Human physiology and behavior are deeply rooted in the daily 24 hour temporal structure. Our biological processes vary significantly, predictably, and idiosyncratically throughout the day in accordance with these circadian rhythms, which in turn influence our physical and mental performance. Persistent disruptions to our innate biological rhythms can have serious consequences for physical and mental well-being — contributing to cardiovascular disease, cancer, obesity, and mental health problems. However, in our modern mobile world, with its “always-on” ethos, circadian disruptions are becoming increasingly wide-spread.
In this work, we focus on advancing a vision of “Circadian Computing” — technologies that support and adapt to our innate biological rhythms. In particular, we focus on designing, developing and deploying technologies that can unobtrusively assess our body clock profiles, identify circadian disruptions and provide in-situ interventions to maintain stability. Such technologies can provide key support across a wide range of domains including physical and cognitive performance, sleep, clinical therapy, and overall well-being.
Saeed Abdullah, Elizabeth L. Murnane, Mark Matthews and Tanzeem Choudhury. Circadian Computing: Sensing, Modeling, and Maintaining Biological Rhythms. Book Chapter.
Saeed Abdullah. Towards circadian computing: a sensing & intervention framework for BodyClock friendly technology. In Adjunct Proceedings of the 2015 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing and Proceedings of the 2015 ACM International Symposium on Wearable Computers(UbiComp 2015).
Saeed Abdullah, Mark Matthews, Elizabeth L. Murnane, Geri Gay, and Tanzeem Choudhury. Towards Circadian Computing: “Early to Bed and Early to Rise” Makes Some of Us Unhealthy and Sleep Deprived. The 2014 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing (UbiComp 2014).