What’s your Chronotype?

When do you feel most alert and active? In the mornings? Or do feel your energy increase later in the day?

What is Chronotype?

Chronotype refers to the activity and sleep preference of an individual. Your chronotype can dictate the time of day of your peak mental and physical performance, as well as your mood is at its best. Most people are usually active during the daytime, but depending on your own biology and habits, the preference for when one is active and when one prefers to sleep may vary significantly. Most people fall between the two extremes, and vary about 2 hours in waking up, but it is said that in extreme cases, an extreme night owl will sleep when an extreme early bird wakes up.

What’s my Chronotype?

In most cases, your chronotype is easy to identify by asking yourself two simple questions: When do you prefer to wake up? When do you feel most ready for sleep? But to get a granular look at your personal chronotype, there are many types of assessments developed that you can use to determine your chronotype. Use this simple Morningness-Eveningness Scale questionnaire to see where you fit in.

What do I do now that I know my Chronotype?

Knowing your chronotype will help you determine when you’ll perform best, whether it is physical, mental or your mood. If you’re at work, try completing simple tasks during your downtime, and save the more complex, involved tasks for when your energy is at its highest. For example: Are you are a morning person that concentrates best in the morning hours? As soon as you get settled, get to work and finish up tasks that require more thought, then leave the trivial tasks and unimportant emails till later in the day. If you’re a evening person, take your time in the morning to get settled, and work on minor tasks. Later in the day when your energy levels pick up, you’ll be ready for tasks that require your full attention.

Did you know?

• Your chronotype changes as you age. During adolescence, one’s chronotype shifts toward rising later, and slowly shifts back to earlier rising as one ages.

• You can reset your internal clock with Chronotherapy? (Research shows that it takes 5-6 days of sleep rescheduling to achieve lasting results.)

• There are no differences in the amount (hours) of sleep between early birds (larks) and night owls.

• By getting more outdoor sunlight, you can advance your sleep.

Comment and let us know what your chronotype is!

How do you cope, or thrive knowing your chronotype?

Tagged as: chronotype, early bird, eveningness, lark, morningness, night owl, sleep rescheduling