Expert urges schools and workplaces to rethink the eight-to-four day

Not everyone functions best at eight in the morning, and schools and workplaces should do more to accommodate differences in people’s biological rhythms, chronobiology expert Camilla Kring told DR.

Ølgod Efterskole, a school, now allows students to sleep longer on Tuesday mornings. The aim is to give them a break from the alarm during a point in the week when the weekend is over and the next break still seems far away.

“Our experience is that the young people need to recharge so they can also be alert towards the end of the week,” the school’s principal, Martin Bruun Kristensen, said.

Kring, a civil engineer, PhD and expert in applied chronobiology, said the initiative was a positive example of how schools and workplaces could better account for different sleep patterns.

Teenagers are biologically inclined towards later bedtimes and later wake-up times, she said.

“Teenagers are evening types, what are called late chronotypes. It is natural for them to fall asleep later and get up later, and they should be given the opportunity to do so,” Kring said.

She said society’s fixed schedules dated back to agricultural and industrial societies, despite major changes in family life and technology.

“Is it not strange that we are still clinging to the eight-to-four society as the only right way?” she said.

Fixed start times at nurseries, schools and workplaces particularly favour morning types, Kring said. The issue was biological, rather than a question of willpower or better habits, she added.

She called for more flexible start times, greater employee influence over shift schedules and fewer prejudices against starting later. Allowing people to work in line with their internal clocks could increase productivity, she said.

Kring also said greater understanding was needed for people who did not function according to the norm. Some people may feel lazy or wrong because they do not perform best at seven in the morning or struggle with social plans after 8pm, she said.

“It would be a gain both for the individual and for society,” Kring said.