Heroes
Night owls, our world needs to start respecting you. Here are 4 reasons why.
Night owls, unite!
04.28.16
I am my cheeriest and most creative when most people are hitting the hay. But this is me if I'm forced out of bed by 7 a.m.:
"Ten more cups of coffee, please." Photo via iStock.
<h2>Yes, I'm a night owl. And I'm certainly not alone.</h2><p class="p1">Many people have internal clocks that <a href="http://www.vox.com/2016/3/28/11306124/chronotype-night-owl-discrimination" target="_blank">make it tougher to function</a> in our 9-5 world. If you're like one of us, falling asleep and waking up at "reasonable" hours isn't <em>reasonable</em> at all. You shouldn't feel badly about that either — <a href="http://www.vox.com/2016/3/18/11255942/morning-people-evening-chronotypes-sleeping" target="_blank">internal clocks naturally vary</a> from person to person.</p><p class="p1">Society, however, doesn't like adhering to science (on this issue, at least). There are <em>so many ways</em> our world favors early birds over night owls. And frankly, it needs to stop.</p><p class="p1"><strong>Here are four reasons why we should make our world more accommodating for night owls.</strong></p><h2>1. Stereotypes about night owls and late sleepers are baseless and harmful.</h2><p>You like to stay up late and sleep in, so you're lazy and on the fast track to failure. Right?<br></p><p><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTUxNjcyMi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTU5NzYxODk2OH0.WW8ItVcgbYqwpfqYPk3MljjKhvHCpRrr23TWRzV0Rtg/img.jpg?width=980" id="cc358" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="e4c63f8255a1f38bec71a09f56156166" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image"></p><p class="image-caption">Photo via iStock.</p><p><strong>Wrong. </strong>These <a href="http://thetab.com/2016/03/30/late-sleepers-arent-lazy-science-proves-82690" target="_blank">backward notions</a> are bologna. Yet they live on, making night owl-types feel less than. We're not!</p><p>In fact, some studies have suggested we might be <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2006/12/13/1810399.htm" target="_blank">more creative</a>, "<a href="http://personal.lse.ac.uk/kanazawa/pdfs/paid2009.pdf" target="_blank">more intelligent</a>" (researchers' words, not mine), and have <a href="http://www.bmj.com/content/317/7174/1675?variant=full-text" target="_blank">bigger incomes</a> than our early bird counterparts. So <em>there.</em></p><h2>2. Everyone wins when employers think of their workers less like robots programmed to turn on at dawn and more like, say, humans.</h2><p>As I'm sure you know by now, many <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/features/dssleep/" target="_blank">Americans don't get enough sleep</a>. And, believe it or not, when these tired Americans — a disproportionate number of them night owls, I'd imagine — stumble into the office each morning with their eyes half-shut, they aren't on their A-game. </p><p><strong>This collective sleepiness ends up costing us.</strong></p><p>According to a study out of Harvard University, the U.S. economy sheds over <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/on-leadership/wp/2015/07/30/the-average-worker-loses-11-days-of-productivity-each-year-due-to-insomnia-and-companies-are-taking-notice/" target="_blank">$63 billion</a> in productivity losses each year due to lack of sleep among workers. On the other hand, some research suggests more flexible work schedules make us <a href="https://www.bc.edu/research/agingandwork/about/workFlexibility.html" target="_blank">happier</a>, <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2011/12/study-of-the-day-employees-with-flexible-work-hours-are-healthier/250524/" target="_blank">healthier</a>, and — get this — even <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/on-leadership/wp/2014/05/09/more-proof-that-flexibility-programs-work/" target="_blank">more productive</a>. </p><p><strong>Seems like a change is in order.</strong><br></p><p><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTUxNjcyMy9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0ODQ0OTE0M30.l0kEEmoGRYpzTL3zsg2j6mIXEUcm2gv7sR2IxaD5Qoo/img.jpg?width=980" id="020c9" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="c635e45aa5a570f7b636cb5aea94482a" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image"></p><p class="image-caption">Photo via iStock.</p><p><strong>The typical workday discriminates against late-sleeping night owls too, according to Camilla Kring</strong><strong>. </strong>She's the founder of <a href="http://www.b-society.org/" target="_blank">B-Society</a>, a group that advocates for a more inclusive world for all sleep types — namely late risers or "B-persons," as she refers to us.</p><p><strong>"[Early risers] have the competitive edge,"</strong> she explained to Upworthy. "Most schools and workplaces are organized based on an 8 or <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1137158366" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">9 o'clock</span></span> starting time. But why are we considered less productive if we prefer an active evening and calm morning? And why do [early risers] have the patent on discipline simply because they get up early?"