Encyclopedia of popular science knowledge: "Time Knowledge"

Chapter 7 The masterpiece of nature - the biological clock (3)
The three-rhythm cycle theory of the human body clock refers to the fluctuation of a person on his own "horizontal line".When the three rhythms of the human body are in the critical or low tide period, people will indeed feel mental decline, emotional distress and physical fatigue, but people are rational and have a sense of responsibility.We understand our critical period and low tide period, and there is no need to be afraid of it, let alone use the low tide period or critical period of our biological clock as an excuse.In order to reduce the accident rate, replace the driver on the rhythm double and triple critical day to do other work, or remind him to drive carefully, and overcome the discomfort of the critical day with a high sense of responsibility.Of course, the driver in the climax period is paralyzed and careless, thinking that there will be no accidents if he drives indiscriminately, which is absolutely wrong.For students' exams, the intellectual clock is in a critical or low tide period, which does have a certain impact on the performance of the level, but the test date cannot be determined by the individual. If the test period is in the low tide period, the previous days must be the high tide period, correct. The way to do it is to seize the time to study during the climax period, review the homework well, and do some relaxing activities near the exam period, such as listening to brisk music, ensuring enough sleep, and going to the exam with a good mental state and tenacious fighting spirit.On the contrary, it is impossible to get good grades if you are blindly optimistic and fortunate that the test period is in the climax of biological rhythm, and do not study your homework seriously.

The rooster sings the sky
"Whoa, whoa!", the big rooster in the countryside kept crowing. It woke people up from their dreams, as if to say, it's dawn, get up quickly!
Chicken is a "living clock", the ancients called it "time-knowing bird". "Dogs keep watch at night, roosters watch the morning", "Go to bed before it's too late, watch the sky early when roosters crow", this is what they mean.

In the Zhou Dynasty of our country, there was a kind of official called "chicken man", who was in charge of "morning".Later, it developed into a "chicken man" wearing a red hat in the shape of a cockscomb every morning, and ringing the bell to announce the dawn.

The crowing of the rooster is also used as a warning signal for people to encourage themselves to make progress.There is a story about "dancing at the sound of chickens": both Zu Ti and Liu Kun had great ambitions when they were young, and vowed to expel the invading foreigners and revitalize the Jin Dynasty.They often sleep together in the same bed, sleeping together.After midnight, they competed to hear the rooster crowing, and got up earlier than each other. As soon as they heard the rooster crowing, they jumped out of the hot blanket and ran to the garden to dance swords and halberds, practice martial arts hard, and were ready to serve the country at any time.Later, they both became celebrities.

my country is the earliest country in the world to raise chickens, and chickens are recorded in the oracle bone inscriptions of the Shang Dynasty in my country.

In the "Book of Songs", there are poems such as "chicken crowing and squatting" and "chicken perched on a tree".In ancient times, chickens were the first livestock to be used among the six livestock.

There are many customs related to chickens in folklore around the world.When the ancients formed a friendship with Jinlan or two countries formed a brotherly alliance, there was a ceremony of slaughtering chickens and drinking blood to swear an alliance.When people get married, the man goes to the woman's house to welcome the bride and presents a pair of male and female roosters, so that they can grow old together for hundreds of years.Chickens are regarded as a symbol of auspiciousness.In countries such as China, India and Greece, the custom of cockfighting was prevalent in ancient times.The custom of cockfighting is still preserved in Asia, Europe and the Americas, and it is most popular in Brazil, Mexico, the Philippines, Myanmar and other places.

"When the rooster sings, the world is white." Why does the rooster crow early in the morning?After long-term observation and research by scientists, it is proved that there is a wonderful "biological clock" in the living body, which directs the behavior of living things.The chicken's "biological clock" grows in a small pinecone-shaped endocrine device between the chicken's brain and cerebellum.Light can change the potential difference inside and outside the pineal gland cells, resulting in chemical reactions and making the "biological clock" swing.It memorizes the light and dark laws of day and night, and directs the daily activities of the rooster: when it is almost dawn, the rooster will sing loudly; when it is getting dark, it will hurry to the nest.

Biological Clock and Jet Lag Syndrome

Humans have internal clocks, and there are various ecological cycles on the earth.They are harmoniously intertwined, forming a rich and colorful human life and a gorgeous natural environment.However, modern civilization often disturbs this harmonious rhythm, causing trouble.

Discomfort caused by jet lag is a classic example for people traveling by air.

It is impossible for a body clock to run as fast as a modern jet engine.When flying across the time zone and the date line in the east-west direction, travelers will lose or gain a day or a few hours without knowing it; tourists who fly from Washington to Xi'an will feel nervous, tired and uncomfortable when they get off the plane. Habit.Their feeling is not illusory.Because experiments have shown that quickly crossing time zones can cause significant physical and psychological changes in people.A group of volunteers in the United States have conducted round-trip flight tests between Oklahoma City, USA, and Manila, Philippines.It was found that none of these people could successfully complete 34 two-digit additions within 10 hours after arriving at the destination, and some people's "reaction time" even increased by 2 to 3 times.While flying in the north-south direction (the time difference is less than half an hour), no similar phenomenon occurs.

