Updated by the Inspiyr Team April 30, 2013.
Is it Better to Be a Morning-Bird or a Night Owl?
The early bird catches the worm, so the expression goes. But is there really any truth behind this? According to recent studies, there are actual recognizable benefits to waking up early.
Benefits of Waking Up Early
1. Becoming an early riser will make you more successful.
It is plain and simple. A 2008 study out of Texas University concluded that those students identifying themselves as morning people earned a full point higher on their GPAs than those who identified themselves as night owls. Who knew waking up early could be the difference between a 4.0 and a 3.0?
2. Studies have shown that morning people are actually happier than night owls.
We are not just referring to being happier for those 15 minutes in the morning, but rather they are happier with life overall. Night owl tendencies tend to fade as people age, and the study says this switch to a morning-focused schedule could be why older adults are happier than younger ones. The study involved two populations: the first was made up of 435 adults ages 17 to 38, and the second of 297 older adults, ages 59 to 79. Both groups answered questions about their emotional state, how healthy they feel and their preferred “time of day.”
“We found that older adults reported greater positive emotion than younger adults, and older adults were more likely to be morning-type people than younger adults,” Biss said. “The ‘morningness’ was associated with greater happiness emotions in both age groups.”
3. Morning people are often in better shape than night owls.
The reasoning behind this is simple. Waking up early allows people extra time to exercise before the family is awake or before their official work day begins. For this reason, many successful businesspeople wake up early. This morning exercise helps to boost mood and provides energy for the rest of the day.
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4. Many say that waking up early leads to increased productivity.
Morning ...
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If the early bird catches the worm isn’t this a bit tough on the insomniac worm looking for health and happiness from an early call?
God help the classical musician. they need to be on top of their game for a 10AM dress rehearsal, squeeze in a 30 minute nap in the afternoon, get into a tux with no thread out of place and be on top of their game from 8PM until 10:30. No wonder they are a dying breed.
If people who rise earlier are healthier, happier, and more successful than those who rise late, this does not allow us to conclude that rising earlier will lead one to be healthier, happier, and more successful. For instance, the reverse could be true: perhaps people who have a naturally happier disposition, who are more driven for success, and who are more conscientious about their health, favour getting up early. Alternatively, there could be external factors driving all these things – perhaps there are genetic aspects which leads people both to get up early, and to be healthier, happier etc.
Only be the random experimental assignment of people to get up early vs late, and testing the differences over time, could you really conclude a causal relationship.
Hi
I`ve always risen and gone to bed when the sun rises through the blinds
and starts to set in the evening!
A good walk every morning with the magic SUNRISES and a stroll watchiing
magnificent SUNSETS in the evening here in Western Australia CHARGES up my day and
calms me for sleeping!
TRY IT YOU`LL LIKE IT!
PS REDUCE T.V time!
So you sleep 12 hours a day? That is a lot.
waking up early is great u get more done and think more better mind clearer
Getting to bed earlier and rising earlier does feel more natural and more gets done!
It just feels so natural to get to bed earlier and rise earlier….and more does get done too!
i would be sick and i realized i felt so much better joy comes in the morning
I have never been a morning person even as a small child. I even starting a night time office cleaning business and called it night owl office cleaning! lol….
I think its whatever you feel comfortable with that makes the difference i often stay up so late that it becomes morning…so i get both! I value my alone time more so than being in the company of others and so maybe being a night owl makes that a bit easier to achieve.
as far as success i guess its all depending on your concept of what success is not everyone needs to make big bucks to feel or be successful…to me being happy with how i spend my time is a great success …i will most likely not be rich famous or drop dead gorgeous but those things hold no value for me.
What a great post. I second all you have said, Cbadeen!
However, in saying that I love the mornings, but they would be even better if work was over already. In other words, work will no longer be associated with mornings, it will be associated with on my way home from work, the sun will be rising so I will watch it whilst having a great bupper (a supper at breakfast time)
I find it very frustrating that morning people expect everyone else to be the same way. My husband and I are naturally night owls. Around 2% of the population are this way. For us, morning is NOT a good time. We are sluggish and slow to pick up on things, tired, frustrated, and grumpy. If we wake up later and go to bed later, we feel better. It’s been this way for me since I was a very young child.
I don’t know why many early risers seem to think people who get up at 9, or 10 a.m. are lazy, even if they sleep the same amount of time as the early birds, just later. Some early risers also love to BRAG on how they get up so early. There are jobs that start at all hours. There are some lazy people around, of course, but it should not be determined by the clock, but by the person. I even know some retired people who brag on getting up at 5 and 6 am who consider themselves superior to other retirees who sleep in to 9 am. To each their own, I say.
I have been told by my closest friends, family and former employers, that I have absolutely no concept of time. I am the happiest person I have known of my entire life and I am 40 years old. I own four thriving companies, work from home, hotels or on the road, rise no earlier than 8am and my clients gravitate to me because of my positivity and optimism. Even with one of my trades being investment consulting, I still manage to avoid stress more than my peers.
I don’t consider myself an early riser, but I know for a fact, that I am definitely a night owl. I consider the late evenings to be my time of peace and quite with no distractions. I don’t have kids either, though…that can be a huge reason for low stress. I do have a wonderful fiancé, who understands my concept of time, or lack thereof and he and all my friends love me just the same. I have noticed that I am much more successful than many early risers I know. I get all my business taken care of and do everything I need to do in a days time.
I would say the benefits of rising early for me, would be getting to see the sunrise and smell the morning dew, while having coffee and Baileys on the porch; listening to the birds without the sound of cars going by yet; having more daylight for outside events and making first tracks in the powder on a gorgeous ski day! I have to admit…I can be drawn from slumber early in the A.M. For some self serving reasons. However I don’t sleep past 10 either, even on a weekend.
A friend of mine has been an early riser for his whole life. He usually gets up at 5 or 5:30.
He has had problems with depression all his life. How does that fit in to this theory?
this can be from organic reasons . early rising helps you to be happy and exactly more succesfull. dont forget it
The worst schedule for working is the swing shift. It takes years off a person’s life.
You never get enough sleep. Our circadian rhythms need to be balanced. No one is a natural graveyard shift person, not even the best night owl. Not when it comes to doing a job that requires concentration anyway.
I am a 70 yr. old female who did factory work on swing shifts for 27 yrs.
It was really hard then and I feel the effects if it now. Avoid it if at all possible. But,sometimes
“you gotta do what you gotta do.”
cc
If we lived in a vacuum and didn’t need to consider interactions with others, then sure, rising early and going to bed early would be great. But, you can’t always control the schedules of family members, clients, associates, friends, etc. Plus, there are times where I’m so stressed out and apprehensive about the next day (work, etc.) that going to sleep is the LAST thing I want to do, because then, the next moment of consciousness that I’m dreading comes that much sooner…in conscious hours.
If night owls are more creative, and “robins” more productive, why can’t we
just wake up at a normal time–say 7? Unfortunately our schedules have to match
our employers, family demands.
In a lot of countries they have the siesta, which to me sounds like the sanest idea.