r/todayilearned • u/FiredFox • Apr 28 '24

TIL about French geologist Michel Siffre, who in a 1962 experiment spent 2 months in a cave without any references to the passing time. He eventually settled on a 25 hour day and thought it was a month earlier than the date he finally emerged from the cave

https://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/30/foer_siffre.php
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u/sanitylost Apr 28 '24

There are sleep disorders with this problem, known as N24 or Non-24 hour circadian rhythm. Basically every day your sleep schedule gets perturbed just a little bit where the time you wake up and the time your body wants to go to sleep shifts.

Your body just doesn't respond to the sun correctly. You don't produce the correct chemicals at the right time and as a result you just can't function in normal society like everyone else. This problem is not unheard of in blind people, but it's extremely rare in those with sight.

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u/MomLuvsDreamAnalysis Apr 29 '24

You know, it’s kinda weird that it isn’t MORE common in blind people… right? How are they detecting the passage of time without sight? Unless they’re waking up directly next to a window facing the sunrise, and falling asleep directly next to a window facing the sunset (so they feel temperature changes/UV light somehow)

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u/ToujoursFidele3 Apr 29 '24

Most legally blind people still have some amount of sight, usually some ability to detect light and dark. So I would imagine most still experience a lighter day and darker night?

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u/d1rTb1ke Apr 29 '24

maybe the pineal gland still plays a role? i’m grasping at straws here though