Study Finds That Starting Work Before 10 AM is Equal to Torture

As per Dr. Paul Kelley, a research scholar from Oxford University, it is torturous to report to work before 10 AM in the morning. In fact, he goes as far as to assert that it is one of the leading rampant methods of modern-day cruelty.

He substantiates his argument on the basis of the philosophies of the Circadian Rhythm, also known as the internal body clock. The theory represents how bodily functions adhere to an organic regulator with respect to the hours of the working day. These utilities of the body are embedded in our genetic material and standardize our perception of time as well as how the brain functions during the passage of a day. Moreover, it is also in charge of the production of hormones in our bodies as well as energy production and consumption.

It is on these bases that he substantiates his claims. As per Dr. Kelly, if our body is not in sync with our biological clock, it has ill-effects on the biological equilibrium of our bodies.

It was with the onset of industrialization and the march into the 20th century that various industries put the 8 hours of work into play as the industry standard. But the function of the biological timer was not taken into account whilst establishing these mandates.

These working hours damage the systems in our bodies since the emotional, physical, and performance structures in our body are not put to function at the most appropriate times that they should. He asserts that even seven days of mild sleep deprivation may result in consequential disturbances in our bodily functions. Apparently, when we do not get adequate sleep, 711 alterations occur in gene functionality.

He is also of the belief that small alterations in the work schedule can result in significant benefits in the human body. These changes that he suggests are in the context of when we start and finish working.

His claims are not just substantiated by him alone as quite a large number of neuroscientists across the globe share his opinions on the issue. It is also emphasized by them that it is important to comprehend the right functions that the body should undertake at various ages as well as take into consideration the changing cycles of sleep throughout various ages.

The prevalence of deficiency of sleep manifests in adolescence as most teenagers are naturally inclined to sleep much later at night than elder people. Which in turn leads teenagers to lose sleep as they are required to wake up early to go to school and perform other tasks. This is where the detail that the standardized work hours comes into play. Schools, in general, require their pupils to report to school pretty early in the morning, which in turn makes teenagers lose about ten hours of shut-eye every week.

In addition to the fact that school starts rather early for teenagers and teenagers stay awake at night, they also have the propensity to stay awake further during the weekend. It makes their bodies bear a greater workload to adjust to, from the biological clock point of view. The standard work hours rather make sense for people who are in the age bracket of 50 to 60 years.

One school in Britain put this theory into use. Dr. Kelly asserts that schools must start between about 08:30 in the morning to 10:00 am in the morning rather than the usually standardized class timings. Once this regulation was implemented, it turned out that the performance of the pupils had improved as well as an increase in the overall levels of productivity. Absenteeism had also witnessed a decline.

This goes towards showing that this theory might be worth applying in various aspects of our lives.