Biological Rhythms in Human and Animal Physiology

Description

Deaths due to hardening of the arteries peak in the month of January. A normal man will breathe mainly through one nostril for three hours, then the other for three hours. Worms and snails tend to move in given compass directions at certain times of the day, month and year. People estimate time as passing faster when their body temperatures are higher. There are more suicides in May than-in any other month. The metabolism of crabs corresponds to daily fluctuations in cosmic radiation. Normal men go through emotional cycles suggestive of the menstrual cycle in women. The eyes of crayfish turn light every 12 hours, even in constant darkness. Cancer cells proliferate in a tempo that differs from that of the rest of the body. These are just a few of the tremendously interesting and scientifically significant facts discovered in one of the newest and most fruitful fields of biological study, that of rhythms affecting organisms. The book now in your hands, published in 1970, could not even have been written ten years ago; yet it encompasses the results of well over 650 scientific investigations, almost all within the last decade. The results show that man, along with the rest of the animal and plant worlds, indeed feels, grows, acts and reacts in time to various rhythms, the most common being the 24-hour solar day (but the activity of crabs is in time to the lunar day, 24.8 hours). Hundreds of experiments and observations are cited in this book, a survey of everything we know about biological rhythms as of 1970. The effects of isolation from day-night patterns, of illnesses, psychoses and drugs; extensive investigations of sleep and dreaming; rhythms underlying our sensory perceptions, eating, formation and repair of tissues, production of hormones and other bodily chemicals, urination, work performance, emotion, memory and learning; susceptibility to illness; seasonal variations; pain tolerance; effects of light and dark and of jet travel; working schedules and cave studies; effects of electric fields, magnetism and even sun spots—all and more are covered in this absorbing and scientifically precise treatment. Prepared for the National Institute of Mental Health, this survey is certain to be of engrossing interest to anyone in the least concerned with psychology, physiology, research medicine, zoology or biochemistry—whether scientist or layman. No technical background is necessary; the material is presented in ordinary English and easily read style. Biological Rhythms in Human and Animal Physiology Table of Contents Foreword Introduction: Rhythms, Their Scope and Influence Circadian Rhythms Relevance to Research Monthly, Seasonal, Annual Cycles Time Sense Subjective Time Sense Time Estimation A Rhythm in Time Estimation Altered Mental States and Drugs Cultural Concepts of Time Ancient Medicine Mythology Normal Emotional Rhythms Basic Terms: Frequency, Phase, Period, and Amplitude The Heart and Lungs: Integration of Rhythms The Cosmic Receiver Sunspots and Behavior Time Structure Sleep and Dreaming The Nightly Rhythm REM Sleep and Stage IV REM and Learning Hormonal Accompaniments of REM and/or Stage IV Good and Poor Sleep Insomnia and Depression Phase Shift and Depression Narcolepsy Space Isolation The Presumed Functions of REM Sleep The Language of Rhythms A Basic Ultradian Rhythm? Eating—A Sign of an Ultradian Drive Rhythm? Other Signs of Ultradian Rhythms A Binary Autocorrelation Method for Analyzing Sleep Rhythms Sleep Reversal: Hormonal Rhythms Rhythms in Brain Biochemistry The Development of Rhythms: Youth and Age Newborn Infants and Sleep Fetal Activity Rhythms Mother and Child Compatibility Development of Circadian Rhythms in Sleep and Physiology The Development of Physiological Rhythms in Infants A Timetable Hormones Circadian Rhythms: Nature or Nurture? Age and Sleep Rhythms Do Circadian Rhythms Break Down in Old Age? Dissociation of Rhythms and Age Within the Compass of a Day Body Temperature The Urinary Electrolytes Creatinine: A Physiological Constant? The Urinary EEG Blood The Liver Energy and ATP Nutrition The Timing of Protein Utilization Sleep Reversal Food and Stress Circadian Rhythms in Taste, Smell, and Hearing Visual and Auditory Perception Sensory Detection Versus Integration Circadian Rhythms in Sensory Keenness EEG Rhythms Performance and Fitness Critical Flicker Fusion Frequency Individuality in Tempo and Rhythm Circadian Rhythms in Cell Mitosis and Illness Arterial Disease Rhythms of Cell Division Rhythms of Mitosis and Metabolism in the Liver The Pancreas and Insulin Rhythms Seasonal Variations Circadian Rhythms in Glucose Tolerance Cancer Hours of Changing Susceptibility Susceptibility to Bacteria and Infection Audiogenic Seizures and Epilsepsy Anesthetics, Alcohol, and Stimulants Rhythms in Pain Tolerance Quabain: Kidney and Liver Enzymes Self-Regulation of Adrenal Hormones Allergy Histamine Skin Reaction Salicylate Phase Shifts and Drug Response Phase Shifts Caused by Drugs Unexpected Temporal Effects Mathematical Instruments Biological Clocks inthe Unicom Mathematical Models Wave Forms and Harmonics Point of Origin: Determining Phase Relations Spectral Analysis Polar Plots Confidence Arcs and Error Ellipses Physiological Clock Hands for Emotion and Memory Depression Behavioral Chromatography Cortisol Rhythms and Sleep Reversal Clock Hands Behind the Adrenal Rhythm A Critical Time for Brain Stimulation of the Pituitary Adrenal Rhythm? Circadian Rhythms in Brain Amines Memory and Periodicity Critical Periods in Fear Memory Emotional Conditioning and Time of Day Conditioned “Fear” Responses at 8 a.m. Learning at Random Hours Emotional Learning and the Adrenal Rhythm The Clock, Stress, and Somatic Symptoms ‘“Free-Running” and Emotional Learning Periodic Illness and Stress Induced Illness Menstrual Syndrome Emotional Cyclesin Normal Man Periodic Hypertension Mental Illnesses Periodic Catatonia Correlations of Behavior and Physiology Manic Depression A Shock-Phase Theory of Periodic Illness Behavioral Stress and Illness Stress and Abnormal Rhythms The Effect of Returning the “Security” Symbol Drug Treatment The Impact of Light Photoperiodism Light and Adrenal Hormonesin Man Seasons for Mating The Pineal Gland Melatonin Light and Darkness: Pineal Size and Melatonin Production How Light Could Reach the Pineal in Mammals Photoperiodism in Man? A Circadian Rhythm of Testosterone Controlling Estrus by Light Controlling Ovulation by Light Work-Rest Schedules and Isolation Shift Work Soviet Studies Individual Differences Flight Studies Cave Studies Free-Running Light, Exercise, and Social Activity Internal Synchronization in Isolation and After Electric Field Changes Summary Circadian Rhythms Diagnosis Drugs Stress Psychosomatic and Emotional Disease Subjective Time References