Social Jetlag: Misalignment of Biological and Social Time

May 12, 2006Chronobiology international

Social jetlag: when body clock and daily schedule don’t match

AI simplified

Circadian Biology on OpenScience ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Abstract

A total of 501 volunteers participated in an analysis of sleep patterns and psychological wellbeing.

Chronotype is regulated by genetic variations and environmental influences, creating a range from early to late types.
Late chronotypes experience significant discrepancies in sleep timing between workdays and free days, leading to sleep debt.
Social jetlag describes the misalignment between social schedules and biological sleep preferences.
Sleep quality and psychological wellbeing are linked to individual chronotype and social jetlag, particularly in teenagers and young adults.
A notable correlation exists between late chronotypes and higher smoking rates across most age groups, except retirees.
These findings suggest that adapting work and school schedules to align with chronotype could enhance wellbeing.

AI simplified

Humans show large differences in the preferred timing of their sleep and activity. This so-called "chronotype" is largely regulated by the circadian clock. Both genetic variations in clock genes and environmental influences contribute to the distribution of chronotypes in a given population, ranging from extreme early types to extreme late types with the majority falling between these extremes. Social (e.g., school and work) schedules interfere considerably with individual sleep preferences in the majority of the population. Late chronotypes show the largest differences in sleep timing between work and free days leading to a considerable sleep debt on work days, for which they compensate on free days. The discrepancy between work and free days, between social and biological time, can be described as 'social jetlag.' Here, we explore how sleep quality and psychological wellbeing are associated with individual chronotype and/or social jetlag. A total of 501 volunteers filled out the Munich ChronoType Questionnaire (MCTQ) as well as additional questionnaires on: (i) sleep quality (SF-A), (ii) current psychological wellbeing (Basler Befindlichkeitsbogen), (iii) retrospective psychological wellbeing over the past week (POMS), and (iv) consumption of stimulants (e.g., caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol). Associations of chronotype, wellbeing, and stimulant consumption are strongest in teenagers and young adults up to age 25 yrs. The most striking correlation exists between chronotype and smoking, which is significantly higher in late chronotypes of all ages (except for those in retirement). We show these correlations are most probably a consequence of social jetlag, i.e., the discrepancies between social and biological timing rather than a simple association to different chronotypes. Our results strongly suggest that work (and school) schedules should be adapted to chronotype whenever possible.

Full Text

Full text is available at the source.

View full text ↗

Social Jetlag: Misalignment of Biological and Social Time

Abstract

Full Text

You found one interesting study. We’ll send the next 7.

what lands in your inbox each week:

Recent issues from the circadian biology brief

Abstract

Full Text

Related papers

You found one interesting study. We’ll send the next 7.

what lands in your inbox each week:

Recent issues from the circadian biology brief