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“Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.”
- Benjamin Franklin
“The early bird catcheth the worm.”
- John Ray’s A collection of English proverbs 1670, 1678
A friend of mine and I were talking today. She was telling me about how her mother thinks she should be getting up at 8 am. Many people would consider this normal. Society would probably agree. Others, might even think 8 am is too late. From my friend’s perspective, however, this was just way too early to be waking up in the morning.
Perhaps her mother believed in the old saying, “the early bird gets the worm.” The idea is that “if you snooze, you lose,” because someone else will “beat you to the punch.” Essentially, those who wake up late will “miss the train” and forego potential opportunities.
Her mother isn’t alone. Benjamin Franklin believed that “early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” His basic formula is as follows:
Sleep early + Wake up early = Health + Wealth + Wisdom
After observing this clash of philosophies, I decided to investigate the matter further. Here is what I discovered about night owls and early risers.
Night owls have a greater income
It is possible that early risers make some money, but night owls have even more income. According to the British Medical Journal, night owls (people in bed after 11 pm and up at or after 8 am) have a larger mean income than larks (people in bed before 11 pm and up before 8 am). This conclusion is based off of a sample of 1,229 men and women. I guess Mr. Franklin was wrong after all.
Intelligence is higher in those who sleep later
Psychology Today cites psychologist Satoshi Kanazawa, from The London School of Economics and Political Science, who has data indicating that people with higher IQs are more likely to stay up late. The data has been reproduced below. It shows people’s sleep and wakeup times with their corresponding IQs.
- Very Dull – IQ<75
- Weekdays: 11:41 pm – 7:20 am
- Weekends: 12:35 am – 10:09 am
- Normal – 90 < IQ < 110
- Weekdays: 12:10 am – 7:31 am
- Weekends: 1:13 am – 10:14 am
- Very Bright – IQ > 125
- Weekdays: 12:29 am – 7:52 am
- Weekends: 1:44 am – 11:07 am
Maybe Benjamin wasn’t as smart as we think he is… Blaspheme! *Aaron covers his mouth like the “speak no evil” monkey.
Early risers do not have better health than night owls
The British Medical Journal also reports that larks (morning people) are not healthier than owls, thus disproving Benjamin Franklin’s last claim. In fact, the risk of death was the same in larks and owls. Both larks and owls, however, did have an advantage over the rest of the population who are in between these two extremes.
It was thought that owls and larks had a lower risk of death, as a result of having less sleeping hours. The lowest risk of death was present in those with 8 hours of sleep. As the amount of sleep increased, subjects had a higher mortality rate.
Nocturnal people’s performance is affected less by the pressure to sleep
The University of Liège in Belgium discovered that larks and owls’ performance and brain activity was relatively the same 1.5 hours after waking up. 10.5 hours after waking up, however, owls had significantly greater attention performance. Essentially, night owls were better able to resist the pressure to sleep than larks.
Night owls have more creativity
Discovery.com highlights the creative thinking test results of researchers, Marina Giempietro and G.M. Cavallera, from the University of the Sacred Heart in Milan, Italy. The data showed that night owls were more creative and that age didn’t have any effect. Since night owls tended to be more extroverted than larks, it was thought that there might also be a link between extroversion and creativity.
DNA and genetics explain night owl behavior
Telegraph.co.uk featured an article that highlighted scientists from the Medical Research Council, who determined that the night time preference of people can be explained by their DNA. There is a genetic mutation called the “after-hours gene,” Afh, that is a variation of the Fbxl3 gene. People with this mutation had longer body clock cycles, thus explaining their nocturnal behavior.
Considering these scientific findings, the old adage, “the early bird gets the worm,” and Benjamin Franklin’s words, “early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise,” apparently lack merit.
Despite this data, the purpose of this piece was not to devalue early risers. In fact, night owls might have a disadvantage in the working world, given that most business is conducted during the day, which is when larks excel.
Rather, the aim of this article was to level the playing field where early risers seem to have a higher status in society. My goal in highlighting some of the advantages night owls have, was to dispel the myth, that people who stay up late and sleep in, lack motivation and are unsuccessful. I hope that society can open its collective mind and be more accommodating to people with different energy fluctuations. We must realize that one is not better than the other, each simply operates differently.
