Are You An Early Bird Or A Night Owl? This Is How Our Chronotype Affects Us!
Are you an Early Bird or a Night Owl?
I think we all probably know some people that are either early risers or night owls.
Some people can happily get up at 7am and be totally refreshed, then go on with their day and start feeling tired around 9-10pm.
Others hate even the thought of getting up anytime before 10, and much prefer staying up until 2 or 3am.
It's all a personal preference and neither lifestyle is particularly good or bad - but why are people so different in their preferred waking times?
"Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise."-Benjamin Franklin
Scientists have proven that this famous quote by Benjamin Franklin does not reflect the truth.
While there are some benefits to being an early riser, it's not a better lifestyle in general.
Our personal preference of waking and resting times is called a chronotype.
Everybody has an "inner clock" and certain times of the day where he/she can perform certain tasks at an optimal level.
Scientists have found that there are certain gene variations that influence our circadian clock ("inner clock" that controls our sleep and wake cycles).
And almost the whole population is affected by these variations - so this is really partly influenced by our genes!
In general, most kids start out being a morning person because of our school system.
Since they've never known anything else in their life, their parents get up early too and school starts early in the morning, they automatically adapt to this routine.
During the teenage years, many then convert to being a night owl - and as an adult, they gradually return more towards the early riser because of work life.
Scientists have found that apart from genetic differences, there are also physical differences in the brains of early risers and night owls:
They tested three different groups of subjects: one were early risers, one were night owls, and the last group consisted of people that were mediocre sleepers, neither particularly early nor particularly late.
And the result showed that the integrity of white matter was decreased in the brains of night owls!
White matter is a tissue inside our brain, which controls how well the nerve cells communicate with each other.
When the integrity of that tissue is decreased, there's often also a decreased ability for cognitive function, as well as a higher risk for depression.
Studies have shown that night owls are more prone to alcohol or nicotine use (and abuse), as well as a greater risk for depression that's linked to insomnia.
In fact, night owls often suffer from "Social Jet Lag":
Because life around them is mostly starting early in the morning, they are often forced to adapt to it - against their natural preference and circadian rhythm.
This leads to similar symptoms like travel jet lag: they're often sleepy, not 100% physically fit and might have problems focusing when woken up early in the morning.
But there are also positive results!
Night Owls have shown to have more stamina throughout the day than an early riser, and night owls are also often more likely to achieve financial success as well as having great analytical abilities.
Early risers on the other hand tend to be more cooperative, proactive and persistent.
They also tend to procrastinate less than night owls - although they're not generally more productive.
Let me know in the comments below: Are YOU an early riser or a night owl?
Or maybe something in between?
Images: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4
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© Sirwinchester
What a great article you presented us with again this time around @sirwinchester!
I happen to bounce off ideas quite often with an extreme lark, a.k.a. a very early riser, while I'm kindda like the opposite most of the time. Your article underlines some of the fundamental differences that we live by. Yet, he is the one suffering with the depression prone mental states, though his deep conceptual thinking is, as the word implies, deep, very deep. Maybe his white matter is capable of mega feats in these terms?
Thanks a bunch for sharing this goodness with us, namaste :)
Very interesting, yes he must be an exception then. I wonder if shifting his waking times a little later would change any of those mental problems .. ?
Anyway, thank you for the feedback and support! Appreciate it!
@sirwinchester Interesting post!
I used to be an early bird but after having a hubby who's a night owl I moved to the same zone hahaha
but I don't see myself as an extrovert nor neurotic nor depressive nor pessimistic and neither is my owl hubby haahah
Haha, interesting how you were able to switch!
@sirwinchester it took just a few weeks
I couldn't sleep unless he's beside me so I have to join him
I happily get up at 5am and I am in bed before 10:30pm, if I do the night owl thing I get depressed and tend to get cold easily.
I also get up at 5 pm every day for work but not always that happily ;)
Whats your secret ? :)
My chickens need to be fed...I'm a farm girl and this behavior is epigenetic coming from generations of small business owners and farmers in my family. Plus I did a lot of meditation retreats in my early 30s, weeks of silent vipassana meditation 24/7 starting at 4am...before I would tend to sleep in and stay up late when the kids couldn't bug me, I suffered from depression and insomnia often.
I will be buying chickens, lol :) guessi'm missing that get up early gen, good too hear it works out for you though!
Very interesting how this can be passed on to other generations! I wouldn't naturally choose to wake up that early, I'm more of a night owl!
My husband is a night owl, I do morning chores and he does evening chores. We fit together perfectly with our yin and yang energy. He is a very sweet tempered man with a stubborn streak and doesn't suffer depression, I'm more of a head down and sprint my way through the morning, by evening I am out!
Epigenetics is an extremely interesting young science. We are seeing how our environment and how we react to our environment shape our genes coding. So be careful what you eat, think, and do because you'll pass some of the data on to your have kids.
Interesting. I have always been a night owl!
Thank you! And yes the same goes for me as well, I've always been productive during the night and couldn't imagine switching to a routine where you get up early and go to sleep early.
I just feel like you can get so much more done when it's getting late and the world around you goes to sleep.
so i dont have a problem waking up 5-7 am and i prefer to sleep late 2-3 ( if i have to get up on 5 i will sleep 12 ). Mostly whatever time i sleep i dont have problems of waking up so what am i a hybrid? :P
I guess you could say that's a hybrid then, but that actually sounds like the perfect mixture!
Very convenient, especially the ability to get up early if you have to.
i am too good to be true :P
at least it works for now and i hope in future too cause its really convenient
Creativity seems to really get going for me late at night. I prefer to work while everyone else sleeps and sleep while everyone else works. Definitely a night owl.
I am a night owl, I hope I don't end up with the addiction issues! Nice job with this post @sirwinchester.
Thank you! :)
Yes I'm a night owl as well, but I don't think these statistics are necessarily true for everyone, we still have the power to fight the addictions!
:D
I'm a night owl as well! 🦉
Night Owl here. This makes some good points. Thanks.
You're welcome, glad you enjoyed it!
Great article and yes i am a night owl because i work at night and yes i suffer from "Social Jet Lag" some times its hard to feel the energy of son, butt other times i actually can go to bed at 6 am and awake at 2 pm and do something productive and go to work at 9 pm..
I see, your night shift obviously influenced your inner body clock. I can understand the social jet lag, it can be quite hard if you have to wake up early and didn't get enough sleep!