Which sleep chronotype are you?

What’s a sleep chronotype?

You know the phrase “early bird?” That describes one sleep chronotype.

Your sleep chronotype is your natural instinct to sleep and be awake. It can influence appetite, exercise, energy, when your body releases melatonin, and when you feel most productive.

It’s like an early bird or a night owl, but with a bit more nuance.

What influences sleep chronotype?

Genes strongly influence sleep chronotype, especially the PER3 circadian clock gene that impacts whether or not you’re a “morning person.”

Age also impacts chronotype. Most children have an early chronotype, getting up early and going to bed early. As they turn into teens, their chronotype is delayed and they start to wake up later in the morning and stay up later at night.

Throughout the next life stages, adults tend to have a chronotype that shifts earlier and earlier as they age.

Why do we have different sleep chronotypes?

Chronotype is strongly influenced by genes, especially the PER3 circadian clock gene that impacts whether or not someone is a “morning person.”

One way scientists have explained chronotypes is that evolutionarily when humans were hunter-gatherers and slept outside, someone was always awake to keep watch when others liked to be asleep.

What are the sleep chronotypes?

There are four chronotypes. Yours is the one that mostly fits you:

🦁 The lion is the early bird. About 15% of people, lions usually wake early and go to sleep early. They are most productive between 8 am and 12 pm.

🐻 The bear is the most common chronotype, making up about 55% of the population. Bears wake up and go to sleep at the times that work and social life demand – waking around 7 AM and going to sleep around 11 PM. They are most productive around mid-day: 10 am to 2 pm.

🐺 The wolf is the night owl. Like the lion, wolves make up 15% of the population. They wake up around 9 AM and go to sleep around midnight, and are most productive between 1-5 pm.

🐬 Lastly, dolphins are 10% of the population. They tend to wake up early, around 6 AM, and go to bed late, around 11 PM, and have fitful sleep.

About 5% of the population is somewhere in between the above chronotypes!

Why does chronotype matter?

It’s helpful to know your chronotype so that you remember that everyone is different and there’s nothing wrong with you if you tend to feel tired and prefer to organize your day differently than other people that you know. Just because you tend to wake up around 9 doesn’t mean that you’re lazier than someone who rises at 5 AM naturally.

Realistically, though, it’s a bear’s world out there. Work, school, and social schedules revolve around the bear’s schedule, so it can be hard for those of us with different chronotypes to thrive.

Lions that follow their chronotype can suffer from social isolation, and wolves can have difficulty with mental illness. Folks that need to go to school or work, or have social activities later in the evening than they prefer can experience what’s known as social jetlag, or their chronotype coming into conflict with the responsibilities of their calendar.

If your chronotype isn’t a bear, then you might need to be creative in how you incorporate work, school, socializing, and sleep.

Can I change my chronotype?

No, but you can make lions, wolves, and dolphins more comfortable in a bear’s world by practicing good sleep hygiene techniques, getting daily sun exposure, and winding down at night with less screen time and more relaxing activities towards bedtime.