Attendance. Our July 21 lunch meeting at Seascape was attended by 20 members and 2 guests in person, 4 members on Zoom, and our guest speaker.
Guests. Our guests were attorney Shelli Strohle, whom we hope to see as a member soon; and Marie Moseley's daughter Michelle, who has recently returned here from Texas. Michelle was president of Interact at Aptos HS.
Happy New Year! The peaceful transition of power is complete: Co-President Kendra hosted and, of course, ran the meeting seamlessly...pretty much..., especially impressive because she had just headed her first Board meeting and timed it perfectly. Co-Prez Laura was sick and attended on Zoom.
Professor Carrie Partch on Circadian Rhythms. Our guest speaker was Carrie Partch PhD, a biochemist at UCSC, who spoke and presented a power point on Circadian rhythms. (Not to be confused with cicadas, the 17 year locusts....Rich.)
Welcome Song. Sam and his guitar led us in the Welcome Song and 4-Way Test song. Nelson expressed his immersion in Rotary by telling us he now sings the 4 Way Test song in the shower at home. We will take his word for that. We already have it on zoom at the club
Jokes of the Day. Sam also told the joke of the day-which believe it or not, is a true story-about the lawyer who got a $10,000 payout on a fire insurance claim for the cigars he smoked, but then was convicted of arson. We love happy endings.
Dr. Art told a joke/warning about not monkey(pox)ing around...
Rich added to the mirth with a few jokes that were much funnier than he predicted....one- what does an agnostic dyslexic insomniac do? Lies awake wondering if there is a Dog.
New Officers. Kendra convened the clubs' annual meeting, and by voice vote the nominated 2022-23 officers and at large directors were confirmed. Lowrey and Pam are our co-presidents elect. Nelson and Julie will continue as Secretary and Treasurer. We are waiting for someone or two to take over Sgt at Arms for Craig.
Field Trip! Kendra announced that our August 4 meeting will be at Second Harvest, not Seascape.
Sunshine Report. Former member and continuing friend Brenda Mee suffered a horrific family tragedy- her husband’s brother-and sister-in-law were killed in a car crash. Condolences and support from her Rotarian friends will be appreciated. She is not in ClubRunner, so Kendra sent an email with her email and phone.
Keith Medieros Services. Keith's family sent an announcement about a memorial/celebration of life on August 27 at Keith’s home. Members are checking the details and will report updates.
Peruvian Food Festival. Mardi announced that there will be a Peruvian food festival at Seacliff Beach Saturday July 30 11-3pm. She handed out colorful flyers with the details. Food must be pre-ordered. Call Mardi to place your order. Let's support this culinary and cultural adventure!
Detective. Mardi was also Detective. She told us about her funny experiences with American junk food (to whet our appetites for real Peruvian food?) She also had some good historical questions -example- the first native American on the Hollywood Walk of Fame?..... Jay Silverheels (Tonto). And, more recently- the Best Band at the 4th of July parade? Sam Nigh's!!!
Professor Carrie Partch on Circadian Rhythms.
Dr. Partch explained that all sun-dwelling life builds its schedule around sunlight cycles. As an example of how photosynthetic lives (plants) do it, she showed a time lapse video of a sunflower "waking up" by opening its leaves facing East, tracking the sun to the West as the day progressed, and closing down its leaves at night to "sleep."
Non photosynthetic creatures like humans have developed internal clock schedules.
The focus of Dr. Partch's presentation was on humans' Circadian/sunlight rhythms. Some key points:
- Our Circadian rhythms affect sleep cycle, appetite, and cognitive performance. Melatonin production increases as night falls and decreases dawn-ish. Blood pressure and heart rates also fall at night and rise in the morning.
- Most people have an approximate 24-hour sleep-wake cycle, but a "chronotype survey" showed a bell graph of people with longer and shorter cycles, some as short as 20 hours. People with significantly shorter cycles can have problems establishing a regular sleep schedule.
- People with somewhat shorter sleep cycles tend to be early risers, "morning larks." "Night owls" often have longer cycles. These differences may be inherited, particularly a DNA mutation present in about 1 in 75 Europeans where a tail is missing from a key protein. This genetic difference is frequently misdiagnosed as chronic insomnia.
- Studies on circadian rhythms have shown that certain times of day are optimal for certain activities. Perhaps most important- the time when food is eaten is as important as what is eaten. Snacks at night, for example, are worst because the body is not prepared to digest them. People participating in a study where they were restricted to 10 hour eating periods and only when active lost weight and lowered their blood pressure. An experiment on mice had similar results and showed the inverse as well- mice with unrestricted eating hours gained significant weight.
- Though most of us have coffee or tea in the morning, caffeine is actually most effective at 1-2 pm.
- Workouts are best mid-late afternoon for muscle mass; Skin damage is best repaired just before sleep.
Dr. Partch's lab investigates proteins and genes and the molecular basis for Circadian rhythms. The lab purifies protein crystals and subject them to light at Livermore to see how clock proteins fit together in DNA. They hope to assist in the development of therapies to extend circadian clocks that are too short and perhaps alteration of dosages of drugs to increase their efficacy.
Don’t Tease the Author. BTW- to those members teasing your author about being on the phone working during the meetings- as shown to Dr. Art and Co-Prez Kendra, I was taking notes for this article (I got my degree in journalism). Mostly....
We hope to see everyone in person or on Zoom at Thursday's meeting at Seascape.