24 Hours Not Enough? See The Light

Pulses Of Bright Light May Reset Body Clock And Stretch The Day To 25 Hours

(WebMD)  Get ready for the 25-hour day. A new study, funded by NASA, shows that it's possible to cram an extra hour into the day.

The researchers included Charles Czeisler, MD, PhD, director of the sleep medicine division at Harvard Medical School and chief of the sleep medicine division at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital.

They studied 12 healthy young adults (average age: 28) who volunteered to spend 65 days living in individual rooms without windows, clocks, or any other time cues.

Before the experiment began, the volunteers got eight hours of nightly sleep at home for at least three weeks.

When they reported to the lab, they spent three days on a normal 24-hour day. Then the researchers tweaked the hours of light and darkness to pinpoint the participants' natural circadian rhythm, commonly called the "body clock."

Next, the scientists tacked on an extra hour of light to each participants' natural amount of daily wakefulness.

The researchers didn't just leave the lights on for an extra hour. At the end of each "day," the scientists cranked up the light in the overhead fluorescent lights, delivering two pulses of extremely bright light.

The bright light pulses were nearly 10 times brighter than normal room light, according to the study.

After the pulses of bright light, participants didn't go to sleep right away. They stayed up an extra hour, effectively getting 25 hours per day.

Participants stayed on the 25-hour-day cycle for a month. They adjusted to the schedule, judging by their core body temperature and levels of melatonin, a hormone involved in circadian rhythms.

Before leaving the lab, participants spent three days on a normal 24-hour schedule.

The findings may come in handy if astronauts go to Mars. A Martian day lasts for 24.65 earthly hours, note the researchers. They argue that without resetting the body clock to a 25-hour day, astronauts on Mars would be constantly jetlagged, which could be dangerous.

Of course, Mars-bound astronauts aren't the only people with circadian rhythm issues. Shift workers and people with sleep disorders may also have body clock problems.

The researchers write that "the implications of these findings are important, because they could be used to treat circadian misalignment associated with space flight, shift work, and circadian rhythm sleep disorders."

The study appears online in the early edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[weareone2]

This article doesn't tell us if there were any bad effects. Did the people feel well-rested? Were their immune systems or memory affected? Sleep deprivation is known to have various negative effects on health and cognition, including lowering one's life expectancy.

Go GrammaWhamma. I have worked nightshift too, and I can add to your list. Construction workers start at 7:00am, so do lawn maintenence people. God forbid you have to call repairmen for anything, their hours are during your prime sleep.

Though I have to say, there is nothing like going to bed when everyone is gone and the house is completely quiet.

[thenate3]

Stupid and ignorant educators still do not accept the wisdom of nature's harmonic simultaneous 4-day TIME CUBE. 25 hour day is nothing to 96-hour day.

[genfigter]

my mind says,
minimum 100 hrs/day will give self satisfication and increased life expectancy.
0 , 1 , 2 , 5 , 10 ,100 these numbers can be easily remembered by us , by using these numbers simplyfies our life(brain don't likes fractions also mixture of anything).

[gordon.couger]

Why not shoot for the 30 hour mode computer programmers use to get more done in a day. Work 20 sleep 10. With drugs Provigil and some of the newer sleep inducing drugs why worry with our natural clock.

Gordon

[asor1-2009]

Slow news day, huh? Maybe someone can come across a jesusCheeseBurger.

[asor1-2009]

Slow news day, huh? Maybe someone can come across a jesusCheeseBurger.

[asor1-2009]

Slow news day, huh? Maybe someone can come across a jesusCheeseBurger.

[grammawhamma]

WOW...this study may come in handy incase astronauts going to Mars might get jet lag. Give me a break!! I worked the night shift for 30 plus years. I know it is a day shift workers world. Telephone calls start early in the morning from friends, businesses, solicitors etc. Business hours, doctor hours etc. don't fit into your schedule. Mandatory attendence meetings at work are scheduled for the day shift. People think you are lazy if you sleep till noon. And the list goes on. Maybe do a study on how to make the night shift workers lives easier...educate the population that gets up with the sun and expects the whole world to do the same!!