Chat Transcript: Author Lynne Lamberg Discusses The Body Clock
July 19 -- Is there a right time to take your medicine? To conceive a child? Why do some people gain weight during the winter months? Are you more productive at work in the daytime, or in the afternoon?According to the authors of a new book about chronomedicine, timing IS everything.
The Body Clock Guide to Better Health examines how determining the optimum time for an individual to eat, sleep or work can improve his or her overall well-being.
Lynne Lamberg, co-author of The Body Clock Guide to Better Health, joined us today in an online chat.
Moderator at 11:55pm ET
Welcome, Lynne Lamberg.
Theresa M from dsl.nyc.redconnect.net at 11:56am ET
Do body clocks change radically as we age?
Lynne Lamberg at 11:58am ET
Body clocks do change dramatically from early in life to late in life. Even when babies are only two days old, they know the difference between day and night — they predictably sleep longer at night. A dramatic change in the body clock occurs in the teenage years. Teenagers are programmed to go to sleep later, and to sleep later in the morning. That's why many high schools in the United States are starting to change their hours to a later time.
As people get older, they become more apt to go to bed earlier, and to wake up earlier. Some seniors have problems in that they go to bed much too early in the evening to enjoy a normal social life, and they wake up at three or four in the morning, while the rest of their household is still asleep.
Moderator at 11:59am ET
How can people who work long hours and have erratic schedules adjust their body clocks?
Lynne Lamberg at 12:00pm ET
That's a big problem in our society. Many of us don't pay much attention to regular bed times and regular wake-up times. As a result, body rhythms are often markedly disrupted. People who work in the evenings or at night often have trouble sleeping in the daytime because humans are programmed for daytime activity and nighttime sleep. It's not possible to easily go to sleep whenever we want to. We have to respect the body clock.
People can best cope with the demands of the body clock by trying to stick to a regular wake-up time seven days a week, regardless of when they go to sleep. That's the most important thing you can do to keep body rhythms in line.
Isaac from san-francisco-21-22rs.ca.dial-access.att.net at 12:02pm ET
Dear Lynne,
I normally take a walk in the morning and evening. Are these the best times for exercise? PS: Loved the book — pawed through it a couple of times.
Isaac
Lynne Lamberg at 12:04pm ET
The best time to exercise is whenever it is convenient. However, the body is really designed to exercise most easily in the late afternoon. This is the time when muscles are most flexible and joints move most easily. Most people find that they can exercise the best at that time, and most major sporting achievements have been accomplished in the late afternoon or in the evening.
MarkusDamon from proxy.aol.com at 12:05pm ET
How much hard evidence (statistically significant) is there to support the claims made in your book?
Lynne Lamberg at 12:06pm ET
The book includes more than 700 scientific references, and we read thousands more. In the past 20 years there's been a dramatic upsurge in studies of the biologic clock, and all of the studies we report in the book are evidence-based.
But most doctors still don't know this information. A Gallup survey, conducted for the American Medical Association, that asked doctors and the general public when symptoms of many common illnesses occurred found that most doctors got every answer wrong. Medical schools still aren't teaching doctors much about the biologic clock. But as new evidence accumulates, it will get into the medical curriculum.
We hope The Body Clock Guide to Better Health will give readers the information they need to work with their doctors to improve their own health.
Related Stories
ABC News Live