# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2011, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-night-owl-or-an-early-bird/574232/41 "2011-03-12T03:38:15Z")
I tend toward sleeping from 2am to 10am. Luckily, my current jobs allow me to do this! I am much happier than when I had to be at work at 7am. I still do relief once in a while at another location, and it sucks so hard to try to get there by 8, and I’m exhausted all day. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2011, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-night-owl-or-an-early-bird/574232/42 "2011-03-12T04:39:37Z")
I’m a night owl deep sleeper who needs less sleep than average and I’m marrying an early bird insomniac. This will… be interesting. ---
**Author:** ![ataraxy22](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ataraxy22/32/307_2.png) [@ataraxy22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ataraxy22)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2011, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-night-owl-or-an-early-bird/574232/43 "2011-03-12T05:14:30Z")
I’m an extreme night owl: in bed by 2am on a work night is doing pretty good for me. I am almost always late to work, which I feel incredibly guilty about but fortunately have a job where it is not the end of the world. In turn, I end up staying in the office until late in the evening to make up my hours most days. Left to my own devices, I would get up later and later every day and go to bed later and later. I often lament that the earth rotates on its axis too fast. I’d do much better with a ~30 hour day. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2011, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-night-owl-or-an-early-bird/574232/44 "2011-03-12T05:25:45Z")
I hardly ever go to bed before midnight. And I’m usually up and functional at around 6 or 7. So, I’m kind of both. ---
**Author:** ![Swords\_to\_Plowshares](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b38774/32.png) [@Swords\_to\_Plowshares](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swords_to_Plowshares)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2011, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-night-owl-or-an-early-bird/574232/45 "2011-03-12T05:28:27Z")
The college schedule necessitates being a night owl. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2011, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-night-owl-or-an-early-bird/574232/46 "2011-03-12T05:50:27Z")
I was watching the Tsunami live last night because I was awa It was at about 2;30. I generally hit the sack at about 3am. ---
**Author:** ![Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrogance_ex_machina/32/192_2.png) [@Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrogance_Ex_Machina)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2011, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-night-owl-or-an-early-bird/574232/47 "2011-03-12T06:22:12Z")
My eternal nightshifts mean 7am to 4pm would be the best sleeping pattern, but I can’t maintain any one sleeping cycle for long unless its strictly forced from outside … so I end up sleeping at random times for random amount. Sometimes I fall asleep at 9pm for 2 hours after a sauna, the next day can’t get sleep in the morning because of that and go to sleep later, then the day after that I might have a social thing and end up skipping sleep completely during the day, crash afterwards and sleep from 11pm to 2am, wake up to work and go to sleep again at 6am afterwards. Often when I’m trying to sleep I take a micronap for 5-10 minutes instead and wake up relatively refreshed, which usually sucks since it just screws the cycle up further. Sometimes I just keep on sleeping, especially if it is winter or I’m bored and I might sleep 12+ hours. My record is 16 hours of sleep without any sleep deprivation beforehand, but that was a cold and dark January and I was depressed. The long winter nights and short summer ones alter my sleep duration too, in June when sun barely dips below the horizont I sleep easily 10-15 hours less per week than in January when the days are 4-5 hours long. Extending sleep by just turning over and going back to sleep tends to lead into a lot of remembered dreams, so it can be entertainment of sorts. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2011, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-night-owl-or-an-early-bird/574232/48 "2011-03-12T06:36:50Z")
If/when I can set my own schedule, I go to bed around 1ish and up around 8.30ish. On weekends, I can easily stay up until 4am and sleep to about 11am. That is my natural state and if I travel overseas, I will eventually settle on the same schedule after a brief period of adjustment where jet lag makes me a morning person for about a week. ---
**Author:** ![atruthseeker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c6cbf5/32.png) [@atruthseeker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/atruthseeker)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2011, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-night-owl-or-an-early-bird/574232/49 "2011-03-12T07:32:48Z")
I am more of a night owl, although I don’t like my day to get started at 10:00 am. I usually go to bed about 1 or 2 am and am awaken around 6:30 or 7 am by one of my cats. So that is about 4 to 5 hours. Alas, it does catch up with me. So, I’m off to bed real soon. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Moonchild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@Moonchild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonchild)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2011, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-night-owl-or-an-early-bird/574232/50 "2011-03-12T09:25:39Z")
