Sleeping and Staying Awake All Night

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At least 20% of Americans work a shift that requires them to sleep during the day and be active at night for part of the week. This means they are likely to be exposed to daylight when they should be resting, often getting no comparable light when they're up and about. Eating at night increases the risk of glucose intolerance, which causes diabetes because the kidney, pancreas, and liver are primed to be resting then. Shift work goes against our fundamental biology, Wright says. It's not going to go away. So what can we do? We have to come up with effective strategies to help them.

The concept of having a “body clock” is a familiar one, but less widespread is the awareness that our body contains several biological clocks. Understanding their whims and functions may help us optimize our lives and lead to better overall health, according to scientists.

Every physiological system is represented by a clock, from the liver to the lungs, and each one is synced “to the central clock in the brain like an orchestra section following its conductor,” writes Kim Tingley, a New York Times journalist who explored the effect this knowledge has on how conditions are treated, and spoke to scientists about how misalignment or deregulation of these clocks can have a profound effect on our health.

Exploring the components that dictate our lives, and how they work together like the “gears in a mechanical watch,” Ms. Tingley builds a case for the importance of paying attention to all our circadian rhythms — and not just when it comes to monitoring our sleep.

This story was written by Kim Tingley and recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.