

Why morning people rule the world - ronnier
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/lifestyle/article-23852426-why-morning-people-rule-the-world.do

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Groxx
> _Yet the research continues to mount, arguing that evening people have
> qualities which should be nurtured. They tend to be more creative,
> intelligent, humorous and extroverted. They are the balance to morning
> people, who are said to be more optimistic, proactive and conscientious._

You're sounding _dangerously_ close to a horoscope, there.

~~~
NeilCJames
To get less horoscopey: Kanazawa and Perina found a correlation between
"eveningness" or being a "night owl" with higher childhood IQs, in a study of
about 15,000 adults. They conclude that the correlation is due to more
intelligent people being more likely to espouse "evolutionarily novel values."
The paper is here at LSE:
<http://personal.lse.ac.uk/Kanazawa/pdfs/PAID2009.pdf>

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cduan
A simpler explanation seems to be that morning people are more in line with
the regular 9-5 schedule of businesses and schools, and that 9-5 schedule was
set from the days when natural light was an important factor in when work
could be conducted. Thus, biology may be less of a factor than social
structures.

These days, I'm noticing a shift toward later schedules--college professors
are realizing they get better attendance if they hold classes in the
afternoons, for example. So perhaps a gradual cultural shift will come to
better accommodate evening people.

~~~
pbz
It's the flight of the evening people... away from the morning people. Now
they have a choice, so they choose to come in later and work as late as
possible thus minimizing the time they have to share with the energetic,
cheerful, hyper, morning folks.

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narrator
When I was doing remote software consulting I would literally get up at 7pm,
go out clubbing. Not drink, come home at 1 or 2 am and code till about 9am and
then talk to clients for a few hours and then go to sleep. It was totally
k-rad awesome. I find that if I work regular hours after work I can't enjoy
myself because I am totally burnt out from the work day and just want to go
sleep. Doing the most stressful act of the day, talking with clients, right
before I went to sleep was perfect.

~~~
exit
why didn't you stick to this schedule? did you give up consulting? and if so,
why?

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jacquesm
I alternate between the two, and while I have to admit I get more actual
measurable work done during the day my best work was invariably produced
during long and undisturbed nights.

It's mostly an attempt at normalizing my interaction with society that forces
me in to a 'day' pattern, if not for that I'd be perfectly content sleeping
days and working nights.

~~~
wanderr
I also work both. I rotate or "flip" my schedule about every week and a half.
I find working in the evening to be my most productive time, but coming in
early is wonderful for collaboration and coordination. By splitting my
schedule I'm able to binge on both, keeping me overall productive. It's also
convenient for me because as a night owl, I can't maintain a morning schedule.

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donaldc
In an ideal world, I'd be both a morning and an evening person. I've found
this works best for me. Unfortunately, this can be challenging to pull off,
because it requires taking a long nap in the middle of the day, and this
practice is held in even lower esteem and even more discouraged by employers
than evening people.

~~~
steverb
I'm in the habit of taking a lunch time siesta myself. I've found it best to
get in the car and drive to a nice shady spot so my clients aren't wondering
what the heck I'm doing.

A 20 - 40 minute nap in the middle of the day works wonders.

~~~
eliben
Amen to that. I feel that my productive part of the day consists of two halves
- one in the morning, another a couple of hours after lunch. A siesta in
between makes it just perfect for the ultimate "work throughput".

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Tichy
"They are the balance to morning people, who are said to be more optimistic,
proactive and conscientious."

...

"It was the morning people who were more likely to agree with statements such
as “I feel in charge of making things happen” and “I spend time identifying
long-range goals for myself.”"

...

I'd say back to the drawing board it is...

~~~
studer
In the article, "They" in your first quote refers to evening people, so I'm
not entirely sure I understand what you're trying to say here.

~~~
Tichy
But I am pretty sure the "who" refers to the morning people. So morning people
are said to be more optimistic, and they give themselves higher ratings in a
questionnaire. It is therefore not clear if they give themselves higher
ratings because they are really better, or because they are just more
optimistic about their performance.

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r0s
Seems to me 'morning' people tend to get less sleep in general.

I've read that early morning or sleep deprived minds are in a sort of pseudo-
hypnotic state, more susceptible to suggestion, able to absorb information
easily and less likely to become distracted. Obedience and banality are
traditional paths to success in the workplace.

