If You Can’t Sleep, Society May Be To Blame

Our biological clocks may not dictate our bedtimes, but they do influence when we wake up in the morning, a new study finds. Cultural pressures and daily responsibilities may override our biological clocks and dictate when we go to sleep, according to the study, published today (May 6) in the journal Science Advances. However, people's wake-up times are still highly dependent on their biological clocks, as opposed to just on their morning responsibilities, such as going to work or school, the researchers said. The new findings show that "bedtime is more under the control of society, and wake time is more under the control of the [biological] clock," Olivia Walch, a graduate student at the University of Michigan and a co-author of the study, told Live Science. (The biological clock, sometimes called the circadian clock, has been thought to be the primary driver of human sleep schedules and is affected by environmental cues, such as sunlight.)  In the study, the researchers looked at sleep data from more than 8,000 people in 100 countries who used a smartphone app that helps travelers adjust to new time zones. To use the app, you enter your typical sleep schedule, as well as the times when you are normally exposed to light. Using this information, the app suggests custom schedules of light and darkness to help you adjust to a new time zone. In other words, the app suggests that you be exposed to bright light at one point during the day and to darkness at another point. Whe...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - Category: Science Source Type: news