<br></p><p>Good questions.</p><h2>3. When schools start later, students excel. Just ask the <a href="https://www.upworthy.com/good-news-for-teens-the-cdc-says-they-should-start-school-later" target="_blank">CDC</a>.</h2><p>Nauset Regional High School<span class="redactor-invisible-space"> in Massachusetts</span> used to have a sleep problem.<br></p><p>“At one point, we asked teachers not to turn off lights or show movies,” former principal Tom Conrad <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/03/09/students-see-benefits-from-later-school-start-times/OOb4vtHm4XZTBLm5X78V9L/story.html" target="_blank">told The Boston Globe</a> this past March. "We didn’t want students to fall back to sleep."<br></p><p><strong>So the school </strong><strong>pushed its start time back from 7:25 a.m.</strong><span class="redactor-invisible-space"><strong> to 8:35 a.m. And officials noticed big changes — immediately. </strong></span></p><p><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTUxNjcyNC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTU5MDYxMjcyOH0.G2U2jVWK04OoPEa-OQn6JIYIsKKaPnlBYtJPBPKEypI/img.jpg?width=980" id="db642" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="1eb82a60b85c7f27e2fd755c35bf6508" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image"></p><p class="image-caption">Photo via iStock.</p><p><strong>Tardiness fell, <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/03/09/students-see-benefits-from-later-school-start-times/OOb4vtHm4XZTBLm5X78V9L/story.html" target="_blank">grades went up</a>, and more students showed up ready to learn.</strong></p><p>This, I'm guessing, wouldn't surprise many folks at the CDC, which thinks far too many middle and high schools <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2015/p0806-school-sleep.html" target="_blank">start too early</a>, robbing students of vital rest. It recommends start times of, at the earliest, 8:30 a.m.</p><p><strong>This makes sense — especially considering young people are naturally more night-owl-ish, so to speak.</strong> </p><p>When teens are experiencing puberty, melatonin is released into their systems <a href="http://www.realsimple.com/health/first-aid-health-basics/12-health-mysteries-explained/why-teens-sleep-late" target="_blank">later in the evening</a>, and “this shift often makes many teenagers incapable of falling asleep before 11 at night,” Mary A. Carskadon, Ph.D., a <a href="https://vivo.brown.edu/display/mcarskad" target="_blank">sleep expert and researcher at Brown University</a>, told Real Simple.</p><p><strong>Teens, don't feel bad about hitting snooze. It's not you, it's this messed-up world we live in.</strong></p><h2>4. If you're not an "early to bed, early to rise" type, our society's 9-5 structure could be hurting your health.</h2><p>"A circadian rhythm is not something you choose," as <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/rise-b-persons-late-risers-why-society-should-support-kring-phd" target="_blank">Kring </a><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/rise-b-persons-late-risers-why-society-should-support-kring-phd">pointed out</a>. "It's something you're born with."</p><p><strong>And when you miss out on those precious ZZZs because you're up late then forced to wake early, it could take a toll on your health.<span class="redactor-invisible-space"></span></strong></p><p><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTUxNjcyNS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTU4ODg5MTU0M30.reWDDYUIyfPN8Qfv73w8UpqY6IBTBBQX4YQQLXtiezE/img.jpg?width=980" id="32594" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="85822de92dd9d7dbb47902db32d2c034" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image"></p><p class="image-caption">Photo via iStock.</p><p>As the <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/features/dssleep/" target="_blank">CDC notes</a>, people who don't get enough sleep are disproportionately affected by a range of health complications — from diabetes and hypertension to depression and cancer. </p><p><strong>We all deserve to get adequate shut-eye, regardless of when our internal clocks start and stop. </strong></p><h2>To be blunt, our world would be a better place if night owls were treated equally, damn it.</h2><p>But don't take my word for it — take Kring's (who put it a bit more eloquently):<strong> </strong></p><p>"Quality of life, health, infrastructure, and productivity would all improve if we offered people work hours matching their circadian rhythms."</p><p><span></span></p><p class="p1"><span class="redactor-invisible-space"><strong>Night owls, let's fight for our right to stay up late and sleep in later and put this issue to bed — once and for all.</strong></span></p><p class="p1"><span class="redactor-invisible-space"><em>To learn more about how B-Society's fighting to do just that, check out its <a href="http://www.b-society.org/" target="_blank">website</a>.</em></span></p>
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