“Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.”  Right?  Wrong!  I came across a blog post about how this old adage may just be a myth (and another one confirming his point).  Granted, I don’t know the validity of these claims, but they make sense and it sure does give me hope, being the night owl that I am.

It turns out that people’s biological clocks are genetically influenced to be different chronotypes, which means people have different preferences for when they are most active during the day.  For some, it’s early in the day (lucky them – it fits in well with societal boundaries) and for others, it’s late in the day (which does not bode well for those of us going to school or working).  Although getting up early may seem to make us better off (more daylight hours spent getting stuff done), it doesn’t work as well for those whose bodies naturally feel more energized in the evening and nighttime.

If it’s as hard for you to get up in the morning as it is for me, you know what the drawbacks are: feeling tired throughout the day, not working as productively, losing out on sleep, maybe even crashing during the day…  Sometimes you can’t fall asleep earlier at night, so you’re screwed when it comes to trying to drag yourself out of bed the next morning, with drowsiness haunting you throughout the day.  Not getting enough sleep means your body didn’t a chance to fully recover for the busy day ahead of you.  The quality of sleep can also suffer because you’re sleeping at times that are unnatural to your body.

This is not to say that getting up early is harmful (though it could be for certain people).  In fact, a study cited in the first article link found no correlation between sleeping habits and income, education level, or mortality rate!  The point is to listen to what your body is telling you.  You should sleep when you’re sleepy and wake up when you’re refreshed (although the range should be 8-10 hours – if you’re nearing 12 then you’ll end up feeling more exhausted).  Some people love to get up as soon as the sun is rising and others can’t stand to sleep until dawn is creeping up on them.  Typically, people have no choice but to get up early – for school, for work, and other obligations.  However, if you’re working from home, have flexible hours, are unemployed, or on extended vacation, it wouldn’t hurt to follow your circadian rhythmn.

Now I don’t have to feel guilty about my sleeping habits!