Jun 18, 2020 08:00:00

Experiments show the possibility of intentionally shifting the body clock depending on the timing of exercise

Most living organisms have a physiological phenomenon called a '

biological clock ' or 'circadian rhythm' that fluctuates in a 24-hour cycle. Depending on the body clock, organisms may behave or pause in response to external light and dark cycles, regulate calorie consumption and become hungry, but this body clock may be advanced or delayed by exercise, It became clear in experiments using mice.

Time of day dependent effects of contractile activity on the phase of the skeletal muscle clock-Kemler--The Journal of Physiology-Wiley Online Library
https://physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1113/JP279779

Study: The timing of exercise could help reset a misaligned body clock
https://www.inverse.com/mind-body/realign-body-clock-with-exercise

Mice are nocturnal and enter an active period when the outside is dark and a rest period when the outside is bright. The University of Florida research team exercised 30 female mice for 1 hour three times a day: 'mid-rest', 'end of rest', 'mid-activity'.

Then, it was found that the body clock advanced about 100 minutes in the mouse that exercised during the rest period. Conversely, mice that exercised towards the end of the rest period had a delayed body clock. And it seems that the mice that exercised during the active period did not show the disorder of the body clock.

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sualk61

The research team focused on the protein that forms the body clock, BMAL1 , to see if muscle contractions actually cause a shift in the body clock. An experiment was conducted in which the muscles of mice were electrically stimulated when the amount of BMAL1 in the mouse was the highest and the amount was low.

Then, it was found that when stimulated when the BMAL1 amount showed a peak value, the body clock produced an average of 27.2 minutes, and when stimulated when the BMAL1 amount showed the lowest trough value, an average of 64.6 minutes was revealed. It was also found that the body clock advanced by approximately 49.8 minutes when stimulated while BMAL1 was decreasing from the peak value to the trough value.

The results of this experiment are for mice only, but BMAL1 is a factor that also exists in humans, so the same result may be obtained in humans. If you can intentionally shift the body clock by exercise, it may be possible to restore the life rhythm that was reversed by day and night due to continuing all night, or to correct jet lag due to overseas travel, for example. ..

``This study is very important because it shows the effect of exercise on the body clock,'' says Christopher Wolf, a researcher at the University of Florida. It is also possible for people to intentionally shift their body clocks by exercise, and it may be applied as a treatment for ' circadian rhythm sleep disorder ' that prevents regular sleep.'