I had a discussion with a consultant psychiatrist about 'sleep hygiene' (trying to support son who has hyper-somnia at present) and he said that in African cultures, they tend not to be bound by the clock as we are in Western European culture. Therefore things can happen on a 'When they need to happen' basis and this is true for some appointments, church services and the like and daily routines. Whilst we can fixate on a clock- regulated '3 meals a day' routine, this idea of 'black time' as it is known, means people are liberated from a restrictive / narrow way of ordering life.
I see the value of it in helping me not to fret if DS1 sleeps from, say 3 a.m. - 2 p.m. and misses breakfast and lunch at regular times, but also think we are too culturally bound by the clock for our work and our play in this country for this theory to hold over time.
