Background
Biological clocks govern numerous aspects of human health, including weekly clocks–called
circaseptan rhythms–that typically include early-week spikes for many illnesses.
Purpose
To determine whether contemplations for healthy behaviors also follow circaseptan
rhythms.
Methods
We assessed healthy contemplations by monitoring Google search queries (2005–2012)
in the U.S. that included the word
healthy and were Google classified as health-related (e.g., healthy diet). A wavelet analysis
was used in 2013 to isolate the circaseptan rhythm, with the resulting series compared
by estimating ratios of relative query volume (healthy versus all queries) each day
(e.g., (Monday–Wednesday)/Wednesday).
Results
Healthy searches peaked on Monday and Tuesday, thereafter declining until rebounding
modestly on Sunday. Monday and Tuesday were statistically indistinguishable (
t=1.22,
p=0.22), but their combined mean had 30% (99% CI=29, 32) more healthy queries than
the combined mean for Wednesday−Sunday. Monday and Tuesday query volume was 3% (99%
CI=2, 5) greater than Wednesday, 15% (99% CI=13, 17) greater than Thursday, 49% (99%
CI=46, 52) greater than Friday, 80% (99% CI=76, 84) greater than Saturday, and 29%
(99% CI=27, 31) greater than Sunday. We explored media-based (priming) motivations
for these patterns and they were consistently rejected.
Conclusions
Just as many illnesses have a weekly clock, so do healthy considerations. Discovery
of these rhythms opens the door for a new agenda in preventive medicine, including
implications for hypothesis development, research strategies to further explore these
rhythms, and interventions to exploit daily cycles in healthy considerations.
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Article Info
Publication History
Published online: April 21, 2014
Identification
Copyright
© 2014 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
