European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 9, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Of no it s monday again monday morning blahs May be biological researchers say by Jean Marbella the Baltimore Sun it is the rudest Awakening of All. Monday morning the one you d most like to Roll Over on pull the sheets Over and ignore in the Hopes that it will just go away Quot i m not a morning person period. But mondays a mondays Are rough Quot said Oscar Robinson who starts his workweek in the chill of 7 a.m., washing the windows of a downtown Baltimore restaurant. Quot Coffee helps. Knowing i have to do it to make a living for my family helps. Quot but Quot he added with a Good natured shrug Quot it still takes a lot of Energy to get out of  for what it s Worth a admittedly not much during those nerve jangling moments when the alarm jolts you from slumber a if you re like Robinson you re not alone the human species in fact is simply not designed to Wake up Early on monday. Your Boss May not buy that As an excuse for your tardiness but specialists in Quot Chron biology Quot a Field of study that investigates time patterns of various biological functions say that there s a real physical reason for the monday morning blahs. People if left to their own devices would Zlotlow a 25-hour Cycle rather than the 24-hour one imposed by the rising and setting of the Sun scientists say. It s usually not too difficult to reconcile this one hour difference during the week but on weekends people tend to lapse into following what their internal clocks Tel action line them thus throwing off the usual sleep Wake pattern of the week. Quot since they done to have to get up at their regular time they will go with the flow of their internal clock and sleep a Little later and Wake up a Little later Quot said or. Thomas Wehr a research psychiatrist with the National Institute of mental health. Quot they do this on saturday and sunday and by the time monday Rolls around it becomes the Day of reckoning Quot when the alarm rings on monday people feel it s not time to get up yet they re not really physically prepared for it Quot he said. Quot it s like waking up in the Middle of the sleep period Quot Quot it s like a mini Jet lag Quot said Timothy h. Monk a psychologist in the human Chron biology program at the University of Pittsburgh school of Medicine. Quot it s like having a clock run slow by about an hour a Day which is Fine for saturday and sunday but then monday comes along and you have to adjust the  no one is sure Why our internal clocks Are on a 25-hour Cycle a that was discovered by putting people in caves or isolation Chambers where they could t see the Sun Rise or set and observing when they would sleep and awaken Wehr said. The Experiment subjects still followed a regular Wake sleep Cycle and that was measured As about 25 hours Long on the average he said. Of course since the Earth is on a 24-hour Cycle people have had to adjust. Quot we just have to get up an hour earlier every Day of our lives Quot Wehr said. It is a Small Price to pay actually if we insisted on 25-hour Days the Way our internal clocks would have it it would t be Long before we d be waking up in the Middle of the night starting work in the Midnight hours and sleeping during the right Light of Day the solution to the monday morning dilemma is simple a Don t have a weekend or what is traditionally considered a weekend of late nights and later mornings. Get to bed at your weekday hour and Wake up at your weekday hour. In other words done to have any fun. Quot you can have your fun earlier Quot Monk said. Even if you want to enjoy alarm clock free weekends the damage usually in t too great most cases of the monday morning blahs Are fairly minor. You May curse the chill of the floor bum yourself on the Coffee machine miss a bus or two a but rarely is it incapacitating. But if you Are depressed mondays can sink you even lower. Quot mondays by themselves Are not enough to make someone commit suicide Quot said or. J. Raymond Depaulo jr., director of the affective disorders clinic at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Quot but you look at people who Are Down to their last breath As far As hopelessness for the future and the Prospect of going Back to work on monday can be too  Quot to have a patient for whom sunday nights and monday mornings Are the worst time for him a he gets the a sunday dreads Quot Depaulo added. If you truly dread mondays a beyond the Normal reluctance to get Back to a workday schedule a Quot maybe this is nature s Way of telling you you Don t like your Job Quot Depaulo  travel rules done to apply in Europe it recently an news ran a segment about the student travel program. The spokesman stated that student travel from conus Continental United states colleges to the sponsor s duty station would no longer be handled at a department of the . She stated that local transportation offices would now handle travel arrangements. 1 called 1st personnel come because we had sent our son s travel request to them. The woman who answered stated 1 they had our request 2 they had never heard of a new policy and travel is still arranged by a 3 she could not Tell me How Long it will take for my son s paperwork to reach a. My questions Are a Why was the change in policy shown throughout Europe if it is not True a Why does t 1 St personnel come have some idea of How Long it takes for the process to work a if we arrange and pay for our son s travel can we be reimbursed we appreciate the travel Benefit but i strongly object to news reports that turn out to be false Unda Lassahn Karlsruhe Germany in James w. Owens personnel movement division 1st personnel come he Usa eur replies the news segment you saw on an did address a change in the policy concerning the funded student travel program. On oct. 1, 1991, All commands except for . Army Europe decentralized procedures for administering the program. Under the new procedures sponsors in the Continental United states conus and in other major overseas commands apply to the servicing Macom major command. When the request is approved a copy of the student travel order is mailed to the sponsor. The sponsor then visits the servicing transportation office to make travel arrangements. In . Army Europe the program is centralized at 1st personnel come where student travel orders Are published and travel arrangements Are booked. However plans Call for adoption of the decentralized system in . Army Europe prior to oct. 1, 1992 the Normal processing time for student travel applications is 10 working Days from Date of receipt. During Peak travel seasons at Christmas and Spring break we ask that applications be submitted 60 Days prior to requested travel dates to ensure that desired arrangements can be made. Normally sponsors canot be reimbursed for travel they have personally arranged unless a determination is made that Mac military Airlift command transportation is not available. When non availability of Mac transportation is documented the sponsor May then arrange travel and be reimbursed up to the amount it would have Cost Mac to transport the student most direct route Between the College and the overseas duty station. I apologize for any misleading or unclear information you May have received. If you have any further questions please Contact me at ets 379-7778 or Schwet Zingen civilian 06202-80-7778.to write us readers action line is the readers Quot court of last resort Quot striving to answer some of the questions about life overseas in a military environment or questions about policies and guidelines when other avenues for answers Are not readily available. If you have a question and Don t know where to turn for the answer write to readers action line co the stars and stripes unit 29480, Apo a 09211. All letters must be signed and preference will be Given to those seeking information of general interest to our readers. Page 16 a the stars and stripes monday March 9, 1992