Do You Know When It's Morning?

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All creatures, humans included, tend to behave differently during the day than they do at night. The two periods reward opposing sensory strength when it comes to haunting and hiding. For most of modern history, before we understood that the suprachiasmatic nucleus drives the sleep wake cycle, it was assumed that we and other creatures simply took our cues from our surroundings. By 1971, Ronald Kanapka had begun testing a theory that certain behavior was in fact in eight, driven by genes rather than external signals.

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.