Ever since I was a child, I noticed there were certain rhythms that were not part of what could be called a “natural” cycle, like the day or the year. I noticed, for example, early on that when it was Sunday or Saturday, it literally “felt like” that particular day.
Now the days of the week are obviously man-made. The 7-day cycle is in no way derived from nature. So why does it “feel” like a Sunday or Saturday? And why (I also noticed) does some day suddenly feel like a Sunday or Saturday when there is an unusual interruption in your routine, like when you do something you normally do on these days. Or like when you have an unexpected vacation, for example. Clearly part of your body must be taking into account non-natural cycles in some way.
Anyways, a few years back I looked up “week” in my Classical Latin dictionary. And they gave the translation as septem dies which simply means “7 days”. Taking the first 3 letters of this (for brevity) and adding the root from Circadian Rhythms I made up the word “Circasepian Rhythms”. (BTW, I later looked up week in a modern Latin dictionary and found it was a different word. But I still like septem dies. It contains “7 days” which is not found in nature, after all.)
I’d love to share this theory with some eminent scientist and maybe get writ up in the JAMA too, who knows. But I don’t know how to do this at this time.
That’s an interesting observation. But the question is, how much of this is innate, and how much cultural. In this society we’ve been exposed to the seven-day culture, literally from birth. Thinking of the “traditional” family, the father would be home on weekends, presumably playing with the baby, giving that sense of anticipation already. Then of course this is intensified at school, so that by the time you’re an adult you’ve had years of exposure to the system.
Not exactly true. A lunar month is just a tad over 29 1/2 days, and women’s menstrual cycle usually follow that same period(er, so to speak). That divides fairly neatly into the 7-day week, and the major moon phases are on a weekly cycle with regular one-day shifts. It’s not the only possible way to do it, but it’s not completely artificial, either.
As for why certain days “feel” like that day, I think you need to consider what you mean by “feel”. While more overt sensations are readily identifiable as such, I think that more sensations nearer to the sensory threshold tend to get lumped into a feeling that isn’t really about tactile sensation. For example: subtle changes in sounds caused by other people in the house following a different schedule on the weekend, also changes in noise from outside; changes to your metabolism because of staying up later, sleeping later or not being awakened by an alarm; difference in light levels due to staying in bed longer; etc.