And, no, I'm not talking about the new series on Fox. <tangent> Although it is a really good series and I would strongly suggest that you go and watch it whenever you can. </tangent> I'm talking about the real clock and the fact that the day is divided into 24 hours.
Actually, it's not even so much that the day is divided into 24 hours. My problem is more with the slavish devotion that people have to that particular rhythm. One of the distinctions that people tend to make is between "morning people" and "night people". Morning people are the ones who are happy to get up in the morning, they're well-rested and ready to take on the day. Night people tend to be late-risers (or at least want to be) and don't really wake up until after noon, but can work long hours into the night.
I'll freely admit that I'm a night person. I usually start really waking up at around 9:00 or 10:00 at night. However, upon further thought (and some recent full nights of sleep), I've come to a different realization. What if it's not about morning people and night people? What if it's all just different Circadian rhythms?
I've occasionally pondered why it is that I seem so "broken" when compared with everyone else's cycle. After all, given half a chance, I still like to get a good 8 hours or so sleep a night. But, and here's the part that I think is important, the subsequent 16 hours of being awake and aware doesn't leave me tired enough for another 8 hours of sleep. So I wind up either staying awake longer (and then shorting myself on sleep) or "forcing" myself to go to sleep (what a misnomer) and not getting a very restful night out of it anyway.
So what's the solution? I haven't got a clue. But, based on some surfing earlier today, there are people who've talked about a 28 hour day and the New Hacker's Dictionary also talks about wrapping around to a 28 hour day.
The 28 hours that they (and others) talk about is more of a convenience given the existing 7 day / 24 hour week. After all, you can have 6 28-hour days in the same span as everyone else's 7 24-hour days. I'm not sure that 28's the right number for me, although I'm definitely coming to the conclusion that 24 is not the right number.
Which leads to an interesting question: If I really am put out by a 24 hour schedule, how on earth do I convince other people that I should be released from it? And, for that matter, what would "release" look like? If you've got some thoughts on the matter, please feel free to drop me a line. I'm curious to hear other people's thoughts on this.
Author: ben@tmk.com