Conclusion

It was once believed that the "atom" was the smallest particle that could not be further split. Breaking the atom opened the door to a new universe of particles governed by new forces and physical laws. The field of nuclear physics evolved and brought with new knowledge a new energy source and a wealth of practical applications (Figure 20).

Similarly, lifting the curtain of ignorance hiding the range of physiologic variation uncovered a new world of biologic functions that instead of striving for constancy in a homeostatic framework are coordinated by rhythms, the backbone of life itself. Entering the physiologic range revealed new biologic laws and yielded new information, the task of the budding science of chronobiology (Figure 20). Apart from providing a better understanding of the universe, common to both nuclear physics and chronobiology, perhaps one of the most challenging applications of chronobiology is that of improving the quality of health care while also reducing its cost (Figure 21).

Chronobiology offers the opportunity to quantitatively resolve the dynamics inside the normal range and hence to refine the definition of health, positively and individually. Early chronome alteration indicates earliest risk elevation. At variance with the black box of an airplane or current pacemaker-cardioverter-defibrillators, a "chronome-box" could provide an adult lifelong record of the dynamic changes in systems of different physiologic variables. Single casual tests can hence be replaced with the synthesis, in a moment, of the whole past history, and on this basis, help can be sought long before a heightened risk has developed into overt disease. The hardware is available and is sufficiently unobtrusive to be carried by an animal as small as a rat for most of its lifespan. The software is available as modules for windowing, compacting and recycling the accumulating information as-one-goes. Of two groups of physicians of similar competence, the one given only the history provided a better diagnosis than the one allowed only a physical examination. It would be much better yet if the salient features of the history would be dictated by the individual and stored along with continuously and automatically collected and analyzed vital signs. One could thus split and exploit the normal range, making it the custodian of our health in a telehygiene as well as telemedicine system for the home, whether it is near or far from a health care center.