Time of the day between noon and evening
The
Turkenschanzpark
in
Vienna
during the early afternoon
Visitors to the
Metropolitan Museum of Art
in
New York City
during the late afternoon
Afternoon
is the time between
noon
and
sunset
or
evening
.
[1]
It is the time when the
sun
is descending from its peak in the sky to somewhat before its terminus at the
horizon
in the west. In human life, it occupies roughly the latter half of the standard
work
and school day. In literal terms, it refers to a time specifically after noon.
Terminology
[
edit
]
Afternoon is often defined as the period between
noon
and
sunset
.
[2]
If this definition is adopted, the specific range of time varies in one direction: noon is defined as the time when the sun reaching its highest point in the sky,
[3]
but the boundary between afternoon and evening has no standard definition. However, before a period of transition from the 12th to 14th centuries,
noon
instead referred to 3:00 pm. Possible explanations include shifting times for prayers and midday meals, along which one concept of
noon
was defined?and so
afternoon
would have referred to a narrower timeframe.
[4]
The word
afternoon
, which derives from
after
and
noon
, has been attested from about the year 1300;
Middle English
contained both
afternoon
and the synonym
aftermete
. The standard phrasing was
at afternoon
in the 15th and 16th centuries, but has shifted to
in the afternoon
since then.
[5]
In
American English dialects
, the word
evening
is sometimes used to encompass all times between noon and
midnight
.
[6]
The
Irish language
contains four different words to mark time intervals from late afternoon to nightfall; this period is considered mystical.
[7]
Metaphorically, the word
afternoon
refers to a relatively late period in the expanse of time or in one's life.
[2]
The equivalent of Earth's afternoon on another planet would refer to the time the principal star of that
planetary system
would be in descent from its
prime meridian
, as seen from the planet's surface.
Events
[
edit
]
Afternoon is a time when the sun is descending from its daytime peak. During the afternoon, the sun moves from roughly the center of the sky to deep in the west. In late afternoon,
sunlight
is particularly bright and glaring, because the sun is at a low angle in the sky.
[8]
The standard
working time
in most
industrialized countries
goes from the
morning
to the late afternoon or early evening ? archetypally, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm ? so the latter part of this time takes place in the afternoon.
[9]
Schools
usually let their students out around 3:00 pm during the mid afternoon.
[10]
In
Denmark
, afternoon is considered between 1:00 and 5:00 pm.
[11]
Effects on life
[
edit
]
Hormones
[
edit
]
In
diurnal
animals, it is typical for blood levels of the hormone
cortisol
?which is used to increase
blood sugar
, aid
metabolism
and is also produced in response to
stress
?to be most stable in the afternoon after decreasing throughout the morning. However, cortisol levels are also the most reactive to environmental changes unrelated to sleep and daylight during the afternoon. As a result, this time of day is considered optimal for researchers studying stress and hormone levels.
[12]
Plants generally have their highest
photosynthetic
levels of the day at noon and in the early afternoon, owing to the sun's high angle in the sky. The large proliferation of
maize
crops across Earth has caused tiny, harmless fluctuations in the normal pattern of atmospheric
carbon dioxide
levels, since these crops photosynthesize large amounts of carbon dioxide during these times and this process sharply drops down during the late afternoon and evening.
[13]
Body temperature
[
edit
]
In humans,
body temperature
is typically highest during the mid to late afternoon.
[14]
However, human athletes being tested for physical vigor on exercise machines showed no statistically significant difference after lunch.
[14]
Owners of
factory farms
are advised to use buildings with an east?west (as opposed to north?south) orientation to house their
livestock
, because an east?west orientation generally means thicker walls on the east and west to accommodate the sun's acute angle and intense glare during late afternoon. When these animals are too hot, they are more likely to become belligerent and unproductive.
[8]
Alertness
[
edit
]
Motor vehicle accidents
like this one in Poland are common during the afternoon, especially
rush hour
.
The afternoon, especially the early afternoon, is associated with a dip in a variety of areas of human cognitive and productive functioning. Notably,
motor vehicle accidents
occur more frequently in the early afternoon, when drivers presumably have recently finished lunch.
[15]
A study of motor accidents in Sweden between 1987 and 1991 found that the time around 5:00 pm had by far the most accidents: around 1,600 at 5:00 pm, compared to around 1,000 each at 4:00 pm and 6:00 pm. This trend may have been influenced by the afternoon
rush hour
, but the morning rush hour showed a much smaller increase.
[16]
In Finland, accidents in the
agriculture
industry are most common in the afternoon, specifically Monday afternoons in September.
