Night Owls Are a Real Thing

Science proves what many of you may already know: some people are just not cut out to be morning folks. There is a definite set of the population that can be classified as “night owls.” And it isn’t because we’re lazy. (Notice I say “we.” Yes, I’m a night owl, too!)

Being a night owl works out fine for the job I currently have. But when I worked in a traditional 9-5 office setting, it wasn’t always so. That’s not unusual, because morning people have the distinct advantage when it comes to work today. Research shows that, in terms of physical strength, morning people “remain constant throughout the day, but night owls have peak performance in the evening” because they had “maximal central nervous system drive” at about 9:00 p.m. So if you’ve ever had a burst of energy at 9:00 p.m., now you know why.

The interesting thing is that while night owls had this burst of energy, morning people didn’t. Their brains and bodies worked best at 9:00 a.m. but then went down throughout the day from there.

Image: sxc.hu.