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Science 25 June 1999:
Vol. 284. no. 5423, pp. 2102 - 2103
DOI: 10.1126/science.284.5423.2102
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Perspectives

CIRCADIAN RHYTHMS:
A Clock for the Ages

Robert Y. Moore

It is well known that as we age, we need fewer hours of sleep and wake up much earlier in the morning. This change has been attributed to a shortening of the period of the human circadian pacemaker. However, Robert Moore explains in a Perspective that new findings (Czeisler et al.) demonstrate that it is not the pacemaker itself that is altered but rather the way it is entrained to the day-night cycle. The period of the circadian pacemaker is very similar (24.2 hours) in both young and old people, suggesting that this is one physiological function that does not alter with aging.

The author is in the Department of Neurology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA.

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