Sleep all weekend can be a pleasure, although we are given some much better than others. It is much more likely to raise a teenager at noon than they do their parents, even within age groups there are also differences at the individual level.
Why? It is well known that teenagers tend to sleep later than mature adults do and we each have our natural rhythm. However, we are not as slaves of our biological clocks as it might seem. If you get out of bed on a Sunday you find it difficult even after sleeping long hours, there may be something you can do about it.
The body clock produces rhythms that make us be alert during the day while the body temperature is high and allow us to sleep at night while our body temperature is low. That clock has evolved to match the cycle of light and dark cycles and associated temperature, for example, created by the rotation of the earth. However, what happens now that the artificial light causes are in control of these cycles?
Seeing the light
In the sixties, Jurgen Aschoff and Wever Rutger studied the rhythms of temperature and body sleep in humans. They placed volunteers in windowless basements and underground bunkers without access to natural light cycle of 24 hours or watches of any kind.
In most experiments, the lights were on continuously and volunteers had no control over the light-dark cycle (except close your eyes during sleep). However, in one of the experiments, the volunteers could turn off the lights when they wanted to go to sleep and turn them on again to rise.
Volunteers who could control the light saw their sleep patterns and the rhythm of his body temperature went to occur later. In more than 40% of cases, the dream was no longer in sync with your body temperature.
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The hunter-gatherers who only have fires as a source of artificial light go to sleep shortly after sunset and rise at dawn. Although the light of a small dream cannot influence our body clock, the artificial light to which we are exposed at night it can. Specifically, it prevents the synthesis of melatonin, the hormone that facilitates sleep, drowsiness and represses.
If you stay awake much later than the sunset and the next day you have to go to work, you wake up because it sounds the alarm and not because your body is ready. However, it is not the fault of the alarm that you are not rested enough.
THOSE WITH A SLOW BODY CLOCK TEND TO SLEEP LESS DURING THE WEEK AND THEN SLEEP MORE DURING THE WEEKEND
Somehow, we get into a bunker Aschoff-Wever every night. Why turn off the lights and go to bed if you are not sleepy? You should continue to work, socialize or relax. This results in your body clock is out of sync with the natural light-dark cycle. During the weekend you may go to sleep at the same time or later and then stay asleep until you have cleared your debt with sleep and your body clock tells you it’s time to get up.
The difference between the hours of sleep during the weekdays and the weekend is known as jet lag social. Normally it is said that our work schedules or as early college or our body clocks are what cause us problems but that does not follow the previous example.
Our ability to disrupt our body clocks with artificial light is the last thing we should blame.
Catching up
The difference between sleep duration during the week and during the weekend is higher in adolescents and young adults and is decreasing, as we grow older. This is due in part to our need for sleep decreases with age.
Teenagers may need nine hours of sleep or more but reach 50 become seven or eight. Hence, although a boy and middle – aged person with similar schedules, sleep debt accumulated and the different between the dream of weekdays and weekend is greater in adolescence.
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While a group of adults of similar ages some sleep later and during the weekends than others. Without the confounding effects of artificial light, some have body clocks that are fast in nature and last less than 24 hours, while many have slow clocks that last longer than 24 hours.
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SLEEP DURATION DURING THE WEEK AND THE WEEKEND IS HIGHER IN ADOLESCENTS AND YOUNG ADULTS AND IS DECREASING AS WE GROW OLDER
Those with a slow body clock tend to sleep less during the week and then sleep more during the weekend. In addition, other individual differences may contribute to changes in sleep habits weekend. Some are more sensitive to light than other night, which means that our melatonin is more suppressed. This can lead to go to bed later, greater sleep debt, a clock later and finally to sleep more on weekends.
From a biological perspective on the regulation of sleep times and recognizing how we separated from the natural world influencing our biology form of unwanted conduct with decisions, we can understand individual differences in sleep habits weekend.
So do not throw the blame only your alarm. Sleeping more during the week, reducing excessive exposure to light at night and making sure that we see the morning light, we can reduce the social jetlag and wake up more rested.
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