Source: The Boston Globe
Next month, observers of the Muslim holiday of Ramadan will fast daily between sunrise and sunset, and feast thereafter, while scientists in a handful of labs around the world will examine what's happening inside their bodies.
Ramadan, it turns out, has become a useful phenomenon for researchers studying circadian rhythms -- and what happens to the body when they are disrupted.
During Ramadan, Muslims eat and get more active just when their bodies are used to winding down, creating sleep disruptions, hormonal changes, and sometimes mood impacts.
"Their biological clocks are no longer in harmony with their watches," said Yvan Touitou, a chronobiologist at Pierre and Marie Curie University in Paris. "Ramadan is capable of desynchronizing people."