This story is from The Pulse , a weekly health and science podcast. Find it on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , or wherever you get your podcasts . In general, our circadian rhythms are governed by the light-dark cycle — we sleep at night, and are awake during the day.
But within that are what scientists call “chronotypes” — profiles based on when people usually go to sleep, and when they’re the most active. Most of us fall in the middle of the bell curve; but a small minority fit into one of two extremes: morning larks and night owls. Early risers are generally seen in a positive light — these are the crack-of-dawn gym-goers, the people answering emails at 6 a.
m., the early birds getting the worm. Night owls, on the other hand, are more likely to face a host of complications — not getting enough sleep because they went to bed too late, snoozing through their alarms, general disapproval for keeping the hours of a teenager — not to mention all the health complications associated with late sleepers.
That’s led a number of night owls to try and change their sleep schedules. But is it actually possible to turn yourself from a night owl to a morning lark? And is it even worth doing? In most ways, “Mia,” who asked that we not use her real name because of the stigma associated with night owls, is your typical go-getter. At 51, she has a Ph.
D. in neuroscience, (focused, ironically, on circadian rhythms), and runs her own company creating mobile apps, with employees ar.