Circadian rhythms are 24-hour cycles that are part of the body’s internal clock, running in the background to carry out essential functions and processes. One of the most important and well-known circadian rhythms is the sleep-wake cycle. [1] The cells in our brain respond to light and dark. When our eyes capture such changes in the environment, they send signals to different cells about when it’s time to be sleepy or awake. Those cells then send more signals to other parts of [...]

Osteoporosis is a condition that weakens bones to the point where they break easily. Bone is living tissue. Around the age of thirty, bone mass stops increasing and the goal for bone health is to keep as much bone as possible. Osteoporosis comes from the Greek word osto=bone and poros=porous. Viewed under a microscope, healthy bone looks like a honeycomb. When osteoporosis occurs, the holes and spaces in the honeycomb are much larger than in healthy bone. Osteoporotic bones have lost density [...]

As a protein, collagen is made up of amino acids (arginine, glycine, hydroxyproline, and proline). Amino acids are comprised of the elements: carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. Collagen is produced by fibroblasts (biological cells that help to form the structure of animal tissues). A collagen protein's structure gives it the unique strength your body needs. There are 1,050 amino acids in each of the three chains that make up collagen. And they’re held together with hydrogens—the smallest atom. Glycine is an amino acid [...]