Obviously it's beneficial, we can see much easier in the daytime which is a considerable plus when it comes to searching for food.
As a night person, I find it harder to explain why I feel more productive after the sun has gone down. There is some support now for the idea that this can be an actual medical condition in some cases (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_sleep_phase_syndrome) affecting <1% of the population, though about ~15% of people are thought to be night owls with a general preference for the evening hours but not inability to sleep earlier if they choose.
Though it's not something I, um, lose sleep over, I do think that society inadvertently discriminates against people with an evening orientation.
I find it horrific that many American schoolchildren are expected to begin lessons at 8am - unless I am working really long days where I'm worn out physically as well as mentally (so I sleep early), I generally can't function at all before 10am. In Ireland school starts at 9am and my childhood memories are dominated by difficult wakening, rushed breakfasts and persistent lateness. I have major reservations about how I'm going to handle this when we have kids, which will be soon.
I agree that school starts excessively early. I have to wake up by 7am to get to school by 8:15am. School started this week, so I'm in a good position to observe this - during the summer I stayed alert until at least 2-3am. I woke up around 10am. Now that I'm getting up earlier, I feel tired around 9:30-10:00pm and have trouble staying awake. That's a loss of several hours for me. Although I can wake up in the morning fully rested, I'm not alert or focused until closer to lunch time, and definitely not until 9.
As a night person, I find it harder to explain why I feel more productive after the sun has gone down. There is some support now for the idea that this can be an actual medical condition in some cases (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_sleep_phase_syndrome) affecting <1% of the population, though about ~15% of people are thought to be night owls with a general preference for the evening hours but not inability to sleep earlier if they choose.
Though it's not something I, um, lose sleep over, I do think that society inadvertently discriminates against people with an evening orientation.
I find it horrific that many American schoolchildren are expected to begin lessons at 8am - unless I am working really long days where I'm worn out physically as well as mentally (so I sleep early), I generally can't function at all before 10am. In Ireland school starts at 9am and my childhood memories are dominated by difficult wakening, rushed breakfasts and persistent lateness. I have major reservations about how I'm going to handle this when we have kids, which will be soon.