Hypothetical question about working/sleeping hours

[tanithryudo]

Yes, I'm resuming the SG fic series I had going. Got more outlines jotted down; I just need to sit down and actually write the darn scenes. Anyway, I got a hypothetical question I'd like to throw out there...

Say you got an alien planet that you want to put a base on - not colonize - just a small base for mining, science, military, whatever, which will be primarily supplied by Earth for food, equipment, etc. Though the people staffed there will be living there for months at a time.

Let's say this alien planet has a 36 hour day. Day/night split is about 50-50%, give or take the season. Three visible moons - so maybe night time not as dark as on Earth (but then again also less artificial light pollution than Earth). Gravity and air content about the same as Earth. Climate is very desert like - lots of sand dunes; very little savannah, if any at all - think ancient Egypt. A couple oases here and there.

How would you split the work day for the human workers you're sending over? I would assume that you'd naturally want to sleep in the middle of the night. You probably want to siesta in the middle of the day 'cuz it's too hot. Maybe working hours are 05:00-10:00 and 22:00-27:00, with sleeping hours of 28:00-04:00 and 14:00-18:00 (or 12:00-20:00 and 30:00-02:00)?

Comments

[cashew.insanejournal.com]

Well, if you want the hard science, humans don't do well on a 36-hour day. For example, on subs, they run a similar thing (for shift work so the commanding officer sees every single rotating sailor), and submariners suffer lots of sleep deprivation and circadian screw up, thanks to the system. Humans simply are not capable of entraining to a cycle that isn't 24 hours, the molecular clock just doesn't work that way.

So in theory, you'll want humans under complete artificial lighting and give them 24-hour cycles. At least if you want them to stay sane for long periods of time. (Submariners get normal sleep every few weeks because if they didn't rotate them off the sub - as they've learned the hard way - sailors will go batshit.)

[tanithryudo.insanejournal.com]

Just heard a radio story about this during the drive to work this morning (KQED) - some story about circadian rhythms and how studies showed that flight attendants had lower scores and smaller brains than airport workers; and how hamsters that were jet lagged had less brain growth than normal hamsters...

Anyway, I've got a follow up question. Say you throw a bunch of primitive humans onto a 36-hour planet for 5-10 thousand years (and thousands of generations). Would that be enough time for them to adjust to the new cycle (and feel weird if they ever come back to Earth's 24 hour day) or would that kind of evolution take longer than that?

[cashew.insanejournal.com]

Well, fucking with the body's internal clock does reduce neurogenesis, but saying smaller brains is a pretty large jump from neurogenesis. :p

And no, 5-10 thousand years is not enough time to adjust, because the 24-hour cycle is hardwired from when life started. There is a direct connection between DNA transcription and the biological cycles, so unless a mutation popped up or some special epigenetics are happening, I don't see any adaptation within that frame of time.

[tanithryudo.insanejournal.com]

Hm... according to wiki (not a great source I know), if the SCN is destroyed, it results in the absence of a sleep/wake rhythm. Is that the same thing as the 24 hour cycle or is that still going to bad for you if you sleep off-cycle under that?

In other words, what's an easy way I can make the 36 cycles work without having to resort to hand waving/technobabble.