How Circadian Rhythms do Affect Anesthesiology and Research

Two Billion Years ago the earth encountered two major changes: Sunlight and oxygen. Therefore, all organisms developed mechanisms to sense oxygen or light [1, 2]. While sensing oxygen seems very important for health and well-being, the sensing of light and its impact on health is not well understood yet. In fact, oxygen probes help physicians and anesthesiologists to monitor the oxygen content in our patient’s blood. If those levels are low we would immediately treat those conditions. However, light seems less appreciated even though both systems share many similarities ? at least on a molecular level.