I know its about the rotation of the earth, night & day, but if we lived in planet with longer day will our sleep cycle be different?? And can you train yourself to a different cycle like 36 hours awake and 4 hours sleep??
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The natural circadian sleep cycle varies between people with the average being over 24 hours. It is being adjusted all the time to match the 24 hour day though, most importantly by the amount of light you see but also other factors like activity level and food. The circadian rhythm have evolved to be roughly the same length as a day because people with shorter or longer rhythm have had a very hard time to adapt to the day and night cycle which means they have had a harder time getting kids and making sure they grow up healthy.
We can not train ourselves to another rhythm far from the natural rhythm as it is a biological process that can not be changed. But by adjusting your activity level and more importantly the amount of light you see it is possible to adapt to a different rhythm close to the natural circadian rhythm. Some people find it easier to adapt to a 28 hour day meaning there is 6 days a week although this can be difficult socially. People who work with Martian robots and satellites will often adapt to a 24 hour 39 minutes rhythm to match the rotation of Mars. The robots need solar light to be active so transmissions to and from Earth needs to be timed to this.
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