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Background Daily rhythms are observed in humans and almost all other organisms. Most of these observed rhythms reflect both underlying endogenous circadian rhythms and evoked responses from behaviours such as sleep/wake, eating/fasting, rest/activity, posture changes and exercise. For many research and clinical purposes, it is important to understand the contribution of the endogenous circadian component to these observed rhythms. Content The goal of this manuscript is to provide guidance on best practices in measuring metrics of endogenous circadian rhythms in humans and promote the inclusion of circadian rhythms assessments in studies of health and disease. Circadian rhythms affect all aspects of physiology. By specifying minimal experimental conditions for studies, we aim to improve the quality, reliability and interpretability of research into circadian and daily (i.e., time‐of‐day) rhythms and facilitate the interpretation of clinical and translational findings within the context of human circadian rhythms. We describe protocols, variables and analyses commonly used for studying human daily rhythms, including how to assess the relative contributions of the endogenous circadian system and other daily patterns in behaviours or the environment. We conclude with recommendations for protocols, variables, analyses, definitions and examples of circadian terminology. Conclusion Although circadian rhythms and daily effects on health outcomes can be challenging to distinguish in practice, this distinction may be important in many clinical settings. Identifying and targeting the appropriate underlying (patho)physiology is a medical goal. This review provides methods for identifying circadian effects to aid in the interpretation of published work and the inclusion of circadian factors in clinical research and practice. Understanding the contribution of the endogenous circadian system to observed time‐of‐day rhythms can yield insights that further health‐related research and optimize clinical treatments and increase life expectancy. This manuscript provides guidance on best practices in measuring and distinguishing endogenous circadian rhythms from time‐of‐day rhythms in a variety of settings.

Mobile technologies, with their seamless integration into people's everyday life, are said to enable \"perpetual contact\" with the users always accompanied by their mobile devices. This creates unprecedented opportunity to better understand the relationship between time and information technologies (ITs), in particular, how time of day may influence users' IT behavior. With this understanding, companies may also be able to promote IT products by highlighting their value that appeals to users in a particular time segment of a day. Building primarily on the ego depletion theory and through conducting a combination of field experiment and survey, we show that matching IT product value appeal to people's psychological state during different times of day can lead to more optimal outcome (higher adoption). The findings advance our understanding of how IT behavior, as a behavior embedded in time, is affected by time of day, and provide actionable guidance to practitioners in performing mobile time-based targeting.

When rats are given daily sessions of access to activity wheels, the amount that they run can increase over sessions. In addition to the suggestion that this could indicate the development of an addiction, there are alternative explanations. The present study tested whether running at a fixed time of day (ToD) might allow stronger entrainment of circadian rhythms than running at varied ToDs. In two experiments, Fixed groups of male rats were given 90-min wheel sessions at a fixed ToD during their dark period, while such sessions for Varied groups were given at times that varied over days between early in or in the middle of the dark period. In addition, each experiment also contained inactive controls in order to assess running-induced changes in body weight. Daily wheel sessions were given for 12 days in Experiment 1 and for 18 days in Experiment 2 to younger rats. In Experiment 1 the Fixed groups ran more each day, whereas little increase was found in the Varied groups. In Experiment 2 this difference was found only for rats in the Fixed condition whose sessions were held in the middle of the dark period. Independent of condition, rats ran more in the middle than early in the dark period. As previously reported, the rats given wheel access consumed less food and gained less weight than inactive rats. In conclusion, the results provided support for the proposal that wheel sessions at a fixed ToD entrain circadian rhythms and thus facilitate increases in running.

A significant body of research has investigated the effects of physical activity on sleep, yet this research has not been systematically aggregated in over a decade. As a result, the magnitude and moderators of these effects are unclear. This meta-analytical review examines the effects of acute and regular exercise on sleep, incorporating a range of outcome and moderator variables. PubMed and PsycINFO were used to identify 66 studies for inclusion in the analysis that were published through May 2013. Analyses reveal that acute exercise has small beneficial effects on total sleep time, sleep onset latency, sleep efficiency, stage 1 sleep, and slow wave sleep, a moderate beneficial effect on wake time after sleep onset, and a small effect on rapid eye movement sleep. Regular exercise has small beneficial effects on total sleep time and sleep efficiency, small-to-medium beneficial effects on sleep onset latency, and moderate beneficial effects on sleep quality. Effects were moderated by sex, age, baseline physical activity level of participants, as well as exercise type, time of day, duration, and adherence. Significant moderation was not found for exercise intensity, aerobic/anaerobic classification, or publication date. Results were discussed with regards to future avenues of research and clinical application to the treatment of insomnia.

This paper proposes a novel two-order optimization model of the division of time-of-day control segmented points of road intersection to address the limitations of the randomness of artificial experience, avoid the complex multi-factor division calculation, and optimize the traditional model over traffic safety and data-driven methods. For the first-order optimization—that is, deep optimization of the model input data—we first increase the dimension of traditional traffic flow data by data-driven and traffic safety methods, and develop a vector quantity to represent the size, direction, and time frequency with conflict point traffic of the total traffic flow at a certain intersection for a period by introducing a 3D vector of intersection traffic flow. Then, a time-series segmentation algorithm is used to recurse the distance amongst adjacent vectors to obtain the initial scheme of segmented points, and the segmentation points are finally divided by the combination of the preliminary scheme. For the second-order optimization—that is, model adaptability analysis—the traffic flow data at intersections are subjected to standardised processing by five-number summary. The different traffic flow characteristics of the intersection are categorised by the K central point clustering algorithm of big data, and an applicability analysis of each type of intersection is conducted by using an innovated piecewise point division model. The actual traffic flow data of 155 intersections in Yuecheng District, Shaoxing, China, in 2016 are tested. Four types of intersections in the tested range are evaluated separately by the innovated piecewise point division model and the traditional total flow segmentation model on the basis of Synchro 7 simulation software. It is shown that when the innovated double-order optimization model is used in the intersection according to the ‘hump-type’ traffic flow characteristic, its control is more accurate and efficient than that of the traditional total flow segmentation model. The total delay time is reduced by approximately 5.6%. In particular, the delay time in the near-peak-flow buffer period is significantly reduced by approximately 17%. At the same time, the traffic accident rate has also dropped significantly, effectively improving traffic safety at intersections.

