Do you have social jet lag? (free video)

Posted on Sun, 10 Jun 12

Most of us are just not designed for early working hours and tend to adjust our sleeping patterns to try and compensate only to develop “social jet lag” which has been linked to a host of health problems.

Studies have shown that people tend to have different biological clocks with some of us better suited to early rising (larks) and others a later time to bed (owls).

The societal norms of waking early for work interferes with the biological clock of owls and creates a large sleep debt that they tend to try and compensate for on weekends. This discrepancy of sleep time between the work week and weekends is comparable to jet lag and has hence been coined “social jet lag.

Social jet lag is though to affect over 70% of the population and to be responsible for the majority of the decline in sleep hours over the last decade.

Linked to increased stimulant use including caffeinated soft drinks, alcohol, and cigarettes, low mood, risk of developing depression and weight gain social jet lag may be a more serious problem than has been appreciated (1-3).

Watch leading researcher Professor Till Ronnenberg explain:

References:

1. Wittmann M, Dinich J, Merrow M, Roenneberg T. Social jetlag: misalignment of biological and social time. Chronobiol Int. 2006;23(1-2):497-509.

2. Levandovski R, Dantas G, Fernandes LC, Caumo W, Torres I, Roenneberg T, Hidalgo MP, Allebrandt KV. Depression scores associate with chronotype and social jetlag in a rural population. Chronobiol Int. 2011 Nov;28(9):771-8.

3. Roenneberg T, Allebrandt KV, Merrow M, Vetter C. Social jetlag and obesity. Curr Biol. 2012 May 22;22(10):939-43.