Ignoring your body clock and changing your body’s natural rhythms can not only make you depressed, anxious and accident prone, it can lead to much more serious health problems. For example, heart disease, fatigue, ulcers, muscular pain, and frequent viral infections can all result from trying to outsmart our body clocks. Altering our patterns of sleeping and walking dramatically affects our immune system. While we sleep the body’s repair mechanism are at work; when we are awake natural killer cells circulate around our bodies and cause more damage. Our digestive system is affected, too – high levels of glucose and fat remain in our bloodstream for longer periods on time and this can lead to heart disease.
Unfortunately, we were not designed to be members of a 24-hour society. We can't ignore millions of years of evolution and stay up all night and sleep all day. We function best with a regular pattern of sleep and wakefulness that is in tune with our natural environment. Nature’s cues are what keep our body clocks ticking rhythmically and everything is working in harmony. So, next time you think a daily routine is boring and predictable, remember that routine may well save your life in the long run.