Lifestyle and Circadian Health: Where the Challenges Lie?

Abstract

Modern life is facilitated by extended light hours at night and longer hours of eating. Compromised sleep, sedentary life, and modern diet adversely affect human health. Studies emphasizing importance of evidence-driven longitudinal studies on daily rhythms of human eating and sleeping behaviour provide a baseline for adequate insight into causal factors for circadian misalignment. Molecular chronobiology studies in animal models debrief endogenous regulation of organismal circadian clock; their regulation by environmental cues and how they segregate incompatible processes. But effective utilization of the knowledge needs randomized chrono-therapeutic intervention trials in humans. However, nutrition, activity, and lifestyle being society specific, baseline longitudinal studies must precede intervention trials as primary method to decipher circadian disruption. Our pilot survey studies investigating current lifestyle trends responsible for circadian rhythm disruption revealed that accelerated urban life, more than 8 hours work operations and long commutes to work inflict a sleep loss in Indian working women living in metropolitan cities. This sleep loss is sufficient to adversely impact their wellness. Besides, daily work routines and fast-food popularity have contributed to circadian disruption in daily rhythms of eating and sleep, enhancing disease consequences.