In contrast, staying up all night can sometimes feel socially isolating, as the Atlantic notes.Luckily, science has some good news for people who tend to hit the snooze button a little too many times in the morning.
Here are five reasons for night owls to celebrate their circadian rhythm.
1. NIGHT OWLS MIGHT BE SMARTER
An evolutionary scientist at the London School of Economics (LSE) found a connection between intelligence and behaviors that deviate from the norm, according to the Huffington Post. The researchers interviewed thousands of U.S. students between the years of 1994 to 2002 about their sleep patterns, concluding that higher intelligence is associated with staying up late because doing so is "evolutionarily novel" — different from what our ancestors did.
"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," the study concludes.
2. LATE-NIGHT SLEEPERS MAY ALSO BE MORE CREATIVE
In a similar vein of deviating from the norm, a study from researchers at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan found that people who stay up late are more likely to find alternative solutions to a problem compared to their early-morning risers.
"Being in a situation which diverges from conventional habit, nocturnal types often experience this situation, may encourage the development of a non-conventional spirit and of the ability to find alternative and original solutions," said the lead author of the study, Professor Marina Giampietro.
3. EXTROVERSION AND CREATIVITY ARE RELATED
While looking for the biological basis behind morning and evening types, Hans Van Dongen, an associate researcher at the Sleep and Performance Research Center at Washington State University, found that the biological clock we all possess tends to run two hours ahead for morning larks, but two hours later in night owls, according to ABC. It was during this research that he also observed differences in creativity levels, which tend to be found at an overall higher rate in night owls. This may be due to the fact that owls are more extroverted.
"One could reasonably envision a link between the personality trait of extroversion and the finding of creativity," Van Dongen says, adding that the link is "certainly novel, and one I would not have expected on biological grounds," according to ABC.
4. NIGHT OWLS ARE IN BETTER MOODS THROUGHOUT THE DAY
The early bird gets the worm, but then checks out by mid-afternoon. A Westminster team of researchers analyzed the saliva of 42 volunteers with different sleep schedules eight times throughout the day for two days, according to the BBC. The morning risers had higher levels of cortisol, which is the body's main stress hormone.
5. THEY'RE ADAPTABLE
Owls know what it's like to operate in the 9 to 5 world. In the book 'Sleepfaring: A Journey Through the Science of Sleep,' Professor Jim Horne argues that owls are more adaptable than morning types, because they force themselves to adhere to society's 9 to 5 routine. Morning risers, however, have a much harder time getting up.
Regardless of when you find yourself going to sleep and waking up, it's important to make sure you get the recommended seven to nine hours of shut-eye when you do hit the hay. No matter what circadian rhythm you were born with, there are massive benefits to both.