Body Clock: What Makes Us Tick? Horizon, Tonight, 11th Oct 2018, 9pm BBC2 - Looks very interesting.

[Electromagnetic]

Documentary. A former commando spends ten days locked in a nuclear bunker, with no way of telling the time, to find out how best to manage our body clock and improve our health.

BBC Two - Horizon, 2018, Body Clock: What Makes Us Tick?

This should be of interest to those of us with frequently screwed up body clocks. Oddly enough I was wearing my amber (blue light filter) goggles last night before falling asleep with the light on. Crap routine tbh but the goggles help.

More info:

We all have a biological clock ticking away inside us that governs our daily rhythms. This affects our health as much as our diet and whether we exercise. So what can we do to manage this internal clock better?

To find out, evolutionary biologist Ella Al-Shamahi locks former commando Aldo Kane in an abandoned nuclear bunker with no way of telling the time - for ten days. Monitored around the clock by a team of scientists, he carries out a barrage of tests to uncover exactly what makes our body clock tick.

Above ground, Ella meets two time-starved couples to test the latest thinking on how we can manage our body clocks better. In trying to improve their sleep, and their lives, she uncovers practical advice that we can all take on board. Studies on shift workers show that regularly disrupting our sleep makes us more at risk of diabetes, heart disease and even cancer. So getting to grips with our biological clock couldn't be more important.

Clips from the show:

BBC Two - Horizon, 2018, Body Clock: What Makes Us Tick?, Losing track of time in solitary confinement

BBC Two - Horizon, 2018, Body Clock: What Makes Us Tick?, Get in touch with your biological clock

I think the scientist lady would affect my body clock..

 

[Electromagnetic]

Had a visitor and so missed most of it. Might catch up on it.

 

[WO2.Ghandi]

It was on R4 this morning. As your scientess is demonstrating it's all down to tits.

 

[Electromagnetic]

It was on R4 this morning. As your scientess is demonstrating it's all down to tits.

She has great legs too, to be fair.

 

[exbluejob]

She is obviously the new scientific eye candy as biology is not her subject: Who is Ella Al-Shamahi? Archaeologist and star of Neanderthals: Meet Your Ancestors

 

[WO2.Ghandi]

She has great legs too, to be fair.

Are you just perving? I was of course referring to the research that suggests varying levels of melatonin in breast milk establish our sleep patterns when we're babies.

 

[Tommy_Sun]

She has great legs too, to be fair.

She has two great tits, too, to be fair.

j/k. (no, they really are great)

Body clock stuff is a nightmare. Circadian rhythms. All regulated by internal systems that work in tandem with our conscious and sub-conscious minds.

Google "circadian rhythm hpa axis" - you will see a wealth of info pop up there.

Google "ptsd hpa axis" - it will explain the physical symptoms that come from having PTSD.

There is too much information to go through here, but your body has subsystems that when they get out of whack can almost be impossible to right - like a plane in a tail spin.

Adrenaline, cortisol, stress fight or flight components start firing off and pretty soon it's a free for all that is totally outside of your conscious control.

I'm being driven to suicide by my years long disruption of my HPA axis. I sleep for two hours, then lie in bed unable to move for 8 hours, then I sleep for 8 hours. And the other six hours? Well, I'm so exhausted that I am unable to move from bed. I spend about 22 hours in bed most days. Have done for a year or two now. Death would be a welcome alternative.

I have a pretty good idea what is happening to me. Why it's happening. But I'm too ill to go to the doctor. I don't have a doctor anyway. It's hopeless. I'm a total cripple.

Sleeping disorders, circadian rhythm disruptions are no joke.

I didn't watch this video. I've been living it for years. I probably need some kind of sedative to force sleep, coupled with a stimulant such as speed (amphetamine) to keep me awake. I've never asked my doctor for these, but I know she would not have prescribed them anyway. I've never been a junkie, I've never been addicted to anything in my life. But I drink too much (coz I can't sleep, which makes my sleep patterns worse). So she is quite within her rights to withhold any medication that might help me because of that. Anyway...

I am 'bi-phasal' a the moment. Needing to sleep twice a day. But I have been 'tri-phasal' needing to sleep three times a day. That is a special kind of hell as well. Far worse. You wake for a few hours mind speeding and racing then you black out, full on unconscious for a few hours from exhaustion.

This is not unknown with people with PTSD and C-PTSD. The mechanisms are pretty well understood. Adrenal burn out. Fight or flight for prolonged periods of time actually shrinks your brain as well. I've been researching it for years now. Stress is a killer.