In this experiment, the time difference between Oklahoma City and Manila was 10 hours, and the experimenters had to cross 10 time zones during the flight.If the plane took off at 1:5 a.m. on "January" and arrived in Manila after a 10-hour flight, the body clock of the subject remained at 3:1 p.m. (local time in Oklahoma), but at this time the local time in Manila was already It was 28 o'clock in the morning on January 6. The experimenters generally felt uncomfortable because the day on the 27th was "shortened".

This is the case when flying from east to west.The reverse is also true when flying from west to east.

This kind of human discomfort caused by the sudden imbalance between the biological clock in the human body and the local time (external time) is called high-speed flight jet lag syndrome, also known as time zone fatigue.With the development of modern means of transportation, people have more opportunities to travel across continents and oceans, so jet lag syndrome has attracted more and more attention.For example, the researchers of the German Civil Aviation Administration have put forward such a suggestion: after arriving at the destination, tourists flying in east-west direction should rest for a day before going out for sightseeing; engage in important business activities.In addition, it is said that the U.S. government has formally stipulated that after such a flight, diplomats must rest for a day before negotiating.

In addition to jet lag, night work can also affect a person's mental state in the short term.With the strengthening of industrialization, more and more places implement the three-shift work system.If young workers who are new to work are not fully prepared for this change in their daily routines, in addition to mental discomfort, daily habits such as sleeping and eating will also be affected, and mistakes will often occur during shifts.Therefore, for them, they should speed up their adaptation to the new life and new schedule.The best way is to strengthen the contrast between day and night traits (including light, darkness, eating, rest, etc.) as much as possible, actively adapt to the new program, and synchronize your internal clock with the external environment as soon as possible.

Biological clock and rational control of time
Time is the most precious thing.Almost everyone is trying to make more achievements that are beneficial to human beings in a limited time, so as to create the highest value of life.However, how should people use time to achieve this goal?
Here, in addition to the usual saying of cherishing, grasping and not wasting time, there is also a question of rationally disposing of time.

We all know that people's mental state is different at different times of the day.In the words of physiologists, it is the ability of the human cerebral cortex to respond to external stimuli that changes over time.The secret of rational time management is to make the most of your most efficient time and arrange the most important work in your most effective time of the day.In this way, more work can be done with less effort, and the effect of "doubling the result with half the effort" can be obtained.

Everyone's physiological condition and environment are different, and the most efficient time of the day is also different. "A day's plan lies in the morning", this is just a general statement, not applicable to everyone.It is said that after a lot of observation and research, physiologists divided people into two types: "lark" type and "owl" type according to the laws of physiological activities.Lark-type people go to bed early and get up early, they are energetic and efficient in the morning.People who belong to the owl type are just the opposite. They are refreshed in the afternoon, work most efficiently in the middle of the night, and sleep in the morning.

Most people belong to the "mixed type".They have a strong ability to adapt to the environment, and they have the above-mentioned two peaks of work ability in a day and night.It is said that Lu Xun, a great original thinker in our country, often writes with a brush at night, and receives guests and reads books during the day.Ai Qing, a poet, was full of poetry in the morning.Balzac is different from them. He usually writes from midnight to noon, proofreads the draft from noon to 4 pm, eats at 5, goes to bed at 5:30, and gets up to work in the middle of the night.Suhomlinski, a famous educator in the former Soviet Union, said that his more than 5 monographs on pedagogy and many academic papers were written from 8:[-] to [-]:[-] in the morning.

Of course, rational control of time does not mean obeying the arrangement of time mechanically, but to allow limited time to play more roles with high efficiency.For an enterprising person, time cannot be completely separated by work, study, entertainment and rest.People engaged in natural science research often regard reading literary novels as a kind of rest; similarly, those engaged in literary and artistic creation also regard reading popular science books and periodicals as a rest.They are all taking the initiative to expand their knowledge during the rest.Some famous scientists, no matter when, once the so-called inspiration or some other kind of opportunity appears, they will seize it and pursue it, thus making important discoveries.It is said that the German chemist Kühler, inspired by a dream, put forward the idea that the benzene compound is a hexagon, which was finally confirmed.Although this kind of story is more or less legendary, it still has an enlightening effect on today's youth.

We are now carrying out the great construction of the four modernizations.Time is efficiency, time is benefit.Let us all cherish time like gold and strive to create performance!

Adjustment of the biological clock
Clocks and watches can be adjusted to the correct time, so does the biological clock also have this property?Since the time rhythm of biological activities is not a simple response to changes in the external environment, does it have anything to do with changes in the external environment?
Scientists have made new discoveries in experiments.

