be the pendulum that communicates with the hands to mark the hours and minutes.

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Internal stopwatch regulates functions

So far, the most important oscillator that has been discovered in the internal chronometer of humans is the suprachiasmatic nucleus, located in the brain and that the scientists describe as a set of 20 thousand cells that would fit in the middle of the surface of the brain. rubber of a pencil. This nucleus controls the functions related to circadian rhythms.

Scientists have registered another oscillator that regulates the need for food. Research suggests that it could be in the liver and that it extends its mechanism of action to the brain. Therefore, in ICellular Physiology Institute and the Faculty of Medicine of the UNAM , perform experiments with rodents to learn more about their nature.