Age And The Human Body Clock <br /><br />Mazin Hadi Kzar<br />Physical Education and Sport Sciences Department, Al-Mustaqbal University College, 51001 Hillah, Babil, Iraq<br />[email protected]<br />Every person has a different sleeping pattern and requires more or less sleep. The amount of sleep required can be determined by what the individual has been doing that day and how much sleep they had the previous night and so on. It is recommended for teenagers to have between 8 ½ to 9 hours of sleep per day (Editor of Teenshealth 2010), these times vary depending on your age, for someone over 20 it is recommended to have between 8 and 8 ½ hours however this is not all that effects human performance, other factors that may affect this are age, state of mind, emotions, mental and physical health… A circadian (diurnal) rhythm, also known as body clock is what control our sleeping patterns. Humans are not the only creatures to have a circadian rhythm (body clock), the rhythm is roughly a 24 hour cycle which we go throw every single day of our lives. The body clock (circadian rhythm) will tell us when we need sleep by making us feel tired however it will not send us to sleep and it is possible to fight through it and this is how we alter the cycle. Disruption to the cycle can cause problem such as insomnia, disorientation and fatigue. When a person travels through time zones they will adjust their body clock in order to adjust to the time zone, this is commonly known as jet lag and is easy to deal with. Other aspects of people’s lives that can adjust their circadian rhythm are working shift patterns, stress due to many factor (mainly death of a friend/family member, relationship troubles, fear over exams or fear in general). Drugs (legal and illegal) can also have adverse effects on the circadian rhythm by effecting the way that the brain works.<br /><br />Keywords: Age , human body ,clock