They put the flying squirrel in a wire cage, put the cage in a completely dark environment, and found that the animal's activity cycle gradually deviated from 24 hours, and has become 23 hours or 25 hours, which is called "near circadian rhythm". ".If calculated on the basis of 23 hours, the flying squirrel starts running an hour earlier every day, then after more than 3 weeks, the activities of the flying squirrel will be delayed by one day and night compared with the flying squirrel in nature.

Cockroaches are a kind of pest, and they are most active in the evening, coming out in groups to look for food.Some people put cockroaches in cages, put the cages in a dark place, monitor their activities with electronic eyes, and create a day and night environment for them that is reversed from the outside world.Light up the dark room with electric lights at night, and turn off the lights in the morning to keep it dark.After about a week, the order of activities of the cockroaches was also reversed.

Carry out activities in artificial darkness, even though it is still broad daylight outside.

It turns out that the biological clock of living beings is the same as the artificial clock, which can be adjusted, can be adjusted fast or slow, and the starting point of time can also be adjusted to any moment.The adjustment of clocks and watches is done by people. What is the adjustment of biological clocks?In connection with the above experiments, we can naturally think that the adjuster of the biological clock is the changing environmental conditions around the organisms.The existence of the biological clock itself is an internal cause, while the influence of changes in environmental conditions is an external cause.The reason why organisms deviate from the original natural rhythm and move according to artificial rhythm is because the biological clock is adjusted by artificial environmental conditions.Once the experimental organisms are placed in the natural environment, it will not be long before their biological clocks are adjusted back to the original state by the natural environment, and they will move according to the natural rhythm again.

With the deepening of research, people will be able to discover more biological clocks, and further deepen the understanding of the nature and regularity of biological clocks.

Why study biological clocks

Speaking of this, some people may ask, what is the practical significance of scientists spending so much energy on studying the biological clock?

So far, the purpose of our research on biological clocks is not to use biological clocks to measure time, because we already have very accurate crystal clocks and atomic clocks, which are much more accurate than biological clocks.The purpose of studying the biological clock is to understand the biological world, understand the regularity of the biological world that has not been understood by human beings, and better transform nature.At the same time, we can also get many beneficial enlightenments from the biological world to serve our modern science.

The biological clock is the product of the long-term evolution of organisms and an important means for organisms to adapt to environmental conditions in order to ensure survival.

In order to increase the yield of crops, we can try our best to meet the natural environmental conditions required by the crops.For example, under the condition of 12:12 light-dark cycle, soybeans flower early and yield high; under the condition of 9:9 or 15:15, the flowering is late and the yield is low; and under the condition of 8:8 or 16:16, There will be no flowering and no harvest.

In addition, we can appropriately change the environmental conditions and artificially adjust the biological clocks of living things to make them develop in a direction that is beneficial to human beings.Some rice varieties are very sensitive to the length of the daylight. It can sense small changes in the length of the daylight. Extending or shortening the light for a few 10 minutes a day can delay or advance the flowering time of rice by many days.

The biological clock is also closely related to human beings. According to medical literature, many diseases occur periodically, such as periodic fever, periodic abdominal pain, periodic vomiting, periodic paralysis... There is even such a thing: a football Coach, his knee swells regularly every 9 days, so he has to make a practice plan according to this rule.These diseases are obviously related to the body's biological clock.The research on the biological clock can help us uncover the secrets of these causes and provide scientific treatment methods.

The sensitivity of the human body to various drugs is also different at different times. It is known through experiments that heart disease patients are 4 times more sensitive to the drug "digital" at 40 am than other times, and diabetics are 4 times more sensitive at [-] am. It is most sensitive to "insulin".In order to increase the curative effect and reduce the side effects, the patient's medication time can be controlled according to the principle of the biological clock.

It is said that people's aging is also related to their biological clocks. Some people age slowly, while others age quickly. This is because some characteristics of their biological clocks are different.Studying the biological clock can provide people with a way to live longer.

As we all know, whether it is a spacecraft or a nuclear-powered submarine, people need to drive it.These pilots work in the airtight cabin, can't see day and night at all, and the work and rest time is artificially controlled by electric light.Especially when the spacecraft travels in space, the various environmental rhythms on the earth have disappeared, but the human biological clock still needs to work according to the 24-hour rhythm, otherwise people will feel tired and unable to complete the mission.Therefore, it is necessary to make the working system of the spacecraft console fully conform to the 24-hour time rhythm on the earth.

During long-distance migration, some animals have an amazing ability to locate according to celestial bodies, which requires precise correction of time with their biological clocks.If we understand the nature of the biological clock, the characteristics of time receptors and the principle of remembering time, there is no doubt that it will be of great help to us in designing automatic navigation and automatic tracking systems.

(End of this chapter)