The Science Behind Sleeping Late

We've all heard the phrase -- "Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise."

But does it though?

According to this article, night owls are more likely to be creative and children with higher IQ tend to become night owls. I'm not saying I am the most creative person in the room or have a very high IQ but the article does have some valid points.

A large number of people like to wake up early in the morning and are more active and energized in the mornings.

The other half, however, are people like me who feel like it is a sin to go to sleep before midnight.

When the clock hits 12 A.M, my body starts screaming --

"I'm alive! I'm awake! Do something, anything!"

I'm sure its the same way for many others too.

Our bodies just naturally become more active when its night. The peace and quiet of the night are relaxing and as a result, I feel like I can focus better at whatever I'm doing.

Why Am I Wired This Way?

Everyone has a biological clock, known as a circadian rhythm which regulates when we should wake up and go to sleep. As it turns out, everyone's clocks are not in sync. Furthermore, there are a lot of factors that can change your natural circadian rhythm which can keep you up late till ungodly hours.

One of those is genetic. According to a study by Alina Patke, who works as a researcher at Rockefeller, a mutation in a gene called Cry1 can suppress core circadian proteins which activate other genes that help in regulating your biological clock.

The study involved a 46 year old woman who had been suffering from sleep problems all her life. In the study, she lived in a room without windows or clocks for 14 days and it was found that her brain was producing melatonin five to seven hours later than a normal person. Melatonin is the hormone responsible for inducing sleep and it regulates our sleep-wake cycle.

Upon further investigation, the same mutation was also found in 39 other people who had sleep disorders.

There are other factors that can influence your sleep cycle like drinking coffee or any caffeinated drink after noon and medications for heart diseases like cardiac arrhythmia or beta-blockers for blood pressure can keep you awake.

I fortunately don't suffer from those ailments and prefer tea to coffee.

Conclusion

While I haven't undergone a gene analysis, this can certainly be a possibility. Nevertheless, I enjoy the night. The tranquility and quiet help a lot in improving my concentration and productivity.

As is the case with everything in life, there are negatives to this lifestyle as well. Staying till late at night doesn't help my case when I need to attend classes at 8 A.M.

Due to this lockdown, my sleep schedule is messed up to the point that I can't go to sleep before 5 in the morning and wake up well after 2 P.M which isn't a problem I need to deal with right now but once college reopens, I'll have to make some changes for sure.

Are you a night owl or an early bird? Share down below.

Cheers,
Rahul.