Season 3 – Episode 2: City lights, country nights – Circadian rhythms in urban and rural life

How does life in cities versus rural areas shape our circadian rhythms? How does access to electricity — or the lack of it — impact sleep timing? And what happens to our circadian rhythms when we move from an urban setting to camping outside? Our guest Luísa Klaus Pilz (Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin) comments on field studies carried out when she was a PhD student and postdoc at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (Laboratório de Cronobiologia e Sono - HCPA/UFRGS). Links and resources related to the episode’s content https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-29494-4 https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/physiology/articles/10.3389/fphys.2021.773969/full https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(16)31522-6 Timestamps (00:00) Intro (00:44) Questions from a Londoner (03:07) Guest introduction (03:57) Why care about rural vs urban light? (07:28) Sleep changes with urbanization (09:40) The effects of electricity and artificial light (10:49) Quilombola communities (16:38) Metabolic health differences (20:53) Rural occupations and light exposure (24:00) Other differences in behaviour (25:22) Adapting to a different environment (28:27) Future research questions (31:49) Outro For feedback and questions, you can contact us at: [email protected] Follow us on social media to stay up to date with our episodes and discover related content: Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/lightoclock.bsky.social Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lightoclockpodcast/ Website: https://www.tscnlab.org/podcast

On 30 March 2025, Europe will switch to Daylight Saving Time (DST), moving clocks forward by one hour. While many people enjoy longer evenings, scientists in sleep and circadian research argue that DST can be harmful to our health. In this episode, we dive into the controversy surrounding DST and answer three key questions: Why do chronobiologists want to get rid of DST? What does the evidence say about DST’s impact on road traffic accidents? What does the public think about abolishing DST? We hear from experts, including Prof. Till Roenneberg, Prof. Sara Montagnese and Prof. Andrew Coogan, to break down the scientific and political debates around DST. Plus, we explore the short- and long-term health effects of DST on our health, the challenges of assessing this impact, and why public opinion seems to contradict expert recommendations when it comes to clock changes. Timestamps (02:11) DST and time zones (04:12) What happens to our clock when we change to DST (05:35) Short- and long-term consequences on DST (07:51) DST and social jet-lag (10:10) Challenges of studying DST effects on our heath (11:05) DST and driving performance (13:45) DST and road traffic accidents (17:37) Geography matters (20:30) What does the public think about clock changes? (23:15) Results of survey on public opinions in Ireland (26:20) Wording matters: Summer time/Winter time (30:24) Is this the battle chronobiologists should fight? (33:00) Summary and outro Follow us on social media to stay up to date with our episodes and discover related content: Bsky: https://bsky.app/profile/lightoclock.bsky.social Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lightoclockpodcast/ Website: https://www.tscnlab.org/podcast

Light O’Clock is back with a brand new season! In the next five episodes, we’re looking beyond the biology of body clocks to explore how our modern world shapes our biological rhythms — and how politics and society influence decisions about our body clocks. We’ll cover the controversies around clock changes and school start times, discuss how indoor lifestyles might be affecting our vision, compare rhythms of people living in big cities and rural areas, and assess the impact of light pollution on human health and on the environment. Catch you on Tuesday, 25 March 2025! New episodes released every last Tuesday of the month. Follow us on social media to stay up to date with our episodes and discover related content: Bsky: https://bsky.app/profile/lightoclock.bsky.social Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lightoclockpodcast/ Website: https://www.tscnlab.org/podcast

