Alertness Afternoon

motor vehicle accidents 1 in poland common during afternoon, rush hour.

the afternoon, afternoon, associated dip in variety of areas of human cognitive , productive functioning. notably, motor vehicle accidents occur more in afternoon, when drivers presumably have finished lunch. study of motor accidents in sweden between 1987 , 1991 found time around 5 pm had far accidents: around 1,600 @ 5 pm compared around 1,000 each @ 4 pm , 6 pm. trend may have been influenced afternoon rush hour, morning rush hour showed smaller increase. in finland, accidents in agriculture industry common in afternoon, monday afternoons in september.

one psychology professor studying circadian rhythms found students performed worse on exams in afternoon in morning, worse in evening. neither of these differences, however, statistically significant. 4 studies carried out in 1997 found subjects given tests on differentiating traffic signs had longer reaction times when tested @ 3:00 pm , 6:00 pm @ 9:00 , 12:00 pm. these trends held across 4 studies , both complex , abstract questions. however, 1 uk based researcher failed find difference in exam performance on over 300,000 a-level exam papers sat in either morning or afternoon.

human productivity routinely decreases in afternoon. power plants have shown significant reductions in productivity in afternoon compared morning, largest differences occurring on saturdays , smallest on mondays. 1 1950s study covering 2 female factory workers 6 months found productivity 13 percent lower in afternoon, least productive time being last hour @ work. summarized differences came personal breaks , unproductive activities @ workplace. another, larger study found afternoon declines in productivity greater during longer work shifts.

it important note, however, not humans share identical circadian rhythms. 1 study across italy , spain had students fill out questionnaire, ranked them on morningness–eveningness scale. results standard bell curve. levels of alertness on course of day had significant correlation scores on questionnaire. categories of participants—evening types, morning types, , intermediate types—had high levels of alertness 2 pm 8 pm, outside window alertness levels corresponded scores.