There are sleep specialists who give tests to determine your chronotype. This will help you align your life with your natural biological inclinations. They also generally believe you should embrace your chronotype to meet your sleep needs so you have better energy during the day and can function optimally in all aspects of your life. And most scientists believe there is still much to be studied about chronotypes and how they relate to sleep and lifestyle. However, regardless of which model they use, sleep scientists typically believe your chronotype can not be influenced by external factors because it is strongly based on genetics. So you can clearly see how complicated the study of sleep habits can be, right?įurthermore, there are some sleep scientists who consider owls and larks to be two chronotypes, and swifts and woodcocks to be two additional chronotypes that fall somewhere in between! Now we are REALLY making things complicated, right? With that being said, there are also studies that have identified SIX categories of chronotypes (not named after animals). The study of sleep habits and patterns is really quite complicated. Each chronotype is based loosely on the designated animals’ sleep patterns and habits. Your chronotype works within your natural circadian rhythm.Ĭhronotypes were first discovered in the 1970’s so it’s a relatively young science.Ĭhronotypes do not necessarily align exactly with night owl and morning lark tendencies because scientists who developed the concept of chronotypes identified four categories: the bear, the wolf, the lion, and the dolphin. In addition to having an influence on your personal sleep pattern, your chronotype influences your appetite, exercise, core body temperature, and even cortisol production. There is some research that indicates the brain composition is even different among different chronotypes. Your chronotype is the natural inclination of your body to sleep at a certain time. Scientists use the term, chronotype, to describe the tendencies that people have toward the time of day they prefer activity and rest. Let’s take a look at what these terms mean and how they influence your sleep hygiene. Sleep experts evaluate and counsel people about their sleep habits based on natural circadian rhythms and chronotypes. Most people can very easily identify whether they are a night owl or a morning lark from a young age. Scientists who study sleep behaviors believe that the human waking and sleeping pattern is influenced by genetics, biology, lifestyle, and even personality. In general, morning larks tend to naturally wake up before 6am and want to go to bed by 9pm. They consider themselves a morning person because they do their best thinking and working in the morning hours from dawn until noon. They are ready to sieze each day soon after waking up. Human larks get up and feel most energetic very early in the morning. Larks are small energetic birds that wake up early and are naturally happy - singing as they fly off for their day. People who prefer to rise early with the sun and go to bed when the sun goes down may be called morning larks. In general, night owls tend to wake up naturally closer to 10am and don’t want to go to bed before 3am. Some night owls even prefer to work through the night. Ideally, some would be allowed to be an evening person on the job whereas they may do their best work in the evenings. Night owls would much prefer that work hours be later so they can wake up later and do their work into the evening.

But it can be challenging to be completely nocturnal in a world that operates mostly with work hours from 9am-5pm (or during daytime hours.) Most night owls tend to believe they are almost nocturnal - like an owl. Many night owls report that they do their best thinking and working late at night. A night owl personality tends to have creative bursts and extra energy late at night. A night owl is someone who prefers to stay up later than most people at night and sleep later in the morning.

Night owl person meaning