from Ben's mom
Recently, I wrote about some things I had learned from a recent issue of TIME magazine about the brain and its functions. Probably the most helpful thing that I gained from the information was insight into my mental patterns based on whether I'm a morning or a night person.
When I was 13, I would have sworn to you that I was a night person. I could stay up until all hours of the night and found it impossible to get up in the morning. I could sleep until 10 with no problem. But within a few years I was starting to get a little confused about the issue. I've never really been able to pinpoint it since. Then TIME arrived in my mailbox....
The TIME article helped by pinpointing critical hours for both morning and evening people. For example, a morning person is most creative between 6 and 8am, while a night person hits peak creativity between 10am and 12pm. The morning person is best able to solve problems from 8am-noon and from 2:30-4:30, while a night person hits peak problem solving from noon-1pm and again from 6-11pm. One key difference is that a morning person has about 30 minutes when they first wake up where they will have a hard time concentrating. A night person doesn't really wake up and start focusing for about 2 hours. It reverses at night when a night person can go strong until about 30 minutes before going to bed, while a morning person is not up to much for about 2 hours before they go to bed. ("Making the Most of Your Day and the Best Use of the Night," TIME, January 16, 2006, pp 80-81.)
With that information, it was easy to determine which category I fall into. I am clearly a morning person. I have to stick to rote tasks before I go to bed and even then I am slower. When I was in college I would rise between 4 and 5 to write a major paper, having given up the night before after an hour of staring at a blank screen.
I've used this information in the last several weeks to rework my schedule. I've been able to accomplish a lot more by recognizing my mental peaks and valleys. I get up earlier and allow myself more rest at the end of the day. But we aren't sure what Ben is yet.
3 comments:
This must be why M was up the other night when I called and R was in bed. ;-) N and I are still definitely night people. Thankfully for us we both are!
I'm pretty much a hate-afternoon-person. I'd prefer to sleep from 2-4, then get up and go for the evening. The kids, unfortunately, go strong all day.
-- SJ
That makes great sense. I used to think I was a night person, too, but having compared myself with real night people, I know now it isn't the case. Perhaps the best indicator: if I have time to myself in the early morning, I will blog. If I have it in the late evening, I will read or surf at random.
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