As a kid, going to bed was one of the worst things ever. When the time came that our mums would switch off the TV and tell us to march upstairs to get some shut-eye, we'd kick, scream and just generally make a fuss.
Now that we're older, though, and slightly wiser, we can all appreciate that there's little else better than hitting the hay. The only things that come close are eating and drinking. Combine the three and, well, you're in heaven.
With that in mind, it'll please you all to learn that we could all be getting an extra hour in the sack... Eventually.
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Following a load of boring, ancient astronomical records, which have been analysed by scientists, it's been found that days are getting ever so slightly longer with every year that passes.
In reality, 2016 owes us a few hours given the cluster fuck of shit storms it has thrown up over the last 12 months. However, the 'very slow process' will take a long time to give us a full extra hour. Two hundred million years, to be exact.
Researchers found that a day on earth lasts one minute longer every 2.6 million years, which will add up to when we, our children, our grandchildren, our great grandchildren and so on, are all dead.
"We obtained historical, relevant records from historians and translators of ancient texts," Leslie Morrison, a retired astronomer with the Royal Greenwich Observatory said. "These estimates are approximate, because the geophysical forces operating on the Earth's rotation will not necessarily be constant over such a long period of time."
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It's all due to the natural slowdown in the speed of the earth's rotation, which is influenced by all sorts of things and means that timekeepers have to adjust high-precision clocks every few years to make sure they're in sync. You're welcome.
Featured image credit: PA/NASA
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Bed, Sleep, Earth, Time