Off-beat:
Circadian Rhythm and its Impact on Sleep and Students’ Health
The COVID-19 pandemic has suspended face-to-face classes for almost two years now, leaving online and modular learning as the primary education means. With the upcoming vaccination program for minors insight, there have been talks regarding the resumption of face-to-face classes. However, there’s a mixed reception among students as some want to continue with the new learning mode. Some say that the new learning model allows you to learn at your own pace and frees up much of your time; however, is that the case? Many students have been sleeping less or not even sleeping as they prioritize their school work before resting. This is a call for concern as research shows that this type of behavior negatively impacts a vital system in our bodies- the circadian rhythm.
The circadian rhythm was first observed in plants in 1729 by French astronomer Jean Jacques d’Ortous de Mairan, who discovered how the mimosa plant proceeded to unfold its leaves in the morning as an action to start photosynthesis despite the plant being placed in a room with no light. Two hundred years later, German biologist, Erwin Bünning, discovered how bean plant leaves moved in a specific pattern in 24.4 hours which was also inherited by its offspring. The discovery established the presence of an “internal clock,” which can be influenced by external stimuli that essentially govern the time a plant would do a specific action, i.e., closing and opening of leaves, an act equivalent to sleeping and waking up.
Despite many breakthroughs regarding internal clocks, it was not until the 1960s that a breakthrough on rhythm generation was made by Ronald Konopka and Seymour Benzer using the genes of the fruit fly Drosophila to discover how genes can affect circadian rhythms. Many discoveries were made about circadian rhythms, which included plants, insects, and mammals.
In a nutshell, circadian rhythms are essentially physical, mental, and behavioral changes that occur in a 24-hour cycle. In mammals, circadian rhythms are determined and coordinated by a cluster of 20,000 neurons in the hypothalamus. The cluster forms a structure called the suprachiasmatic nucleus or SCN which takes in sensory information and synchronizes it with the body clocks in cells throughout the body to the natural cycles of day length. There are many types of circadian rhythms: the sleep-wake cycle, the body-temperature cycle, and the cycles in which hormones are secreted. However, the sleep-wake cycle is the type that’s generally referred to when the circadian rhythm is mentioned.
The sleep-wake cycle governs the time wherein a person is asleep or awake. It starts when the SCN takes optical information from the eyes, as the brightness of the environment, and signals the cells in the body to perform certain actions or produce specific hormones. In the context of the sleep-wake cycle, the SCN signals for the production of melatonin- the sleep hormone, when the amount of light in the environment is low, thus making a person feel drowsy or sleepy. When the light levels rise, however, the SCN stops melatonin production, eventually allowing someone to wake up. We benefit a lot from this cycle as it not only allows us to wake up and be on time for classes, but it also gives our bodies ample rest and refreshes our minds.
With the new modes of learning, especially online classes, being utilized every day, many students find themselves sitting in front of a computer screen for hours on end. Whether they are doing research, answering quizzes, or chatting with friends, it is undeniable that they are and must be exposed to computers and gadgets to heighten their education. However, devices naturally produce light, and with the number of requirements being significantly higher due to the new modes of learning, students tend to work on them till late in the night, which puts them at risk of circadian rhythm sleep disorders as the circadian rhythm can be easily influenced by an external factor such as light.
Light may cause our SCNs to be confused and interpret that light as daytime, preventing melatonin production and preventing us from sleeping. When this happens over a period of time, circadian rhythm sleep disorders may develop, such as advanced sleep phase and delayed sleep phase, which may cause one to sleep earlier or later than most people, respectively. They have been shown to cause many adverse effects on people, especially students, including insomnia, sleep loss, stress, sleepiness, and even depression. Moreover, those effects may branch out and cause new problems such as poor academic performance and anxiety, and they may even exacerbate each other, resulting in more harm to the afflicted person.
The COVID-19 has hit everyone hard; however, to improve further and progress the country, the youth must be cultivated and raised correctly; thus education must continue. However, if the new learning modes are causing the youth to suffer and harm themselves, a revision is a must.
