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Juan Antonio Madrid Pérez is Professor of Physiology at the University of Murcia and a specialist in chronobiology, a discipline that studies the rhythmic changes experienced by the variables of an organism over time.
The chronobiologist unravels how circadian rhythms are produced and their synchronization with the environment, as well as their close relationship with health.
The circadian rhythms are the rhythmic changes in the different biochemical, physiological and behavioral variables, which are repeated every 24 hours.
Our biological clock has a mechanism that sets the time for sunrise and sunset, following the natural light-dark cycles.
The elements that synchronize the clock are called synchronizers, and the most important is the alternation of light and darkness.
But there are other 'watchmakers', such as meal times, physical exercise, even social contacts are important to keep the clock synchronized.
From this transversal science, tools applicable to any branch of medicine are achieved, since biological rhythms are present in any field.
From their chronobiology laboratory at the University of Murcia, Cronolab, they have developed a wristwatch that measures the biological clock without invasive measures, since it is placed on the wrist like any other.
Among other things, it evaluates the cycles of visible light, infrared light and blue light, temperature, movements in all directions of space, accelerations, etc.
In total, it collects 23 million data from a person in a week.
This device is a breakthrough for specialists, as it provides information that was previously only available through questions to patients.
The professor specifies that: "The objective is to complement sleep medicine with measures outside the hospital.The project has a considerable database centralized at the University of Murcia", which currently has a total of 4,200 patients between Spain and Latin America. "
From their laboratory they have worked on the prediction of the survival of a person with colorectal cancer according to their rhythms.
In this line of thought, they conducted an experiment with fish where they predicted their death 21 days in advance.
Although, with the human aging also a loss of rhythms is observed, the prediction of the longevity in people from the information of their biological rhythms is not possible by the multitude of factors implied in the same one.
To the collection of information and the innovative strength of this contraption of time, the 'Kronowizard' platform, located in the Attica of the UMU, is added.
Specifically, this system is able to analyze in a few minutes the millions of data from a patient through an Artificial Intelligence (AI) system, generating a report detailing their sleep and biological rhythms day by day.
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Currently, the academic works in a CIBER research network of fragility and healthy aging (CIBERFES) of the Carlos III Health Institute, where he investigates the relationship between biological rhythms and aging markers.
One of the objectives is to calculate the biological age and to know if it agrees with the real one to find out the causes of premature aging.
Another line of interest, for which he has requested funding, is the improvement of hospital conditions in the Intensive Care Units (ICU).
The purpose is to reproduce the cycles of natural light in a hospital environment.
It should be noted that the height of chronobiology has arrived in 2017 with the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine.
This award has been given to researchers Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael W. Young for their discoveries about the molecular mechanisms that control circadian rhythms.
In retrospect, the teacher states that he is satisfied with the current situation, "but we must remember that it has been a long journey in the desert for 30 years where Chronobiology has not received enough recognition."
With this in mind, chronobiology has changed the static image of the human being, where all the variables seemed constant.
"The human being is changing," the expert describes, "the levels of blood pressure, lymphocytes or cholesterol change with the hours of the day, there is no single measure that represents you and defines you."
On the other hand, current knowledge is not based on the examination of a hierarchical and monolithic structure, where only a single clock exists.
Many of them coexist and analyze, the peripheral clocks, located in each organ and body tissue;
however, the most important is the brain clock.
Madrid uses the following analogy: "We have an orchestra conductor (the brain clock) and musicians, who are the clocks of the periphery, their harmony has to be maintained so that everything works correctly, the brain clock to synchronize peripherals uses" batuta "which are the rhythms of melatonin, nervous activity and temperature, among others.
For example, when it gets dark the production of melatonin warns the body that it is time to sleep;
the cortisol warns in the morning to wake up;
and the temperature goes up and down metabolically synchronizing the organs.
In the same way, they can tune when there is a communication failure between the clocks, it is known as chronobiological dysfunction.
The researcher defines that "a chronodisruptive signal is one that breaks or decouples the normal functioning of the circadian system".
A habitual chronodisruptor factor is the sedentarismo, that diminishes the power of the clock.
In contrast, physical exercise allows coping with chronodisruptory situations and keeping pace.
Another current cause of imbalances is the elimination of the light-dark binomial.
It is essential to receive natural light by day and darkness at night.
Artificial lighting alters this natural cycle: when your brain receives direct blue light at night, like the mobile phone, it interprets that it is daytime and must continue active.
On the other hand, these alterations, although the causes are unknown, are associated with pathologies such as depression, memory and metabolic alterations.
The clocks of people with these conditions show rhythms more attenuated than normal.
It is a bidirectional association: for example in the case of depression, the patient has chronobiological alteration, and a person with irregular schedules and delayed rhythms usually suffer from dysthymia or some type of depression.
The scientist advises three keys to keep the clocks synchronized: regularity, waking up, eating and exercising always in the same strips;
contrast, differentiate the night from day, being the active and luminous day, and the calm and dark night;
and synchronize, making work, sleep and leisure schedules compatible.
Source: Universidad de Murcia
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