I’m an owl.
I like staying up late and burning the midnight oil. I like watching TV and reading books when it is quiet and dark all around me. I’ve worked on uni assignments and documents for work into the wee hours.
Staying up late may be less to my natural rhythms and more that there are fewer distractions and less noise?
I’m not a grumpy owl.
Happy owl
While I do like my morning to go slowly and for hours – I can make breakfast last hours and happily stay in my nightie until the afternoon and then get moving – I can jump up and get going happily in the morning if needed.
Some say you can’t change your owl or lark nature.
If you have to get up early for work and you’re an owl who happily stayed up until midnight, it can be hard. Go to bed earlier, larks say. Well it’s not easy for an owl to go to bed by 9.30. It feels like it is still evening, not night time.
But there’s things you can do apparently to help modify your internal rhythm.
On waking up, expose yourself to bright light. Sunshine is best. And directly on the face. Not looking at the sun, of course, but no sunnies blocking the light getting into the eyes.
Problem is if you have to get up before the sun does! For me now, the sun rises at 6am. And I have to get up then for work, so not much sunlight. And I don’t have time to go for a walk in the sunlight. I have to leave for work by 7.15.
I might get up, have my shower, get dressed and have my breakfast on the front verandah which gets the sun in the morning. Not spending some time checking the news on my iPhone before my shower!
The last few nights, I’ve been in bed before 12 and woken naturally at around 7-7.30. No alarm. Just waking at the right phase of the sleep cycle. I fear I haven’t used the morning light well – sloathing on my lounge or bed, reading books and the internet and drinking cups of tea. Maybe that reflects my owl energy cycle?
What about you? Are you a lark or an owl? When is your energy levels higher? And does your rhythm correspond to your work demands?
lucinda sans 