Who is more profitable - an owl or a lark

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Does life success, income level, mental ability depend on what time of day we prefer to work? Yes. Maybe you should think about it and change your chronotype in order to become happier?

Each of us has long ago defined his chronotype - the dependence of biorhythms on the time of day. Larks wake up early, at about six or seven, easily and naturally. But in the evening, people of this type feel tired, exhausted, even if they do not want to sleep. Usually they need to fall asleep closer to ten. They are most productive before lunchtime. Owls, on the other hand, are completely incapable of getting up early. But they can stay awake all night long: in the dark, their performance only increases. Although nothing prevents them from getting up early.

This is a very old classification, backed up by scientific research in the West back in the seventies. These studies were conducted on the basis of Morningless-Eveningless questions and allowed many to determine their biorhythms. Scientists have recently introduced two more subtypes. The people of one of them wake up early and fall asleep late. And the second subtype of people not only likes to lie in bed longer, but also goes to bed early.

Which chronotype is more profitable? This is a rather difficult and controversial issue. Many works, proverbs and sayings of famous figures are dedicated to the fact that it is better to be a lark: “He who gets up early, God gives him,” and so on. Science (and not only, but Lifehacker has already written about this) does not quite agree with such a judgment.

Owls can be smarter

Psychologists Richard Roberts of the University of Sydney and Patrick Killonen of the BBC Research Group tested 420 individuals of various chronotypes. The level of professional training, knowledge of general mathematics, reading speed, perception speed and memory were measured. The results of the study were in 1999 in one of the major journals in psychology.

The best results were shown by lovers of evening and night lifestyle. The gap was insignificant, but quite noticeable. The biggest advantage was observed in the area of memory and the ability to do several things at the same time, quickly switching between tasks. These indicators were significantly better in owls.

So, contrary to popular belief, it is owls who are more efficient and successful at work, and not larks.

Larks are no better than owls

Proverbs and sayings say that being a lark is more profitable. The work of two epidemiologists from the University of Southampton, the results of which were published in the journal BGM in 1998, refutes this common belief.

Scientists have conducted a study involving more than 300 people of each chronotype. The selected groups were compared in terms of income, level of intelligence, social status and health status. Surprisingly, owls were more successful on average and had higher earnings. Moreover, statistics have shown that people who prefer to work in the evening and sleep longer in the morning are more likely to have their own vehicles.

But the state of health, the level of education, intelligence and ingenuity does not at all depend on the chronotype of a person. Both groups turned out to be completely identical in these matters.

Owls are more romantic. And not only

A 2012 study showed another link between behavior and chronotype. The results of a survey of 284 men in Germany revealed that owls are more "playful": their sexual behavior is more active than that of larks. This does not apply to the number of sexual acts - here is complete equality. But people who identify as owls reported more mates. Adultery is also more common among owls than among larks.

The researchers correlated these facts with the fact that the body's greatest sexual activity occurs at night. It is when the larks are passive or completely asleep. The activity of owls, on the contrary, coincides with this biorhythm. Scientists note that this judgment may be controversial, but every theory has the right to life.

Larks are friendlier and more conscientious

Interestingly, owl people have a greater appetite for novelty than larks. So, a certain Randler and Heidelberg work (note that there is some emphasis on the adolescence of the respondents), in which they found a connection between the evening psychotype and the desire for novelty.

The same study showed that early risers are more assertive and prefer cooperation when performing various types of work. In this regard, they are more pleasant and conscientious than owls. And they are more active when working together.

Night owls are better at baseball

The most curious research was carried out by a scientific group, under whose gaze baseball players fell. The chronotypes of 16 players were compared and their results for two seasons - 2009 and 2010. Seven and a half thousand innings made by athletes led scientists to a conclusion that was published in one of the issues of Sleep magazine back in 2011. The results shown in the picture speak for themselves.

Owls are more prone to bad habits

Some evidence suggests that night owls are more susceptible to various bad habits than larks. For example, a study conducted in Finland found that owls who smoke are much less likely to quit smoking, and in general there are more smokers among owls. A similar study found that people who are more active in the evening drink more alcohol than those who are active in the morning.

It is not yet known what exactly pushes owls to such behavior. Perhaps the reason lies only in the fact that larks get tired faster and simply do not have time to consume large amounts of alcohol. Owls, on the other hand, lead a more active nightlife, which means that they often become regulars at night entertainment establishments - clubs and bars.

Larks are hard workers, owls are procrastinators

Early conformists are more industrious in general. In 1997, a poll by De Paul University found procrastinators like to call themselves "people of the night." Researchers have found that owls like to procrastinate, or even avoid certain tasks altogether. However, the respondents were students, and they tend to procrastinate and be lazy, so the results were questioned.

In 2008, the same research group found out that nothing changes at the age of 50. Owls also remain procrastinators and postpone everything for the evening or for good. Researchers have suggested that the reason lies in the preference to work at night. However, they noted that this does not create problems at work.

Who gets up early … He is a little happier

Such tendencies cannot but affect the general standard of living and self-awareness. Sociologists call this result social jetlag: people with evening activity time are forced to force themselves to work in the morning, due to which emotional burnout occurs and sleep time decreases.

This theory was put forward by scientists from the University of Toronto in their 2012 work. After interviewing 435 respondents aged 17 to 38 and 297 respondents aged 59 to 79, the researchers found that early risers get more positive emotions. This cannot clearly indicate that they are happier. But it is more pleasant for them to live - this is a fact.

Chronotype is not a diagnosis

Thus, it is impossible to unequivocally determine who is better to be - an owl or a lark. And phrases like “I’m an owl, which means I’ll go about my business in the morning and work in the evening” are actually nothing more than self-hypnosis, or even just a voice of laziness. A 2011 study is precisely that a person is actually capable of more creative solutions during non-standard working hours.

A test group of 428 people received a set of six tasks to be completed at random times. Some of the assignments were designed for the use of logic, and some for the manifestation of creativity. The results of the study showed that when performing logical tasks, both chronotypes cope with the task equally well both at a convenient working time for them, and at an unusual one. Interestingly, creative tasks at the wrong time were performed better, more unexpected solutions were found than at the time appropriate for a worker for owls or larks.

Scientists explained a similar result by the fact that rest from prolonged work can lead to better performance.

Who is better to be? Perhaps no study will answer this question. Happiness, success and other components of our life, first of all, depend on ourselves. And if desired, an owl can become a lark, and a lark can become an owl. The main thing is to listen to the needs of the body and try, if possible, to adjust the work schedule for yourself, and not adjust to it yourself.