Chronotype? Human.
Since I started on my journey to be a day person vs. an extreme night owl, people have asked if I have been evaluated for chronotype.
No, I haven’t.
This is why.
I have seen chronotypes divided into 4 different types: Bear, Lion, Wolf, and Dolphin.
A Bear appears to align with the human’s circadian rhythm, rising shortly after sunrise and going to bed when it gets dark (though, big point here, we do not hibernate). The Lion is an “early bird,” the Wolf is a “night owl, and the Dolphin doesn’t stick to any regular sleep schedule.
My problem with these definitions of chronotypes is that they skim over the real truth.
All bears, all lions, all wolves, and all dolphins respond to the circadian rhythm based on millions of years of evolution. There are no individual animals that step outside of their species’ circadian rhythm. Or if they do, say in captivity, they experience significant health problems and early death.
How is it that only 50% of modern humans are “Bears,” in line with the human circadian rhythm?
Because the night owl and early bird behaviors are learned, and when the behavior becomes ingrained, it looks like a chronotype.
Many of us cope when forced to be early birds (like parents who must care for a baby who does not sleep well for months on end or people in the military) or night owls (because the job demands it or because parents work opposite shifts so there is always someone available to care for children). If the coping goes on for a long time, it becomes a habit, a learned behavior.
I do agree that there are variations in individuals’ energy during the day. These are individual preferences or qualities.
Some people have more energy in the morning, bolt out of bed, and jump into their day. Some people can’t think straight for 30-60 minutes after waking. Some people have afternoon or evening energy. Some are ready for bed at 9 or 10, others later.
It is easy to use chronotype as an excuse. “I was born this way,” “I’ve always been this way.”
Yeah, no.
There are a minuscule number of people who have a crazy internal clock, but it is extremely rare, and it is dangerous to their health.
I was not born a night owl.
It was shift work when I started working in a hospital years ago that forced me to make an unhealthy decision.
I quickly understood that getting up at the crack of dawn and fully functioning by 7 am when I started work was not sustainable. Neither was the night shift. So I worked the evening shift, leaving the hospital at 11 pm or 12. It would take me a couple of hours to get into sleep mode.
The same is true for early birds. That training starts early nowadays. School start times entirely ignore the need for children and adolescents to sleep more, awaken naturally with sunlight at 8 – 9 am, and have some downtime before jumping into social and brain calisthenics.
Shift work, early school start time, artificial light, and the pressures of modern living have crushed our adherence to the human circadian rhythm.
Shift work has been around for 200 years – it became possible only after artificial light (touches, fire, and even candles do not have the same quality as artificial light) was available. Early school start times, proven to cause mental health and behavioral problems, were not common in the 50s and 60s.
Consider our modern-day pressures: long work hours, lack of a support system, high expectations, anxiety is rampant, and behavioral problems among adults and children are increasing.
Our ancestors, both men and women, worked far fewer hours than we do today, four hours a day. The focus was on food, a safe home, and raising children. The rest of the time was leisure, making better tools for hunting, communing with members of the ‘tribe,’ participating in rituals, watching nature, moving through the seasons, and sometimes making war.
Chances are that anyone who stayed up late regularly to “protect” their ‘tribe’ from threats at some point would make a stupid mistake like walking off a cliff or entering a lion’s lair because they could not think clearly because of lack of sleep, being out of step with the circadian rhythm.
I imagine the folks on night duty back then did it sporadically and were treated with care for several days until they aligned with the circadian rhythm. Ancient people were well aware of the circadian rhythm and had no option but to follow it.
Studies indicate a considerable impact being out of sync with the circadian rhythms has on our lives.
Heck, just the time change when we move the clock back in the fall causes 15,000 plus deaths in the US! Most car accidents are related to a lack of good sleep, changes in the brain like Alzheimer’s, and heart disease, and diabetes are related to improper sleep cycles. And, as stated, our children suffer from a lack of sleep, which impacts their ability to learn and interact with others. The list goes on and on.
So here I am l, 47 days into a day-person schedule after almost five decades as a night owl. It has been an enormous adjustment. But it is not my body that is objecting. It is very happy with the change.
My brain is struggling. One part insists I don’t need sleep because staying up and exploring new ideas is more fun, and the other still longs for the old routine.
I will succeed in this endeavor to become a day person. The research backs me up, and the change is not nearly as difficult as anticipated. My brain will adjust because I will be aligned with what my body has been craving for a long time.