Expert available: reduced exposure to sunlight affects our circadian rhythms and health

The shortest day of the year, December 21, is almost upon us. And daylight saving time may soon be a thing of the past. What does this mean for our bodies and our health?

Rockefeller scientist Sofia Axelrod, PhD, a chronobiology, aging, and sleep scientist who studies the basic function and regulation of circadian rhythms and sleep, is available to discuss: 

• The role of sunlight in controlling our circadian clocks—internal biological mechanisms that regulate the timing of daily rhythms in physiology and behavior.

• How every cell in our bodies has a circadian rhythm, not just the ones that are related to sleep, and how disruptions to these biological clocks are associated with impaired learning and memory, weakened resistance to infection, and chronic diseases from diabetes to depression.

Dr. Axelrod is a research associate in Nobel laureate Micheal Young’s lab, who won the Nobel Prize in 2017 for discoveries of molecular mechanisms controlling the circadian rhythm. You can see Dr. Axelrod discuss her work here.