TED-ED: How does your body know what time it is? - Marco A. Sotomayor

Michel Siffre's isolation experiments revealed the existence of circadian rhythms, which are internal cycles that regulate sleep and other bodily functions without external cues. These rhythms are part of chronobiology, a field studying time-related biological changes. The brain's timekeeping system involves proteins like CLK and PER, which regulate sleep cycles. External cues, or zeitgebers, such as light and temperature, help fine-tune these cycles. Neuronal communication in the brain also plays a role in our perception of time, as demonstrated by Siffre's altered time perception during his isolation.

What are zeitgebers and how do they influence our daily behavior?

How did Siffre's perception of time change during his time in the cave?

What implications does the subjective experience of time have on our understanding of reality?