If you’re anything like me, you absolutely hate going to work early in the morning. Now, scientists are saying that going to work before 10am actually has a similar affect to torture!

Dr. Paul Kelley from Oxford University said that having to go to work early can have numerous bad affects on the body, and that the ideal time to go to work is actually 10am. He explained that working any earlier than that can lead to weight gain, frustration, anxiety and exhaustion due to the resulting lack of sleep.

Since our biological clock governs our bodily functions, experts say we should not wake up earlier than the time our body and organs are ready. Having to wake up long before 10 can disturb our body and its natural balance, which then leads to the problems listed above. Kelley is calling for work start times to be changed, explaining that productivity will only increase if workers were allowed to start later.

“This is a huge society issue,” he said. “Staff should start at 10am. You don’t get back to (the 9am) starting point till 55. Staff are usually sleep-deprived. We’ve got a sleep-deprived society. It is hugely damaging on the body’s systems because you are affecting physical, emotional and performance systems in the body.”

“Your liver and your heart have different patterns and you’re asking them to shift two or three hours. This is an international issue. Everybody is suffering and they don’t have to,” he continued. “We cannot change out 24-hour rhythms. You cannot learn to get up at a certain time. Your body will be attuned to sunlight and you’re not conscious of it because it reports to hypothalamus, not sight. This applies in the bigger picture to prisons and hospitals. They wake up people and give people food they don’t want. You’re more biddable because you’re totally out of it. Sleep deprivation is a torture.”

I don’t know about you, but I would certainly sign on to the work day starting later! What are your thoughts?