Video: The power of circadian rhythms - 360
Shantha Rajaratnam
Published on February 12, 2024
Circadian rhythm plays an important role in medicine and cancer treatments.
Professor Shantha Rajaratnam, Professor of Sleep and Circadian Medicine in the Monash School of Psychological Sciences and the Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health explains how shift workers can make simple adjustments to maintain a healthy circadian rhythm, and the important role these rhythms can play in medicine and cancer treatments.
“So there are lots of situations in which our circadian rhythms can become disrupted.
“Shift work is a common example of profoundly disrupted circadian rhythms.
“So what can we do to support shift workers? Well, we’ve developed a digital intervention in which a shift worker can input their work schedule and it will provide an optimal sleep/wake schedule.
“It will also provide advice on appropriate light/dark exposure and timing of things like caffeine and so on to support the shift worker as they’re going through a cycle of shifts.
“Medicine can be transformed through understanding the role of circadian rhythms in diagnosing conditions and in optimally treating conditions.
“There’s also a branch of medicine that is understanding that the way in which treatments work can vary depending on the time at which the treatment is taken.
“We know that cancer drugs can vary in their efficacy and also their toxicity, the side effects from those drugs, can vary depending on the time of day or the circadian time at which the drug is administered.
“So if we’re able to harness this kind of knowledge, we can potentially really, really advance medicine in a number of different areas by researching and understanding the power of circadian rhythms.”
Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info™.