COVID-19 and "natural" experiments arising from physical distancing: a hypothetical case study from chronobiology.
- Erren TC Institute and Policlinic for Occupational Medicine, Environmental Medicine and Prevention Research, University Hospital of Cologne , Cologne, Germany.
- Lewis P Institute and Policlinic for Occupational Medicine, Environmental Medicine and Prevention Research, University Hospital of Cologne , Cologne, Germany.
- Shaw DM Institute for Biomedical Ethics, University of Basel , Basel, Switzerland.
- 2020-07-08
Published in:
- Chronobiology international. - 2020
COVID-19
Natural Experiment
Sars-CoV-2
circadian
ethics
light
mood
pandemic
physical Distancing
sleep
Adult
Betacoronavirus
Child
Circadian Rhythm
Coronavirus Infections
Humans
Light
Pandemics
Pneumonia, Viral
Sleep
English
With countless "natural" experiments triggered by the COVID-19-associated physical distancing, one key question comes from chronobiology: "When confined to homes, how does the reduced exposure to natural daylight arising from the interruption of usual outdoor activities plus lost temporal organization ordinarily provided from workplaces and schools affect the circadian timing system (the internal 24 h clock) and, consequently, health of children and adults of all ages?" Herein, we discuss some ethical and scientific facets of exploring such natural experiments by offering a hypothetical case study of circadian biology.
- Language
-
- English
- Open access status
- bronze
- Identifiers
-
- DOI 10.1080/07420528.2020.1779993
- PMID 32633583
- Persistent URL
- https://sonar.ch/global/documents/51341
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