Biological Rhythms

“God! I could kill someone !*#@!%$^” was the frustrated cry of the woman.

Science looked on with sympathy and a hint of a smile. He could just understand the cause for that statement.

God: You seem to be enjoying that woman’s predicament?

Science: (His smile broadened and he turned to the Father) Well not really enjoying Father, but I most certainly find it… eh shall I say ‘lighthearted’?

God: And why may that be?

Science: Well, when it happens to most women most months, I don’t think it should be taken very seriously (Science gawked with a laugh)

God: (raising His eyebrows) On the contrary my child! If it is something that happens so often to so many, it is a matter for serious consideration.

Science: Well Father, in this case, I solely blame you for it!!

God: What?? Blame me?? Now, what have I done?

Science: (Grinning broadly) If every woman, from about the tender age of twelve feels like this once every month, it is because YOU gave them PMS – Pre Menstrual Stress!

God remained silent for a while perhaps pondering on how to further this discussion without Science beginning to show symptoms of PMS! Gently, God let Science witness the transition of a passenger aboard a jet aircraft crossing over from night to day. Flying across the time zone was indeed a beautiful experience for the spectators on board!

Science: I always love watching this… Men have seen so many a sunrise, but to witness it backwards… It is the closest they will ever come to travelling back in time!! Crossing midnight 3 times within a few hours and that too backwards!!! Simply enchanting my Lord!

God: Glad you are enjoying this my dear. But, how do these people cope with all this time difference? Must be stressful to keep reliving the same time again and again right?

Science: It most certainly is stressful to the physical body! Most of them take several days to get over this ‘jet lag’

God: Jet lag? Now what is that?

Science: Father! You have designed this biological clock within everyone so precisely that man needs his eight hours of sleep every twenty four hours. Research in sleep patterns reveal that all physiological repairs needed by the body is done between 10 pm and 2 am. This is when the Parasympathetic Nervous system is at its peak. From 2 am to 6 am is the time allotted by the body for psychological repairs. Now when someone doesn’t give enough time for these repairs to happen, they end up giving enormous stress to their body. The preference is always given by the body to the psychological repair. So if he gets to bed everyday only by midnight, he is denying his body half the time required for physiological rest!

God: And this applies to every human being?

Science: Well, almost! We have seen that people who meditate on a regular basis, don’t need so much time for the psychological repair works. Their deep meditation works like an active rest for the human body. These people can get away with lesser number of hours of sleep and yet feel completely rejuvenated!

God: So humanity must really hate me for giving them this need to sleep!

Science: Oh No! Of course not Father! They love you for that!! Many simply love to sleep and all of them understand that sleep is essential for a healthy life!

God: But how do they adjust themselves? I mean, not doing anything for 1/3rd of your everyday, must be tough!! And there is so much to do, even to simply party and have fun!!

Science: Well, I guess, circadian rhythms are an accepted part of daily life. The 24-hour sleep-wake cycle is respected by majority of humans. May be they don’t really get to bed on time for physical repair, but they most definitely know that sleep is a natural part of the process. So they plan their daily activities around that sleep-wake cycle. Some burn the candle on both ends, but nobody really goes totally without sleep.

God: Hmmm… Are there any other biological cycles man is aware off?

Science: Oh! Several Father! We don’t yet understand the exact nature of the internal mechanism. But we most certainly know that we are subject to daily, monthly and even annual cyclic changes. Rhythms that vary according to the time of day are what are called circadian rhythms. These include such phenomena as the opening and closing of flowers and, in humans, changes in body temperature, blood pressure, and urine production. Circadian rhythms, are in part a response to daylight or darkness.  Physiological rhythms are also present in the activity of individual organs, e.g., the beating of heart muscle and the activity of electrical waves of the brain.

God: And what about the annual, monthly or seasonal changes?