It's crazy that almost no schools have quiet places for students to nap. Yet
one can spend ten minutes on a bowel movement, or thirty minutes eating. Rest
somehow isn't seen as necessary.
[http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2010/07/wake-
up_call_on_t...](http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2010/07/wake-
up_call_on_teen_sleep_dis.html)

Sleep deprivation is an effective means of torture.
<http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/04/in-a-2005-memo/>

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jsz0
If you stay up late enough you can get the best of both worlds. My ideal
schedule would be something like this:

5PM to 1AM: Personal time (pretty choice hours, lines up with other people's
personal time)

1AM to 9AM: Distraction free work time overnight and enough time in the
morning to send out some e-mails at the start of the business day. (you can
cheat and que the messages up and send them all at 9am)

10AM to 4PM: Sleep (7 hours, not bad)

4PM to 5PM: Answer your e-mail that has accumulated through the day before the
9-5-ers pack it up. People won't be expecting instant responses so you can
avoid a lot of the back & forth of inefficient e-mail communication.

~~~
hugh3
Not a fan of sunlight, I take it? I don't think I could deal with only seeing
a couple of hours of sunlight per day, and besides, my body clock _wants_ to
synchronise itself with the sun.

Ideally I like to get up at 6am and work from 7 'til 3. The only trouble is
that it's socially difficult to leave work at 3pm since everybody thinks
you're slacking (they didn't see your two hours of work before they came in).

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d0m
Well it's sure that a good school -> good university -> good job. It might not
always be the case, but usually it goes like that. And school is really
morning based until you get to college and university where you can choose
your schedule. So, in this way of thinking, morning people are kind of
advantaged because they "fit" better in the educational system.

pre-school that starts at 1pm to 10 pm someone? I'm pretty sure those kid's
parents will be pretty upset!

~~~
DeusExMachina
_until you get to college and university where you can choose your schedule_

This depends on the country. When I was at university in Italy I could choose
some exams in my study plan, but courses where usually in the morning.

And indeed people coming to follow them where the ones who graduated first and
with better grades.

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jimfl
_"[C]an one change one's chronotype from evening to morning?"_

I used to be a night owl, but I eventually synced to my wife's morning
schedule. When I had no other structure (school, work) I found that I had a 26
hour day, which would precess through a normal day over time.

~~~
nooneelse
Mine was about 28 hours. It was great fun, I made lots of progress with lucid
dreaming when I was giving my body whatever sleep schedule it dictated, and I
got to know all the great all night diners. But setting appointments was
troublesome; involving projections of when the precession would next
overlapping a waking period with normal business hours.

~~~
jamesbkel
I've also found scheduling to be the biggest issue with a daily rhythm !=
24hr. Mine's about 28hr as well. Fortunately I work for a small bayesian-
oriented marketing research co (15 employees, I am #6) with some very
accommodating founders. The biggest hurdle is making sure I keep the team up
to date on when I plan to be at work/working from home. It's not always easy
to forecast my sleep schedule.

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adn37
> Morning people also anticipate problems and try to minimize them. They're
> proactive.

Looks like the author never had to plan the next day, knowing he'll be "low-
brained" during morning hours. _This_ requires forward planning.

Try to wake up in the middle of the night and resume work without context,
we'll see how it goes!

I personally maintain a detailed TODO list, as well as a log book. So I know
were to start from, what's pending, and what I did. Bonus is that it also help
you answer "What the hell did you do last month?" questions from clueless
managers.

+1 for the mid-day nap. I find it to be a great refresher, when not too much
in sleep debt, of course.

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VengefulCynic
Am I the only one who is questioning the quality of the conclusions in an
article whose sole factual basis is a survey of college students from a single
university and a couple of anecdotes from the CEO of a vitamin water business?

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snowbird122
Many times, I have been stuck on a programming problem at the end of the day.
Many times, I come in and solve it immediately first thing in the morning.
This leads me to believe I think more clearly in the mornings. Anyone else
have this happen?

~~~
ams6110
Or, perhaps your brain is unconsciously working on the problem overnight and
the solution is presented to your conscious self the next morning.

I used to try to reach a "clean" stopping point before quitting work for the
day, until I was advised that going home with problems outstanding can have
benefits. It does seem that even if I'm not actively thinking about such a
problem, I will have fresh perspectives the next morning.

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zackattack
I find that getting up in the morning is useful for several reasons.

I get up with an alarm clock; therefore, my day begins with a sense of
purpose. As a result of waking up so early, my first action is often to go
exercise or drill basketball dribbling or whatever. Or it may be to read a
book. Also, by getting up early, at the end of the day, I am exhausted, and
fall asleep immediately. Unfortunately, I miss out on the social benefits of
waking up late. I have yet to formulate an excellent resolution.

~~~
Qz
I get up with an alarm clock; therefore, my day begins with a sense of soul-
crushing obligation.

