This post by Alex Berezow at the American Council on Science and Health reports on a Russian study that found that, contrary to the prevailing wisdom about larks and night owls, the reality is a bit more complex:
The early bird gets the worm. Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise. There are plenty of platitudes that justify the widespread belief that getting up early is the best way to start the day.
Nonsense, says an increasing body of research. Human beings have different chronotypes, i.e., natural tendencies to be awake or asleep at various times throughout the day. We often speak of “morning people”/”early birds” and “night owls,” but a new paper written mostly by Russian researchers demonstrates that six different chronotypes exist.
Although I rise between 5:00am and 6:00am, I am actually a дневной тип—a daytime type. I’m most active and mentally acute between 10 in the morning and 2 in the afternoon. Somewhat coincidentally, when I was in college I did the best I could to have all of my classes between 9:00am and 1:00pm (I worked from 6:00am to 9:00am and from 3:00pm to 6:00pm).
