Monday Mornings with Madison

The Best Time To Work: Early Birds, Night Owls and Intermediates

Virtually every organism on the planet — from bacteria to humans — has a circadian clock, a biological timing mechanism that oscillates with a period of about 24 hours and is coordinated with the cycle of day and night. And while it runs independent of external cues, it is influenced by sunlight, temperature and food availability. This internal ‘body clock’ guides the best time for many activities.  The observation of this process in humans was mentioned in Chinese medical texts dating back to around the 13th century.  Referred to as the circadian rhythm – from the Latin ‘circa’ meaning “around” and diem meaning ‘day’, this timekeeper guides activities of the body including the best times to eat and sleep.

Almost every function of the body oscillates during the day according to this clock.  For example, body temperature is regulated in part by this internal clock.  The body’s temperature is lowest around 5am, just before waking in the morning, and highest in the late afternoon. This may have some bearing on heart attacks, which are most common in the morning hours.  There are indications that the circadian clock also helps to regulate metabolism.  When altered or hindered, that biological clock can wreak havoc in the body.  For example, people can experience fatigue and dizziness, known as jet lag, when crossing time zones.  Others suffer from depression when living in places with minimal daylight/sunlight such as Alaska.

This internal clock seems to also impact a person’s chronotype; that is whether the individual is a morning person, a night dweller or somewhere in between.  A person’s chronotype affects their productivity at work.  How so?  While a person’s chronotype may not seem like an important employment variable, it has a profound impact on every employee’s creativity, attitude, problem solving skills, and ability to socialize.  And those variables have a direct impact on the bottom line of every business.  It helps to understand how a person’s chronotype should fit with their work hours and demands.

Chronotype Classifications

While the human clock is about 24 hours, thanks to Earth’s 24-hour light-dark cycle, some people have a slightly longer natural cycle, and others have a slightly shorter one.  If a person’s circadian rhythm is on the long side, he/she is more likely to be a night owl. If a person has a shorter circadian rhythm, he/she is probably an early bird.  Early birds like to wake early, and are more alert, energized and productive from the early morning hours through afternoon.  Night owls have their best clarity, focus and energy in the afternoons, evenings and nights.  Intermediates are people who can adjust more easily to changes in sleep schedules.  An intermediate person can, without too much difficulty, get up an hour or two earlier than usual, and also go to bed an hour or two later than usual without too much of a problem.  About a quarter of the population is comprised of early birds, a quarter are night owls and the remaining half are intermediates.

Men tend have slightly longer circadian cycles and women tend to have shorter ones.  That is why, generally speaking, more men tend to be night owls and more women tend to be early birds.  But gender is not the only factor affecting a person’s chronotype.  It also tends to change with age. School-aged children are generally early birds, while teenagers tend to be night owls, and then as people age, they gradually transition back into morning people.

About Early Birds

Most have heard the saying “the early bird catches the worm.”  It seems early birds have other advantages besides that.  Morning people have advantages.  Early birds generally sleep better, have more regular sleep patterns, and have more flexible personalities.

A study from the University of Toronto found that early birds tend to be happier and feel healthier than night owls.  Another study, published in the May 2013 issue of the journal Emotion, examined whether the early-bird habits of older individuals contributed to their overall happier life outlook.  The study looked at two populations: a group of 435 adults ages 17 to 38, and a group of 297 older adults, ages 59 to 79. Both groups filled out questionnaires about their emotional state, how healthy they felt and their preferred “time of day.”  The research showed that by age 60, most people were morning types. Only about 7% of young adults were early birds.  As the population aged, this switched.  In the older years, only about 7% of the population was still night owls.   The older adults reported greater positive emotions than younger adults, and older adults were more likely to be morning-type people than younger adults.  Interestingly, the young adults who were early birds were also associated with greater happiness. Some researchers have speculated that night owls may be more prone to ‘social jet lag,’ meaning that their biological clock is out of sync with the social clock thus detracting from their general sense of happiness.

About Night Owls

Social jet lag makes sense.  A night owl working at 7am-3pm shift is more likely to be unresponsive and cranky for the first few hours of work each day.  If that person’s job involves sales, customer service or working with people, that could impact performance.

That said, some studies show favorable qualities for night owls.  A recent study in Belgium found that night owls are able to stay more focused as the day goes on, compared with early risers.  Thus night owls who work a late shift or have jobs that involve evening events or functions are likely to be more productive and effective.  Likewise, Satoshi Kanazawa, a researcher at the London School of Economics, proposed in his research that folks who stay up late have higher IQs than people who start their day early.

On the other hand, some research has shown that night owls tend to be more depressed, have a higher dependence on caffeine, and use alcohol more.  For example, a 2006 study by Marina Giampietro and G.M. Cavallera in 2006 at the University of the Sacred Heart in Milan, Italy indicated that evening-types tend to be less reliable, less emotionally stable, and more apt to suffer from depression, addictions and eating disorders.  Also, a 2008 study by Kendry Clay at the University of North Texas showed that undergrad college students who studied late at night had lower GPAs, while those who were morning types had higher GPAs.

Lesson of the Day

Managers, human resource directors and business owners should take these factors into consideration when hiring.  Positions that require employees to work evenings and/or nights will be a challenge for early birds but ideal for night owls.  Males and younger people may tend to be better-suited for those jobs.  On the other hand, jobs that start very early may tend to be a better fit for women and older people.  Of course, there are no hard and fast rules about chronotypes and either age or gender.

Ultimately, the majority of jobs are a better fit (9am-5pm) for intermediates and early birds than for night owls.  What’s a night dweller to do?  There is a way for a night owl to become an intermediate.  More exposure to natural light early in the morning, waking earlier and going to bed earlier all help push a person’s chronotype preference from nights to mornings. This is easiest for those with a consistent schedule.

Quote of the Week

“Think in the morning. Act in the noon. Eat in the evening. Sleep in the night.” William Blake

© 2013, Keren Peters-Atkinson. All rights reserved.

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