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  |  Healthy Living  |  Lifestyle  |  Tips for living well: taking time out
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Tips for living well: taking time out

live well be healthy Like all living things, we operate on a daily cycle, and sleep and rest are vital parts of that. Here we'll look at what goes on inside you while you're asleep and why depriving yourself of proper rest can have some surprisingly serious consequences.

Live Well...Be Healthy by Dr. John Marsden and Alison Dillon, (BBC Books, £12.99) is packed with clever tips, for men and women, to help you to maximise your health and wellbeing. But, don't take our word for it. Here is an excerpt to get you started...



  • Clocking off
  • We have drift-off
  • How much shuteye is enough?
  • Getting into sleep debt
  • Metabolic go-slow
  • Time out

    Clocking off
    Your body is controlled by approximately 100 complex 'biological clocks', each of which is responsible for regulating different vital functions inside you, such as digestion, temperature, the secretion of hormones, reproduction and growth. Those internal clocks are also known as your circadian rhythms (circadian from the Latin meaning 'around the day'). And remarkably, for reasons we're not yet entirely sure of, your body's clocks all work on a 24-hour timescale.

    There's a leader of the pack when it comes to biological timekeeping. That's the master body clock that resides deep within your brain. Here's what happens: information about the current daylight levels around you gets passed from the cells in the retina of your eye through the optic nerve and along to the big daddy of circadian rhythms - that's a group of cells called the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). When it comes to keeping time in the vast orchestra of your brain, the SCN is your very own conductor. On top of daylight levels, it also uses clues from your meal times and other social activities to keep track of time. Then, as day and night pass, it broadcasts vital messages across your brain. These messages trigger the production of a cocktail of important chemicals that keep you and your body 'in time'.

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    This iVillage Health service area is designed for educational purposes only. You should not rely on this information as a substitute for personal medical attention, diagnosis or hands-on treatment. If you are concerned about your health or that of a child, please consult your family's health provider immediately and do not wait for a response from our professionals. For the full Disclaimer, click here.
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