Owls, Larks and the Circadian Rhythm
Our Year 7-9 students have been busily engaged with exams this week, along with many of those in Year 11 and Upper Sixth, as the final part of the public exam season gets underway.
Many will have spent time in recent weeks scheduling their revision (and hopefully including some downtime and plenty of sleep in the process). An important ingredient of doing so successfully is to develop an understanding of the circadian rhythm, a fundamental aspect of human physiology that influences our daily lives and impacts various bodily functions, including sleeping and waking, body temperature, hormone regulation, and cognitive function.
As we’re all aware, often to our detriment (we’ve all experienced a mid-afternoon slump in meetings, I’m sure!), our cognitive abilities do not remain static throughout the day. Most people experience a daily fluctuation in mood and performance, typically following the pattern of a peak, a trough, and a rebound. The peak usually occurs in the morning and is when most people are best at completing analytical tasks that require focus and concentration. On the other hand, the rebound phase, often in the late afternoon or early evening, is better suited for creative work (such as coming up with ideas to solve problems), which benefits from reduced inhibition.
Of course, not everyone’s body clock operates in the same way. Some people are ‘Larks’, who feel most alert and productive during the early morning; around 20% are ‘Owls’, whose peak performance hours are at night (and who experience the peak, trough, and rebound almost in reverse order); and the rest of us fall somewhere in between.
To illustrate the fact that we’re all different, the table below shows the daily routines of famous ‘creative’ people, from Milton to Mozart and Darwin to Dickens. It’s clear to see who was a ‘Lark’ and who was an ‘Owl’, when they chose to sleep and when they were at their most creative.
Have a great weekend (whether it’s as an early-bird or a night-owl…)
Best wishes
Michael Bond
