Solar-based sleep patterns compared to modern norms

Post by gonzalohm » Fri, May 15, 2026, 4:17 PM UTC

druskacik wrote: post #79

gonzalohm wrote: post #69

Not sure I get the point of the author. I really like the Mediterranean schedule but it's far from "solar based" we stay up until midnight normally. I like it from a different point of view, which is that stores are opened after I finish working. The average worker doesn't have time for a siesta in the middle of the day. But once you finish working at 5, things are still open. You can go to the dentist, you can go sh…

Time off of work to get a haircut is insane. Aren't there barbershops open in the evening?

Post by amunozo » Fri, May 15, 2026, 6:55 PM UTC

junga wrote: post #41

amunozo wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the true South European spirit! So many problems in life would become easier reducing the working hours .

In Germany it's a common prejudice that people in southern Europe work less. Data shows otherwise: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/w/d...

Post by amunozo » Fri, May 15, 2026, 7:01 PM UTC

andai wrote: post #59

broken-kebab wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This particular data doesn't show this. Just in case: I'm neither German nor Southern European, and I declare my neutrality. For starters, it shows time spent at work. Meanwhile employees can do varying amount of work in the same amount of time. And I suppose that's what those Germans you referring to mean. Second as the document notes: "The results are affected by the varying proportions of part-time workers across…

I read an article many years ago, by a man who was working 80 hour weeks. He analyzed his work and tried to optimize it. Eventually he cut his working hours in half, while actually doubling his output, because the shorter work hours required him to actually focus. He was, of course, self-employed, and could design his work week how he liked. I guess that's important for another reason: if someone else had been paying…

Post by pseudohadamard » Sat, May 16, 2026, 7:10 AM UTC

frereubu wrote: post #37

aarroyoc wrote: post #9

As someone who lives in Spain, a country that also has a tradition of siestas (that's where that name comes from after all), I have a lot of doubts and I think people romanticize the idea too much. First of all I have no doubts about the health benefit of siestas, but in the current society they have some issues. When I was younger I hated siestas because I had energy and everything was closed, you couldn't do anythi…

Also a huge difference between summer temperatures in, say, Galicia and Andalucía. Siestas make some sense in somewhere like Sevilla when temperatures top 40 degrees and it's hard to do anything anywhere that's not air conditioned, and particularly manual labour outside, but in Coruña when it's high 20s to mid 30s at most it's just not the same. (Although climate change is dragging both of those top temperatures up,…

Post by pseudohadamard » Sat, May 16, 2026, 7:31 AM UTC

opan wrote: post #7

niobe wrote: post #4

I think you, the breadwinner, did NOT go to the shops. Your wife did. I don't know when 9-5 started, but it kinds of smacks of the British being that regimented. By contrast, my observation is that MOST of the world's population still works from about an hour after dawn until early afternoon, or sometimes until dusk, depending on their age, job, station in life and the general level of resources they have versus what…

>I think you, the breadwinner, did NOT go to the shops. Your wife did. This is an interesting point. It makes me wonder what unmarried people did, though. I suppose if you stayed with family, your mother would go to the shops. Did young people not used to live on their own as commonly?