Biological rhythms play an important role for all of us in everyday life. We usually only become aware of them when they - the rhythms - or we get out of step. The 21st century holds completely new challenges for biological rhythms, which we are slowly beginning to understand.

In nature, many processes in plants and animals depend on light and are controlled by it. Over millions of years, the rhythms of life have therefore adapted to the course of light and developed with it. Evolutionary processes have turned us humans into diurnal mammals, but in modern society this rhythm is increasingly being disrupted. Light is still our strongest zeitgeber today, but it is no longer just sunlight. Furthermore, intrinsic biological rhythms are influenced by many more factors than just light. The latest research shows, for example, that all organs have their own clocks and a desynchronization of these can make us ill. We are slowly beginning to understand how our clocks tick and how we can use them: we are efficient in the morning, we need a break at lunchtime, we should go to the dentist in the afternoon and do some sport in the evening before we have to go to bed at night.