Early Bird or Night Owl?

I am an absolute Morning Person and have always been so.  If I could work 7am - 3pm every day or better yet, 6am - 2pm, I would be the happiest person on earth.   For me, afternoons are sluggish and evenings are totally nonproductive.  Forget trying to exercise after work.  When I'm done for the day, I'm done.  Dishes to do after dinner...well, they most likely will end soaking until the morning.

Your chronotype may very well be predetermined by your genes.  According to Steven A. Brown of the Institute for Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of Zurich, Switzerland,  "One of the big surprises was that so much of our daily behavior was genetically encoded." Brown said.  "The idea that skin cells are telling us anything about our behavior was, for me, quite fascinating," he added.

According to recent Huffington Post article ("7 Things Morning People Do Differently" by Sarah Klein) there are 3 types of people: Morning People, Night Owls, and Day Types.  These are known as chronotypes and can dictate certain characteristics.  Guess what?  Morning people are believed to be happier, have better grades, be more productive (obviously in the morning), are less depressed and generally nicer than other chronotypes.  Love it! 

Okay, now for the flip side.  Morning people aren't a lot of fun once the sun goes down.  They are rarely the life of the party because it will most likely be way past bedtime.  Night Owls are said to be more intelligent that Early Birds according to an article by Satoshi Kanazawa in the Scientific Fundamentalist.  IQ may play a role when a person is more comfortable going to bed:  the higher the IQ, the later the bedtime.  Lastly, Night Owls may need less sleep to function as well or better than Early Birds.  

Then there are the Day People.  Yes, that's the majority of you out there that wake up with the sun (or shortly after) and then sleep an average 7.5 hours starting sometime in mid to late evening.  You are the ones that keep this world running.

So can you change chronotypes?  There are many websites that say you can try but equally as many that say you are what you are.   Sleep experts say that keeping the same wake-up time every day is an important strategy for avoiding insomnia.  So forget trying to change.  Embrace it and seize the day (or night)!