Oxford University's Dr Paul Kelley claims we should all start work at 10am. Hurrah!
FINALLY! The news all of us who have ever had to leave the house while it’s still dark have always known – working 9-to-5 is “torture”.
Dr Paul Kelley, Honorary Clinical Research Associate in Oxford University’s Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute, has stated that starting work before 10am is seriously detrimental to workers’ health as it doesn’t match up with the natural human body clock.
'This is a huge society issue, staff should start at 10am. You don't get back to [the 9am] starting point until [the age of] 55,' Dr Kelley told the audience at the British Science Festival.
'Staff are usually sleep deprived. We've got a sleep-deprived society. It is hugely damaging on the body's systems because you are affecting physical emotional and performance systems in the body.
'Your liver and your heart have different patterns and you're asking them to shift two or three hours. This is an international issue. Everybody is suffering and they don't have to.'
According to Dr Kelley, work and school start times should be staggered to make allowances for differences in age. Sixteen-year-olds should start at 10am, while 18-year-olds should be allowed to start classes at 11am. Dr Kelley claims these changes would improve performance and could boost exam results by 10 per cent.
Younger children naturally wake up earlier so should start school at 8.30am, however if adults are supposed to be sleeping in until after 9am who’s going to get the kids ready for school eh? Didn’t think about that one did you Dr Kelley?
That conflict of ideas aside, we will be quoting Dr Kelley chapter and verse whenever our boss is within earshot.
Would you be up for starting work at 11am?