# Are you a night owl, or an early bird? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 10, 2011, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-night-owl-or-an-early-bird/574232 "2011-03-10T22:07:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-night-owl-or-an-early-bird/574232/1 "2011-03-10T22:07:16Z")
Do you wake up with the dawn or is that when you start thinking about going to bed? Are you at work before everyone else, or are you the last one out the door? Are you at your best in the morning, or the evening? And does it please the people around you, or does it cause problems? ---
**Author:** ![Chopper9760](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cdc98d/32.png) [@Chopper9760](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chopper9760)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-night-owl-or-an-early-bird/574232/2 "2011-03-10T22:11:41Z")
I wake up at 5-6:30am every day and I enjoy the morning but I had a hard time clicking the “Morning person” button. Ideally I would have a couple of hours to myself before having to deal with _shudder_ other people. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-night-owl-or-an-early-bird/574232/3 "2011-03-10T22:38:32Z")
I am forced to wake up every morning at six, but when I have a day off I will stay up until five in the morning the night before. During summer vacation it’s the best, but I’m afraid I’ve corrupted my children because they’re now the same way. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-night-owl-or-an-early-bird/574232/4 "2011-03-10T22:55:01Z")
If I go to sleep before 1:00 or 2:00 AM, it generally either means that I’m sick or that I know I have to get up extra-early in the morning. I’m at my most effective in the afternoon and evening. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Onimous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea5d25/32.png) [@Ann\_Onimous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Onimous)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-night-owl-or-an-early-bird/574232/5 "2011-03-10T23:27:33Z")
Night owl, definitely. My best work shift is from midnight-8am or 11pm-7am. I’m the most productive during those hours. Unfortunately, my job is from 7am-3:30pm. On weekends, I find myself starting to revert to an overnight schedule: on Sunday night, I may not go to bed before 3am. Then I have to be up at 5:30am to be at work by 7am. Monday mornings for me are never fun. ---
**Author:** ![chizzuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chizzuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chizzuk)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-night-owl-or-an-early-bird/574232/6 "2011-03-10T23:33:42Z")
Night owl. I can’t remember the last time I went to bed before midnight. I physically can’t fall asleep before 1-2am: if I go to bed, I’ll just lie there awake. My ideal sleep schedule is 5am-1pm. Unfortunately, the rest of the world doesn’t function on this schedule. ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-night-owl-or-an-early-bird/574232/7 "2011-03-10T23:44:03Z")
Morning person, and worse, my natural sleep cycle seems to be less than 24 hours, so if I could I’d go to sleep a few minutes earlier each night. The best day of the year is coming this Sunday – Daylight Saving Time starts, which lops off a whole hour for that day, so for once I don’t have to force myself to stay up until bedtime. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-night-owl-or-an-early-bird/574232/8 "2011-03-10T23:52:02Z")
I have always been a night owl. I don’t know if I’m changing as I age, but lately when I can’t sleep and I do get up early, I am surprised how much I enjoy the quiet of the morning and the extended length of the day. ---
**Author:** ![Invisible\_Chimp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f05b48/32.png) [@Invisible\_Chimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Invisible_Chimp)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-night-owl-or-an-early-bird/574232/9 "2011-03-11T00:22:54Z")
I’m a morning person. When I had a job, I was in bed by 10:30PM at the latest. I was usually asleep by 9:30PM. Currently, I am staying up until midnight most nights. Even when I was a teen/early twenties, I only stayed up until 2AM. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-night-owl-or-an-early-bird/574232/10 "2011-03-11T00:25:25Z")
If we’re all such night owls, dammit, why can’t the rest of the world reflect that? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Al\_Bundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@Al\_Bundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al_Bundy)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-night-owl-or-an-early-bird/574232/11 "2011-03-11T00:47:32Z")
My general theme is that nothing good happens at night. I try to get up with the sun and go to bed early. I get more sleep in winter. For me, sleep is healthy and I give it credit for helping some chronic problems. But when work or an assignment calls, I’m willing to go all out 24/7 until it’s resolved. It’s not efficient after so man hours, but that’s how I roll anyway. I act like I’ve been saving my energy with all the sleep for the marathon of emergency services. Sometimes it drives others wild though. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-night-owl-or-an-early-bird/574232/12 "2011-03-11T00:48:06Z")