Students may not express their creativity uniformly, across all settings and under all conditions. Creativity is sensitive to expected evaluations, for example, and likely to vary when the individual is alone, in a small group, or in a large group. Quite a bit of research has demonstrated that certain conditions can be created to support creative thinking by students. The present study focused on two key factors that may impact divergent thinking (DT) performance: classroom setting and time of the day. DT is the capacity to generate ideas along diverse cognitive pathways. It can be contrasted with convergent thinking, where cognitive processes lead to one correct or conventional solution. Divergent thinking, in contrast, often leads to original and unconventional ideas. The sample consisted of 160 female students from Saudi Arabia (80 gifted and 80 nongifted) in grades 10 to 12. Two DT tests were administered: the Alternative Uses Test (AUT) and the Figural Divergent Thinking Test. A repeated measures ANOVA indicated that verbal and figural fluency performance was higher in the art room than in the regular classroom. Moreover, the difference in verbal flexibility performance between the two settings was larger for nongifted students than gifted students. The differences between the settings in figural and verbal originality were not statistically significant, although gifted and nongifted students both performed better in the art room. Another repeated measure ANOVA was performed to test whether or not there was a difference in DT performance related to the time of the school day (first vs. second half). The results showed no differences between DT performance due to the time of the day except for verbal originality in the regular classroom during the second half of the school day. Limitations and future research of the current study are discussed.

Are people more moral in the morning than in the afternoon? We propose that the normal, unremarkable experiences associated with everyday living can deplete one's capacity to resist moral temptations. In a series of four experiments, both undergraduate students and a sample of U.S. adults engaged in less unethical behavior (e.g., less lying and cheating) on tasks performed in the morning than on the same tasks performed in the afternoon. This morning morality effect was mediated by decreases in moral awareness and self-control in the afternoon. Furthermore, the effect of time of day on unethical behavior was found to be stronger for people with a lower propensity to morally disengage. These findings highlight a simple yet pervasive factor (i.e., the time of day) that has important implications for moral behavior.

Using a new data source permitting individuals to record their well-being via a smartphone, we explore within-person variance in individuals' well-being measured momentarily at random points in time. We find paid work is ranked lower than any of the other 39 activities individuals can report engaging in, with the exception of being sick in bed. Precisely how unhappy one is while working varies significantly with where you work; whether you are combining work with other activities; whether you are alone or with others; and the time of day or night you are working.

•Early small studies provide mixed evidence for effects of time of vaccination on antibody response.•This is the first large scale randomised trial of different times of vaccination.•Morning vaccination enhances the antibody response to the influenza vaccine.•This simple manipulation is cost neutral and may improve protection from influenza in older adults. Older adults are less able to produce a protective antibody response to vaccinations. One factor that contributes to this is immune ageing. Here we examined whether diurnal variations in immune responses might extend to the antibody response to vaccination. We utilised a cluster-randomised trial design. 24 General Practices (GPs) across the West Midlands, UK who were assigned to morning (9–11am; 15 surgeries) or afternoon (3–5pm; 9 surgeries) vaccination times for the annual UK influenza vaccination programme. 276 adults (aged 65+ years and without a current infection or immune disorder or taking immunosuppressant medication). Participants were vaccinated in the morning or afternoon between 2011 and 2013. The primary outcome was the change in antibody titres to the three vaccine influenza strains from pre-vaccination to one month post-vaccination. Secondary outcomes of serum cytokines and steroid hormone concentrations were analysed at baseline to identify relationships with antibody responses. The increase in antibody levels due to vaccination differed between morning and afternoon administration; mean difference (95% CI) for H1N1 A-strain, 293.3 (30.97–555.66) p=.03, B-strain, 15.89 (3.42–28.36) p=.01, but not H3N2 A-strain, 47.0 (−52.43 to 146.46) p=.35; those vaccinated in the morning had a greater antibody response. Cytokines and steroid hormones were not related to antibody responses. No adverse events were reported. This simple manipulation in the timing of vaccine administration to favour morning vaccination may be beneficial for the influenza antibody response in older adults, with potential implications for vaccination strategies generally. This trial is registered with the ISRCTN (ISRCTN70898162).

Using test data for all children attending Danish public schools between school years 2009/10 and 2012/13, we examine how the time of the test affects performance. Test time is determined by the weekly class schedule and computer availability at the school. We find that, for every hour later in the day, test performance decreases by 0.9% of an SD (95% CI, 0.7–1.0%). However, a 20- to 30-minute break improves average test performance by 1.7% of an SD (95% CI, 1.2–2.2%). These findings have two important policy implications: First, cognitive fatigue should be taken into consideration when deciding on the length of the school day and the frequency and duration of breaks throughout the day. Second, school accountability systems should control for the influence of external factors on test scores.