I came across an article that yet again confirms my sleeping habits as not bad, if even good!  🙂

Hahaha this was just too funny. Lighting has changed our way of life! photo credit: gearfuse.com

Sure, there are all those sayings about how sleeping early and getting up early is good for you and certainly that’s how people have lived for centuries, but it’s a new age now, with new rules.  After electricity became common and staying up past sundown was no longer an issue, a whole world opened up to us humans.  We can now operate continuously throughout the night with little inconvenience, thanks to our friend the light bulb.  Artificial light allows us to do things at night and I see no reason why we shouldn’t take advantage of it if our biological clocks don’t complain.

I’ve always been a night owl, staying up until the early hours of the next day, then sleeping in until the afternoon.  It’s just how my body functions and I, as a fan of what is “natural,” feel that I should just listen to my body.  It’s nearly impossible for me to get up in the early morning without multiple alarms and a few minutes of extra napping.  I also tend to tire out in the middle of the day and have a lull after eating lunch.  I also can’t fall asleep before about 1 AM, tossing and turning impatiently if I try.  On the flip side, sleep comes easy by 2 or 3 and I wake up on my own around noon (or even earlier at times).  My body is happier with me, I feel well-rested, and I can stay active through the night again.

Now here's a fellow who looks mighty alert! photo credit: telegraph.co.uk

This study confirms this behavior, where early birds tend to crash earlier after waking up than night owls.  Those who naturally wake up early got tired ten and a half hours after getting up, whereas those who naturally wake up later got more alert!  Late risers’ circadian clocks gave them a boost around that time to keep them going, but early risers didn’t get that.  So certainly if you’re naturally a late riser and forced to be up early in the morning, you’re going to be crashing sometime in the afternoon as you fight your circadian rhythm and the afternoon heat (and likely food coma from lunchtime).  I also found an article explaining why some people may be night owls – it’s a mutation of a gene.  It seems that night owls are on a cycle longer than a 24-hour day (mice that exhibited night owl tendencies were found to have up to a 27-hour day).  Yet another thing that supports the idea that night owls’ energy levels last longer.  I guess we just weren’t made for the rotational speed of this Earth!

All in all I’m not looking to say that getting up later is better, but I just like when I find justification that it’s fine for me to go on my own schedule.  Where did this whole idea that early birds are healthier come from anyway?  The only way I can see that is that when they wake up, the air is cool from the night and more encouraging for exercise.  By the time I wake up, it’s far too hot out to reasonably work out outside, so then I’d have to wait until after dinner sometime, when I get lazy.  Other than that, does it really matter?  Feeling well-rested and alert is what is most important, whatever you need to do to obtain that.