Are you a B-person? February 18, 2008

 photo by axinia

Yes! Yes! Yes! – great news indeed for someone like me: it is scientifically proved that some people need to start working later. Denmark’s B-Society was found in order to advocates the rights of ” B-people” who are sluggish and bed-bound first thing, but whose energy spikes in the evening.

Every individual has their own biological rhythm (known as the “Circadian rhythm”), which means we have our very own sense of time and planning of time. There are lots of different kinds of circadian rhythms. Most people are B-persons,which means that their circadian rhythm has a cycle that runs through 25 hours or more. Science has shown that our biological rhythms through “a day” (i.e. “Nychthemeron” = “a day and a night) are regulated by a so-called “clock gene”.
 
B-persons have a clock gene lasting 25-27 hours, whereas A-persons have one that runs for approximately 23 hours.

Dr Roberto Refinetti,a biopsychologist at the University of South Carolina, is an expert on circadian rhythms. “These rhythms describe anything in the body that shows a daily oscillation,” he says. “Your temperature rises and falls at the same time every day and you probably feel drowsy at around the same time daily. But circadian rhythms also control your blood pressure, glucose levels and much more.”