Living with an Irregular Sleep Routine

It’s always black and white - you’re either a night owl or a morning person. Our circadian rhythms largely influence which of the two buckets we fall into. Certain personality types are often attributed to the morning person and night owl, causing us to rethink our everyday livelihoods and consider switching up our sleeping habits. What if you’re in the grey area, like me, and constantly shift back and forth between the two like a morning owl night person something kind of being? Let’s take a deeper dive first into the night owl and morning person separately, and then we’ll come back to this question.

Night Owls

Into the depths of the night where all the exciting fantasies of the world come to life. Growing up, all of us pleaded to our parents at one time or another to stay up late. Boy, was this where all the unearthed life gems were hidden. These gems have unfolded into some of the most jaw-dropping creations we’ve seen in human history through the form of the arts and science. In fact, that is the very perception that night owls are portrayed to be.

Research from numerous universities and scientists have found that night owls are predisposed to develop original and creative ideas more than their counterparts in morning people. This stems from the fact that night owls may have to contrive the ability within them to find new and creative solutions. There is something about the dark night that allows creative juices to spark due to the frontal lobe not firing on all cylinders. Sometimes, that creative solution can manifest in just mindlessly staring away at your phone or computer on Netflix or social media - totally haven’t done that now during my lifetime…

Morning People

The sun barely creeps through the blinds and the world is as still as can be. It’s around 4 to 5 AM, yet people are up at this ungodly hour ready to start the day. Almost everybody hates getting up early in the morning, though tries to attempt the feat of making it a habit. Most people are asleep in the early hours of the day, but some of the top performing, highly execution-minded individuals prefer to get up to start off with early morning meditation, writing, or some sort of physical fitness session.

Studies have shown that morning people are those who are more likely to desire structure in their lives. In a world filled with constant emails and social media notifications, there simply isn’t enough time to get to everything that you’d like to accomplish done during the day. This is exactly the pain point that morning people target by experimenting and tinkering with their personal goals and how best to achieve them. The morning provides a sense of calm knowing that a million sources of stimuli aren’t bombarded at you and that you can dance to your our rhythm and pace. No more having to scramble to figure out your day and feeling lethargic getting things done since you were able to get some mindfulness and a cup of tea to center yourself to start the day - totally have done and it is wonderful and serene.

Morning Owl Night Person Something

Morning or night - it all sounds great. But what about those who just don’t proscribe to one side of the camp or the other. Being an afternoon person or someone who fluctuates back and forth between being a night owl and morning person can make the rest of us feel out of place given the way society and the two ends of the spectrum largely govern our livelihoods. It’s no easy feat to go back and forth between the two types - it takes something oddly unique to be able to switch up sleeping habits so regularly. I guess the other way to look at it is that you just don’t sleep that much at all, like a Mr. Michael Jordan for example.

While science does suggest that there might be chronotypes to shed light on the morning owl night person something identity, evidenced by the “napper” and “afternoon” types, society still has an odd way of looking at the these types; oddly, they, no we, are labeled as erratic and dysfunctional. We oddly get asked, “How the hell do you operate like that?” Simply put, it is an acceptance for our genetic predisposition, social livelihoods, and personal ambitions that colors our response.

Lately, I’ve become a bit more of a night owl shifting my brain over to more creative pursuits. However, I find that I still do enjoy the early mornings with a cup of tea or gourd of mate to revel in absolute peace and calm. As mentioned earlier, a large part of what shapes our decisions is the state of mind (e.g. creative or performance/zen-based) we crave to toggle on at any given moment. I’ve seen how being adaptable, albeit in line with your own capabilities, with switching up your sleep and work routines can allow you to expand past your limitations of execution and exploring the depths of self. In fact, we all adapt, even when it comes to sleep, to make good on different components of our lives (i.e. family members, jobs, extracurriculars, etc.) on a daily basis already.

Sleeping patterns and routines are ever evolving ideas that should best suit your lifestyle from moment to moment.

Needless to say, this is not a call for you to compromise on getting the recommended seven to nine hours of shut eye a night, though we all know how that is not always available to us for whatever reason. There is a saying to dance in the box that you feel most comfortable dancing in and to excel at it; however, this is the one case where I’d say it’s fine to switch from box to box, not identifying with any one in particular, and find a way to move to your internal beat and rhythm. For all the morning owl night people somethings, keep doing you, and for the rest who identify into a bucket, keep doing you as well.

“I am both a night owl and an early bird. So I am wise and I have worms.” - Steve Carell