Humans Have Multiple Body Clocks. Synchronizing Them Could Delay Aging.
It turns out that your body has more than one circadian clock.
Different circadian clocks keep control of the circadian rhythms of different parts of your body, and they work best when they are all synched up.
Maintaining that synchronicity, according to new research, could be key to helping stave off the effects of premature aging in humans.
If you’ve ever done any kind of long-distance travel, or just woken up feeling under-rested thanks to Daylight Savings Time, you know how important your circadian clock is. But you might not know you technically have more than one.
Like many things in your body, your circadian rhythm is more complicated than it might seem on the surface. Rather than being entirely brain-based, it’s actually controlled by a collection of several circadian clocks (central and peripheral) that all work together to keep your gears turning like a well-oiled machine.
And much like the gears of a machine, circadian clocks tend to work best when they line up with each other. In fact, scientists now think aligning your body’s various circadian clocks could help fight the effects of premature aging. The results of two studies on the matter were recently published in the journals Science and Cell Stem Cell.
“It is fascinating to see how synchronisation between the brain and peripheral circadian clocks plays a critical role in skin and muscle health, while peripheral clocks alone are autonomous in carrying out the most basic tissue functions,” Aznar Benitah, one of the authors of both studies, said in a press release.
The Science study focused on muscles, and the effects of circadian clock synchronization on musculature. Through their analysis, the researchers found that if your main clock and muscle clock get out of synch, it can lead to signs of premature aging and wasting of the muscle tissue.
The team also found that a dietary practice known as time-restricted feeding (TRF)—requiring that you only eat in the phase of your day in which you are active—can help keep those clocks synched up, reducing the risks of that muscle deterioration. It can also, reportedly, help the muscle clock function better on its own, even without the help of the central clock.
The Cell Stem Cell paper, on the other hand, focused on the interactions between the main circadian clock and the circadian clock associated with your skin. Similar to the muscle-focused study, the skin study found that keeping the clocks in synch was important for fighting signs of premature aging.
Interestingly, the team also found that if the clocks were not in synch, the main clock would take over regulation of the skin, but would carry out its usual processes on an “opposite” schedule. In the press release, the team uses the example of DNA replication. Usually, if everything is going to plan, DNA replication mostly happens at night when it is less subject to radiation from the Sun that could potentially cause mutations. But if the central clock dominates the skin’s behaviors, DNA replication would mostly happen during the day.
“It is fascinating to see how synchronisation between the brain and peripheral circadian clocks plays a critical role in skin and muscle health, while peripheral clocks alone are autonomous in carrying out the most basic tissue functions,” Aznar Benitah, an author on both studies, said in a press release.
The researchers behind both studies hope that their research will guide other experts toward developing treatment plans and preventative measures for premature aging in the future.
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