Morning Birds vs. Night Owls

Wake me up early, and I am not exactly what you would call "fun to be around." Aside from my disheveled hair and puffy eyes, I am slow-moving and atypically snappy. If I must choose, I prefer to wake up early in the summer rather than in the winter, which may come as a surprise. There is nothing worse than waking up while it's still dark outside. Nothing.

On the flip side, if you find me around 9 or 10 p.m. on any given day, I am energetic and feeling alive. Even sometimes before I'm about to sleep I'll catch a second gust of wind and be ready to sail for a few more hours.

A recent scientific discovery might help shed light on the vast differences between Morning Birds and Night Owls. The study published in the Journal of Biological Rhythms asserts that there is a significant difference in brain function between people who claim to be more active in the morning and people who claim to be more active at night. Scientists tested the excitability in the brains of study participants, and learned that the levels of excitability between Morning Birds and Night Owls are completely opposite: Morning Birds' brain activity is most excitable at 9 a.m., whereas Night Owls' brain activity is most excitable at 9 p.m.

So, perhaps there is scientific reasoning behind my morning crankiness and my evening liveliness, after all.