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people naturally get a host of other cues that act as feedback on their circadian
I recall having heard the results of a study which stated when people are left without exposure to the day-night cycle, they begin to delay both sleeping and waking up - eventually falling into cycles much longer than 24 hrs. Looking online, however, I was unable to find anything of the sort.
I did find some interesting information on the Wikipedia Circadian Rhythm page - particularly concerning the criteria for a cycle to be considered a circadian rhythm, and the impact of the light-dark cycle.
I'd be interested in any further information or quality reading on the subject.
I recall having heard the results of a study which stated when people are left without exposure to the day-night cycle, they begin to delay both sleeping and waking up - eventually falling into cycles much longer than 24 hrs.
I remember hearing something like this, too - though it's not "much" longer than 24h. As I recall, it averaged to something a bit over 24.5h - and I remember somebody using this to support an absurd argument that life originated on Mars (!), which has a 24.6h day.
I'd be interested in any further information or quality reading on the subject.
I'm working from memory on it, too.
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RE: I think the conclusion goes a bit too far
Doesn't work that way. It's not 20min the first day, then 40min the second, then an hour the third. That happens in the rats because they're kept away from any obvious natural signals - like natural daylight.
Since people naturally get a host of other cues that act as feedback on their circadian - sunrise/sunset, work schedules, TV programming, and so on - it's far more difficult to throw it off than it seems. The effect of fat on the diet might contribute to destabilizing it, but unless they avoided most of the other factors, it's not likely to have much effect at all.
Besides, I doubt it could screw up my circadian any more than it already is. Between odd work schedules, emergency server problems, and so on, mine's been trashed for quite a while.
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