Photo by Jill Wellington on Pexels
***Yawn***
Pardon me while I get that evening yawn and stretch out of the way. I’ve worked a full nine-hour day, and I’m now writing up this quick blog post, so I am a bit on the sleepy side.
I woke up today at about seven this morning. After I woke up, I got my morning stretches and walk routine out of the way before breakfast. After breakfast, I usually get a several hours of high-intensity work done because I find that my mind is at its sharpest from about ten in the morning to about one in the afternoon. After that, I then add in a few more stretching and movement breaks into my work routine because as I get closer to dinner time, I can actually feel my brain start to shift into lower gear. Around five-thirty, my eyes have had enough of looking at words on a page, and I need to start prepping dinner and getting ready to wind down.
I will usually hop back online between seven and eight at night to do a final bit of writing, and then I’ll finally go to bed between eleven and midnight.
I am always so happy during those early morning hours. And, especially as I get older, I have learned to embrace those wonderful moments of well-being I experience as an early bird. I did manage to marry a night owl, though; my husband is a zombie if he’s awake any time before eleven in the morning. And just as he’s perking up in the evenings, I’m already feeling the dulcet tones of sleep calling out to me.
I’ve read a few studies about the benefits of being an early bird. In this Harvard Health Publishing article, the authors point out studies that show that early birds tend to get more physical activity into their days then night owls. That seems like a no-brainer to me, since much of the world is geared around the early birds. The sun is out, and stores and businesses are open in the morning, which early birds take advantage of. Night owls having to wake up earlier than their natural circadian rhythms want them to will feel jet-lagged, according to the article, and therefore far less likely to want to be physically active. And then, when they are most energetic, in the evening, the skies are dark, limiting the types of physical activity they can safely engage in.
The article isn’t all doom and gloom for night owls though, since it does suggest, not surprisingly, that night owls can overcome these obstacles by scheduling their physical activity for when they are more alert, like scheduling a nice walk after dinner. And walking after meals, even for just a few minutes, does a world of good for smoothing out your blood sugar levels, according to recent studies.
I think, technically, I’m not strictly an early bird, since early birds tend to sleep early, like at nine at night, and wake up early, around five in the morning. I think I just need less sleep, and my body just naturally wakes up between seven and eight in the morning. And waking up just as the sun is fresh in the sky, and the birds are all singing (I’m not usually cursing the chirping birds, like my poor night-owl husband, since they’re not waking me up) is just such a wonderful feeling for me.
How about you? Are you a night owl or an early bird? Share your experiences in the comments below.
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