Quo Vadis, Chronopsychology?

This is the first review in chronopsychology, a relatively new interdisciplinary area of research which has developed rapidly at the junction of chronobiology, somnology, and psychology. Chronopsychology studies the mechanisms of rhythmicity in behavior and the mind based on methods of chronobiology, somnology, and psychometry. In particular, chronobiology studies biological clocks, while somnology addresses their influences on regulatory processes directly controlling the sleep–waking cycle, impairments to which have adverse impact on mental activity. Psychometric and differential psychology methods are widely used, for example, in studies of the chronotype and its relationship with a great diversity of human characteristics – genetic, psychophysiological, behavioral, cognitive, personality, and psychopathological. Particular attention is paid to sleep, drowsiness, fatigue, work/study productivity, and healthy/unhealthy lifestyles in people of different sexes and ages. Applied research includes the development – taking account of the chronotype of each specific person – of recommendations supporting preservation of good quality sleep and health in specific temporal situations, optimizing work/rest patterns, efficient assimilation of new skills, and preventing accidents during vigorous activity at times of day unsuitable for these activities.