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The Truth Behind Night Owls and Morning People
Posted by Renddy Rose Rodriguez
on
11/18/2008 10:08:00 PM
By: Brie Cadman
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Biology and Behavior
Though our sleeping and waking preferences may be partially innate, some are due to what we’re used to from childhood, the seasons, or what we’ve adapted to. This means we can—and do—change our sleeping patterns.
For instance, during the summer, when daylight hours are plenty, we may stay up later but rise earlier with the sun. In the winter, darkness and cold sets in early, making our beds all that much more alluring. It’s also harder to wake early in the winter when it’s dark out.
Age also alters our sleeping patterns. Different times in our lives lend themselves to different sleeping patterns. During the teens, for instance, hormones may change the sleep and wake patterns, and this is one explanation as to why so many teens tend to shift to a night owl schedule. (Socializing, studying, and busy schedules also contribute.) Alternatively, as people get older, work and familial demands tend to make people more morning focused, regardless of their preferences. Later in life, in the sixties and seventies, people tend to need less sleep altogether.
In Sleep as in Life?
In reality, however, few of us are true morning people who can effortlessly bound out of bed at five or six in the morning; likewise die-hard night owls are also rare. Researchers estimate that extremes comprise about 10 to 20 percent of the population, with the rest of us falling somewhere on the intermediate spectrum. And in fact, the majority of us prefer a common point in the 24-hour continuum: daytime.
So what does that say about the common belief that night people are more creative—the artist who stays up to the wee hours to paint or the musician who keeps a bedtime-at-dawn type schedule?
A few studies show that character traits may differ between the diurnal and the nocturnal. A Spanish researcher found that the time of day we prefer to be most active corresponds to certain personality traits. Early risers were more likely to be logical and analytical, and likely to use concrete information as sources of knowledge, whereas those that stayed up late were more imaginative and intuitive. Another study published in the February 2007 issue of Personality and Individual Differences determined that night owls scored better on creativity tests than did intermediary and morning people.
However, the research presents a bit of a chicken and egg conundrum: Does your internal clock shape your psychology or does your psychology help shape your sleeping patterns, and thus your internal clock? Many questions still remain and I’m sure there are many creative early risers and analytical late-nighters who would dispute the above studies.
Though our sleeping and waking preferences may be partially innate, some are due to what we’re used to from childhood, the seasons, or what we’ve adapted to. This means we can—and do—change our sleeping patterns.
For instance, during the summer, when daylight hours are plenty, we may stay up later but rise earlier with the sun. In the winter, darkness and cold sets in early, making our beds all that much more alluring. It’s also harder to wake early in the winter when it’s dark out.
Age also alters our sleeping patterns. Different times in our lives lend themselves to different sleeping patterns. During the teens, for instance, hormones may change the sleep and wake patterns, and this is one explanation as to why so many teens tend to shift to a night owl schedule. (Socializing, studying, and busy schedules also contribute.) Alternatively, as people get older, work and familial demands tend to make people more morning focused, regardless of their preferences. Later in life, in the sixties and seventies, people tend to need less sleep altogether.
In Sleep as in Life?
In reality, however, few of us are true morning people who can effortlessly bound out of bed at five or six in the morning; likewise die-hard night owls are also rare. Researchers estimate that extremes comprise about 10 to 20 percent of the population, with the rest of us falling somewhere on the intermediate spectrum. And in fact, the majority of us prefer a common point in the 24-hour continuum: daytime.
So what does that say about the common belief that night people are more creative—the artist who stays up to the wee hours to paint or the musician who keeps a bedtime-at-dawn type schedule?
A few studies show that character traits may differ between the diurnal and the nocturnal. A Spanish researcher found that the time of day we prefer to be most active corresponds to certain personality traits. Early risers were more likely to be logical and analytical, and likely to use concrete information as sources of knowledge, whereas those that stayed up late were more imaginative and intuitive. Another study published in the February 2007 issue of Personality and Individual Differences determined that night owls scored better on creativity tests than did intermediary and morning people.
However, the research presents a bit of a chicken and egg conundrum: Does your internal clock shape your psychology or does your psychology help shape your sleeping patterns, and thus your internal clock? Many questions still remain and I’m sure there are many creative early risers and analytical late-nighters who would dispute the above studies.
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