@Bacteriophagebs

1 year ago

Regarding that "third shift workers" thing: Imagine being like that your entire life. That's what 5-15% of all humans experience because they're naturally nocturnal (called "extreme night owls"). This was probably an evolutionary adaptation to allow someone to keep watch at night, but our society has decided that waking up in the afternoon and staying up all night is a moral failing of some kind and forces these people to fight their circadian rhythm from age 5 onward even if the parents allow it before that. Unsurprisingly, these people suffer from things like depression and Summer seasonal affective disorder (SAD) as well as sleep disorders and various stress-based maladies. Another 25-40% of people are not fully nocturnal but are "night owls" and naturally want to stay up past midnight. They have similar issues, but not as bad. The worst part is that finding these night owls and letting them work their natural schedule would alleviate so many of society's problems. Rush-hour traffic would vanish, along with roughly 40% of automotive pollution. Roads would need fewer expansions. Businesses could rent less office space, reducing urban sprawl and crowding as well as construction costs. Productivity would skyrocket. Emergency rooms would be less crowded in the evening if normal doctors' offices and urgent care clinics stayed open later. And of course depression and healthcare costs for those 30-55% of people would drop precipitously. But syncing our schedules to a system based on farming is better for some reason, I'm sure.

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