25 hour circadian rythm?

[jamie]

Does anyone know exactly why the body runs on a 25 hour circadian rythm as opposed to a 24 hour internal clock? I cant seem to find anything in google searches as to why this is so..everything I find just states that this is how it is, but without explaination..Is this something that noone really knows as of yet?

It seems odd and I wonder how many people are even aware of this?..for the body to be forced by society to run on a 24 hour cycle when internally we are tuned to a 25 hour cycle seems to be somehow damaging in the long run..

 

[ragabr]

I haven't seen any discussion into why it would be, but the human body actually has two circadian systems that interact. It looks like the other system has a 30-hour cycle.

Honestly, I feel like keeping the same schedule throughout different seasons has a greater impact than fitting to a 24-hour cycle, but it's still a really interesting question.

 

[The Traveler]

Check this research: Human Biological Clock Set Back an Hour

An interesting quote:

But these external clocks don’t exactly match the biological tickings inside ourselves. Many measurements led to the conclusion that the internal clock period is actually closer to 25 hours; that is, the biological clock was thought to drift toward a 25-hour day unless it is set back an hour each day by exposure to morning light and to external clocks. This situation is blamed for a long list of sleep problems.

Now, the most accurate measurements to date, made by researchers at Harvard University, reveal that our natural daily rhythm is much closer to that of other living things than previously believed. The better match opens the way for experts to more effectively treat sleep problems involving night work, jet lag, Earth-orbiting astronauts, or just not being able to go to sleep and wake up on time.

By recording the daily rhythms of hormones and body temperatures in 24 healthy young and old men and women over a one-month period, the researchers conclude that our internal clocks run on a daily cycle of 24 hours, 11 minutes.

So it seems that it's much more near the 24 hours cycle. Reading a bit more about it seems that in previous tests where they found a 25 hour cycle the testing subjects were allowed to switch on the lights, thus influencing and expanding the cycle.


Kind regards,

The Traveler

 

[Rivea]

I read this book in the early 1990's ==> Wide Awake at 3AM. I think that it may have described the phenomena of the 25 hour rhythm of the sleep cycle as a survival mechanism. Because it has been so long since I have read it I could be off here, but it is a worthwhile book about this subject.

 

[Shaolin]

T. S. Wiley - Lights Out: Sleep, Sugar, and Survival

Great book about sleep and moar.

 

[alzabo]

It's because the moon is drifting away and slowing the rotation of the earth.
Eventually we will have 25 hour days. Intuitively we know this but it's at odds with what society tells us to do.
-the "don't seriously beleive this, just putting it out there" alzabo

 

[Shpongle]

I am only familiar with the circadian rhythm having to do with the body and its response to the sun rising and falling. Maybe that is why it is not internal??? But I know one thing it has a great deal to do with migraine headaches and if you don't have a balanced circadian rhythm then you experience high levels of stress.