Are You A Early Bird Or Night Owl? Which Is Better?

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  • Ingomike

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    May 26, 2018
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    I posted this in the DST but thought it could be a fun winter thread...


    This study was interesting:

    For the latest study, scientists pitted morning larks against night owls in a task designed to measure their reaction and attention times.
    During the experiment, the volunteers got up and went to bed at their usual times, with the larks tending to turn in four hours earlier than the owls.
    Both did similarly well at the task shortly after getting up. But ten hours into their day, it was the night owls that shone, being both quicker and more alert at the task, the journal Science reports.
    Despite being awake for the same length of time, the larks felt sleepier, with scans showing that the parts of their brains linked to attention were less active.
    Dr Philippe Peigneux, of the University of Liege in Belgium, said: 'During the evening session, evening types were less sleepy and tended to perform faster than morning types.'
    Previous studies have shown that getting up late appears to be in our DNA, with our body clock regulated by a series of genes which determine whether we are larks or owls.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...ise-early.html

    I have always been a night owl, i could fully function into the wee hours of a day. Mornings are for sleeping and coffee. Have grown weary of the old trope that sleeping in is lazy, never been lazy in my life, can out work most people I have met, just am not going to do it before noon. Folks that are night owls are very valuable members, you early birds are never going to stay awake for first watch. LOL
     

    rvb

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    Jan 14, 2009
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    Very much a night owl.
    Used to say more than 4 hrs of sleep is wasting your day.... once I hit 40 I increased that to 5 hrs..... haha.

    Usual bed time is between 1-2am, sometimes later.
    I have to force myself to go to bed at 1-2... It's not hard to stay up later most nights, especially if I find something interesting to do or read.
    When the kids are not in school, like summers, it's more difficult for me to get going in the morning. Fortunately, I've never had a job where I had to be "on time." Flexible work schedules are awesome...

    Wife is definitely the farthest thing from a night owl, but she's not a morning person, either. She needs a lot more sleep and is generally always tired. I tell her it's because she sleeps too much.

    Remember, while the early-bird gets the worm, it's the early-worm that gets eaten!

    -rvb
     

    terrehautian

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    Jan 6, 2012
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    Where ever my GPS says I am
    I worked between 3:30pm and up to 1:30am on a regular basic for 12 years. For the early part of those years I went to bed as soon as I went home and and was up around 9am. I married an overnight nurse and I became less morning person. Last week I started a new job and am working days for training. Getting up at 6:45am is a hard pill. Of course no idea what my regular shift will be.
     

    Clark & Addison

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    Feb 28, 2019
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    Early bird here (though not as much as I used to be). I can't speak to the night owls being able to function better than the early bird after being awake the same amount of time, but I do know that I don't function as well later in the day.
     

    natdscott

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    I sleep fine, but I just don't like it when the owls sit outside my window at night.
     

    Ddillard

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    Apr 29, 2016
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    I never go to bed before 1 am and always up and about by 5 am. When I do sleep, I wakeup every hour on the hour +/- 5 minutes. Its the damn insomnia. It is great on weekends. I get up early, do my thing (shooting, breakfast, etc...) all before the wife and kids awake. So the rest of the day is family time.
     

    ATM

    will argue for sammiches.
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    a3c6aae558e9fad019bff2cf755ce430.jpg
     

    Ingomike

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    May 26, 2018
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    North Central
    Night owl when I was younger. Definitely a morning lark these days.

    I go to bed before I used to go out, and I get up before I used to get home.

    My understanding is it is part of your physical makeup, one can adapt to shift work or even a spouse but you are what you are. What one did in younger days often was fueled by alcohol for many folks...
     

    JeepHammer

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    Aug 2, 2018
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    MENSA discussed these studies at length a few years back and came up with a couple variables the studies didn't consider.
    The artificial construct of living indoors, and the artificial construct of 'School' slants the wake/sleep pattern in unnatural ways.

    We all know how hard it is to get kids down at night, and up in the morning, and this doesn't happen when you use native tribes as control groups.
    Up with the sun, or even before the sun, and down at dark.
    When you take away the artificial atmosphere (HVAC) and artificial light control (modern home) people adjust wake/sleep cycle to work in the daytime, sleep at night.

    My wife thinks I'm nuts because I can sleep anytime, anywhere, no matter what's going on around me. (16 years in the Marines)
    She finds me splitting wood or working in the shop at 2AM and sleeping in a kitchen chair at 2PM...
    If I wake and can't get back to sleep, I simply go do something. No point in rolling around or watching TV.
    She has FINALLY stopped asking if I know what time it is, I don't have a clue and it doesn't matter, I'll sleep when I'm tired.
    Customers/employees show up about 7:30AM, so I know what time it is when that happens...

    I know some folks that have a wake/sleep schedule that's carved in stone, like my wife, she's up at 6:30AM without an alarm, and she's done for the day around 10PM just like clockwork.
    She can't seem to nap during the day unless she's sick, and I take an afternoon nap about every day. I'm a BIG fan of afternoon naps. Lunch takes 15 minutes, that's a 45 minute nap for me on lunch hour...

