Submarine Time / Night Owls – those of you who have been here a while and know that most of this is just one guy :) probably wonder how it is I am awake 24 hrs/day to check everything all the time :)
Back when the US Navy was trying to figure out how you could keep a submarine at sea for months at a time and keep the people onboard on an even keel physically and psychologically, while keeping the amount of the sub used for sleeping to a minimum – they conducted tests to see how the human body reacts when there are no “cues” at all about what the time of day is. If you don’t have clocks, you can’t see the sun, there is no radio/tv and availability of food at certain times isn’t forcing you into a pattern, how much will people sleep and how long would their “day” be… The answer turns out to be that in the absence of all time cues, the human body will settle into a 25 hour day. They then pushed the limits to see how long or how short the “day” could be made without negative impact on health or peformance. For the last 40 years, US submarines have operated on an 18 hour day – 6 hours on-duty, 6 hrs/sleep and 6 hrs off-duty awake. One bed can therefore be shared by 3 people and 1/3 of the crew is awake and could go on-duty iinstantly if the need arrives.
So as odd as it sounds, when not at a “real” job, I live 25 hour days. I go to sleep when I’m tired and I wake up when I wake up – leading to typically a 25 to 26 hour day. Over the course of a month, I’m awake at every part of the day at some time.
But the world doesn’t live on Submarine time. Basic things like routine health care appointments are impossible to schedule weeks in advance since you won’t know when you’ll be awake that day. A minor disruption (like a phone ringing during the day) can cause chaos. The bill has come due for Submarine Time.
At least for now, this mearns putting my life back on a “normal” schedule like “normal” people. What that means to the directory is that I can’t any longer cover the overnight hours with testing. If you’re a night owl, it becomes really important to help with testing, otherwise the entire overnight schedule is going to expire very quickly.
