Although morning types may achieve more academically, night owls tend to perform better on measures of memory, processing speed and cognitive ability, even when they have to perform those tasks in the morning.
Should You Become a Morning Person? Being a lark isn't better than being a night owl, but if you find that the hours you're keeping are getting in the way of work, school, healthy habits, social functions or other commitments, it might be helpful to shift your daily activity to operate more in the morning.
According to this 2012 study, morning people tend to feel happier than night owls. However, that could be due to the fact that society accommodates early risers' lifestyles better, which allows them to get more sleep. That might be why early birds tend to be great problem solvers and get better grades in school.
The reason this makes sense is that, in theory, early in the morning is when your brain is rested, your motivation is high, and you're less distracted. While a person's creativity is strongest at night, his or her productivity is strongest in the morning.
Psychology Today reported that intelligent people are likely to be nocturnal beings, with those with a higher IQ going bed later on both weeknights and weekends.
It's common for people with ADHD to have delayed circadian rhythms– known more commonly as “being a night owl.” With a delayed circadian rhythm, your sleep signals are delayed by two hours or more beyond what is considered a normal bedtime.
Night owl behavior is often diagnosed as delayed sleep phase disorder (DSPD) by sleep clinicians. DSPD is estimated to affect 15 percent of the population of the United States. People with DSPD have a delayed circadian rhythm.
Usually, people who are night owls stay awake past midnight, and extreme night owls may stay awake until just before or even after dawn. Some night owls have a preference or habit for staying up late, or stay up to work the night shift.
After adjusting the data to account for educational level, use of alcohol, smoking, the level of body mass, and sleep duration, the study found that being a night owl increased the risk of an early death by about 9% compared with morning types, who are often called early birds.
According to Dr. Ayish, being a morning person has many benefits, primarily because it's the natural tendency of the human brain. "Our brains are hardwired to be more alert in the morning, providing a mental boost to help you focus and concentrate and giving you the energy you need to get through the day," says Dr.
Jessica Tyrrell, author of the study. For morning people, there's more good news: "If you're a morning person, then you are less likely to have depression and more likely to report a higher well-being. This may in part be due to people who are morning people are less likely to have 'social jet lag,'" Tyrrell told CNN.
Types of sleepers: lion, wolf, bear and dolphin. The American sleep scientist, Michael Breus, revised the owls and larks model and identified a total of four types of sleepers. Whoever knows what type of sleeper they are can optimise their daily routine accordingly, thus improving their performance.
The reasons for morning people being more successful seem to be linked to their general attitude and mindset. A Harvard biologist, Christoph Randler, did some research on this and concluded that early birds are generally more proactive, and this results in higher levels of productivity.
Researchers have drawn significant parallels between being a night owl and having a predisposition for committing crime, engaging in risky sex, and making impulsive decisions.
The answer for most night owls is “Yes, you can,” according to sleep experts. How successful you will be at changing your sleep preferences, however, may be dependent on your genes and your willpower.
If you're a night owl, some behaviors, such as consistently eating late dinners or exposing yourself to bright non-ambient light in the evening, may have helped train your internal clock to shift a bit later than normal. But, being a night owl may also just be in your genes.
In addition to Ohanian, late risers include CEOs like Jonah Peretti (Buzzfeed), Aaron Levie (Box), and Tom Lehman (Genius); authors like Gustave Flaubert and James Joyce, and political leaders like Bill de Blasio and Winston Churchill. There are in fact, some real advantages to being a night owl.
People who are up at night are less well-adapted to the routines of many activities such as work or school schedules, and feel less social support. It is thought that they may be seen as lazy or rude and consequently received less support from others.
Night owls have better reasoning skills
A study from the University of Madrid tested the various skills of 1,000 teenagers, and found that those considered to be night owls scored the highest on the inductive reasoning portions of the test.
Other well-known night owls include Winston Churchill, Fran Lebowitz, Bob Dylan, Carl Jung, J.R.R. Tolkien, John Travolta, Prince, Christina Aguilera, and, believe it or not, Barack Obama.
Morning larks tend to live longer than night owls, research has shown.
Interestingly, only a bit more than one-third (37 percent) of people in the study actually identified as early birds or night owls (13 percent and 24 percent respectively), although it's worth noting that evening types on 24 percent were the most common chronotype.
But having night-owl tendencies may come with serious health effects. Recent studies have discovered that, regardless of their lifestyle, people who stay up late had both higher levels of body fat and an increased risk of developing other health problems, such as diabetes and low muscle mass, than did early birds.
Hundreds of genes might decide whether you're an early bird or night owl - CNN. Some people are genetically programmed to go to bed (and rise) early, others late. Morning birds have certain advantages over night owls, new research suggests, including a lower risk of certain mental disorders.