York University biological rhythms expert available to explain how internal clock works

TORONTO, October 30, 2019 – When Canadians turn back their clocks one hour at 2 a.m. this Sunday, November 3, many will experience a shock to their bodies’ internal clock much like the jet lag experienced after flying across time zones, according to Patricia Lakin-Thomas, associate professor in the Department of Biology in York University’s Faculty of Science.

Lakin-Thomas is a leading expert on cell biology and chronobiology, the study of biological rhythms in living organisms, who strongly supports abolishing Daylight Saving Time.

She believes that a return of Standard Time throughout the year would be better for our health and well-being, pointing to research that shows a disrupted internal clock can cause increased rates of car accidents, heart attacks, strokes, weight gain, anxiety and workplace injuries.

Lakin-Thomas has conducted extensive research on the biological clocks that drive circadian rhythms in bacteria, plants, fungi and animals. Her goal is to describe the mechanism of a circadian clock at the molecular and biochemical level. An active member of the Canadian Society for Chronobiology, Lakin-Thomas teaches Physiology of Circadian Timing and has written or co-written more than 30 journal articles, including Circadian rhythms, metabolic oscillators, and the target of rapamycin (TOR) pathway: the Neurospora connection, published in April.

She can comment on:

• What happens in human bodies during time switches for Daylight Saving Time
• How internal body clocks affect our physiology and behaviour
• The importance of biological clocks in our lives and what happens when they’re out of whack
• How human circadian clocks work at the molecular and biochemical level
• Why year-round Standard Time is better for us than year-round Daylight Saving Time

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York U's fully bilingual Glendon Campus is home to Southern Ontario's Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education.

Media Contact: Vanessa Thompson, York University Media Relations, 647-654-9452, vthomps@yorku.ca