What It Means to Be a Night Owl

Staying up late is not a bad habit; it’s in your DNA.

Photo by Comfreak on Pixabay

How many times have you heard this phrase?

The early bird catches the worm!

It implies that if you don’t wake up very early, you’ll be wasting your day.

Well, turns out not everyone is built to get up when the birds begin to sing.

Actually, there are two main types of individuals.

1. Some people tend to go to bed early and wake up at sunrise. They are known as early birds or morning larks and they make up about 40% of the population.
2. For some people, instead, it is more natural to go to bed later and wake up when it is almost time for lunch. They are known as night owls, and they make up about 30% of the population.

Today, we’re going to focus on the second, poorly-recognized category.

What’s a night owl?

In his book Why We Sleep, scientist Matthew Walker describes night owls as…

…frequently incapable of falling asleep at night, no matter how hard they try. […] Owls dislike waking up early. They are unable to function well at this time.