[17]
One psychology professor studying
circadian rhythms
found that his students performed somewhat worse on exams in the afternoon than in the morning, but even worse in the evening. Neither of these differences, however, was statistically significant.
[14]
Four studies carried out in 1997 found that subjects who were given tests on differentiating
traffic signs
had longer
reaction times
when tested at 3:00 pm and 6:00 pm than at 9:00 am and 12:00 pm. These trends are held across all four studies and for both complex and abstract questions.
[18]
However, one UK-based researcher failed to find any difference in exam performance on over 300,000 A-level exam papers sat in either the morning or afternoon.
[19]
Human productivity routinely decreases in the afternoon.
Power plants
have shown significant reductions in productivity in the afternoon compared to the morning, the largest differences occurring on Saturdays and the smallest on Mondays.
[20]
One 1950s study covering two female factory workers for six months found that their productivity was 13 percent lower in the afternoon, the least productive time being their last hour at work. It was summarized that the differences came from personal breaks and unproductive activities at the workplace.
[21]
Another, larger study found that afternoon declines in productivity were greater during longer work shifts.
[22]
Not all humans share identical circadian rhythms. One study across Italy and Spain had students fill out a questionnaire, then ranked them on a "
morningness?eveningness
" scale. The results were a fairly standard
bell curve
. Levels of alertness over the course of the day had a significant correlation with scores on the questionnaire. All categories of participants?evening types, morning types, and intermediate types?had high levels of alertness from roughly 2:00 pm to 8:00 pm, but outside this window their alertness levels corresponded to their scores.
[23]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"afternoon, n."
www.oed.com
. Oxford English Dictionary.
- ^
a
b
"Afternoon"
.
Merriam-Webster
. Retrieved
October 9,
2014
.
- ^
"Noon"
. Merriam-Webster
. Retrieved
October 9,
2014
.
- ^
"noon (n.)"
.
Online Etymology Dictionary
. 2001
. Retrieved
October 10,
2014
.
- ^
"afternoon (n.)"
.
Online Etymology Dictionary
. 2001
. Retrieved
October 10,
2014
.
- ^
"Evening"
. Merriam-Webster
. Retrieved
October 9,
2014
.
- ^
Ekirch 2006
, p. xxxii
- ^
a
b
Aggarwal & Upadhyay 2013
, p. 172
- ^
"Nine-to-fiver"
. Merriam-Webster
. Retrieved
October 9,
2014
.
- ^
Voght, Kara (2018-09-05).
"Why Does the School Day End Two Hours Before the Workday?"
.
The Atlantic
. Retrieved
2021-02-11
.
- ^
"eftermiddag ? Den Danske Ordbog"
.
ordnet.dk
. Retrieved
2023-04-23
.
- ^
Blaskovich 2011
, p. 74
- ^
Sinclair & Weiss 2010
, p. 118
- ^
a
b
c
Refinetti 2006
, p. 556
- ^
McCabe 2004
, p. 588
- ^
Refinetti 2006
, p. 559
- ^
McCabe 2004
, p. 471
- ^
McCabe 2004
, p. 590
- ^
Quartel, Lara (2014).
"The effect of the circadian rhythm of body temperature on A-level exam performance"
.
Undergraduate Journal of Psychology
.
27
(1).
- ^
Ray 1960
, p. 11
- ^
Ray 1960
, p. 12
- ^
Ray 1960
, p. 18
- ^
Refinetti 2006
, p. 561
Sources
[
edit
]
- Aggarwal, Anjali; Upadhyay, Ramesh (2013).
Heat Stress and Animal Productivity
.
Springer Publishing
.
ISBN
978-8-132-20879-2
.
- Blaskovich, Jim (2011).
Social Psychophysiology for Social and Personality Psychology
.
ISBN
978-0-85702-405-3
.
- Ekirch, A. Roger (2006).
At Day's Close: Night in Times Past
. W. W. Norton & Company.
ISBN
978-0-393-32901-8
.
- McCabe, Paul T. (2004).
Contemporary Ergonomics
. CRC Press.
ISBN
0-8493-2342-8
.
- Ray, James T. (1960).
Human Performance as a Function of the Work?Rest Cycle
.
National Academy of Sciences
.
- Refinetti, Roberto (2006).
Circadian Physiology
(2nd ed.). Taylor & Francis Group.
ISBN
978-0-8493-2233-4
.
- Sinclair, Thomas M.; Weiss, Albert (2010).
Principles of Ecology in Plant Production
.
University of Nebraska, Lincoln
/
University of Florida
.
External links
[
edit
]
Media related to
Afternoon
at Wikimedia Commons
The dictionary definition of
afternoon
at Wiktionary