LONDON — Are you someone who stays up late into the night or do you rise with the chickens each morning?
I’m a night owl and recent studies have confirmed what I’d assumed since my teen years – The typical 9 to 5 work day favors morning people.
The Study Finds article ‘Night owls’ twice as likely to perform poorly at work, take disability than ‘early birds’ tells us researchers in Finland recently found “night owls” are twice as likely to say they struggle to perform at work. Even more concerning, people who stay up late also have a higher risk of retiring due to disability than their “early bird” co-workers.
According to the study, morning chronotypes, your early risers, tend to function better early in the morning.
Night owls, on the other hand, who have more difficulty waking up in the morning, are sharper during the evening and generally stay up later.
Unfortunately, though, those night owls usually don’t go to bed early enough to get the recommended amount of rest (at least seven hours) during the work week because work or school usually starts between 7 and 9:30 am the next morning, forcing them to rise between 6 and 8:30 am depending on their commute. As a result, researchers say night owls are left with a “sleep debt” and a need to catch up on sleep during their off days.
If you find yourself consistently waking up at 10 am or later on the weekend, you know exactly what I’m talking about.
Key Takeaway: The traditional 9 to 5 workday is less conducive to night owls than folks who don’t mind waking up at the crack of dawn.
The video below isn’t directly related to the article but contains relevant information about the topic.
3 min, 20 sec
Sleep is the holy grail of health, but unlike the real Holy Grail, it can actually be pretty easy to obtain for some people. For others, it can feel like your biology is directly opposed to doing this pretty simple activity during society’s allotted times. Well, my fellow Night Owls, it turns out that your worst fears are true: being an “evening person” is a genetic trait that screws you over if you live a 9-5 lifestyle.
