WHEN THE SUN RISES, DO WE REVISE?

Some people are slow to rise in the morning, but some of us seem to anticipate great things and are anxiously waiting for the first glimpse of morning light? Which are you? I have heard you are a morning person all of my life but my sister’s nickname is Nite Owl. I have witnessed her cleaning her house all night long. We come from the same parents so it is interesting how we see “the light” differently. I thought this is an interesting subject for my blog so here we go.

I found an article written in 2017 and have inserted the article link for you to read as it is a little lengthy but it gives a scientific explanation to the difference in people’s sleep preferences. Please click on it to find out why you either are an early bird or a night owl. I will uses some excerpts for our discussion.

https://www.vox.com/2016/3/18/11255942/morning-people-evening-chronotypes-sleeping

Most people — around 30 to 50 percent — fall right in the middle of the chronotype bell curve, sleeping between the hours of 11 pm and 7 am.

Another 40 percent are either slightly morning people or slightly evening people, off by an hour or so. 1

People like Sokolis are even more rare: Only around 0.2 percent — one out of 500 — of adults have a delayed sleep phase like Sokolis. (The condition is much more common among teens, whose clocks gradually shift earlier as they age.) A few more adults (1 percent) have advanced sleep phase syndrome and prefer to go to sleep around 8 pm, according to the American Sleep Association. Society tends to be more forgiving of them.

This is an excerpt from the linked article (see above link for full article)

As a writer/blogger, I find most of my inspiration comes from an early morning rise where thoughts fill my head. I know other writers/authors who find their inspiration comes from late night sessions. Don’t you find it interesting that people are so different and creatively inspired by varying times, places, and situations?

Let’s see what we can do to build on the differences in our creative juice outputs.

• How do we consult or converse with others who are not on the same time clock as us?
• Determining our work sessions to be the most productive at what time during the day or night.
• Discipline methods to maximize our productive hours and the minimal for relaxation and personal activities.
• Understanding that we may have different time clocks than others in our workplace, home environment, social media groups, and other locations/interactive situations.
• Avoiding obligations during the low energy periods if possible for maximum results from interviews, meetings, and even social activity.

These are thought provoking questions/suggestions for each of us to consider. Most arguments/confrontations occur during low energy periods. Let me give a personal memory to jog the times when you have encountered one of either types of personalities:

When my daughter was a toddler, we visited my first husband’s family. My SIL was probably one of the sweetest and endearing women I have met and being around her was always such a pleasure, I was looking forward to spending the week at their place. Missy, my daughter and myself, well we have always been morning, jump up and meet life head on, so we were up at the crack of dawn. However, unbeknown to me, my SIL, was not and let me repeat, NOT a morning person. I found out when she walked into the kitchen with me and Missy shouting Good Morning, giggling, and then we got the LOOK. Oh my word, if looks could kill. She walked past us, not speaking and directly to the coffee pot. The silence was stifling, especially for Missy, who was ready for some good ole loving and hugging from her aunt who she loved tremendously. After a cup of coffee, we received some education from this beautiful charming lady whose head had almost spun around when we had spoken enlightened us that until she had her coffee, it was not advisable to talk to her. We learned that valuable lesson and she was the best hostess ever, but we never approached her again before that first cup of coffee.

Now, I am the opposite. I rise early in high gear with only a few exceptions but keep me up late at night and I lose my charming personality (LOL) and can get ill if I have to stay up so late. I have exhausted my personal energy and am ready for sleep. I have always said if I say I am going to sleep, it’s time to stop talking as I won’t hear a word you say. How funny is after all these years, I still fall asleep instantly. I wake up the same way I go to sleep. It’s the on or off switch in me.

Which type are you? Have you figured out how to be productive during your peak hours? Have you scheduled some relaxation during your low energy time periods? I suggested to my sister years ago before she retired that a night job might be perfect for her. I can tell you that type job would get me fired as I couldn’t function like I can during the day.

I think from reading this interesting article, whether you are early to bed, early to rise type, or you come to life when the sun goes down, we can benefit from understanding what makes our internal clock tick, we can learn how to profit from our “clock type”. Give all you can during your productive hours, rest when energy level is low, and rest as fully as for your good health and happy life.

(C) Copyright 2012-2021 Arline Miller of Sipping Cups of Inspiration with all rights and privileges reserved. Third party material if known, is sourced to original location/author for credit reference.