Routine

So many things in this world and beyond are governed by routine. That is normal. Yes, things change, in fact that is one of my favourite sayings, that change is the one constant in this universe! But so much of it changes slowly. At least it seems to us, although there are days when we find time seems to have passed by in a flash whilst at other times it simply drags. However, it goes by at the same, steady rate. Whether it be just our world, our planets, our solar system, the Milky Way and so much more, it seems a regular routine. Then, all of a sudden, something occurs and we see change. Like for example where NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has provided the first direct evidence of small meteoroids breaking into streams of rubble and crashing into Saturn’s rings. These observations make Saturn’s rings the only location besides Earth, the moon, and Jupiter where scientists and amateur astronomers have been able to observe impacts as they occur. Studying the impact rate of meteoroids from outside the Saturn system helps scientists understand how different planet systems in the solar system formed. Our solar system is full of small, speeding objects. Planetary bodies are frequently pummelled by them. The meteoroids at Saturn range from about one-half inch to several yards (1 centimetre to several metres) in size. It took scientists years to distinguish tracks left by nine meteoroids in 2005, 2009 and 2012! As to our everyday life, daily life or routine life this comprises the ways in which we typically act, think, and feel on a daily basis. In some forms of life, routine is governed by the seasons, where some animals hibernate, whilst in other creatures their lifespan is relatively short and their lifetime is faster. In many lives on Earth we see ‘diurnality’, a form of plant and animal behaviour characterised by activity during daytime, with a period of sleeping or other inactivity at night. The timing of activity by an animal really depends on a variety of environmental factors such as the temperature, the ability to gather food by sight, the risk of predation, and the time of year. Diurnality is a cycle of activity within a 24-hour period, whilst cyclic activities called circadian rhythms are endogenous cycles not dependent on external cues or environmental factors. Animals active during twilight are ‘crepuscular’, those active during the night are nocturnal and animals active at sporadic times during both night and day are ‘cathemeral’, a term I have never heard of before. Plants that open their flowers during the daytime are described as diurnal, whilst those that bloom during nighttime are nocturnal. The timing of flower opening is often related to the time at which preferred pollinators are foraging. For example, sunflowers open during the day to attract bees, whereas the night-blooming cereus opens at night to attract large sphinx moths. Again, another I did not previously know. Human diurnality means most people sleep at least part of the night and are active in daytime. Most eat two or three meals in a day. Working time, apart from shift work, mostly involves a daily schedule, beginning in the morning. This produces the daily ‘rush hours’ experienced by many millions, and the drive time focused on by radio broadcasters. Evening is often leisure time. Beyond these broad similarities, lifestyles vary and different people spend their days differently. For example, nomadic life differs from sedentary ways amongst the more urban people who live differently from rural folk. In addition, differences in the lives of the rich and the poor, or between labourers and intellectuals, which may go beyond their ‘regular’ working hours. In addition, children and adults vary in what they do each day as their need for sleep changes. In the study of everyday life, gender has been an important factor in its conceptions. Much of everyday life is automatic in that it is driven by current environmental features. Daily life is also studied by sociologists to investigate how it is organised and given meaning. At one time daily entertainment consisted mainly of telling stories in the evening. This custom developed into the theatres of ancient Greece and other professional entertainments. Later, reading became less of a mysterious speciality of scholars and more a common pleasure for people who could read. As time passed, different forms of media became available to more people. Different media forms serve different purposes in the everyday lives of different people, giving them the opportunities to make choices about what forms of media they choose, such as watching television, using the Internet, listening to the radio or reading newspapers as well as magazines. In many cases these help them to accomplish their tasks most effectively, but a great many use them as forms of relaxation as well as learning.

Our everyday lives are shaped through language and communication. We choose what to do with our time based on opinions and ideals formed through the discourse we are exposed to. Much of the dialogue people are subject to comes from the mass media, which is an important factor in what shapes human experience. The media uses language to make an impact on our everyday life, whether that be as small as helping to decide where to eat or as big as choosing a representative in government. Interestingly, to improve our everyday life one professor in a Department of Communication and Culture says people should seek to understand the rhetoric that so often and unnoticeably changes their lives. They write that “…rhetoric enables us to make connections… It is about understanding how we engage with the world”. We engage in activities of daily living, a term used in healthcare to refer to daily self care activities within an individual’s place of residence, in outdoor environments, or both. Healthcare professionals routinely refer to the ability or inability to perform these as a measurement of the functional status of a person, particularly in regard to people with disabilities and the elderly. These events are defined as “the things we normally do…such as feeding ourselves, bathing, dressing, grooming, work, homemaking, and leisure”. The ability and the extent to which the elderly can perform these activities is at the focus of ‘gerontology’ another new word to me but which is the study of the social, cultural, psychological, cognitive and biological aspects of aging, along with relative understandings of later life. Indeed, we hear so much in the news about Care homes and that they have changed quite a bit, mainly for the better I am happy to say. This is something that I am planning to research and write a little more about in the future.

This week… Zones.

There are four ‘zones’, that we humans have around us.

Intimate zone: less than 0.5 metres (1.5 feet)
Personal zone: 0.5 to 1.5 metres (1.5 to 4 feet)
Social zone: 1.5 to 3 metres (4 to 12 feet)
Public zone: greater than 3 metres (12 feet)

Fascinating!

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