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Bodyrhythms: Chronobiology and Peak Performance
A guide to understanding the body's natural clockwork by the author of The American Medical Association Guide to Better Sleep notes the important link between body functions and time and teaches productivity organization and familiarization of internal rhythms.
274 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 1994
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December 30, 2015
I read this book to see if I could increase my performance, physically and mentally. Turns out, I may be able to.
Chronobiology is the study of effect of time on living organisms - the focus of this book being on humans. The book was published in 1994 and therefore the research discussed is OUTDATED. This was not bothersome because it's the first time I have read/heard about chronobiology. I appreciated the discussion of early research and evolvement of the field from then onwards. In saying that, I did question some of the MANY recommendations made by the author. I did not agree with some of the conclusions drawn from the research studies.
An example, the author suggests that meetings should be held at 11am because many people in a survey reported feeling energised. No explanation was given as to why? It could be because lunch hour is approaching soon? But again, does it matter why they feel energise as long as the meeting is successful? As a researcher, yes. On the other hand, rather than fixating on these inconsistencies (every research involving humans have them), I plan to observe how my body performs throughout a typical day (baseline) and then organise tasks accordingly (the tools are provided by the author).
The best information in this book was about sleep: stages of sleep, the role of biological clock on sleep, sleep disorders, and how to improve sleep. I found it VERY USEFUL.
Later in the book, I became skeptical when the author stated correlations between our body rhythms and, well, everything else. Such as, depression (I could stomach seasonal depression), cancer (including taking medications), diabetes etc. I am not discounting that there is no correlation, that would be stupid of me. Instead, I think the author's delivery of evidence is very bold and some may take this as proof of causation rather than correlation.
Overall, a great read if you are having trouble with sleep, jet lag, shift work etc. It is an easy to understand text with great (weird) research.
Chronobiology is the study of effect of time on living organisms - the focus of this book being on humans. The book was published in 1994 and therefore the research discussed is OUTDATED. This was not bothersome because it's the first time I have read/heard about chronobiology. I appreciated the discussion of early research and evolvement of the field from then onwards. In saying that, I did question some of the MANY recommendations made by the author. I did not agree with some of the conclusions drawn from the research studies.
An example, the author suggests that meetings should be held at 11am because many people in a survey reported feeling energised. No explanation was given as to why? It could be because lunch hour is approaching soon? But again, does it matter why they feel energise as long as the meeting is successful? As a researcher, yes. On the other hand, rather than fixating on these inconsistencies (every research involving humans have them), I plan to observe how my body performs throughout a typical day (baseline) and then organise tasks accordingly (the tools are provided by the author).
The best information in this book was about sleep: stages of sleep, the role of biological clock on sleep, sleep disorders, and how to improve sleep. I found it VERY USEFUL.
Later in the book, I became skeptical when the author stated correlations between our body rhythms and, well, everything else. Such as, depression (I could stomach seasonal depression), cancer (including taking medications), diabetes etc. I am not discounting that there is no correlation, that would be stupid of me. Instead, I think the author's delivery of evidence is very bold and some may take this as proof of causation rather than correlation.
Overall, a great read if you are having trouble with sleep, jet lag, shift work etc. It is an easy to understand text with great (weird) research.
Displaying 1 of 1 review