Summary of Russell Foster's Life Time

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 Our bodies are rhythmically driven by endogenous changes in our nervous systems. The Earth’s rotational axis generates the seasons, and the Moon's gravitational pull stabilizes it.

#2 The human body is organized around a 24-hour cycle of activity and rest. The brain contains around 86 billion neurones, and 50,000 work together as a master biological clock to coordinate our circadian rhythms.

#3 The ‘master clock’ in humans and all mammals is located in the brain called the ‘suprachiasmatic nuclei’, or SCN. The discovery of this structure was a shock to researchers in the 1920s, who had noted that rats under constant conditions of darkness run in a running wheel with rest/activity rhythms that are a little shorter than 24 hours.

#4 The SCN is the location in the brain where the circadian rhythm is generated. It contains about 50,000 neurones, and each has its own clock. The electrical activity of individual SCN cells is robust and independent, and keeps ticking away at a slightly different time from each other.

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Rafbók: 12 september 2022