Social jet lag: need a smoke?People who have a hard time waking in the morning because their bodies' internal clocks are out of syne syne Scots adv. 1. Before now; ago. 2. Afterward; since then; since. 3. Thereupon; next. conj. Since. prep. Since. with their sleep schedules are said to have "social jet lag jet lag Period of adjustment of biological rhythm after moving from one time zone to another, experienced as fatigue and lowered efficiency. It reflects a delay in the synchronization of changes in the level of blood cortisol, the major steroid produced by the adrenal cortex " Researchers in Europe have determined that the phenomenon strongly correlates with smoking. Battling one's biological clock can leave people weary in the same way as traveling across several time zones can, says Till Roenneberg of Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich. Roenneberg's team developed a questionnaire to determine when a person's internal clock is genetically set to have him or her to sleep or be awake. The researchers then gave the questionnaire to some 40,000 people to collect details about their sleeping schedules. The team determined that more than half the study participants routinely go to bed at least 2 hours later or wake at least 2 hours earlier than the times set by their biological clocks Biological clocks Self-sustained circadian (approximately 24-hour) rhythms regulating daily activities such as sleep and wakefulness were described as early as 1729. . The scientists then administered follow-up lifestyle questionnaires to 500 participants. People with significant social jet lag were at least three times as likely to be smokers as were people who didn't experience the sleeping problem. Some 30 percent of people experiencing 2 hours of social jet lag daily were smokers, and the smoking rate spiked spike 1 n. 1. a. A long, thick, sharp-pointed piece of wood or metal. b. A heavy nail. 2. A spikelike part or projection, as: a. to 60 percent in people typically living at least 4 hours out of sync Out of Sync: A Memoir is the upcoming autobiography of American pop singer Lance Bass, set to be published on October 23, 2007. It features an introduction by Marc Eliot, a New York Times with their bodies' clocks. |
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