Your alarm goes off in the morning. Do you hit the snooze button or are you already whipping up breakfast at the crack of dawn?
When it comes to sleep-wake patterns, “early birds” go to sleep and rise early whereas “night owls” are those who stay up late.
According to sleep coach and author Nick Littlehales, this classification is called a chronotype – your internal “sleep clock” that influences when your body prefers to be awake or asleep.
In essence, early birds are morning chronotypes, while night owls are evening chronotypes. Chronotypes exist on a spectrum, with most people typically being somewhere in the middle of these two chronotypes.
Although chronotypes are determined by your genes and age, you can establish lifestyle habits that help you feel more awake or sleepy at certain times.
How To Plan Your Day According to Your Chronotype
Morning Chronotypes
Morning chronotypes (aka morning birds) usually wake up naturally without an alarm and their performance peaks in the morning.
For morning chronotypes, use the early waking hours to do work that requires deep focus and dedicate your afternoons to shallow work.
When you feel drowsy in the afternoon, do some light stretches or take a walk to refresh yourself. Alternatively, take a short 10-20 minute power nap to recharge and increase your productivity.