I can understand why some blokes with PTSD who just can not sleep no matter what take their own lives. My life has been a picnic compared to what others have been through, but still, we are equal at the end of the day/night when you haven't been able to grab a normal 8 hour cycle for a period of years.

I suffer burn out so bad I can not even speak or make a phone call.

More research needs to be done in to this.

But more than that. This whole sleep disorder/circadian disruption that comes part and parcel with PTSD (and other traumas) needs to be recognized.

If you weren't depressed before, you will be after not being able to sleep for a year!

Death is a good alternative. You go to sleep and never wake up. Bliss!

The information is out there. People are speaking out. But no one is listening.

There are ways to re-jig the clock. Some might even be brutal. Hackers (people who program computers for runs of 24 hours or more) call it 'changing phase the hard way'.

Good sleep hygiene is essential to good mental health. You can burn the candle at both ends for a bit when you are young. But past 30 you need to keep regular.

It's an extremely complex subject and that is why so few ever get anyone to take the time to help them with it.

 

[_scranbag]

Very true re past 30. I could shrug off 4-5 hrs a night with a few coffee's in my twenties, now less than 6.5 for more than few day's and I'm literally a different person and not in a good way.

 

[AsterixTG]

Tommy - you ever around Brecon, then we'll chat - open invitation.

 

[_scranbag]

Reminds me of the Vegas casino's deliberately not having windows to keep the punters from getting alarmed at the sight of daybreak as they are still shoving $100 bills into fruit machines.

Regarding circadian rhythym, as always there appears to be a mixed bag of research re the health effects both mental and physical of working nights. I was under the impression that hypertension was a known issue amongst nightshift workers, but predictably just saw a paper which disputed it.

I was reading a rather depressing article on the suicides amongst farmers a little while back. One of the accounts was one that had had an unexpected complete breakdown replete with sectioning, which his kids believed was at least partly caused by years of getting short, interrupted sleep every night.

Thanks for the link will give that a watch.

 

[Electromagnetic]

Are you just perving? I was of course referring to the research that suggests varying levels of melatonin in breast milk establish our sleep patterns when we're babies.

Maybe that explains it. I don't recall being breast fed . Probably formula milk as it was popular in those days.

She has two great tits, too, to be fair.

j/k. (no, they really are great)

Body clock stuff is a nightmare. Circadian rhythms. All regulated by internal systems that work in tandem with our conscious and sub-conscious minds.

Google "circadian rhythm hpa axis" - you will see a wealth of info pop up there.

Google "ptsd hpa axis" - it will explain the physical symptoms that come from having PTSD.

There is too much information to go through here, but your body has subsystems that when they get out of whack can almost be impossible to right - like a plane in a tail spin.

Adrenaline, cortisol, stress fight or flight components start firing off and pretty soon it's a free for all that is totally outside of your conscious control.

I'm being driven to suicide by my years long disruption of my HPA axis. I sleep for two hours, then lie in bed unable to move for 8 hours, then I sleep for 8 hours. And the other six hours? Well, I'm so exhausted that I am unable to move from bed. I spend about 22 hours in bed most days. Have done for a year or two now. Death would be a welcome alternative.

I have a pretty good idea what is happening to me. Why it's happening. But I'm too ill to go to the doctor. I don't have a doctor anyway. It's hopeless. I'm a total cripple.

Sleeping disorders, circadian rhythm disruptions are no joke.

I didn't watch this video. I've been living it for years. I probably need some kind of sedative to force sleep, coupled with a stimulant such as speed (amphetamine) to keep me awake. I've never asked my doctor for these, but I know she would not have prescribed them anyway. I've never been a junkie, I've never been addicted to anything in my life. But I drink too much (coz I can't sleep, which makes my sleep patterns worse). So she is quite within her rights to withhold any medication that might help me because of that. Anyway...

I am 'bi-phasal' a the moment. Needing to sleep twice a day. But I have been 'tri-phasal' needing to sleep three times a day. That is a special kind of hell as well. Far worse. You wake for a few hours mind speeding and racing then you black out, full on unconscious for a few hours from exhaustion.

This is not unknown with people with PTSD and C-PTSD. The mechanisms are pretty well understood. Adrenal burn out. Fight or flight for prolonged periods of time actually shrinks your brain as well. I've been researching it for years now. Stress is a killer.

I can understand why some blokes with PTSD who just can not sleep no matter what take their own lives. My life has been a picnic compared to what others have been through, but still, we are equal at the end of the day/night when you haven't been able to grab a normal 8 hour cycle for a period of years.

