Are You an Early Birds or Night Owl?

Let's test out to see if you're a night owl or an early bird if you like to wake up early in the morning and have more energy during the first part of the day you're certainly an early bird on the flip side if you come alive when the moon is high and the stars are out you might be a night owl it also means you're the type of person who can stay up into the wee hours savoring the silence and Tranquility that the nighttime offers for you staying up late is a breeze while hitting the snooze button in the Morning Becomes a tempting routine but hey there's a little more to it than just early to rise or late to sleep the early birds though they start off the day in High Spirits tend to wind down as the day progresses come afternoon or evening they may find it a struggle to keep their eyes open in contrast the night owls might stumble out of bed in the morning feeling a bit meh it can take them anywhere from half an hour to an hour to shake off the sleepiness and kick start their engines but once they're passed to this initial slump they gradually start to ramp up their energy levels problem is these so-called morning people seem to be running the world you remember the old saying right the one about the early bird catching the worm or that going to bed and getting up early puts you on the fast track to becoming healthy wealthy and wise we've heard them all and there's this General assumption that being an early riser puts you in the winning Lane of life you don't have to do a lot of research to see that modern society is more comfortable for early risers you just have to look around you most shops start their schedules at 9am if for instance school is also conveniently placed in the first part of the day but guess what modern science is calling this out we humans are all unique and that reflects in our sleep wake Cycles too also known as chronotypes and according to some research done in recent years we're actually talking about six different chronotypes the study primarily targeted college students they presented these individuals with six charts to understand their energy levels throughout the day morning afternoon and evening the participants then had to slot themselves into one of these categories surprisingly only a mere 13 percent are genuine morning enthusiasts almost double that number 24 are the people who burn the Midnight Oil but the most interesting part is that the majority of people belong to entirely different sleep wake Cycles for instance there's a small yet spirited nine percent who are just bursting with energy all day long on the other end of the spectrum about 16 of people are sleepy throughout their day in scientific terms these individuals are affectionately called moderately active then there are the 18 morning charged people who need a bit of a snooze in the afternoon even if we add up the morning people the all-day energetic folks and the ones who need an afternoon Siesta we've got at most 40 percent who function better in the morning if we extrapolate this to the whole population it seems like a minority of early birds are dictating our daily routines I mean think about it not everyone is a morning person but most jobs kick off at 9am or even earlier in some cases sure there are some caveats to this study for one college students aren't exactly representative of the entire population also they are notorious for pulling all-nighters either hitting the books or partying and then sleeping late into the morning so the study might be overstating the number of night owls and understating the early risers and let's not forget the students were asked to assess themselves and we all know how precise that can get [Music] even with these limitations This research paints a pretty clear picture it tackles the myth that we are divided into only two groups the morning people and the night owls in fact a substantial chunk if not the majority are not morning people at all with the growing trend of remote working it's a blessing for those of us who function better in the afternoons and evenings finally we can sync our work schedules with our natural sleep wake rhythms but let's say the initial classification is correct that there are only two types of people those that like to wake up early and those that would rather not it's obvious that tending to wake up later during the day might come with its own set of challenges you might find it hard to concentrate during those first working hours you might even underperform while in class if you're still in school it raises the question could night owls become early birds well here's what science has to say it's possible but certainly not a piece of cake now before we delve into how to make the switch let's get familiar with this fancy term named chronotype turns out that the chronotype Saga isn't a straightforward tale though it's an intricate blend of Nature and nurture says science on the nature front many genes are at play helping determine whether you're a nighttime binge Watcher or a sunrise Chaser a bunch of Studies have even highlighted hundreds of genes linked to morning people these genes have a say in our circadian rhythm which is just a fancy name for our natural sleep wake cycle leading to our chronotype that being said your environment also plays a starring role it's like this you engage in daily activities that sort of match your chronotype let's say you're a night owl you're all bright at night so that's when you choose to get your sweat on or hang out with Pals this in turn feeds your late night tendencies the environment's influence gives us hope though this means you can play around with your sleep wake cycle to suit your lifestyle want to become an early bird go slow and steady Specialists advise gradually setting your alarm 15 to 20 minutes earlier every few days over a period of weeks until you've hit your ideal wake-up time remember consistency is your friend here you might start adjusting as your work week progresses but if you revert to your late night ways and morning snoozes on weekends you'll hit a roadblock that momentum you've been building all week will soon be gone light exposure also plays a crucial role before bed switch off those screens to avoid blocking the production of melatonin a hormone that sets your sleep wake Rhythm when you wake up let the light in signaling your body to wrap up melatonin production late night activity can mess up your transition too swapping your night workout sessions for morning or afternoon ones could work wonders you might even need to reconfigure your meal timings but hey if being a night owl suits you and doesn't interfere with your commitments feel free to keep that schedule you know how some people get super inspired by those top CEOs and try to replicate their crack of dawn routine right well it might not be as awesome as you think if you're trying to be an early bird but you're cutting back on your beauty sleep that's a big No-No you're basically inviting a whole Entourage of unpleasant stuff like feeling grumpy struggling to focus potentially gaining weight feeling jittery and upping the risk of having heart problems and here's another nugget of wisdom if you're hitting the ground running super early you have to wrap up your work earlier too otherwise what's the point right most sleep specialists have a bone to pick with big shots Who start their day really early but then also burn the Midnight Oil either in their offices or glued to their email inboxes it sets a harmful Trend so if you're a night owl trying to switch to an earlier morning routine maybe it isn't all that good if it means compromising unhealthy restful sleep you should be okay with making the necessary changes if you keep it balanced though that's it for today.