Why are some people night owls and others early risers?

“The human clock is about 24 hours, thanks to Earth’s 24-hour light-dark cycle,” Sharkey says. “But some people have a slightly longer natural cycle, and some are slightly shorter.” If your circadian rhythm is on the long side, you’re more likely to be a night owl. If it runs short, you’re probably an early riser.

Is it better to be a morning person or a night owl Why?

A different 2020 study pointed to an association between sleep chronotype and physical activity. Early risers tended to get more physical activity, while night owls tended to get less. Male night owls also spent more time sedentary.

Is being a morning person a real thing?

Your natural tendency to be more of a morning person or night person is sometimes called your chronotype. Sometimes people refer to chronotypes in animal terms — early birds, night owls, wolves, or dolphins — but there is no real scientific connection between these labels and human sleep phases.

What does being a morning person say about your personality?

Using responses to a questionnaire about personality and sleep timing preferences (also known as chronotype), the researchers concluded that “morning people” were more likely to have higher scores on conscientiousness and lower ones on openness.

How do you become a morning owl as a night person?

Tips for Becoming a Morning Person

1. Maintain Good Sleep Hygiene.
2. Develop a Nighttime Routine.
3. Stay on a Consistent Sleep Schedule.
4. Gradually Shift Your Bedtime Earlier.
5. Develop a Morning Routine.
6. Exercise Regularly.
7. Use Light Strategically.
8. Shift Mealtimes Earlier.

How do you turn a night owl into a morning person?

How to Go from Night Owl to Early Bird

1. Adjust the morning first. One of the reasons night owls stay up so late is that they’re just not tired.
2. Go slow. If a 6:00 AM wake-up is too much to bite off after years of rising at 7:30 AM, ease into it.
3. Have a bright morning.
4. Bump up your evening schedule.
5. Stay steady.

How rare is it to be a morning person?

Related Stories. Like most facets of personality, extremes are rare: Just 10 to 15 percent of the population is only a morning or evening person.

Do night owls really exist?

A night owl, evening person or simply owl, is a person who tends to stay up until late at night, or the early hours of the morning. Night owls who are involuntarily unable to fall asleep for several hours after a normal time may have delayed sleep phase disorder.

Is it better to be a morning person or Night Owl?

A recent study in Belgium found that night owls are able to stay more focused as the day goes on, compared with early risers. Morning people, however, also have advantages. “Larks generally sleep better, have more regular sleep patterns, and have more flexible personalities,” Sharkey says.

What’s the difference between a morning lark and a night owl?

“Night owls” — people who naturally stay up late and wake up well past sunrise — have different patterns of brain activity compared with “morning larks,” a new study finds. And these differences can make life more difficult for night owls, if they’re forced to stick to a typical 9-to-5 schedule.

What happens when a night owl wakes up at 5am?

When a night owl tries to shift extremes by setting an alarm for 5am, they wake when melatonin is still being produced, which can have lots of negative consequences on the body. A 2019 study published in the journal Sleep Medicine demonstrated that there are small tweaks a night owl can make to fit more sleep into a work week.

Are night owls more prone to sleep apnea?

Compared with morning people, people who self-identified as night owls (while not a truly objective measure) were almost twice as likely to suffer from insomnia and about two-thirds as likely to have been diagnosed with sleep apnea, a sleep disorder that causes you to repeatedly stop breathing while you sleep.