Tag

Circadian

All articles tagged with #circadian

Mind After Midnight: The Brain Changes at Night, Elevating Cravings and Risk
science19 days ago

Mind After Midnight: The Brain Changes at Night, Elevating Cravings and Risk

Researchers describe the Mind After Midnight hypothesis, arguing the brain doesn't just sleep at night but reconfigures after midnight—heightening attention to negative cues, increasing cravings, and reducing self-control, especially with sleep loss. This nocturnal brain state is linked to higher suicide risk and more risky behaviors, though evidence is limited and more work is needed to understand how circadian timing affects reward processing and health.

Orbiting daylight: how the ISS keeps a human day with engineered light
space2 months ago

Orbiting daylight: how the ISS keeps a human day with engineered light

With ~90-minute orbits yielding 16 sunrises and sunsets each day, the ISS keeps a 24-hour rhythm not by the Sun but by UTC scheduling, window management, and a smart lighting system that shifts from day (neutral/blue-enriched) to pre-sleep (warm) and alertness (cool). Astronauts still average about six hours of sleep, using sleep shifts when needed; future missions will rely even more on engineered daylight since there may be no Earth sunrise to cue the body.