Social Jet Lag
From the journal, Chronobiology International via World Wide Words...
Our natural internal rhythms, chronotype, are being interrupted. We each have a genetic predetermination on our chronotype. Some of us are night owls and some aren't. Some of us can bounce up out of bed ready to rock and roll in the morning and some of us are slower starters. The chronotype is set or reset by daylight...but artificial light be it from fluorescent bulbs or computer screens also impact the chronotype.
But we all do things to our bodies that cause us to experience Social Jet Lag.
Office workers who spend hours in front of their computer screens have chronotypes which tend to reset too often and don't have an opportunity to reset normally, leading to trouble rising in the morning.
I'm betting that television screens that stay lit all night and shine down on us as we sleep effect this as well.
Then, let's add the other impactors...kids putting their feet, knees, and/or heads into the small of your back while you are trying to sleep, crackhead neighbors who "seem to be" running a business out of their house that is open all hours of the night, barking dogs, yowling cats, idiots doing burnouts in the street, snoring spouses, heat, cold, busy minds, restless leg syndrome, constipation, etc, etc, etc...everything has an impact. It's not like we all sleep in sensory deprivation tanks.
I don't know if I buy the study that says that the more out-of-synch you are the more likely you are to be a smoker. Seems like an odd conclusion to jump to. And the study only had 500 volunteers. I'd need to see something with a larger control group to buy into that.
On off days, do you seem to sleep extra? Do you sleep for half of your time off? Professor Roenneberg from the University of Hamburg believes that this could signal Social Jet Lag.
Some people run a sleep deficit of 7 hours or more. This is based on measuring from the midpoint of a work night's sleep to the midpoint of an off night's sleep.
Beyond the possible connection to increased smoking, seems like the further out-of-sync someone is the more crabby they would be.
Is it voodoo science? Possibly.
Is it interesting? Yes.
Should we all get as much good sleep as we require? Absolutely. Crabby, sleepy people suck.
Our natural internal rhythms, chronotype, are being interrupted. We each have a genetic predetermination on our chronotype. Some of us are night owls and some aren't. Some of us can bounce up out of bed ready to rock and roll in the morning and some of us are slower starters. The chronotype is set or reset by daylight...but artificial light be it from fluorescent bulbs or computer screens also impact the chronotype.
But we all do things to our bodies that cause us to experience Social Jet Lag.
Office workers who spend hours in front of their computer screens have chronotypes which tend to reset too often and don't have an opportunity to reset normally, leading to trouble rising in the morning.
I'm betting that television screens that stay lit all night and shine down on us as we sleep effect this as well.
Then, let's add the other impactors...kids putting their feet, knees, and/or heads into the small of your back while you are trying to sleep, crackhead neighbors who "seem to be" running a business out of their house that is open all hours of the night, barking dogs, yowling cats, idiots doing burnouts in the street, snoring spouses, heat, cold, busy minds, restless leg syndrome, constipation, etc, etc, etc...everything has an impact. It's not like we all sleep in sensory deprivation tanks.
I don't know if I buy the study that says that the more out-of-synch you are the more likely you are to be a smoker. Seems like an odd conclusion to jump to. And the study only had 500 volunteers. I'd need to see something with a larger control group to buy into that.
On off days, do you seem to sleep extra? Do you sleep for half of your time off? Professor Roenneberg from the University of Hamburg believes that this could signal Social Jet Lag.
Some people run a sleep deficit of 7 hours or more. This is based on measuring from the midpoint of a work night's sleep to the midpoint of an off night's sleep.
Beyond the possible connection to increased smoking, seems like the further out-of-sync someone is the more crabby they would be.
Is it voodoo science? Possibly.
Is it interesting? Yes.
Should we all get as much good sleep as we require? Absolutely. Crabby, sleepy people suck.
posted by Mark "Puff" Anderson | 1:29 PM
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