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Germany

Longitude Lag: Your Time-Zone Location May Be Affecting How You Sleep

A recent study compared the sleeping patterns of people living in western and eastern Germany, who all share the same time zone. When it comes to zzzz'ing: longitude matters!

Sleep deprived? Blame it on time zones! (hang_in_there)
Sleep deprived? Blame it on time zones! (hang_in_there)

Human beings have internal biological clocks that are set to the natural path of the sun. Our modern lives, however, are calibrated on a different time horizon. According to a recent study, published in the magazine Current Biology, the discrepancy between internal and social clocks creates a permanent social jet lag that may be at the origins of severe pathologies.

Till Roenneberg, Interim Director of the Institute of Medical Psychology Team at Munich University, led the study of the sleeping and waking behavior of several thousand Germans who were on vacation and without mandatory social or work requirement, in order to calculate the natural phases of sleep.

Comparing the behavior of people living in eastern and western Germany, the study shows that the average mid-sleep moment varies by four minutes for each degree of longitude. The consequence is that the mid-sleep moment for Germans who live near the western border happens 36 minutes after the midsleep moment of Germans who live along the eastern border.

This would seem to make sense, given that the sun takes exactly four minutes to move by each degree of longitude. The issue, though, is that time zones are not strictly based on this path. The time zone in eastern and western Germany is in fact the same. As a consequence, people who live on the western edge of a time zone suffer from sleep deprivation. The social jet leg is the exhaustion produced by this gap, and might lead to chronic disorders.

Read more from La Stampa. Original article in Italian by Rodolfo Costa.

Photo - hang_in_there

*This is a digest item, not a direct translation

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Murdoch's Resignation Adds To Biden Good Luck With The Media — A Repeat Of FDR?

Robert Murdoch's resignation from Fox News Corp. so soon before the next U.S. presidential elections begs the question of how directly media coverage has impacted Joe Biden as a figure, and what this new shift in power will mean for the current President.

Close up photograph of a opy of The Independent features Rupert Murdoch striking a pensive countenance as his 'News of the World' tabloid newspaper announced its last edition will run

July 7, 2011 - London, England: A copy of The Independent features Rupert Murdoch striking a pensive countenance as his 'News of the World' tabloid newspaper announced its last edition will run July 11, 2011 amid a torrid scandal involving phone hacking.

Mark Makela/ZUMA
Michael J. Socolow

Joe Biden was inaugurated as the 46th president of the United States of America on Jan. 20, 2021.

Imagine if someone could go back in time and inform him and his communications team that a few pivotal changes in the media would occur during his first three years in office.

There’s the latest news that Rubert Murdoch, 92, stepped down as the chairperson of Fox Corp. and News Corp. on Sept. 21, 2023. Since the 1980s, Murdoch, who will be replaced by his son Lachlan, has been the most powerful right-wing media executivein the U.S.

While it’s not clear whether Fox will be any tamer under Lachlan, Murdoch’s departure is likely good news for Biden, who reportedly despises the media baron.

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