title: General introduction to chronobiology.
abstract: Rhythmicity is part of our life. All living organisms exhibit in some way or another a form of rhythmicity. Some of these rhythms have a geophysical counterpart in the environment. These are the so-called biological rhythms. This paper gives an introduction to the circadian rhythms, i.e., those rhythms with a period length of about one day. General characteristics and properties are described as well as the control and disturbances of these rhythms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Leiden University, Netherlands.
authors.forename: W J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Rietveld
mesh_terms: D002909:Chronobiology Phenomena; D002940:Circadian Rhythm; D006706:Homeostasis; D006801:Humans; D010507:Periodicity