Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Circadian Rhythms

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences

  • 77 Accesses

Synonyms

Chronotype; Daily cycles

Definition

Circadian rhythms are daily oscillations in physiology and behavior. Individual differences in circadian rhythms often reflect different “chronotypes.” The term chronotype refers to the behavioral tendencies and preferences of individuals in the timing of sleep and wakefulness (Roenneberg et al. 2003). Individuals in the population fall on a continuum of chronotypes ranging from early to late types. The early chronotypes are referred to as “larks” and display an advanced rhythm such that these individuals tend to wake up earlier in the morning and go to sleep earlier in the evening as compared to others. On the other hand, the late chronotypes, otherwise known as “owls,” have a delayed rhythm in that their behavior is characterized by later wake and sleep times (Roenneberg et al. 2003). The majority of the population, however, falls in between these two extremes and is referred to as displaying a moderate chronotype.

Introduction

Humans,...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Archer, S. N., Robilliard, D. L., Skene, D. J., Smits, M., Williams, A., Arendt, J., & von Schantz, M. (2003). A length polymorphism in the circadian clock gene Per3 is linked to delayed sleep phase syndrome and extreme diurnal preference. Sleep, 26, 413–415.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • DeYoung, C. G., Hasher, L., Djikic, M., Criger, B., & Peterson, J. B. (2007). Morning people are stable people: Circadian rhythm and the higher-order factors of the Big Five. Personality and Individual Differences, 43, 267–276.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Duffy, J. F., & Czeisler, C. A. (2002). Age-related change in the relationship between circadian period, circadian phase, and diurnal preference in humans. Neuroscience Letters, 318, 117–120.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Duffy, J. F., Rimmer, D. W., & Czeisler, C. A. (2001). Association of intrinsic circadian period with morningness-eveningness, usual wake time, and circadian phase. Behavioral Neuroscience, 115, 895–899.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Horne, J. A., & Ostberg, O. (1976). A self-assessment questionnaire to determine morningness-eveningness in human circadian rhythms. International Journal of Chronobiology, 4, 97–110.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jones, C. R., Campbell, S. S., Zone, S. E., Cooper, F., DeSano, A., Murphy, P. J., Jones, B., Czajkowski, L., & Ptacek, L. J. (1999). Familial advanced sleep-phase syndrome: A short-period circadian rhythm variant in humans. Nature Medicine, 5, 1062–1065.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pittendrigh, C. S., & Daan, S. (1976). A functional analysis of circadian pacemakers in nocturnal rodents. Journal of Comparative Physiology, 106, 223–252.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Randler, C. (2008). Morningness-eveningness, sleep-wake variables and big five personality factors. Personality and Individual Differences, 45, 191–196.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roenneberg, T., Wirz-Justice, A., & Merrow, M. (2003). Life between clocks: Daily temporal patterns of human chronotypes. Journal of Biological Rhythms, 18, 80–90.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Roenneberg, T., Kuehnle, T., Juda, M., Kantermann, T., Allebrandt, K., Gordijn, M., & Merrow, M. (2007). Epidemiology of the human circadian clock. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 11, 429–438.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Toh, K. L., Jones, C. R., He, Y., Eide, E. J., Hinz, W. A., Virshup, D. M., Ptácek, L. J., & Fu, Y. H. (2001). An hPer2 phosphorylation site mutation in familial advanced sleep phase syndrome. Science, 291, 1040–1043.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wittmann, M., Dinich, J., Merrow, M., & Roenneberg, T. (2006). Social jetlag: Misalignment of biological and social time. Chronobiology International, 23, 497–509.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada

    Mahtab Moshirpour & Michael C Antle

  2. Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada

    Mahtab Moshirpour & Michael C Antle

  3. Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, University of Calgary, T2N 1N4, Calgary, AB, Canada

    Michael C Antle

Authors
  1. Mahtab Moshirpour
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Michael C Antle
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael C Antle .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Virgil Zeigler-Hill

  2. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada

    Julie Schermer

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG

About this entry

Cite this entry

Moshirpour, M., Antle, M.C. (2017). Circadian Rhythms. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_739-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_739-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation