Night Owl vs Early Bird

Is being a night owl necessarily a bad thing? Well, research has found that early birds have more positive social traits. But us night owls have our own distinct advantages. For instance, we tend to be more creative.

Night owls maybe at risk of sleep deprivation. By staying up late and having to get up early, night owls tend to have put themselves into a problematic situation. Sleep deprivation has some negative effects on people. For example, college-aged night owls tend to have lower overall grades, when compared to early bird students.

Being a night owl could mean you have a possibility of being depressed. People who are night owls tend to have less white matter — which is critical for helping to carry the nerve impulses our brain cells use to communicate — in certain brain areas. This could be a result of depression and/or social jet lag.

It is possible that night owls may perform better than early birds after ten hours of being awake. At the beginning of a work day, morning people seem to be getting everything done, while night owls are slow to get going. This difference may not last. One hour after waking up, early birds and night owls perform equally well in reaction time tests. However, after ten hours of waking up, night owls perform significantly better than morning people in similar tests.