Understanding Circadian Rhythms

If you've ever travelled to a different time zone, you probably felt groggy and tired after your flight. Or you've likely missed that extra hour when the clock jumps forward for Daylight Savings time in the spring.

You may work a 9-to-5 job or go to school from 8 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. But these aren't the only clocks that dictate how we live.

In fact, our bodies have trillions of internal clocks that tell us when to eat, sleep, and perform other biological tasks throughout the day. One of those clocks is our circadian rhythm.

In a society where staring at our phones before falling asleep or getting up with an alarm clock is the norm, most of us are out of sync with our circadian rhythm. But there are serious health consequences to this disconnect.

In this installment of "The Scientific Method," we talk about how our circadian rhythm works, how we can live in sync with it, and what happens when we're not.

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