Camping Helps Set Circadian Clocks Straight

cold fjord writes "Counsel & Heal reports, 'Many people are stuck in the vicious cycle of late nights and late mornings. However, a new study reveals that a week of camping in the great outdoors may help people set their clocks straight. A new study, published in the journal Current Biology, reveals that if given a chance, our body's internal biological clocks will tightly synchronize to a natural, midsummer light-dark cycle. The study found that a week of exposure to true dawn and dusk with no artificial lights had a significant effect on people who might otherwise describe themselves as night owls. Researchers found that under those conditions, night owls quickly become early birds. "By increasing our exposure to sunlight and reducing our exposure to electrical lighting at night, we can turn our internal clock and sleep times back and likely make it easier to awaken and be alert in the morning," Kenneth Wright of the University of Colorado Boulder said in a news release.'"

Re:Surprise

[jones_supa]

With computers (blue lights destroys Melatonin and thus makes you less sleepy), days last longer and longer.

There's a neat program called f.lux [stereopsis.com] which smoothly cranks down your display's color temperature when the night comes. I'm not sure if it makes any big difference in terms of melatonin production, but it can create a bit more relaxing atmosphere to the evenings. Suits also yellowish indoor lighting.

Re:Why fix what ain't broken

[Samantha Wright]

Oh, but it is [wikipedia.org].

Re:Surprise

[xaxa]

Debian/Ubuntu/etc users could easily install the 'redshift' package: http://jonls.dk/redshift/ [jonls.dk]

If it helps, my config file at ~/.config/redshift.conf is:

; Global settings
[redshift]
temp-day=6400
temp-night=3900
location-provider=manual

; The location provider and adjustment method settings
; are in their own sections.
[manual]
lat=51.5
lon=-0.1

(Also, I'm disappointed to see "f.lux is patent pending" at the bottom of their page.)

On Android, I have added a "Night Mode" button. I think this is only possible with Cyanogenmod, and it's an on-off change, rather than the gradual change done with f.lux or redshift.

Re:I wonder if this works in Northern Lattitudes

[tverbeek]

I don't know what you consider "northern", but the two times I've spent a week on Isle Royale (48N) in July, I switched pretty quickly and easily to sleeping on a natural day/night schedule.