    I do find I'm sleeping more as I get older, when I was young it was a solid 8 or 9 hours, that dropped to 5 or 6 in a 24 hour period, not all at once during my mid 20s to mid 40s, and it's creeped up to 6 or 6-1/2 hours in a 24 hour period in my 50s, still not all at once very often.
    I'm aware that's screwed up when compared to 'Normal', but it's normal for me...

    It's amazing how much you can get done at 2AM without distractions when you aren't tired...
     

    churchmouse

    I still care....Really
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    187   0   0
    Dec 7, 2011
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    Speedway area
    Used to be a sleep when you die kind of guy. So much going on in life. But always up and rolling due to the work I did.
    These days it is not so hard to sleep but sleep is hard to maintain. As we age pain will become your friend. But I still open my eyes round 5:30 AM from yrs of practice.
     

    Gabriel

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    Jun 3, 2010
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    The shore of wonderful Lake Michigan
    I work midnights and quite like it despite the rest of the household being on a daytime shift. I switch back to days on my weekends.

    I have found that when I have an extended period of time off when I don't have to work and the family is gone, I tend to sleep 45 minutes here and an hour there without sleeping more than an hour or so at a time. I don't know why that is, but after a couple days of that I'm like Kramer on that episode of Seinfeld where he decides he is going to sleep 20 minutes every hour instead of eight hours at night. When I go back to work after that I barely even know what year it is.
     

    DoggyDaddy

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    Aug 18, 2011
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    Southside Indy
    MENSA discussed these studies at length a few years back and came up with a couple variables the studies didn't consider.
    The artificial construct of living indoors, and the artificial construct of 'School' slants the wake/sleep pattern in unnatural ways.

    We all know how hard it is to get kids down at night, and up in the morning, and this doesn't happen when you use native tribes as control groups.
    Up with the sun, or even before the sun, and down at dark.
    When you take away the artificial atmosphere (HVAC) and artificial light control (modern home) people adjust wake/sleep cycle to work in the daytime, sleep at night.

    My wife thinks I'm nuts because I can sleep anytime, anywhere, no matter what's going on around me. (16 years in the Marines)
    She finds me splitting wood or working in the shop at 2AM and sleeping in a kitchen chair at 2PM...
    If I wake and can't get back to sleep, I simply go do something. No point in rolling around or watching TV.
    She has FINALLY stopped asking if I know what time it is, I don't have a clue and it doesn't matter, I'll sleep when I'm tired.
    Customers/employees show up about 7:30AM, so I know what time it is when that happens...

    I know some folks that have a wake/sleep schedule that's carved in stone, like my wife, she's up at 6:30AM without an alarm, and she's done for the day around 10PM just like clockwork.
    She can't seem to nap during the day unless she's sick, and I take an afternoon nap about every day. I'm a BIG fan of afternoon naps. Lunch takes 15 minutes, that's a 45 minute nap for me on lunch hour...

    I do find I'm sleeping more as I get older, when I was young it was a solid 8 or 9 hours, that dropped to 5 or 6 in a 24 hour period, not all at once during my mid 20s to mid 40s, and it's creeped up to 6 or 6-1/2 hours in a 24 hour period in my 50s, still not all at once very often.
    I'm aware that's screwed up when compared to 'Normal', but it's normal for me...

    It's amazing how much you can get done at 2AM without distractions when you aren't tired...

    Sounds a lot like me. (highlighted parts anyhow). I work from home some days, so instead of wasting my lunch hour on... well, lunch... I'll eat while I work then I get an hour for a nap. :rockwoot: And when I work from home, I start working at 4 a.m. instead of 6 when I'm in the office. System is lightning fast at 4 a.m., but starts bogging down as more and more people log in (some 3,000+ people puts a bit of a drag on a network). That lets me get a lot done before most people even get to work.
     

    wtburnette

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    Nov 11, 2013
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    Early bird here (though not as much as I used to be). I can't speak to the night owls being able to function better than the early bird after being awake the same amount of time, but I do know that I don't function as well later in the day.

    This is me. For years I got up around 4 - 4:30am and have always been the most productive early in the morning. Lately I've been training myself to get up a bit later. I go to bed a little later and get up a little later. So far I've pushed it to getting up between 6 - 7am without an alarm. Still the most productive early in the day.
     

    rob63

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    May 9, 2013
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    I'm another early bird, always have been, and like the others have said I'm most productive in the morning and seldom do too much in the evening. The other members of the family are all night owls, so I have observed the differences quite extensively and think that study is utter b.s. The night owls are worthless when they first get up, my daughter considers waking up a "process" that takes hours. Each type just has different periods when they are most alert.

    I will say that it seems to me that it is probably better to be a night owl. I assume it is because they are the majority, but just about any kind of entertainment such as sports, TV, etc. starts at a time more suited to night owls than early birds. There really isn't much to do at 4:00 am, and it is difficult to get much accomplished without making any noise, which the night owls don't care for, so my most productive period of the day is usually wasted.

    Fortunately, I am also introverted, so I like being by myself in the morning. I have often wondered if there is a connection between being introverted and an early bird?
     
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