So the question is, as the 9-5 routine slowly goes the way of the bowler hat and the pin-stripe suit, are we witnessing the revenge of the night owl?! By allowing employees to choose, employers can gain far more productivity and efficiency out of their staff as they are working more in-line with their biological sleep type. Many companies are now realising that flexible working hours gets more out of their employees. Self-employment is also becoming a more popular option for working, as we can schedule our own hours – perfect for those night owls that sleep until late morning but who work later into the evening. For some of us, this gain in time is significant, and so night owls can gain as much as 1-2 hours of extra sleep in the morning, enabling them to be in line with their chronotype (biological sleep pattern). More of us are working from home, meaning we are gaining time in the morning when we would have been commuting. Throughout this period, their pre-frontal cortex is able to function more efficiently as they have been awake for longer initially, and so it has had time to ‘warm up.’ Night owls, on the other hand, are only just coming to by the time they arrive to work at 9am.īut the world is changing, especially as work patterns evolve. The problem is that much of the time, our working world revolves around a 9-5 schedule, which suits early birds down to a tee. Therefore, all you night owls out there can breathe a sigh of relief and blame your lateness on Mother Nature! A 2019 study by Jones et al identified as many as 351 different genetic factors which contributed to this. Due to the survival of the fittest, tribes adapting to have members with both early birds and night owls has led to these sleeping patterns still in existence today. However, if the early birds went to sleep around 9pm, and the night owls went to sleep around 1am, when the early birds arise at dawn (at around 5am, for example) they would have reduced their risk of attack by 50%.Īnd so, in the present day, the theory goes that we have this evolutionary throw-back of early birds and night owls.
Whilst they are all getting their 8 hours sleep, they are also at risk of being attacked by predators for 8 hours. Imagine the whole tribe falling asleep around 9pm and waking up around 5am. Years ago, when we lived in tribes, it would not have been wise to share the same sleeping patterns. The reason we have evolved this way relates to Mother Nature’s cleverness. Usually, if you’re a night owl, one (or both) of your parents will also be.
Humans have evolved to have different sleep patterns.
But is this fair? Are we choosing to show a preference for these sleeping patterns or is it biologically determined? Society often labels these people in this way as they may be more prone to arriving at work late, be less productive in the mornings and, when they finally start to function, it’s time to go home. The follow-up to 2005's "The Empires of the Worlds" was recorded at vocalist John K.'s studio beginning in November.For many years, night owls have got a bad reputation one of laziness. Confirmed dates are as follows:Īs previously reported, BIOMECHANICAL has set "Cannibalised" as the title of its upcoming album, tentatively due April via Earache Records. London's progressive metal thrashers BIOMECHANICAL will support Canadian metallers 3 INCHES OF BLOOD on their UK tour in March.