Night Owls Vs Morning People: How Your Sleep Patterns Shape You

Yes, This Stuff Influences Your Personality!

Your natural rhythm does, believe it or not, come with its own pros and cons. Night owls have a higher tendency towards depression, but researchers have also found that these people are able to stay focused for longer, while early birds become mentally exhausted earlier in the day. Morning people, meanwhile, tend to be more flexible people in general. They do have more regular sleep patterns and enjoy more restful sleep than night owls. Incredibly, research shows that morning people feel healthier overall than night owls!

There is more. Night owls:

• Tend to be more creative
• Are more willing to take risks
• Tend to have better cognitive abilities

Meanwhile, early birds:

• Are more proactive and optimistic
• Are less prone to addiction

What do you say to that? It's certainly accurate for me. This stuff is much more fascinating than astrology, I say.

Is There A 'Reset Button'?

Researchers from Vanderbilt University found that there may indeed be a way to radically alter the internal biological clock. They managed to stimulate the brains of mice, which have a very similar biological clock as humans except they're night-active so it's pretty much reversed, to change their natural sleep-wake cycle. They did that by either suppressing or stimulating neurons in the aforementioned SCN.

While nothing like this is coming to a pharmacy near you any time soon, medication to better treat circadian-rhythm related disorders like seasonal affective disorder, jet lag, and the negative results of shift work may be developed at some point in the future as a result of these findings. Meanwhile, however, you'll have to make do with what you've got.

Making The Most Of Your Natural Rhythm 

Morning people can make the most of their day by doing their most cognitively-challenging tasks early on, and saving mundane, mechanical jobs for later in the day. Short siestas may benefit morning people if they have to be mentally awake later in the day. If you're a morning person, you're in luck. The world seems to be set up for you, most of the time — and you'll also have the optimism to enjoy that fact.

See Also: Night Shifts, Circadian Rhythm And Our Health

Night owls, meanwhile, seem to get the rough end of the deal. Most of the world is productive in the morning. Not everyone is lucky enough to have access to flexible working hours! If you're a night owl, you'll benefit by making practical and mental preparations for tasks you have to engage in the next morning before you go to sleep. That way, you won't have to do all that hard thinking work in the morning. Also have a well-prepared breakfast routine, and drink all the coffee you need to get going. You may also consider taking the radical step of looking for night-shift work, which is rather damaging for most people but may work well for you.