chronotherapy

noun

chro·no·ther·a·py | \ ˌkrä-nō-ˈther-ə-pē

, ˌkrō-\

Definition of chronotherapy

1 : treatment of a sleep disorder (such as insomnia) by changing sleeping and waking times in an attempt to reset the patient's biological clock

2 or chronotherapeutics \ ˌkrä-nə-ˌther-ə-ˈpyü-tiks

How to pronounce chronotherapeutics (audio)

, ˌkrō- \ : the administration of medication or treatment in coordination with the body's circadian rhythms to maximize effectiveness and minimize side effects

Examples of chronotherapy in a Sentence

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Certainly, Benedetti has never been offered pharmaceutical funding to carry out his trials of chronotherapy. — Linda Geddes, Smithsonian, "A Counterintuitive Idea for Treating Severe Depression: Stay Awake," 23 Jan. 2018 San Raffaele Hospital first introduced triple chronotherapy in 1996. — Linda Geddes, Smithsonian, "A Counterintuitive Idea for Treating Severe Depression: Stay Awake," 23 Jan. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'chronotherapy.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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17 Sep 2019

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Time Traveler for chronotherapy

The first known use of chronotherapy was in 1973

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chronotherapy

noun

chro·no·ther·a·py | \ ˌkrän-ə-ˈther-ə-pē, ˌkrō-nə-

plural chronotherapies

Medical Definition of chronotherapy

1 : treatment of a sleep disorder (as insomnia) by changing sleeping and waking times in an attempt to reset the patient's biological clock A nondrug treatment called chronotherapy can be used to "re-set" the body clock.— Tara Parker-Pope, The Wall Street Journal, 21 Mar. 2006

2 or chronotherapeutics \ -ˌther-ə-ˈpyüt-iks

\ : the administration of medication or treatment in coordination with the body's circadian rhythms to maximize effectiveness and minimize side effects Chronotherapy is the relatively new practice of timed treatment. — The Daily News of Los Angeles, 29 Sept. 1997

— called also chronotherapeutics