Re:Let Teenagers Sleep In
by devxpy on Sunday September 23, 2018 @01:55PM
(#18052248)
The book even has a number on this!
> The second unexpected—and more profound—result was that their reliably repeating cycles of
wake and sleep were not precisely twenty-four hours in length, but consistently and undeniably
longer than twenty-four hours. Richardson, in his twenties, developed a sleep-wake cycle of
between twenty-six and twenty-eight hours in length. That of Kleitman, in his forties, was a little
closer to, but still longer than, twenty-four hours. Therefore, when removed from the external
influence of daylight, the internally generated “day” of each man was not exactly twenty-four
hours, but a little more than that. Like an inaccurate wristwatch whose time runs long, with
each passing (real) day in the outside world, Kleitman and Richardson began to add time based
on their longer, internally generated chronometry.
> The second unexpected—and more profound—result was that their reliably repeating cycles of wake and sleep were not precisely twenty-four hours in length, but consistently and undeniably longer than twenty-four hours. Richardson, in his twenties, developed a sleep-wake cycle of between twenty-six and twenty-eight hours in length. That of Kleitman, in his forties, was a little closer to, but still longer than, twenty-four hours. Therefore, when removed from the external influence of daylight, the internally generated “day” of each man was not exactly twenty-four hours, but a little more than that. Like an inaccurate wristwatch whose time runs long, with each passing (real) day in the outside world, Kleitman and Richardson began to add time based on their longer, internally generated chronometry.