IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/hlthec/v13y2004i1p1-8.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Insomnia, biological clock, and the bedtime decision: an economic perspective

Author

Listed:
  • Gideon Yaniv

Abstract

While insomnia can be a symptom of numerous mental and physical illnesses, it is frequently diagnosed as a sleep disorder in its own right, caused mainly by stressful life events or by non‐synchronization of individuals' biological sleep–wake cycle with the one they choose to practice. Because of irregular work schedules, late‐night entertainment, or rapid crossing of several time zones, individuals might retire to bed earlier or later than their biological bedtime, experiencing difficulties in falling asleep. The present paper develops a simple economic model of the bedtime decision, viewing the individual as a rational decision‐maker who determines her insomnia level through consciously weighing the cost and benefit of deviating from her biological bedtime. The model is then used to examine the individual's response to stress, yielding a prediction which is consistent with observed behavior, although not with sleep therapists' recommendations. Finally, the model is applied to the case of transmeridian flights, explaining jet lag as a rational adjustment to a misalignment between the individual's slow‐to‐adapt internal clock and her external environment. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Suggested Citation

  • Gideon Yaniv, 2004. "Insomnia, biological clock, and the bedtime decision: an economic perspective," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 13(1), pages 1-8, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:hlthec:v:13:y:2004:i:1:p:1-8
    DOI: 10.1002/hec.810
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/hec.810
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/hec.810?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hamermesh, Daniel S & Soss, Neal M, 1974. "An Economic Theory of Suicide," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(1), pages 83-98, Jan.-Feb..
    2. Hoffman, Emily P, 1977. "The Deeper Economics of Sleeping: Important Clues toward the Discovery of Activity X," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 85(3), pages 647-649, June.
    3. Biddle, Jeff E & Hamermesh, Daniel S, 1990. "Sleep and the Allocation of Time," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(5), pages 922-943, October.
    4. Grossman, Michael, 1972. "On the Concept of Health Capital and the Demand for Health," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 80(2), pages 223-255, March-Apr.
    5. Becker, Gary S & Murphy, Kevin M, 1988. "A Theory of Rational Addiction," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 96(4), pages 675-700, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jara-Díaz, Sergio R. & Rosales-Salas, Jorge, 2020. "Time use: The role of sleep," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 1-20.
    2. Christian Pfeifer, 2015. "UnfairWage Perceptions and Sleep: Evidence from German Survey Data," Schmollers Jahrbuch : Journal of Applied Social Science Studies / Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, vol. 135(4), pages 413-428.
    3. Maclean Johanna Catherine & Hill Terrence D., 2017. "Economic Conditions at School Leaving and Sleep Patterns Across the Life Course," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 17(2), pages 1-37, April.
    4. Eleonora Patacchini & Xiaodong Liu & Edoardo Rainone, 2013. "The Allocation of Time in Sleep: A Social Network Model with Sampled Data," Center for Policy Research Working Papers 162, Center for Policy Research, Maxwell School, Syracuse University.
    5. Yaniv, Gideon, 2008. "Obsessive-compulsive disorder and behavioral therapy: A rational-choice perspective," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 55(3), pages 405-415, May.
    6. Tinna Asgeirsdottir & Gylfi Zoega, 2011. "On the economics of sleeping," Mind & Society: Cognitive Studies in Economics and Social Sciences, Springer;Fondazione Rosselli, vol. 10(2), pages 149-164, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Christopher J. Ruhm, 2000. "Are Recessions Good for Your Health?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 115(2), pages 617-650.
    2. Juan Carlos Trujillo Lora & Wilman Iglesias Pinedo, 2015. "Sueno y asignación de tiempo entre los estudiantes universitarios: el caso de la Universidad del Atlántico," Revista Semestre Económico, Universidad de Medellín, vol. 13(27), pages 99-116, September.
    3. Giuntella, Osea & Mazzonna, Fabrizio, 2019. "Sunset time and the economic effects of social jetlag: evidence from US time zone borders," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 210-226.
    4. Lurås, Hilde, 2009. "A healthy lifestyle: The product of opportunities and preferences," HERO Online Working Paper Series 2001:11, University of Oslo, Health Economics Research Programme.
    5. Joseph P. Newhouse, 2021. "An Ounce of Prevention," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 35(2), pages 101-118, Spring.
    6. Billari, Francesco C. & Giuntella, Osea & Stella, Luca, 2018. "Broadband internet, digital temptations, and sleep," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 58-76.
    7. D. Dragone & H. Strulik, 2017. "Human Health and Aging over an Infinite Time Horizon," Working Papers wp1104, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    8. Christian Pfeifer, 2015. "UnfairWage Perceptions and Sleep: Evidence from German Survey Data," Schmollers Jahrbuch : Journal of Applied Social Science Studies / Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, vol. 135(4), pages 413-428.
    9. Joelle Abramowitz, 2016. "The connection between working hours and body mass index in the U.S.: a time use analysis," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 131-154, March.
    10. Yana Roshchina, 2013. "To drink or not to drink: the microeconomic analysis of alcohol consumption in Russia in 2006-2010," HSE Working papers WP BRP 20/SOC/2013, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    11. Chen Zhen & Michael K. Wohlgenant, 2006. "Meat Demand under Rational Habit Persistence," Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue canadienne d'agroeconomie, Canadian Agricultural Economics Society/Societe canadienne d'agroeconomie, vol. 54(4), pages 477-495, December.
    12. Gimenez-Nadal, J. Ignacio & Molina, Jose Alberto, 2015. "Health status and the allocation of time: Cross-country evidence from Europe," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 188-203.
    13. Jacques Simon Song & Hervé William Mougnol A Ekoula & Georges Ngnouwal Eloundou, 2024. "Alcohol consumption in developing countries: Does information and communication technology (ICT) diffusion matter?," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 36(2), pages 1210-1240, March.
    14. Antoine Marsaudon & Lise Rochaix, 2017. "Impact of acute health shocks on cigarette consumption
      [Impact d'un choc de santé sur la consommation de cigarette]      ," PSE Working Papers halshs-01626024, HAL.
    15. Shao-Hsun Keng & Sheng-Jang Sheu, 2013. "The effect of stimulants and their combined use with cigarettes on mortality: the case of betel quid," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 14(4), pages 677-695, August.
    16. Robert Rosenman, 2011. "The public finance of healthy behavior," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 147(1), pages 173-188, April.
    17. Vincenzo Atella & Joanna Kopinska, 2011. "Body weight of Italians: the weight of Education," CEIS Research Paper 189, Tor Vergata University, CEIS, revised 23 Mar 2011.
    18. Rodolfo Nayga, 2001. "Effect of Schooling on Obesity: Is Health Knowledge a Moderating Factor?," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(2), pages 129-137.
    19. Bolin, Kristian & Lindgren, Björn, 2014. "Non-monotonic health behaviours - implications for individual health-related behaviour in a demand-for-health framework," Working Papers in Economics 588, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    20. Yaniv, Gideon, 1998. "Phobic disorder, psychotherapy, and risk-taking: an economic perspective," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 229-243, April.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:hlthec:v:13:y:2004:i:1:p:1-8. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/jhome/5749 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.