Power-law temporal auto-correlations in day-long records of human physical activity and their alteration with disease

Abstract

We investigate long-duration time series of human physical activity under three different conditions: healthy individuals in (i) a constant routine protocol and (ii) in regular daily routine, and (iii) individuals diagnosed with multiple chemical sensitivities. We find that in all cases human physical activity displays power law decaying temporal auto-correlations. Moreover, we find that under regular daily routine, time correlations of physical activity are significantly different during diurnal and nocturnal periods but that no difference exists under constant routine conditions. Finally, we find significantly different auto-correlations for diurnal records of patients with multiple chemical sensitivities.