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Tuesday 16 August 2016

5 Benefits of Being a Night Owl

There has been much written on the benefits of being a morning person, but research also shows that night owls may actually be smarter.
1. Night owls have higher IQ’s
study by Satoshi Kanazawa, an evolutionary scientist at the London School of Economics and Political Science, found that nocturnal activities were rare in ancestry. Current night owls have become adaptive with more room for individual choices and decisions. Kanazawa’s research compared the childhood IQ’s of people who went to bed at a variety of times on weekdays and weekends. It concluded, “More intelligent children are more likely to grow up to be nocturnal adults who go to bed late and wake up late on both weekdays and weekends.” 
2. Creativity happens in the evening
  Professor Marina Giampietro, from the Department of Psychology at Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan, studied 120 men and women of a variety of ages. They were categorized into either morning, evening or intermediate types. They were given creative, problem-solving tests and were graded on originality, elaboration, fluidity and flexibility factors. ABC Science reported, “Evening types aced each test based on these criteria, while morning and intermediate type people struggled to get scores over 50.” 
3. Night owls excel at working late work hours
Research in the California Journal of Science Education found that most students are not morning alert. Only 28 percent of elementary students are morning-alert. Most can’t concentrate until after 10 am and most of those are at their best in the early afternoon hours. As for high school students, only about 13 percent are night owls. As adults, manynight owls excel at working late hour shifts and have been known to power through to meet demanding deadlines. 
4. Volunteering is a big help for those with evening focus ability
May non-profit organizations bring in volunteers in the evening hours. If you are passionate about a cause and are a night owl, this could be a great use of your extra stamina and concentration abilities in the evening hours. When I was a volunteer puppy raiser for Guide Dogs for the Blind, I enjoyed our evening classes. My puppy would often be snoozing by 9pm, but I still had energy left for playing the piano or other creative tasks. 
 5. Expanding your social circle
I was recently going to hear a jazz performance that started at 9pm. My date looked at me and said, “It’s been at least a decade since I left my home after 8:30 pm.” I suddenly knew that we weren’t very compatible in this arena. Evening hours are a great time to expand your social circle and meet up with friends.
Truth be told, I’m actually a night owl and a morning person. My lull happens in the afternoons. Since I have the luxury of being self-employed, I can usually build my schedule around my most productive hours, but not everyone has that luxury.

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