Chronobiology and Obesity [electronic resource] / edited by Marta Garaulet, Jose M. Ordovás.

Preface -- Foreword -- Discovery of the Clock mutant and the first mammalian clock gene and the links to obesity: Staring with animal #25 -- An introduction to chronobiology -- Adipose tissue as a peripheral clock -- Processes Underlying Chronodisruption and their Proposed Association with illness -- Obesity and Chronodisrruption:  An imbalance between energy intake and expenditure -- Sleep and MetS alterations -- Increased risk of diabetes due to obesity: does chronodisruption play a role? -- Genetics in chronobiology and obesity -- Chronobiology And Metabolic-Syndrome: From Genes To Systems Biology -- Index.

Circadian rhythms are such an innate part of our lives that we rarely pause to speculate why they even exist. Perhaps this is the reason why in the medical practice the circadian variability of hormones, metabolites, physiological behaviors or the relevance of time in the presence or absence of different pathologies, have been practically ignored in the past. Some studies have suggested that the disruption of the circadian system may be cause for obesity and manifestations of Metabolic Syndrome (MetS). Shift-work, sleep-deprivation and bright-light-exposure at night are related to increased adiposity (obesity) and prevalence of MetS. Chronobiology and Obesity examines recent advances that have led to researchers to find the relevant link which exists between chronobiology and obesity, but, as it is emphasized throughout the book, there is much more that needs to be explored between the connection.