Biology-1090

Camping and Biological Clocks

Zachary Dority
April 15, 2016

Zachary Dority - Camping and Biological Clocks

Introduction
Camping in the outdoors has always been, for me at least, a great way to try to connect
with nature in a way that I couldnt otherwise do in the city. I often feel a great need to travel
out into the silent and wide open west if life in civilization is becoming too overbearing. For
me, it clears my mind and I can really focus on my troubles, or simply relax without worry of
the next day. There is no doubt that sleep plays a major role in this, however, and that it is not
just due to me being away from it all. This is why a recent study conducted by researchers
at the University of Colorado at Boulder, which sought to examine the effects of being
exposed to only natural lighting for a week, caught my eye.
This paper seeks to give a brief introduction to biological clocks, explain how electrical
light has affected humans negatively, and examine how taking a long camping trip with only
exposure to natural light can be incredibly beneficial to humans with regard to our biological
clocks. The aforementioned study will be explored in depth and I will attempt to make more
sense of it in the context of my favorite hobby, camping. Since this is the only published study
of its kind, it will be the main focus of the paper, but other research will be used to understand
the subject matter.
Biological Clocks
In order to better understand the effects of camping on our biological clocks, we must
first understand biological clocks. According to Carla B. Green and Michael Menaker (2003),
these biological clocks in our bodies regulate the behavioral and physiological rhythms that
underlie adaptive partitioning of an organisms activities throughout the day. In other words,
organs in our body depend heavily on the 24 hour cycle in order to function properly. We
evolved in a 24 hour day and night environment, so it should be no surprise that our bodies
are heavily influenced by it.
Biological clocks are also, of course, not just a mammalian characteristic. Beatrice M.
Sweeney (1983) notes that biological clocks are very ancient and found in some of the
most primitive of present-day eukaryotes. Just looking at how some plants interact with the
ever-moving sun is a testament to how important biological clocks are for life on earth
(Sweeney, 1983). This is also important to understand because it tells us that we have had
these biological clocks for millions of years. The fact that they go back so far in our evolution
leads me to believe that they are incredibly important to how we function on Earth.
The Study
Before the invention of electricity, our lives, for the most part, started at sunrise and
ended at sunset. Artificial light at the time, such as the fire in candles, wasnt strong enough to
really change the way we functioned. With electricity, however, we were able to stay awake
without being affected by a shroud of darkness or dull light, meaning we were able to work
into the night. As a consequence, our natural biological clocks that help us function properly,
which are dictated by light, had the potential to be thrown off. This in turn also throws off
things like energy intake and metabolism or sleep related functions like melatonin production.
(Wright, 2013)
2

Zachary Dority - Camping and Biological Clocks

This is where my hobby of camping comes into play. The researchers at the University
of Colorado at Boulder conducted a 2 week study in the Rocky Mountains with 8 people
where they would only be exposed to natural light (Wright, 2013). This includes not being able
to use any electronics (Wright, 2013), which is contrary to my camping trips, but has
encouraged me to do the same in the future. I found it to be interesting that something as
insignificant as the screen of a phone could have an effect on our biology, but since it allows
us to stay preoccupied at night, it makes more sense to me.
Without these electrical light sources, I would have figured that perhaps they would be
exposed to less light overall. To my surprise, however, wearable light sensors on participants
showed that they were exposed to a great deal more light in this experiment (figure 1 on page
5 shows the average difference between light exposure among participants before the
experiment, with electrical light, and afterwards, with natural light) (Wright, 2013). As I thought
more about this, it became obvious that this would be the case since direct sunlight for most
of the day would be much stronger than any building would provide. Nonetheless, it gave me
a bit of perspective for how I view my electricity driven world. We often see ourselves as
literally living in a brighter world with electricity, and at night this is certainly the case, but
during the day we live in less light than our ancestors did, by a considerable margin.
Light also regulates our melatonin levels which increases before bedtime to make us
feel sleepy and decreases in the morning. In the study, melatonin levels steadily coincided
with sunrise and sunset as time went on, bringing individual sleeping patterns together (this
data can be found in figure 2 on page 5, which shows the timing of average melatonin onset
and offset). It also suggested that being synchronized with natural light/dark cycles allows us
to wake up easier because brain arousal in a natural light setting happens before waking up
rather than after (Wright, 2013). This has always seemed to be the case for me when I would
wake up on a camping trip as opposed to home. I would have figured it would have had to do
with the levels of comfort in both settings, but it appears to be biologically driven instead.
Conclusion
What this research has done for me, and should do for others, is highlight the
importance of our environment and how we depend on it to function properly. It has also given
me a newfound respect and admiration for camping and backpacking and the biology behind
it. When I take a trip to the outdoors in an attempt to clear my head, Ill remember what the
natural light is doing to my body, and how beneficial it really is. And because that is how my
body and every living thing around me in the wilderness is supposed to function and has
functioned for millions of years prior, I believe that my yearning to feel connected to nature will
be profoundly improved.

Zachary Dority - Camping and Biological Clocks

Works Cited
Green, Carla B., and Michael Menaker. 2003. Clocks on the Brain. Science 301 (5631). American
Association for the Advancement of Science: 31920.
http://www.jstor.org.libprox1.slcc.edu/stable/3834720.
Sweeney, Beatrice M.. 1983. Biological Clocks: An Introduction. Bioscience 33 (7). [American
Institute of Biological Sciences, Oxford University Press]: 42425.
http://www.jstor.org.libprox1.slcc.edu/stable/1309069.
Wright, Kenneth P., 2013. "Entrainment of the Human Circadian Clock to the Natural Light-Dark
Cycle." Current Biology 23, no. 16 (2013): 1554-558. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2013.06.039.

Zachary Dority - Camping and Biological Clocks

Figure 1: Light Exposure

Figure 2: Melatonin Onset and Offset