Night owl, if I could be. Left to my own devices, I’d stay up until around 2 a.m., and sleep until around 10 a.m. Alas, I work an office job, and so, I have to keep normal hours. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![GilaB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@GilaB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GilaB)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-night-owl-or-an-early-bird/574232/13 "2011-03-11T00:56:51Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > If we’re all such night owls, dammit, why can’t the rest of the world reflect that? 🙂 Perhaps this board selects for the propensity to have time to kill late at night, when everybody around you is asleep? 😃 I chose ‘night owl’ but there’s a definite spectrum there. If left to my own devices, I’ll go to bed an hour later each night than I did the night before, but it can’t be much later than that or I start to get cranky. I’m definitely a much happier and perkier person in the evening than I am in the morning; everybody I’ve ever lived with has been warned not to talk to me until after breakfast. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-night-owl-or-an-early-bird/574232/14 "2011-03-11T01:25:29Z")
I wake up between 4 and 5am, but just because I wake early doesn’t mean I’m prepared to deal with the world. One to two hours of coffee, cigarettes, and news prepares me. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-night-owl-or-an-early-bird/574232/15 "2011-03-11T01:27:38Z")
I’m a lazy morning person. I don’t like getting up, and have to be forced to do so, but once I’m up it’s my most productive time by far. I can’t get anything done in the evening, my brain is fried. My husband, on the other hand, is a true night-owl. And seems to have passed this tendency on to the kids. Which means currently nobody gets up before 7am. Win! I do know a fair number of people whose kids seem to think that 5am is a fine rising time (_shudder_) ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-night-owl-or-an-early-bird/574232/16 "2011-03-11T02:23:30Z")
Another night owl here. I work evening shift (2:00 to 10:30, officially) - get home about 11:00-11:30 and unwind for a few hours on the computer before going to bed about 2:30. I have colleagues (obviously not working the same shift) who go to bed at 9:30. I don’t think I’ve gone to bed that early since I was about 12. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-night-owl-or-an-early-bird/574232/17 "2011-03-11T02:24:14Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > If we’re all such night owls, dammit, why can’t the rest of the world reflect that? 🙂 That’s a really good question. I think most of us night owls have spent our lives apologizing and covering up for our “deficiency” - I’m not buying into it any more, though. Going to bed later and sleeping later is not a crime or a moral failing, even though the Corporate world would like you think it is. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-night-owl-or-an-early-bird/574232/18 "2011-03-11T02:40:32Z")
> [@GilaB](#): > > Perhaps this board selects for the propensity to have time to kill late at night, when everybody around you is asleep? 😃 True, but I like to think there are more of us out there! With me, it’s weird how alert I get as the day wears on. Even if I’ve woken up really early. You’d think I’d be ready to crash by night and if I’m _really_ tired I am, but a lot of times I’ll just find myself feeling really comfortable and good by evening. Also if I’m sick or unwell over a period of days, the mornings are the worst and the nights are the best in terms of how well I feel. Maybe one day the rest of the world will catch up with us, **Cat Whisperer**! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-night-owl-or-an-early-bird/574232/19 "2011-03-11T02:50:30Z")
My husband and I both find the same thing - that we get our second winds at night, and it’s hard to go to bed and go to sleep when you’re just getting geared up again. Mid-afternoon - can fall asleep in seconds. Early evening - same deal. 11:00 at night - hey, where’s the party? ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-night-owl-or-an-early-bird/574232/20 "2011-03-11T02:59:36Z")
Both, facultatively. These days I’m a night owl, rarely to bed before 1 a.m., rarely up before 9:30 a.m. - I work a second shift and have for years. But when I was young and keeping a “normal” schedule, I was the first one up and in the shower. Plus I was always alert and in good spirits immediately upon getting up. It’s possible I couldn’t get back to that, but I doubt it. I seem to be much more flexible about sleep schedules than average, even though I’m not one of those people than get by with only a few hours of slumber. I have always been a bit of an insomniac though ( temporarily eliminated during the ~15 years I worked straight graveyards ) and I both enjoy mid-day naps and get my best sleep in the early morning hours after the sun has risen. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-night-owl-or-an-early-bird/574232.md?page=2)