People are not machines with uniform, unwavering energy levels no matter the time of day. Firstly, bear in mind that there is nothing innately superior about being a “morning person,” and you won’t magically be more productive just because you forced yourself to wake up early or get more things done before lunchtime. As we’ve seen, this advice works for some chronotypes, but not everyone will actually be more productive this way.

The old “early to bed, early to rise” wisdom is not for everyone, in other words. Rather, you need to look at the times when your body is naturally more awake and make sure you’ve scheduled your work to coincide with that. It doesn’t matter whether this is comfortably done in the morning or almost midnight—if it fits your chronotype and energy levels, it works.

Continue reading “Sleep, Circadian, And Ultradian Rhythms”