TY - JOUR
T1 - What's the healthiest day?
T2 - Circaseptan (weekly) rhythms in healthy considerations
AU - Ayers, John W.
AU - Althouse, Benjamin M.
AU - Johnson, Morgan
AU - Dredze, Mark
AU - Cohen, Joanna E.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Mauricio Santilliana, Keith Schnakenberg, and the Journal’s statistical editor for advice on data modeling. This work was supported in part by a cooperative agreement with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Mondays Campaign. Those responsible for the funding decision had no role in the design and conduct of the study; in the collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; or in the preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript.
Copyright:
Copyright 2014 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2014/7
Y1 - 2014/7
N2 - 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.
AB - 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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U2 - 10.1016/j.amepre.2014.02.003
DO - 10.1016/j.amepre.2014.02.003
M3 - Article
C2 - 24746375
AN - SCOPUS:84903141961
SN - 0749-3797
VL - 47
SP - 73
EP - 76
JO - American journal of preventive medicine
JF - American journal of preventive medicine
IS - 1
ER -