The Role of Chronotherapy in Cancer Management

For centuries, the circadian clock has been observed in behavioural and physiological patterns in plants and animals. These patterns seemed to regulate themselves very strictly around the 24 hour cycles of day and night and hence led early biologists to suggest that there was an inner mechanism that regulated these changes. In humans, the circadian clock has a genetic background and many circadian genes have been identified. They serve a very important purpose as the physiological changes induced by the expression of these circadian genes allow us to organize our behaviour and physical state in response to the cyclic changes in our immediate environment. Therefore, they regulate important bodily functions such as sleeping, hormone production, digestive secretion, and immune activity in such a way that they occur at times that are most energetically favourable to us.