A new study of the brain's master circadian clock — known as the suprachiasmatic nucleus, or SCN — reveals that a key pattern of rhythmic neural activity begins to decline by middle age. The research may have implications for older people who have difficulty sleeping and adjusting to time changes.

 

The study's lead author, UCLA Chancellor Gene Block, visited in studio to talk about the findings that aging can throw off circadian timing. Block is a UCLA professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences and of physiological science.

 

Read more on the research.

 

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