How do individuals with lived experience and researchers come together to co-design a scientific study? In this special episode of Light O’Clock, we hear from Patrica Pelosi and Nomhle Nhlapho, who have lived experience of bipolar disorder and have contributed to shaping the HELIOS-BD study (more in our previous episode). We also hear from Dr Amy Ferguson, who works closely with the Lived Experience Advisory Panel of the HELIOS-BD study and is the coordinator of the Circadian Mental Health Network. Links and resources related to the episode’s content:More on the Circadian Mental Health Network [https://www.circadianmentalhealth.org/] Have your say! Survey on what you think researchers should focus on when it comes to sleep, mental health and the body clock: [https://edinburgh.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_7P9EO2VGRjMQmAm] NOTE: This survey is only open to people living in the UK. How do you see light? AI-generated art depicting the inner experience of people living with bipolar disorder [https://www.heliosbd.com/gallery] Timestamps(00:00) Intro (00:55) Introducing the guests (04:36) What is the Circadian Mental Health Network? (12:45) What does co-design look like for the HELIOS-BD project? (19:00) Creative aspects of the co-design process (20:08) How collaboration helps lived experience individuals, scientists, and participants (23:14) Challenging aspects of co-design (32:10) Outro ContactFor feedback and questions, you can contact us at: [email protected] Follow us on social media to stay up to date with our episodes and discover related content: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lightoclockpodcast/ Website: https://www.tscnlab.org/podcast

On the occasion of Daylight Awareness Week 2024 (28-31 October) and Halloween, Light O’Clock is partnering up with the Daylight Academy to bring you an extra special episode that blends the science, the spooky, and the supernatural! Our host dives into the eerie mysteries of circadian rhythms, sleep and daylight with Prof. em. Anna Wirz-Justice, a pioneer in the field of chronobiology. Tune in to learn about the witching hour, twilight, the forbidden zone, sundowning and much more! This episode is supported by the Daylight Academy. Links and resources related to the episode’s content:Daylight Academy: https://daylight.academy/ Daylight Awareness Week 2024: https://daylight.academy/daylight-awareness-week-2024/ Timestamps(00:00) Intro (02:28) Circadian forbidden zone (06:33) Sleep deprivation symptoms (08:15) Sleep deprivation as therapy (11:30) Twilight (14:30) Dusk without electric light (16:13) Sundowning (17:03) Darkness (23:10) Lack of daylight in the North (27:23) The witching hour (29:07) Light therapy (33:22) Dark therapy (38:28) Outro ContactFor feedback and questions, you can contact us at: [email protected] Follow us on social media to stay up to date with our episodes and discover related content: Twitter/X: https://x.com/lightoclock Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lightoclockpodcast/ Website: https://www.tscnlab.org/podcast

In today’s episode, we dive deep into the relationship between light, circadian rhythms and mental health with Prof. Daniel Smith from the University of Edinburgh. What role do light sensitivity and circadian rhythms play in bipolar disorder? How can we design studies to answer key questions in this area, and how can the involvement of patients ensure the success of a research study? Tune in to get the answers to these and many other questions about light, circadian rhythms and mental health. Links and resources related to the episode’s content:The HELIOS-BD study: https://www.heliosbd.com/ The AMBIENT-BD study: https://www.ambientbd.com/ Timestamps(00:00) Intro (01:25) Introducing Prof. Smith (02:45) Circadian rhythms and mental health (05:20) In which direction is the relationship? (07:25) The role of light (13:28) What is bipolar disorder? (16:45) Current treatment options (17:54) Bipolar disorder and light sensitivity (20:10) The HELIOS-BD study (29:08) Patient recruitment (30:58) The AMBIENT-BD study (33:40) Co-production of research studies (38:47) Outro ContactFor feedback and questions, you can contact us at: [email protected] Follow us on social media to stay up to date with our episodes and discover related content: Twitter/X: https://x.com/lightoclock Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lightoclockpodcast/ Website: https://www.tscnlab.org/podcast

Did you know that your body has many body clocks? Like instruments in an orchestra, they each have a specific role to play, but how do they stay in rhythm with each other? In today’s episode, Dr. Laura Kervezee dives deep into the different body clocks, who is the conductor that makes our body run in harmony, and what happens when the rhythm goes out of sync. Timestamps(00:00) Intro (01:18) Introducing Dr. Kervezee (01:46) The different body clocks (03:20) How do these clocks sync? (05:00) The orchestra and the conductor (06:31) Clocks out of sync (09:18) Desynchrony in real life (10:25) Social jetlag (11:18) Health consequences (14:40) Future research: how to mitigate impact (17:30) What can you do as a shift worker? (22:25) Outro ContactFor feedback and questions, you can contact us at: [email protected] Follow us on social media to stay up to date with our episodes and discover related content: Twitter/X: https://x.com/lightoclock Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lightoclockpodcast/ Website: https://www.tscnlab.org/podcast

