Biological Rhythms

The work of chronobiologists in the area of biological rhythms has been useful to medical science in helping them diagnose illness more accurately. Twenty-four hour monitoring of heart rate and blood pressure gives the treating physician a better picture of health problems. Newborn infants of families with histories of heart disease can be monitored and abnormalities can be seen. Early detection of breast cancer can be made through the recording of skin temperature fluctuations over breasts. Noncancerous temperatures of the skin of breasts has a greater fluctuation cycle than temperatures recorded of the skin of cancerous breasts.

Research on biological clocks is shedding new light on standard prescribing practices for medication. For example, cortisone injections are given in the morning for the treatment of adrenal gland malfunctions. Hormones in various glands throughout the human body are released when they are needed by major organs and the chemical changes that occur manage our biological rhythms. As new ways of monitoring them are discovered, early warning signs of disease will become more apparent to diagnosing physicians. Evidence shows that certain medical illnesses whose symptoms show a circadian rhythm respond better when drugs are coordinated with that rhythm. Medications for asthma, epilepsy, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and allergies all have shown better results with minimum side effects when given at particular times.

Researchers are currently trying to re-educate the medical profession about the limitations of traditional prescribing practices and the greater potential benefits of administering medication at the most appropriate time. In the future, other research will no doubt provide even stronger arguments for coordinating medical tests and procedures more closely with temporal information and with influences of the biological clock that have not yet been discovered.