It turns out our internal clocks are influenced by genes and are incredibly difficult to change. If you're just not a morning person, it's likely you'll never be, at least until the effects of aging kick in. And what's more, if we try to live out of sync with these clocks, our health likely suffers.
For simplicity, we often group chronotypes into early birds and night owls. But the reality is that science measures chronotypes on a continuous scale, with 351 genetic variations associated with being a morning person alone. Your chronotype all depends on your genetics, age, and relative light exposure.
One reason for having trouble waking up is sleep inertia, a brief time when the body transitions from sleep to being awake. Sleep inertia can make a person feel groggy, disoriented, and even cognitively impaired immediately after waking.
Exposure to bright light in the morning is considered one of the best ways to become more of a morning person and shift your chronotype earlier. If you cannot go outside, sit by a window or buy a light therapy lamp that is designed to imitate natural light.
Like most facets of personality, extremes are rare: Just 10 to 15 percent of the population is only a morning or evening person.
"Morning people are those who rise from sleep fairly easily and are most productive and/or active in the mornings," says Dr. Ayish "If you're a morning person, your brain is most alert in the morning, and you're generally very good at harnessing this energy and focus to get tasks, work and chores done."
The analysis indicated morning types tend to reach their goals resolutely and to plan their steps, they prefer to be precise, tidy, punctual, trustworthy; they have a sense of duty and responsibility; they are also less original and less open to culture and novelties, less curious, conformist, traditionalist, and less ...
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.
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.
Some research suggests that morning depression may be a consequence of disturbed sleep-cycles or circadian rhythms, an internal body clock that signals, among other things, the sleep-wake cycle. Two hormones, melatonin and cortisol are important for this cycle.
There are plenty of reasons why a person with ADHD seem to struggle getting up in the morning. It's either they haven't gotten a decent amount of sleep because of hyperactive brain, too many tasks to do for the following day or maybe getting distracted by the recent Tiktok dance craze?
Sleep researchers know that the morning can be difficult because of this overnight biological activity. “It is well known that cortisol has a circadian rhythm, with levels peaking in the morning between 08.00 and 09.00, and smaller secondary peaks after meals.
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.
Morning People May Live Longer Than Night Owls (Published 2018) Compared with “definite morning” types, “definite evening” types had a 10 percent increased risk of dying over a six-and-a-half-year study period.
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.
Night owls may be at higher risk for chronic disease, prior research has shown. A 2022 study found night owls were more sedentary, had lower aerobic fitness levels, and burned less fat at rest and while active than early birds.
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.
Our reaction to each of day parts is driven by our internal clock or circadian rhythms. A person's internal clock is usually a 24-hour clock and it's tied to Earth's 24-hour cycle of day and night. Some people's cycle is a little shorter, so they are usually early birds. Some with a longer cycle are the night owls.
Research suggests morning people may, in fact, catch the worm, as getting up early is associated with increased productivity, which can lead to feeling more successful doing the workday. An early start is also associated with improved mental health and life satisfaction and a decreased risk of diabetes and obesity.
Morning people really are happier, study finds. A new study finds that night owls have an increased risk for mental illness and are less happy than morning larks. Morning larks wake in the early hours with smiles on their faces and a can-do attitude that befuddles most night owls.
Questionnaire results from more than 350 people showed that morning types are attracted to concrete information rather than abstract thinking and like to rely on logic rather than intuition. They tend to be introverted, self-controlled, and eager to make a good impression on others.
Researchers found 15 genetic variants that were linked to being a morning person. The study also found that gender may have a role to play: While 48.4% of women described themselves as morning people, only 39.7% of men did the same.