Keeping in Time With Your Body Clock A Guide to Maximising Your Mental and Physical Potential

by Waterhouse, J.; Minors, D.; Reilly, T.; Waterhouse, M.; Atkinson, G.

• ISBN13: 9780198510741
• ISBN10: 0198510748
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-01-23
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Why am I always tired? Why can't I sleep at night? Why do I suffer from jetlag? We all have a body clock, a biological structure that controls how we feel, our mental and physical performance, and whether we are active or asleep. This is nature's response to our rhythmic environment, dominated by the sun, light and dark. Though the body clock normally adjusts us to daytime activity and night-time sleep, it can go wrong - producing some forms of insomnia and even depression. It can also be tricked by changes in our lifestyle causing jet lag or the malaise of night-workers. The Body Clock Book provides clear and accessible advice on how to live with, and not against, your body clock. In a clear and accessible style, it explains how the body clock works, how and why it can work against you, and the measures you can take to optimise your feeling of health and wellbeing. It also explains the role of the body clock in illness, and how an understanding of this can increase your feeling of health. An essential book for anyone who wants to better understand their body.

Table of Contents

How to use this book	1	(4)
Part I Your body clock in health
The internal and external causes of body rhythms	5	(14)
Some properties of the body clock	19	(17)
Fatigue, sleep, and hormones	36	(15)
Your body clock, the waking period, and physical activity	51	(13)
Your body clock and mental activity	64	(17)
Food, metabolism, and the removal of waste	81	(11)
Your body clock at different stages of your life	92	(11)
Your body clock -- some more details	103	(16)
Some thoughts on Part I: the usefulness of the body clock	113	(6)
Part II Your body clock in disorder
Abnormalities of daily rhythms	119	(12)
Long-haul flights and time-zone transitions -- the problems	131	(11)
Time-zone transitions -- advice	142	(12)
Night work -- the problems	154	(11)
Night work -- advice	165	(12)
Daily rhythms and medicine	177	(18)
Index	195