I used to think my body clock was just something I ignored while watching “just one more episode”, but it turns out that choosing sleep over another hour glued to Squid Game may be protecting the future health of my brain. As Eef Hogervorst, a professor who specialises in dementia risk and protection, explains, growing evidence suggests our internal 24-hour rhythm does far more than tell us when to sleep.

A new study of older adults found that people with strong, regular circadian rhythms had almost half the risk of developing dementia compared with those whose internal clocks were more chaotic. Crucially, this was not about sleep length alone. Scientists are still debating whether disrupted rhythms cause dementia or signal early brain changes, but their advice for maintaining your body clock is refreshingly practical.

Elsewhere, Ammar Maleki and Pooyan Tamimi Arab show that Iranians are paying a brutal price to oppose the Islamic Republic, with protests met by mass killings and arrests. The researchers’ anonymous large-scale surveys reveal that most want the regime gone, but opinion remains divided over what should replace it.

Finally, Daisy Fancourt, professor of psychobiology and epidemiology, takes aim at the enduring myth of the “mad creative genius”. The evidence, she argues, does not support the idea that mental illness fuels creativity. Instead, it shows that engaging with the arts can benefit mental health, rather than arise from suffering.

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