When did I write this post? Spongebob knows.
When asked when my favorite time of the day is, I reply in a witty manner, at night. I enjoy staying up late and frequently do so because my schedule allows it. (My earliest class is 12:20 pm and it’s only on Mondays.) do not know why, but I feel more energized at night. I often wonder why this is, and why other people enjoy the mornings.
Our diurnal preferences are suspected to be a result of genetic evolution. Dr. Mike Nichols states how “window of opportunity” for a rival tribe to attack in the predeceasing ages of humanity is diminished if “half the tribe were night owls and the other half early birds.” Thus, “having such a variety of chronotypes in a tribe would be very desirable.”
The Surrey Sleep Research Centre has found an association between diurnal preference and the PER3 gene. The 675 participants between the ages of 20 and 35 in the study were asked to complete a questionnaire “to assess sleep and psychological and health characteristics.” The participants were then genotyped for the PER3 VNTR (variable number tandem repeat) gene. As a result of the study, scientists concluded that “homozygosity for the longer allele (PER3(5/5)) of the VNTR was associated with increased morning preference, earlier wake time and bedtime, and reduced daytime sleepiness.” The scientists also state that “[the gene] may also modify the effects of sleep on health outcome measures.” But this is not as conclusive because the health questionnaire results do not reveal an association between the genotype and “physical or psychological characteristics.”
Another study conducted by geneticists at the University of Leicester used fruit flies to discover that “nearly 80 genes [are] associated with ‘morningness’ and ‘eveningness.'” How much in common do humans have with fruit flies was my first question, but according to the scientists, there is much we have in common. Dr. Eran Tauber stated that “a relatively large number of genes were associated with a molecular signalling pathway called MAPK…genes that we identified are not core-clock genes, but genes involved in a diverse range of molecular pathways.”
This is an important finding because it reveals that there is more to our diurnal preference than just the PER3 gene. Dr. Tauber also added that in this modern time, many of us spend our life indoors which distorts the body’s ability to recognize the difference in light and temperature during the day and night. He goes on to state, “To make matters even worse, the rhythm of life is such that for many people the economic or social call to start a new day comes hours before the endogenous call from the body clock.” By experimenting with the fruit flies, Dr. Tauber states how “this changes our view of the body clock, from a pacemaker that drives rhythms to a time reference system that interacts with the environment.”
Are you and early bird or a night owl? And, what are supposed consequences of such tendencies? Comment and let me know what you find!
I too saw a similar article about our sleeping patterns and adolescence. I know when I was a child, I was always up at the crack of dawn eager to watch cartoons. But, during my teenage years, I learned to love sleep and still do. Honestly, I try to get 10 hours of sleep a night still because if I don’t, I am not a happy camper. I know in the one article i mentioned in my original post (genetic evolution live link), a theory of this phenomenon is that by having teenagers be on a later sleeping schedule, the tribe of people would have able, well-bodied protection throughout the night from possible attacks.
Your post was really interesting! For myself I would agree with you that I am more of a night owl rather than an early bird. I am much more comfortable staying up late than I am waking up extremely early. When I was younger however, I found that I liked to wake up earlier rather than stay up later. This has changed over time, and I have always wondered why that is. I didn’t know if it was simply a thing of puberty and how my body was changing, or if it was more scientific. On WedMD I found that, ” If your circadian rhythm is on the long side, you’re more likely to be a night owl. If it runs short, you’re probably an early riser. But your circadian rhythm can change over your lifetime,” which relates to a person’s internal clock. It continued to say that “school-age children are generally early birds, while teenagers tend to be night owls, and then as they age, adults gradually transition back into morning people.” I found this to be extremely interesting how early bird vs night owl is commonly dependent on age, just like it is for me. However, like any case, some people (like a few in the comments above) have always been either an early bird or night owl for as long as they can remember. Looking deeper into this, I find it extremely interesting how for the majority of people, our sleep style and day/night preference changes as we age.
Info Source: http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/features/early-bird-night-owl
This was a really interesting article. Unlike you, I am a person who is more of an early bird than a night owl. I never thought of the science behind sleep and the effects it has on everyday activities. The one study that I found quite interesting was about the fruit flies. They found that almost 80 genes in the fly could be related to being a ‘morning’ person or a ‘night’ person. Furthermore, I never would have thought that there could be genes in our DNA that consist of what types of person we are. Some people seem to be more affected by these genes than others. Very interesting and I also posted a video on this topic that I found.
Hi! I never put much thought into why some people are “night owls” and some people are “early birds”. What I found most interesting about your post was the beginning about the tribal preferences. It makes a lot of sense, and is so interesting in how it has stayed consistent throughout the many many years of tribal living (well at least for our ancestors). You would think that people might have genetically changed to be more morning people, because their is less of a chance of a tribal attack in our modern day society, but nothing was wrong with people who had “night owl” genes, so I guess there was no reason for them to “die out”. My mom has always been a crazy night owl, going to bed at 4am most nights. My other two sisters are always up late too (usually not as late as my mom though). Me and my dad, on the other hand, are lucky if we make it until midnight, but are always the first ones awake. It looks like my family would make a good tribe!