Science: Annual cycles are in part responses to changes in the relative length of periods of daylight.  Annual cycles, also called circannual rhythms, include bird migrations, reproductive activity, and mammalian hibernation. Monthly rhythms include, like we just saw, the menstrual period in women. In fact, scientists today recognise that an increase in sexual desire during the fertile period of a woman’s menstrual cycle is biological rather than psychological. It is yet another example of a biological rhythm instigating performance for procreation. People following the natural family planning method abstain during the natural fertile period. Whether a woman feels optimistic or pessimistic about life is affected greatly by where she is in her monthly menstrual cycle.

God: Don’t you discuss about the positives of this cycle? For instance, don’t you teach women to focus on the feelings of increased creativity just before the beginning of her period?

Science: Some women have learnt to channel those feelings of high creativity into productive work. Several social groups have formed to help counsel women with PMS. But I guess the physiological feeling of being bloated and tired affects their sense of comfort. It makes them very often ask ‘Why me?’

God: Oh! So they think I have been partial to the men!! Don’t they yet know that men are subject to such monthly changes as well?

Science: Although little research has been done on the topic, we do know that men have monthly cycles, too. As far back as the seventeenth century, the Italian scientist Sanctorius weighed men daily over long periods of time and discovered that men underwent a monthly weight change of about one or two pounds. More recently, a Danish endocrinologist analysed hormones excreted in his urine over a period of one month and found that his hormones rose and fell in roughly a thirty-day rhythm. Interestingly, beard growth also shows a rhythm of approximately thirty days; the amount of beard a man grows daily increases and decreases in a monthly cycle.

God: And surely you realise that these physical cues also imply psychological and behavioural changes?

Science: Oh yes! We found that men tend to be more apathetic and indifferent during the low period of their emotional cycles and more likely to magnify small problems into big ones. During the high period of their cycles, men have more energy, a greater sense of well-being, lower body weight, and less need for sleep. Men have emotional cycles of about a month to six weeks in length.

God: So at least women have physical cues to warn them. Or should I say at least men get to understand from the women’s physical cues to handle them. The women on the other hand, without the benefit of these physical cues in men, still seem to be fairing pretty well in understanding their man!!

Science: I guess it is just a question of time before we find ways to charter their cycles and help them adapt to them.

God: Most definitely my child! Just as how man (and here I mean humanity and not just men as against women) knows that he needs to sleep and rest in order to feel healthy, he also needs to understand his biological clock of when to expand and explore the outside world with his creativity and positive influences; and when to retract into his ‘shell’ so to speak, to be in a contemplative meditative mode to re-think and re-assess all his priorities.

Science: The most studied of the monthly rhythms is the menstrual cycle. Several suggestions on balancing the same have come forth, with women charting their progress on a daily basis on their physical, psychological and emotional status on a daily basis. This awareness helps them to cope with these changes. But not much has been done about the changes in men. A Japanese bus and taxi company used this knowledge of male monthly cycles to reduce accidents involving its vehicles. After charting the cycles of each of its drivers in terms of physical and emotional well being, the company rearranged routes and schedules to best match the men’s low and high periods. The result was that after two years, the company experienced a one-third drop in its accident rate.

God: There is a very important message from these rhythms. I wonder if you understand them?

Science: Well Father! A rhythm is a movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements. So I guess, all these biological rhythms are in fact tuning man to understand the nature of balance!

God: I am so proud of you my child! Indeed every rhythm is regulated by strong and weak elements. A drum beat is a succession of sound and silence. As much as the beat, it is the pause that actually defines the rhythm for without that pause the sound would merely be a continuous signal – a monotone and not music!! Similarly, just as you need to sleep every night to bring out the best in you every day, in your monthly, annual and in fact entire life cycle, you need to experience the pauses to enjoy the music!!

Written by Gita Krishna Raj  |  Published in infinithoughts in February 2011

When Science met God… |  Segment Four: The dance of a trillion cells

Chapter Two: Biological Rhythms

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