Life between Clocks: Daily Temporal Patterns of Human Chronotypes

Journal of Biological Rhythms - Tập 18 Số 1 - Trang 80-90 - 2003
Till Roenneberg1, Anna Wirz‐Justice2, Martha Merrow3,1
1Centre for Chronobiology, Institute for Medical Psychology, Munich, Germany
2Centre for Chronobiology, Psychiatric University Clinic, Basel, Switzerland
3Beersma lab

Tóm tắt

Human behavior shows large interindividual variation in temporal organization. Extreme “larks” wake up when extreme “owls” fall asleep. These chronotypes are attributed to differences in the circadian clock, and in animals, the genetic basis of similar phenotypic differences is well established. To better understand the genetic basis of temporal organization in humans, the authors developed a questionnaire to document individual sleep times, self-reported light exposure, and self-assessed chronotype, considering work and free days separately. This report summarizes the results of 500 questionnaires completed in a pilot study. Individual sleep times show large differences between work and free days, except for extreme early types. During the workweek, late chronotypes accumulate considerable sleep debt, for which they compensate on free days by lengthening their sleep by several hours. For all chronotypes, the amount of time spent outdoors in broad daylight significantly affects the timing of sleep: Increased self-reported light exposure advances sleep. The timing of self-selected sleep is multifactorial, including genetic disposition, sleep debt accumulated on workdays, and light exposure. Thus, accurate assessment of genetic chronotypes has to incorporate all of these parameters. The dependence of human chronotype on light, that is, on the amplitude of the light:dark signal, follows the known characteristics of circadian systems in all other experimental organisms. Our results predict that the timing of sleep has changed during industrialization and that a majority of humans are sleep deprived during the workweek. The implications are far ranging concerning learning, memory, vigilance, performance, and quality of life.

Từ khóa


Tài liệu tham khảo

Aschoff J (1979) Circadian rhythms: General features and endocrinological aspects. In Endocrine Rhythms, D. Krieger, ed, pp 1-60, Raven Press, New York.

10.1016/0301-0511(91)90009-6

10.1081/CBI-100103189

10.1177/074873049300800407

10.3109/07420529808998669

10.1093/sleep/4.4.359

10.1093/sleep/18.10.908

Carskadon MA, Acebo C, and Seifer R (2001) Extended nights, sleep loss, and recovery sleep in adolescents. Arch Ital Biol 139:301-312.

10.1016/S0304-3940(98)00971-9

Czeisler CA (1995) The effect of light on the human circadian system. In Circadian Clocks and Their Adjustments, DJ Chadwick and K Ackrill, eds, pp 254-302, John Wiley, Chichester, UK.

10.1126/science.284.5423.2177

10.1152/japplphysiol.00924.2001

Dinges DF, Pack F, Williams K, Gillen KA, Powell JW, Ott GE, Aptowicz C, and Powell JW (1997) Cumulative sleepiness, mood disturbance, and psychomotor vigilance performance decrements during a week of sleep restricted to 4-5 hours per night. Sleep 20:267-277.

10.1016/S0304-3940(01)02427-2

Duffy JF, Dijk DJ, Hall EF, and Czeisler CA (1999) Relationship of endogenous circadian melatonin and temperature rhythms to self-reported preference for morning or evening activity in young and older people. J Investig Med 47:141-150.

10.1037/0735-7044.115.4.895

10.1093/embo-reports/kve070

10.2466/pms.2001.93.1.213

Ferrara M and De Gennaro L (2000) The sleep inertia phenomenon during the sleep-wake transition: Theoretical and operational issues. Aviat Space Environ Med 71:843-848.

Horne JA and Östberg O (1976) A self-assessment questionnaire to determine morningness-eveningness in human circadian rhythms. Int J Chronobiol 4:97-110.

10.1038/12502

10.1038/365250a0

10.1093/sleep/21.6.569

Klerman EB (2001) Non-photic effects on the circadian system: Results from experiments in blind and sighted individuals. In Zeitgebers, Entrainment and Masking of the Circadian System, K Honma and S Honma, eds, pp 155-169, Hokkaido University Press, Sapporo, Japan.

Okudaira N, Kripke DF, and Webster JB (1983) Naturalistic studies of human light exposure. Am J Physiol 245:R613-R615.

10.1007/BF01417856

Putilov A (2000) Association of the circadian phase with two morningness-eveningness scales of an enlarged version of the sleep-wake pattern assessment questionnaire. Arbeitswiss betriebl Praxis 17:317-322.

10.1016/S0140-6736(01)06108-6

10.1111/j.1751-1097.1997.tb03188.x

10.1016/S0960-9822(00)00739-9

10.1016/S0960-9822(02)00731-5

10.1016/0031-9384(86)90427-0

10.1016/S0191-8869(01)00098-8

10.1001/archpsyc.58.1.69

Terman M and White TM (2001) Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire—Self-assessment version (Auto MEQSA). Retrieved from www.cet.org

10.1126/science.1057499

10.1081/CBI-100107516

Wever R (1979) The Circadian System of Man, Springer, Berlin.

10.1016/0165-0327(95)00081-X

Wirz-Justice A, Graw P, Kräuchi K, and Wacker H-R (2002) Seasonality in affective disorders in Switzerland. Act Psychia Scand (Suppl). Forthcoming.

10.1038/35088576

Thông tin
Thông tin xuất bản

Journal of Biological Rhythms

Tập 18 Số 1

80-90

Thông tin tác giả