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Most living beings, even algae,  have a special biological system that keeps their body in sync with day and night, their  circadian rhythm . The way it does this is by responding to light or darkness, e.g. this is why we sleep at night and are awake during the day. The term "circadian" is derived from the latin " circa diem"   or "approximately a day". So what produces/drives these circadian rhythms? The answer is BIOLOGICAL CLOCKS  These clocks are present in most cells, tissues and organs and are composed of proteins which all interact throughout the body. The biological clocks are all controlled and coordinated by a MASTER CLOCK (group of nerve cells in the hypothalamus called the superahiasmatic nucleus (SCN)  which are connected to our optic nerves to detect light. The main regulator of the circadian rhythm is in our hypothalamus: "a region of the forebrain below the thalamus which coordinates both the autonomic nervous system and the ...

You're walking on China's glass bridge, you look down and you are 360 metres into the air - you tremble as you walk forward, with your fear, stress and anxiety skyrocketing. But you are still conscious. You know that you safe in the therapist's office. Scientists hope that virtual reality therapy can go mainstream, specifically in terms of treating mental disorders and phobias e.g. acrophobia (heights) and anthropophobia (people). The limbic sytstem, or the brain's emotional centre responds to stress factors much faster than the time taken for the  logical gates of your brain can clock in that what you are experiencing is not real, therefore VR is actually an extremely powerful tool in recreating environments of fear/stress that are identical to reality. This approach is incorporating "exposure therapy" , which essentially goes with the saying that you should face your fears to overcome them. Although this is much easier said than done of course, espe...