Ever wondered why your sleep schedule is different from your friends or family? This is because of your chronotype, which is the body’s natural timeline for various necessary activities such as eating, sleeping, etc. Your chronotype determines not only your sleep schedule, but also your levels of activity and prime times of energy during the day. All of these factors are ultimately determined by your PER3 gene. For example, someone with a long PER3 gene is an early riser and needs at least 7 hours of sleep, while someone with a short gene is a late riser that gets by on less sleep.
It’s important to learn your chronotype and work with it rather than against it! If you are out of sync with your chronotype, it can be detrimental to your energy and activity levels.
Signs of being out of sync with your chronotype may include:
- Feeling tired when you want to be alert
- Frequently needing coffee or energy drinks
- Catching a second wind when everyone else is slowing down
- Starting to slow down when everyone else is speeding up
Learn about each chronotype & find out which one you are!
- BEAR
- 50% of the population
- Needs 7-8 hours of sleep
- Sleep schedule is according to the sun
- Peak productivity = best before noon
- Prone to post-lunch dip in energy around 2-4pm
- Type B personality
- Go with the flow, fun-loving, outgoing
- Usually team players, balanced thinkers with good people skills
- Aspire to do good work, then go home and relax
- Unlikely to put themselves at risk personally or professionally
- Enjoy being around others and grow bored or restless if left alone too long
- WOLF
- 15-20% of the population
- Night owls
- Trouble waking up in the morning; feel more energetic waking up late
- Peak productivity = 12pm-4pm
- Another boost of energy around 6pm
- Creative and fearless, enjoy new experiences, insightful and intuitive
- March to the beat of their own drum
- Extroverted, but also okay with being alone
- High emotional tendency
- Can be prone to depression or anxiety
- LION
- 15-20% of the population
- Early birds
- Rise early in the morning
- Wind down in the evenings and fall asleep by 9-10pm
- Analytical, organized minds
- Ambitious, go-getters
- Not big risk takers
- Assume leadership roles in groups
- Take setbacks in stride — calmly readjust strategy
- DOLPHIN
- 10% of the population
- Light sleepers, tend to wake up to slight noises, may wake up multiple times during the night
- May suffer from insomnia
- Trouble following any type of sleep schedule
- Tend to wake up feeling unrefreshed and tired until the late evening
- Random spurts of productivity throughout the day
- Unsuccessful nappers
- Type A personality
- Highly intelligent, attention to detail, perfectionism
- Can often feel nervous, worried
- Happiest when left alone to work by themselves and do what they need to do
Not sure which one you fall under?
Take this quiz to find out what YOUR chronotype is!
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