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BODY CLOCKS
Broadcast starting week of February 20, 2008

Think better in the afternoon? Sleep better in the winter? Suffer jet lag? That’s because you have not one but several internal clocks, or brain cells controlling the timing of your behavior. In this show, host Dr. Fred Goodwin explores the mysterious phenomenon of “body clocks.” Ardyce Asire, a retired medical researcher who has lived with Seasonal Affective Disorder for more than 50 years, tells us how she copes. Businessman Bill Mumar recalls being jet lagged on almost every continent. And John Roach tells us how he balances his jobs as a New York City doorman and stand-up comic. Dr. Goodwin interviews Dr. Thomas Wehr, a pioneer in body clock studies, to find out more about how body clocks work. Dr. Norman Rosenthal, who helped discover Seasonal Affective Disorder, briefs us on the latest treatments. Dr. Michael Smolensky links body clocks to some of our most common health problems, including heart disease, cancer, and asthma. Dr. Frank Ochberg tells us about yet another body clock – one that can haunt people who survive traumatic events. Finally, there’s commentary from John Hockenberry.

Dr. Fred Goodwin begins with an essay on the mystery of body clocks, a subject of study going back almost 400 years. Today, he notes, many scientists, such as the Nobel laureate Francis Crick, believe that the master-controller clock in the body could be the key to understanding human biology. It’s an elegant system of organization, he says, appearing across the evolutionary spectrum, ebbing and flowing like the tides, determining how we live and perhaps even how we die.

Next, we hear from three people whose medical problems have one thing in common: they’re all in the timing. Ardyce Asire, a former medical researcher who left her job when SAD took its toll, stocks up on groceries and clothes during the long, depressing months of winter so she won’t have to use too much precious energy on errands and chores. Bill Mumar tells us how he has to constantly reset his body clock as he travels back and forth between major Asian cities and the States on business. John Roach, a New York City doorman who doubles as a stand-up comic, works the night shift and sometimes the day shift, too. He says his number one priority in life is to catch up on his sleep – a tough proposition for someone who gets his 8 hours in nap form.

Dr. Thomas Wehr, a leader in body clock studies who has been studying sleep and rhythms for more than 20 years, joins Dr. Goodwin to explain what body clocks are. Our natural sleep rhythms, for instance, may seem dictated by the clock on the wall, but they’re really determined by the clocks in our bodies – they’d continue even if we lived in caves. Dr. Wehr explains that body clocks evolved early, even in simple organisms, because some animals (like humans) are adapted for daytime activities, while some (like bats) fare better at night. He also takes calls on jet lag and melatonin, disturbed sleep schedules, and Seasonal Affective Disorder.

Along with Dr. Wehr, Dr. Norman Rosenthal was one of the first people to recognize that some people become depressed as the days get shorter. Dr. Rosenthal, a professor of clinical psychiatry at Georgetown University, updates us on the most popular therapy for SAD – the light box, which he helped invent. He advises listeners on what kind of light box to buy, and what other therapies are available, from ion generators to anti-depressants. He also explains why nearly 20 percent of people get SAD in the first place – their brains don’t process artificial light the same way they process sunlight, and they secrete less melatonin in the winter (when there’s less natural light) as a result.

Dr. Michael Smolensky is another innovator in the area of body clocks – he’s linked circadian rhythms, as well as monthly and annual cycles, to everything from heart disease to cancer to fever to asthma. He tells Dr. Goodwin that the growing study of “chronobiology” may someday form a foundation for treating these ailments. Already, he says, asthma and heart-attack pills can be designed to release their chemicals at the times for highest risk – the wee hours for asthma, and the first few waking hours for heart attacks. He also says that chemotherapy and tumor surgery can be timed for optimum results, although most doctors haven’t incorporated those ideas into their practices yet.

Dr. Frank Ochberg, a clinical professor of psychiatry at Michigan State University and a former chair of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma , joins The Infinite Mind’s Mary Carmichael to discuss yet another kind of body clock – or, really, a body calendar. In people with post-traumatic stress disorder, the body is able to track the date based on cues like the weather or other changes in nature. When the date of the original trauma rolls around, their bodies react with sweating, nervousness, high heart rates, and a sense of dread – even if the patients don’t consciously realize the date is significant.

Finally, our commentator John Hockenberry says, "Throw away your alarm clocks!" He’s got something better – the Millennium 3000 Big Ben Body Chromolite Circadian Clock Adjuster, which focuses 1000 watts of full spectrum incandescent light onto the backs of his knees. It keeps him so refreshed and awake that he never needs to sleep at all. There’s just one problem: It’s fake. Don’t get too carried away thinking about your body’s clock, he says: Remember that the best tool for gauging the underlying rhythms of life is, well, you.

Heard this week on The Infinite Mind:

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