I suffer burn out so bad I can not even speak or make a phone call.

More research needs to be done in to this.

But more than that. This whole sleep disorder/circadian disruption that comes part and parcel with PTSD (and other traumas) needs to be recognized.

If you weren't depressed before, you will be after not being able to sleep for a year!

Death is a good alternative. You go to sleep and never wake up. Bliss!

The information is out there. People are speaking out. But no one is listening.

There are ways to re-jig the clock. Some might even be brutal. Hackers (people who program computers for runs of 24 hours or more) call it 'changing phase the hard way'.

Good sleep hygiene is essential to good mental health. You can burn the candle at both ends for a bit when you are young. But past 30 you need to keep regular.

It's an extremely complex subject and that is why so few ever get anyone to take the time to help them with it.

I have no idea how much sleep I have lost over my lifetime. I struggled with insomnia for years. At some point it got better but I still have an over active mind and rarely get the full 8 hours sleep. Eventually I nod off. Have you tried amber (blue light filter) goggles? I find that they make a difference, when I use them. Sleep deprivation has varying effects. Some days I found that my concentration and single mindedness actually improved - I reckon this is a survival mode but it's not a good idea to deliberately try and force it. Other times it was very definitely adverse and affected energy levels, performance and mood. At one point I was geting a better routine but then I would end up trying to extend the hours in a day. Exercise helps too.

 

[_scranbag]

Maybe that explains it. I don't recall being breast fed . Probably formula milk as it was popular in those days.


I have no idea how much sleep I have lost over my lifetime. I struggled with insomnia for years. At some point it got better but I still have an over active mind and rarely get the full 8 hours sleep. Eventually I nod off. Have you tried amber (blue light filter) goggles? I find that they make a difference, when I use them. Sleep deprivation has varying effects. Some days I found that my concentration and single mindedness actually improved - I reckon this is a survival mode but it's not a good idea to deliberately try and force it. Other times it was very definitely adverse and affected energy levels, performance and mood. At one point I was geting a better routine but then I would end up trying to extend the hours in a day. Exercise helps too.

Same here mate. If you spend say hmm at least 8 hrs a day in front of a computer like me, and particularly at night, then f.lux is a very good free programme which subtly starts dimming the screen in coordination with what should be your natural "wind-down" time.
f.lux

The best resource I ever tried (as he types at 2.20), was Paul McKenna's book on sleep. Aside from the hypnotherapy which put me out like a light, the underlying main principle was to stick to a regular waking time come hell or high water regardless if you have to. In addition, he recommended no caffeine after 2 pm, an ambient room temperature, no TV or reading in bed and a few other things.

 

[Electromagnetic]

Same here mate. If you spend say hmm at least 8 hrs a day in front of a computer like me, and particularly at night, then f.lux is a very good free programme which subtly starts dimming the screen in coordination with what should be your natural "wind-down" time.
f.lux

The best resource I ever tried (as he types at 2.20), was Paul McKenna's book on sleep. Aside from the hypnotherapy which put me out like a light, the underlying main principle was to stick to a regular waking time come hell or high water regardless if you have to. In addition, he recommended no caffeine after 2 pm, an ambient room temperature, no TV or reading in bed and a few other things.

Thanks for the tips. We didn't have f.lux. Found it. I'll put a link to it here: f.lux
I generally avoid coffee after 4pm but used to depend on it. I keep my heating below 20 deg C except in summer when ambient temp is in the 20's, obviously. Might investigate adjustable colour temp LEDs as long as they aren't very expensive. One odd effect I used to get was working in a building with lots of fluorescent tubes everywhere, then walking out in to the gloom of winter and suddenly feeling very tired. Seems a lifetime ago.

 

[Stonker]

Very true re past 30. I could shrug off 4-5 hrs a night with a few coffee's in my twenties, now less than 6.5 for more than few day's and I'm literally a different person and not in a good way.

When you're that different person, you don't happen to have nice boobies and legs like the Doris upthread a bit, do you?

Just wondering, like . . .

 

[amazing__lobster]

Regarding circadian rhythym, as always there appears to be a mixed bag of research re the health effects both mental and physical of working nights. I was under the impression that hypertension was a known issue amongst nightshift workers, but predictably just saw a paper which disputed it.

Thanks for the link will give that a watch.

I suspect the mixed bag may stem from recent findings that there are differences between people who prefer to stay up and rise late, and people who prefer to rise and go to bed early. Not too familiar with the research, but I recall one claim being that successful hunter/gatherer societies would have required a mixture of both to survive.