Syncing With Your Chronotype Can Maximize Sleep and Productivity
Most people acknowledge that there are two types of sleepers in the world—early birds and night owls—but research has shown that there are actually four or more sleep-wake cycles. The time you naturally open your eyes in the morning and doze off in the evening is the individual expression of your circadian rhythm, a.k.a. your chronotype, which also drives when you feel most alert or sleepy throughout the day.
Your chronotype is based on natural daily fluctuations in your body temperature and hormones. Generally, body temp rises as daylight increases. Alertness-boosting cortisol also notches upward in the morning, and then levels off and dips as daylight fades, coinciding with your level of mental awareness. As the sun sets, the sleepiness-promoting hormone melatonin replaces cortisol.
The exact cadence of this flux varies based on genetics, Jennifer Martin, PhD, spokesperson for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and professor of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California Los Angeles, tells SELF. The morning larks among us have a faster-ticking body clock, so this whole schedule kicks off earlier, she explains, while the night owls have a slower clock, pushing the pattern later. Most people fall somewhere in the middle.
If you sync up your everyday schedule with your chronotype, you could find it easier to get quality sleep and also get things done. Read on to find expert advice for determining your chronotype and using this intel to align your activities with your body's innate rhythm.
3 ways to figure out your chronotype
There's debate among researchers about exactly how many chronotypes there are, but Dr. Martin says it's helpful to think of these schedules as a continuum spanning from the earliest-rising larks to the latest-sleeping night owls.
You might intuitively know if you have a strong inclination toward one extreme or the other, but sometimes the requirements of work and other daily obligations can overshadow our true preferences. So Dr. Martin suggests thinking about how you act on vacation (when you're not jetlagged). 'If you love staying up late and sleeping in until 10 or 11:00 a.m., you probably have night-owl tendencies,' she says. Whereas, 'if you go on vacation, and you're super excited about a 6:00 a.m. tee time, for example, you're likely a morning person.'
To get more precise, you can also take a chronotype questionnaire. The Morningness Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ) includes 19 questions—about when you'd ideally choose to wake up, do physically or mentally tough work, and go to sleep—and categorizes you as one of five types based on your score: definitely morning, moderately morning, neither type, moderately evening, and definitely evening.
Michael Breus, PhD, a clinical psychologist and sleep medicine specialist, also created the popular ChronoQuiz, which assesses both your habits around and feelings about sleep—and groups people into four camps, each named after an animal with similar behaviors: the lions (which are the morning people), the wolves (a.k.a. the night folks), the bears (who fall in between), and the dolphins, who Dr. Breus explains have some 'genetic irregularity' and an erratic sleep pattern that doesn't fit neatly into the other camps.
How to optimize your schedule based on your chronotype
Sleep within your ideal window.
Since chronotype is based on genetics, morning people can't typically sleep in to make up for late nights, and night people can't generally doze off sooner to account for earlier rise times, Dr. Martin points out. So, if your eyes usually open around dawn, do your best to turn in early enough to still clock the recommended seven-ish hours of sleep; and if you tend to stay awake until the wee hours, aim to sleep in late enough to hit that number. This way, you can get ahead of sleep deprivation and the full slate of health detriments that comes along with it.
Of course, aligning your sleep schedule with your chronotype can be a struggle with life obligations—especially for the night owls, whose schedules conflict with societal norms around workday start times. In this scenario, do what you can to slide back your wakeup time and minimize the need for brain power before work: prep breakfast, lay out clothes, get a jump on other morning admin in the evenings. For the early birds (and neutral folks), standard work schedules tend to fit more easily. If you find that social and home tasks are creeping into your evenings and nudging your bedtime back, see how you can spread out plans (so you aren't hit with late nights back-to-back) and reallocate to-dos for before-work time.
Do mentally challenging tasks during energy 'on' times.
If you're a morning type, you don't just rise with the sun—your body's arousal level also peaks early, between 7 and 10 a.m.; whereas, nighttime types hit max alertness around 7 to 10 p.m., Cindi May, PhD, a professor of psychology at College of Charleston who studies chronotypes, tells SELF. Her research suggests your brain is also primed to do its best work during your respective 'on' period, particularly if you have a strong chronotype.
That doesn't apply to every task. 'If you're using a highly practiced skill or rote responses, then you're probably going to be fine whenever,' she says. 'But if you are engaged in a task that requires analytic thinking or attention to detail, that demands that you filter out distraction in order to pay attention, then you'll likely perform best during your optimal zone.' These include activities like making a decision or having a tough conversation, recalling things, reasoning through a complex problem, or weighing the pros and cons of an idea.
Practically, it can help to think of the day in two chunks: Morning types tend to experience their most productive hours in the first half of the day, and nighttime types, in the back half, Dr. Martin says. Neutral types can flex a bit in either direction.
That said, there's generally an 'off' time for everyone, Dr. Martin says, which tends to fall around 2 to 4 p.m. All chronotypes may lose some alertness in this window, triggering difficulties with creativity and concentration. It's an ideal time for a nap or lower-lift tasks.
Eat on a consistent schedule.
The optimal timing of meals and snacks depends on your lifestyle and energy needs—but sticking to the same pattern each day (whatever it may be) is a boon for your circadian rhythm, Dr. Breus says. It's more important to eat your first meal of the day at a consistent time that aligns with your internal clock, say, shortly after you wake up, rather than at a specific hour on the wall clock, Dr. Martin says. Also, aim to wrap up eating a couple hours before your bedtime, Dr. Breus adds, as the workings of digestion could interfere with sleep efficiency and quality.
Can you change your chronotype?
Experts say it's not possible to switch your chronotype. Your genes are your genes, after all.
But while your underlying tendency is set, there are things that can shift your sleep-wake schedule a bit on a given day. If you're a night owl and want to wake up and feel alert sooner, bathing your eyes in light first-thing can help get your daytime hormones flowing, and limiting light in the evening can kickstart the nighttime ones, Dr. Martin says. Vice versa if you're an early bird who wants to push your rhythm back: Avoid light for the first couple hours of your day, and get lots of it later on.
Another potential chronotype-adjuster is exercise. Research suggests a dose of physical activity in the morning or afternoon can move your schedule up—so if you're a night owl, working out in the first part of the day could help you conk out earlier. By contrast, doing some movement in the back half of the day may delay your circadian rhythm a bit, which could benefit early birds who are looking to stay awake later into the night.
If you're thinking, Doesn't caffeine have this effect, too?, you should know: It mostly masks sleepiness or grogginess, which may temporarily improve your focus, memory, and physical performance when you're running low on sleep, Dr. May says. But there's no evidence to suggest consuming it in the morning could move your circadian rhythm up. If anything, it's been shown to delay that schedule, which could make it even tougher for caffeine-gulping night owls to fall asleep at a reasonable hour. More broadly, caffeine can tamper with the quality of your sleep and make it less restorative, so relying on it to wake up earlier or stay up later than your norm isn't a great long-term strategy.
Ultimately, unlocking an ideal schedule comes down to respecting your personal energetic cadence, Dr. Martin says. But for some people—like those with extreme chronotypes or ones that clash with their obligations—it can be super tough to get on track. If that's you, she says, it's best to reach out to a sleep specialist, who can offer targeted therapies to help match your sleep-wake pattern to the structure of your life (or the other way around).
Related:
3 Things to Do When You're So, So Tired But Sleeping More Isn't an Option
I Have ADHD. Here Are 9 Productivity Tips That Really Help Me
17 Energizing Afternoon Habits for When You Need a Pick-Me-Up
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