TV Scheduling In America Has Overshadowed Natural Circadian Rhythms

March 9th, 2008

What does that mean? It means that TV has changed our cycles as much as anything according to a recent article in the Science Daily. Pretty interesting article I must say and it isn’t something I have ever given much consideration.

In their forthcoming article for the Journal of Labor Economics, “Cues for Timing and Coordination: Latitude, Letterman, and Longitude,” authors Daniel S. Hamermesh, Caitlin Knowles Myers, and Mark L. Pocock look at the brief fight between American’s natural timing cues — the circadian rhythms determined by the sun — and the man-made cues brought on within the last century, mainly by the creation of time zones and the television broadcast schedule. In this relatively brief time, they find, the markers for how we structure our day have been dramatically altered.

Reflecting on his own weekday television watching schedule, Hamermesh recalled, “I lived twenty years in the Eastern Time Zone, I used to stay up until 11:45 p.m. to watch the monologue on the Tonight Show. Living in Texas, I typically turn out the lights at 10:45 p.m., when the monologue is done.” After packing up his Delsey bags and moving an hour west he actually hits the hay an hour earlier. I actually didn’t realize the Tonight Show was on an hour earlier in Texas than it is on the east coast. Learn something new everyday, eh?

For their study, the authors turned to data provided by the unprecedented Bureau of Labor Statistics’ American Time Use Survey (ATUS), which enabled them to observe how Americans split their time between their three most time-consuming activities: work, sleep, and television watching.