A zeitgeber is an external signal that affects an organism’s internal clock, such as light, social interactions, and medications. Lack of these cues can cause health problems and functional difficulties. The term was coined by Jürgen Aschoff in 1954, and light is a powerful zeitgeber. Other natural phenomena, such as roosters, can also serve as cues. The lack of zeitgebers can be disorienting and cause disruptions in sleep and appetite.
A zeitgeber is an external signal which influences the operations of the internal clock in an organism. The classic example of a zeitgeber is light, which causes some organisms to wake up while others fall asleep. An interruption of these signals can confuse an organism, potentially causing health problems and functional difficulties, as demonstrated in numerous studies.
The term was coined in 1954 by Jürgen Aschoff, a German biologist who studied circadian rhythms. In German, “zeitgeber” means “time-giver”, so in a sense, you could think of a zeitgeber as a natural alarm clock, triggering some sort of change in an organism’s internal clock, such as a signal to wake up, eat , or engage in various activities.
Light is such a powerful zeitgeber that numerous studies have been conducted on the influences of light on the life of various organisms. Light deprivation clearly has an influence on health, as does an excess of light, and many people have difficulty traveling across time zones because they receive external cues to wake up or go to sleep at times that are unfamiliar to the body.
Other natural and unnatural phenomena can serve as zeitgebers. Many social interactions, for example, can provide cues to the internal clock, as can eating, drinking, using various medications, and taking drugs. In some cases, the body learns to respond to particular events by following patterns established in the past, and in other cases, the body can be tricked into responding, as is sometimes the case with prescribed medications.
In many cases, a zeitgeber is a natural signal and is one of a complex series of signals used to establish an organism’s natural rhythms. For example, people who live with chickens often use roosters as a cue to get up, naturally rising earlier or later during the day throughout the year as roosters crow at different times, depending on when dawn breaks. Roosters actually crow before dawn, typically, which may surprise some people, and birds have an uncanny ability to tell the time of dawn, tending to be very reliable watches.
Since the internal clock relies on zeitgebers to set itself, the lack of such cues can be very disorienting, which explains why people find it difficult to sleep in strange places or experience an appetite or personality disruption during sleep. voyage. Many of these cues are so subtle that people don’t realize how influential they are until they’re gone.
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