Are you an early bird or a night owl? Can you choose to be an early type? In this episode, Dr. Anna M. Biller from the Technical University of Munich explains what chronotype is, how it changes throughout the lifespan, what happens when your biological clock and your social clock are out of sync, and how can you measure your type. Listen to uncover the answers to these and many other fascinating questions about chronotype. Links and resources related to the episode’s contentMorningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ) [https://qxmd.com/calculate/calculator_829/morningness-eveningness-questionnaire-meq] The Munich ChronoType Questionnaire (MCTQ) [https://www.thewep.org/documentations/mctq] Timestamps(00:00) Intro (01:17) Introducing Dr. Biller (02:29) What is chronotype? (07:26) Biological measures of chronotype (09:34) Factors that affect chronotype (10:36) Can your chronotype change? (12:57) The biological vs the social clock (16:01) Can night owls become early birds? (18:18) School start times (20:52) Sex differences (22:38) How to know your chronotype? (29:13) Summary (30:56) Outro ContactFor feedback and questions, you can contact us at: [email protected] Follow us on social media to stay up to date with our episodes and discover related content: Twitter/X: https://x.com/lightoclock Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lightoclockpodcast/ Website: https://www.tscnlab.org/podcast

In today’s episode, we dive deep into the relationship between circadian rhythms and the sleep-wake cycle with Dr. Renske Lok from Stanford University. Are they different or the same? What other processes in the body regulate your sleep? Can you catch-up on lost sleep? How can you even know if you are sleep-deprived and need more sleep? Tune in to get the answers to these and many other questions on sleep and circadian rhythms. Links and resources related to the episode’s contentGraphic of sleep pressure (process S) and circadian rhythms (process C) [https://static.physoc.org/app/uploads/2019/03/22194528/Fig3.jpg] Further reading on the two-process model of sleep [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9540767/] Disconnect between how sleepy people feel (subjective) and how sleepy they actually are (objective) [https://doi.org/10.2147/NSS.S312808] Timestamps(00:00) Intro (02:08) Introducing Dr. Lok (02:44) Circadian rhythms: from morning to night (06:37) Sleep and circadian rhythms: same or different? (08:10) The two-process model of sleep (09:08) The “forbidden” zone (10:02) Travel and jet-lag (11:35) How does sleep pressure work? (14:28) Can you catch-up on lost sleep? (17:19) How to know if you’re sleep-deprived? (20:03) Separating process S and C in the lab (26:20) Outro ContactFor feedback and questions, you can contact us at: [email protected] Follow us on social media to stay up to date with our episodes and discover related content: Twitter/X: https://x.com/lightoclock Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lightoclockpodcast/ Website: https://www.tscnlab.org/podcast

In this episode Prof. Orie Schafer, based at the CUNY Advanced Research Center, takes us through the history of the field of chronobiology, from its beginnings in plants, through studies in bunkers with humans, and the discovery of the clock genes thanks to the tiny but mighty fruit fly. Links and resources related to the episode’s contentPhotos of Jürgen Aschoff’s 1960’s bunker experiment [https://www.spiegel.de/geschichte/chronobiologie-schlaflabor-im-bunker-a-951188.html] Original publication on the discovery of the period gene by Ronald Konopka and Seymour Benzer [https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.68.9.2112] Further reading on the history of Chronobiology and the discovery of the molecular mechanisms of circadian rhythms [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6138759/] Timestamps(00:00) Intro (01:10) Introducing Prof. Shafer (02:14) Beginnings in plants (05:18) Other organisms (06:10) Studies in humans: caves and bunkers (09:53) Where is the circadian clock? (11:24) Search for the clock genes (13:22) Why are fruit flies so important? (14:50) Discovery of the period gene (17:38) The fly vs. the human clock (20:19) Flies and modern life (22:49) Outro ContactFor feedback and questions, you can contact us at: [email protected] Follow us on social media to stay up to date with our episodes and discover related content: Twitter/X: https://x.com/lightoclock Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lightoclockpodcast/ Website: https://www.tscnlab.org/podcast