{"id":118,"date":"2006-01-16T13:17:16","date_gmt":"2006-01-16T18:17:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/?p=118"},"modified":"2009-01-01T05:54:02","modified_gmt":"2009-01-01T10:54:02","slug":"sleep-patterns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/?p=118","title":{"rendered":"Sleep Patterns"},"content":{"rendered":"

Back in June there was a fascinating article over in Slate<\/a> about sleep patterns in teens. The short version of the article is this: Many studies have shown that people who eat breakfast do better in school. This article makes the case that the reason they do better is because they are ealy risers, and so they are hungry. It has nothing to do with actually eating food, but everything to do with whether or not they are naturally awake and alert in the early moring. Therefore, dragging your not-an-early-riser kid out of bed to make them eat isn’t going to improve their performance.<\/p>\n

But the article talks about some things I’ve been trying to explain to people for years. In my personal life, I’m surrounded by early-risers: People who hop out of bed with a smile and are ready to eat a big meal and attack the day! They start out alert, and slowly become tired as the day goes on. My own view of their cycle looks like this:<\/p>\n


The average day of an Early Riser.<\/i><\/a><\/center><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Note that these charts are entirely subjective. There is no data behind these. I’m just using them to make my point clear. I don’t want to create the impression that I’ve done some sort of formal data-collection. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

I’m a slow, slow riser. I don’t get hungry until mid-afternoon, and I’m not ready for complex tasks until noon or so. The late evening hours are when I’m most awake and effective, and I’m all but useless in the moring. Many people are wired this way. My own cycle feels like this:<\/p>\n


The life of a Night Owl.<\/a><\/center><\/p>\n

This is bad, since it means I spend my worst hours working, and my time of highest mental activity is spent with family or playing video games. When I work on the weekends, I almost always do so at night, when I’m sharpest. <\/p>\n

Note that when I talk about being “awake”, I’m talking about a broad range of physiological effects, not just alertness. For example:<\/p>\n