Tired and always sleepy? You might be suffering from social jetlag

On their website, they are described as “an interdisciplinary group that brings together researchers from the University of the Philippines Manila (UPM) and the Ludwig Maximilians University Munich (LMU) in a collaborative effort that aims to study the Filipino circadian clock and shift work.”

To accomplish this, the research group needs to map the Filipino chronotype. The website defines chronotype as that which “reflects how your individual biological clock ticks and how it fits into the 24-hour day. Characteristics of the daily clock are genetically inherited and, together with your individual daily light exposure (e.g., working indoors or outdoors) influence your individual sleep preferences. Individuals differ in their biological timing, resulting in different chronotypes. The different chronotypes are apparent when you consider that some people are more alert in the morning, while others are able to produce their best work at night.”

Gayline Manalang, Jr., Assistant Professor at UP Manila and a Collaborator for PhilSHIFT, states that the nationwide study they are implementing will eventually lead to a study on call center workers and also aims to determine how our body clock influences health and activities.

All workers—not just call center employees and other shift workers—and also students stand to benefit from the study. Professor Manalang gives several examples where knowing one’s chronotype would be useful to an individual: “when one stays up later than what the body clock naturally cues us to sleep, e.g. watching TV, staying online, or cramming for an exam; when one has to rise early in the day for the long commute to work or school; when one has to travel abroad and adjust to a different time zone; when one has to take medicine and wishes to optimize its effects.”

She further states that the “Philippine Chronotype and Social Jetlag Survey should continue until we have enough non-shift worker (or daytime worker) respondents from the four key cities: Manila, Clark, Cebu, and Davao.”

This author participated in the survey and the results received are very enlightening. It stated that I am an “extremely early” chronotype and offers suggestions such as, if I want to stay up longer at night: “When you feel that your biological clock ‘puts you to bed’ too early and you would like to be able to fall asleep later (for example to enjoy more of the evening), you can experiment with the effects of brighter light: try to avoid bright light in the morning but seek outside light in the afternoon and evening (even relatively bright artificial lighting is far lower in intensity than sunlight outside). Even without sports or activity, especially evening light can nudge your biological clock to a later time, so that you can stay up longer.”

Some celebrities who have participated already in the survey include Kikomachine cartoonist Manix Abrera, (who is a moderate late chronotype), DJ Francis Brew (extremely late), Bb. Pilipinas Universe Venus Raj (slightly late), and Mae Paner, better known as satirist Juana Change, (slightly early).

If you are curious to know your own type or would just like to help PhilSHIFT obtain its objective of mapping the Filipino chronotype, you may answer the Philippine Chronotype and Social Jetlag Survey by accessing the PhilSHIFT website and clicking on the link under “Know Your Chronotype” on the left sidebar.