Is Early Rising a Problem for you?

I hope school adminstrators see this. I should forward this to the Registrar at the U of M. I don't think it will be hard to prove that:
No graduate student can perform useful work before 11 am; perhaps he/she can do some 'work' before 3pm, if supplied with enough coffee.

From the latest Nature Editorial:
That's not to say that scientific advances can't already help to inform educational policy. For instance, there is now a solid body of evidence that sleep patterns change significantly with age — and that, as a result, it makes little sense to wake teenagers up early to go to school, when their attention will be low as a natural consequence of their daily rhythms. Education authorities and schools are starting to hear this message, and some are adjusting their schedules accordingly.

The report on the NSF funded studies. I agree with Dr. Bauer in being skeptical about applying scientific methods too soon - except the one quoted above.

6 comments:

Javed said...

Reminded me of this from an episode of Seinfeld :)
Kramer: Alarm clocks? I never use 'em. Don't trust 'em.
Jerry: What do you do?
Kramer: I have a uh...mental alarm. I set my head for... quarter to seven and...(makes sound with the lips - "pop!") ...I get up!
Jerry: Always works?
Kramer: It never fails. See, it's based on your body clock. See, your body has an internal mechanism. It knows what time it is.

Wavefunction said...

As for me, the morbid fear of deadlines the next day keeps my natural body clock (usually) working in top condition!
I think that in general though, we are becoming too addicted to the late-sleeper late-riser culture. Now, it would be great if EVERYONE was subscribing to the same habit. Unfortunately, some irksome human beings, and especially the ones from that peculiar brand called 'Professors', insist on getting to their office at 8.30 a.m. and arranging meetings with their students at that time...

Anonymous said...

I have to rise early sometimes. (Early would mean at around five-thirty) For academic reasons or to practice some sport. But otherwise I sleep and rise late. Woke up at 11:00 AM today. :)

hirak said...

Ashutosh:
If proffs also students at some time don't they understand? My prof. scheduled lab meetings at 8:30am on Monday mornings last year!! Due to the general low turnout he moved them to 1pm this year which has proved to be more productive.

Sumeet: Consider yourself as an outlier.

Anirudh: I hear you!

Anonymous said...

Hirak,

I've noticed that a lot of Helicon members are interested in reading regional Indian literature in translation. Why don't we make August the "Indian Literature (not in English)" month. Perhaps all of us will get to learn more about Premchand, J.P.Dalvi, Mahashweta Devi, Tagore, O.V.Vijayan etc. And it might turn out to be very different from other kinds of writing. I wonder if there is a common thread that runs through Indian literature. I have noticed similarities between various Latin American authors and American authors. So...what do you say?

hirak said...

Great idea! I will suggest this on the blog. It would be helpful if we had fewer, but well chosen nominees to make voting easier and to avoid splitting of the votes.