Before the next holiday meal, you should know what happens to your body

There is something almost magical about the holiday period. Family meals start at an hour when on a regular day we would already be finished with dinner, kids stay up late, in the morning we wake up at a different time, travel, host, and sit for hours around the table. Holidays connect with weekends, and for several weeks the familiar routine changes repeatedly.For us, these are the holidays. For the body, it is a change in schedule.The body operates with the help of an internal timing system known as the biological clock. It helps coordinate between sleep and wakefulness, eating, physical activity, hormone secretion, and metabolic processes.