There are 15 days left until the end of summer time and the return of solar time which will bring the clock back one hour until March 26th. The change will arrive between 29 and 30 October. “The ‘time zone syndrome’ or jet lag can explain what seems to happen when the time changes: when you reach a country with a different time zone from that of departure, the lack of synchrony between the biological clock of the ‘organism and the’ sleep-wake ‘and’ day-night ‘cycle on which it is regulated, causes some functions of the body not to adapt promptly to change and establish themselves psychophysical discomfort of various kinds. All those who already suffer from can be most affected by the time change sleep and concentration disorders. Plus, as the days get shorter, in addition to mood, the production of vitamin D could be altered“This was explained to Adnkronos Salute by the immunologist Mauro Minelli, head of the Foundation for personalized medicine for Southern Italy.
The organization through which living organisms regulate their physiological functions and their behaviors by synchronizing them, as in a sort of biological clock, to the daily light-dark alternation, is known as the circadian rhythm, “and its dynamics respond, since life exists, in the daily cycle of brightness and darkness caused by the rotation of the earth – recalls Minelli -. In this ancestral circuit, which has always been active in living organisms due to biochemical processes dependent on daylight, the latter reaching deep structures of the hypothalamus through the retina of the eye, it works as a sleep inhibitor by turning off the production of melatonin which is a great mediator of sleep. The diametrically opposite thing happens with the dark which instead favors – he continues – with the production of melatonin, the nocturnal appearance of sleep whose quality and duration are essential elements to ensure individual well-being in non-terms only of restorative rest, but also of regeneration of physiological functions and prevention of the onset of different pathologies “.
But, in addition to the sleep-wake rhythm, the biological clock with which the human body is equipped also regulates other cyclical functions, such as body temperature, an authentic meter of our metabolic activities. “Due to the effect of melatonin, in fact, the temperature undergoes a lethargic lowering at night and then rises again during the day and even more in the evening, with a difference of up to one degree compared to that recorded in the morning”, he specifies
“The precise and autonomous functioning of this extraordinary device, however, can be jeopardized by external elements including, for example, the changes of season but also those of time, as happens with the transition from summer time to solar time. and vice versa. When the time changes, in fact – Minelli warns – the production of melatonin can undergo an alteration, which in turn can affect our physical and mental health. , are dependent on sleep: difficulty falling asleep and waking up in the morning, insomnia or split sleep. Upon awakening there may be less ability to concentrate, duller reflexes, listlessness and the need to fuel before getting into full activity “.
“On a psychic level, anxiety, mood alterations with sudden and apparently inexplicable changes in his tone that appears mostly deflated, changes in eating habits with inappetence rather than increased feeling of hunger, heartburn and digestive disturbances may appear – underlines the ‘immunologist – Among other things, having natural rhythms that are not uniform compared to those recorded only the day before, when it was still in summer or winter time, can negatively affect blood pressure and heart rate and can affect chrono-modulation of hormone secretion “.
Minelli then recalls that “it is possible to identify the personal characteristics of each one, on the basis of the rhythms of sleep and wakefulness that belong to each of us. This is why they suffer from it a lot. On the other hand, a slow chronotype is a slow person, who tends to postpone commitments and decisions, who likes to stay late at night, generally a bit dazed upon waking and for a good part of the morning. reality – he observes – the differentiation into chronotypes is much more complex and, for reasons of descriptive simplification of the dominant chronotypes, their classification has also been tailored to the behavioral characteristics of different animals including the owl or the lark, but also the lion, the wolf, the bear, the dolphin “.
“In fact, what appears to be emerging from a growing body of evidence is that the late chronotype has a significant impact on the risk of developing mood disorders, obesity, diabetes and other chronic diseases. Despite the vast potential for using information on chronotypes. for precision medicine, the factors that shape chronotypes still remain little known. In a recent scientific work, the existence of an association between the intestinal microbiome and the chronotype has been evaluated “
“In particular, the comparison of intestinal bacteria in early risers and late risers revealed two main bacterial groups whose abundance differed between chronotypes (alistipes: high in early risers; lachnospira: high in late risers). In the study – concludes Minelli – after comparing diet of the different chronotypes, it was found that high-fiber foods (fruit, vegetables) and drinking water were important in the diets of those who woke up early, while simple sugar and sugary, high-protein drinks were associated to those who slept later and woke up just as late. Thus it is possible to identify metabolic pathways associated with the different chronotypes with the possibility of identifying specific dietary patterns that, by acting on the intestinal microbial community, can make us more efficient towards the small jet lag related to the change of time which, like the time zone, would seem to be intensely suffered by at least one ter zo of the population, compared to another third who would feel it much less and to a last third who would seem to remain completely indifferent to the change, whether small or large “.
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