I’m a night owl _and_ a morning person, but horrible in the afternoons. I think this has been caused by a life of procrastination, whereas I don’t get my ass in gear until 11pm and then have to wake up a 6am to finish (hopefully). ---
**Author:** ![chromaticity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@chromaticity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chromaticity)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-night-owl-or-an-early-bird/574232/51 "2011-03-13T17:28:45Z")
I usually sleep at 4:00 am and wake up at 9:00 am, to be in office by 10:00 am. But sometimes, just to switch things around I skip sleeping for a day and get to work around 8:30 am. The co-workers have wisely learnt not to mess with me on those days. Although I usually prefer to stay awake late, sometimes I switch to early bird mode for a few weeks. Especially in winter, because if I stick to my usual times I don’t get much sunshine and I miss it. ---
**Author:** ![Gil-Martin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Gil-Martin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gil-Martin)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-night-owl-or-an-early-bird/574232/52 "2011-03-13T17:43:53Z")
> [@Rushgeekgirl](#): > > 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. This sounds very much like me, except as I’ve gotten older the five-in-the-morning bedtime has gradually moved closer and closer to midnight or one. My children are all nightowls as well, especially my hyperactive three-year-old who doesn’t seem to want or need much more than two or three hours of shuteye a night. Meanwhile, my daughter will stay up reading or drawing until at least midnight if I let her, and my two-year-old son won’t zonk out of his own accord until at least eleven. It’s only my daughter and me who will sleep in the next morning, too. Anyway, before the advent of my sad eight-to-five office existence, I would typically sleep until mid-afternoon and then stay up to see both the sunset and subsequent dawn, then go to bed in the late morning or early afternoon. I very much prefer the night to the daylight, and I believe I’d be well suited to living in a place like northern Alaska during those times of year when night lasts most of the day. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-night-owl-or-an-early-bird/574232/53 "2011-03-13T18:03:31Z")
I used to be able to stay up late and I did not do mornings well. Now, I want to go to bed earlier but I function much better in the mornings than I used to. Age-related, maybe? ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-night-owl-or-an-early-bird/574232/54 "2011-03-13T20:57:47Z")
I’m both, which means I never get any sleep! I’m up at 6 a.m. the latest every morning and find it almost impossible to go back to sleep, once I’m up. Get three cups of coffee in me and I’m a dynamo. But even so, I’m up reading, watching a movie, or sending e-mails (because of insomnia, anxiety, hot flashes, noisy cat who can’t understand why it’s so quiet) until I nod out for a few hours from sheer exhaustion. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Tinkertoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f19dbf/32.png) [@Tinkertoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tinkertoy)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-night-owl-or-an-early-bird/574232/55 "2011-03-14T03:35:16Z")
Night Owl 6AM to 2PM. Now that I am disabled and the arthritis pain doesn’t allow me to sleep in one position very long I have to shift often. My moving around kept waking up hubby, and his snoring kept waking me up. Now I go to bed when he leaves for work and am up when he comes home. Works great because I was always a night owl trying to work in a early bird world. ---
**Author:** ![sunstone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunstone/32/3372_2.png) [@sunstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunstone)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-night-owl-or-an-early-bird/574232/56 "2011-03-14T03:37:33Z")
Morning type here. I used to get chewed out by a fellow worker for being so upbeat in the morning. But that’s OK, as I was more upbeat at any time of the day than she was. 'Bout 3 PM is when I loose my energy. ---
**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 14, 2011, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-night-owl-or-an-early-bird/574232/57 "2011-03-14T16:30:11Z")
Wow, more night owls than I expected. I wonder what causes that? Are night owls more likely to be on message boards? Are we smarter? Are we more likely to question the status quo? Or is there just more people who are night owls than you would guess by the way modern culture is structured? **rjk** and I are both night owls, but I need about an hour more sleep than he does. So if I’m not forced into waking up early, I go to bed about midnight and he goes to bed between one and two, then we get up at the same time, around 8 if I have my druthers. ---
**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 14, 2011, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-night-owl-or-an-early-bird/574232/58 "2011-03-14T19:24:34Z")
Maybe the natural human state is night owl, and we’ve all been sold a bill of goods. ☹ ---
**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 14, 2011, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-night-owl-or-an-early-bird/574232/59 "2011-03-14T19:30:01Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Maybe the natural human state is night owl, and we’ve all been sold a bill of goods. ☹ I wish that were true. My life would be a whole lot easier. ---
**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 14, 2011, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-night-owl-or-an-early-bird/574232/60 "2011-03-14T19:49:47Z")
It’s all Ben Franklin’s fault. :mad: 😛 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-night-owl-or-an-early-bird/574232.md?page=2)