It's time to take chronobiology seriously | Thomas Kantermann | TEDxGroningen

What would you say if you knew your life success is partially determined by the time of day you went to school? But not only at school, but at work and in life, lack of sleep impairs our ability to function properly. But then why do we pay so little attention to our chronobiology? If it influences our health, age and success? And what if we could re-create our cities based upon sleep-competence?

Thomas Kantermann holds a diploma in Biology and Psychology from the University of Bielefeld (DE) and a PhD in Biology from the Centre for Chronobiology at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich (DE). Currently, he is project leader in the Dutch STW-funded network OnTime, co-founder and scientific director of the urban science project ‘ChronoCity Bad Kissingen’ (DE), and board member of the Working Time Society (WTS). His research aims at improving our understanding about the biology of human sleep and the effects of light on sleep and health. He focuses on studying shift work, jetlag, daylight saving time, work and school hours and any other lifestyle behaviors that challenge the human biological clock compromising sleep and health.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx