Life on earth has evolved under a consistent cycle of light and darkness caused by the earth's rotation around its axis. This has led to a 24-hour circadian system in most organisms, ranging all the way from fungi to humans. With the advent of electric light in the 19th century, cycles of light and darkness have drastically changed. Shift workers and others exposed to high levels of light at night are at increased risk of health problems, including metabolic syndrome, depression, sleep disorders, dementia, heart disease, and cancer. This book will describe how the circadian system regulates physiology and behavior and consider the important health repercussions of chronic disruption of the circadian system in our increasingly lit world. The research summarized here will interest students in psychology, biology, neuroscience, immunology, medicine, and ecology.
Exposure to electric light at night is ubiquitous in modern society. This book describes how our 24-hour circadian clock regulates our physiology and behavior and why light at the “wrong” time of day can impact our health.
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Researchers explain how daily schedules and exposure to light can disrupt our circadian clock and lead to health complications.
1. Introduction to circadian rhythms Laura K. Fonken and Randy J.
Nelson;
2. Central clock dynamics: daily timekeeping, photic processing, and
photoperiodic encoding by the suprachiasmatic nucleus Deborah A. M. Joye,
Robert Wheeler and Jennifer A. Evans;
3. Melatonin, light, and the circadian
system Margarita L. Dubocovich;
4. Disrupted circadian rhythms, stress, and
allostatic load Ilia N. Karatsoreos;
5. Disrupted circadian rhythms and
mental health Anthony Rosenthal and Tara A. LeGates;
6. Circadian rhythms and
cognitive functioning Jacob S. Moeller and Lance J. Kriegsfeld;
7. Circadian
rhythm disruption in aging and Alzheimer's disease Marilyn J. Duncan;
8.
Circadian rhythms regulate neuroinflammation after traumatic brain injury and
spinal cord injury Andrew D. Gaudet and Emily K. Greenough;
9. Disrupted
circadian rhythms and neuroendocrine function in fertility Alexandra M. Yaw,
Brooke M. DeVries and Hanne M. Hoffmann;
10. Disrupted circadian rhythms and
metabolic function Deanna M. Arble;
11. Disrupted circadian rhythms, time
restricted feeding, and blood pressure regulation Zhenheng Guo, Tianfei Hou
and Ming C. Gong;
12. Disrupted circadian rhythms and immune function Louise
M. Ince, Devin Simpkins and Julie E. Gibbs;
13. Circadian rhythms and cardiac
function Leandro C. Brito, Saurabh S. Thosar, and Matthew P. Butler;
14.
Disrupted circadian rhythms and cancer Baharan Fekry and Kristin Eckel-Mahan;
15. Light effects across species in nature: a focus on solutions Kevin J.
Gaston and Johanna H. Meijer;
16. Measurement and analysis of exposure to
light at night in epidemiology Xiaozhe Yin and Travis Longcore.
Dr. Laura K. Fonken is an Assistant Professor at the University of Texas Austin, USA. She earned her BS in Biology and Psychology from Syracuse University before completing a Ph.D. in Neuroscience at The Ohio State University in 2013. She has published over sixty academic papers and reviews, twenty of which are focused on circadian regulation of physiology and behavior. She was awarded the Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology Frank A. Beach Early Career Award and the Texas Society for Circadian Biology and Medicine Ron Konopka Junior Faculty Award. Dr. Randy J. Nelson is Professor and Inaugural Chair of the Department of Neuroscience at West Virginia University, USA. He holds the Hazel Ruby McQuain Chair for Neurological Research. He also directs the WVU Center for Foundational Neuroscience Research and Education, and the foundational science program for the Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute. He earned his AB and MA degrees in Psychology from the University of California at Berkeley, USA, before completing a Ph.D. in Psychology and a Ph.D. in Endocrinology. He has authored and edited ten books, including An Introduction to Behavioral Endocrinology (6th edition, 2022).
