The case for night owls and the myth of the early bird
I woke up at 5am for a rowing practice in the freezing waters of the Oxford section of the River Thames. I did not feel strong, in control of my day or ahead of my peers. Contrary to all personal development advice — I was miserable. I endured this schedule for a few months before finally reverting back to my natural sleep habits and putting rowing on the back burner. This was one of the many occasions I experimented with becoming a “morning person”. None of them worked.
Humanity has been bombarded with motivational sayings, books and more recently social media posts, persuading us to believe that in order to be considered a successful member of society, you need to wake up early. You may have heard a dozen variations of “Early bird gets the worm”, “Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise” and the lot. You might have been encouraged to read “The 5am Club” or “The Miracle Morning”. I have even been told by friends and family that 1 hour of sleep before midnight is the equivalent of 2 hours past it (there is no evidence for this).
This narrative is not only unsupported by research but it can also be harmful to the few of us who are considered night owls. The reality is that around 20% of the population fits this phenotype and believe it or not, there are multiple studies that suggest night owls have better cognitive performance than their peers. For instance, a study from Imperial College London analyzed over 26,000 people and found that night owls scored up to 13.5% higher on cognitive tests than early risers. Although the results are not causal and the amount of sleep is what mattered the most, the study is additional evidence that there is nothing wrong with being a night owl.
This difference in sleeping schedules among individuals makes complete evolutionary sense. When humans lived in hunter-gatherer societies, predators were a constant threat. Having someone awake and alert well into the night, as well as early in the morning, was advantageous—it meant that the tribe was protected around the clock. In fact, even hunting can sometimes be more efficient during the veil of night. Agrarian societies, however, shifted the paradigm. Once humans settled and evolved into farmers, safety became less of an issue. Labor early in the morning offered other benefits—taking advantage of the sunlight and avoiding the scorching heat of the midday. Waking early became practical, then expected, then moralized.
The perpetuation of the stereotype through the industrial revolution into modern times ostracizes night owls, instills a feeling of inferiority and makes us easily write off entire days because we woke up late. All of this despite the fact that wake time is not a predictor of success.
There is real scientific debate whether DSPD (Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder) even belongs in the diagnostic manual. When people with “the disorder” are allowed to follow their preferred schedule, their sleep quality and duration are perfectly healthy. It exists only because it is in contrast with the expectations of the 9–5 world. A common misconception is that people who wake up late are sleeping more than others. In fact, they almost never do. They simply fall asleep later than the rest and wake up later than the rest. But even if there is truth to this argument, isn’t sleeping good for our brains and bodies?
None of this is to say that schedules don’t matter at all. A certain level of flexibility in our lives is a requirement for a functioning society. Sometimes we do need to agree to the social contract and perform our tasks earlier than we want to, especially when it comes down to work. That is why CEOs are often given as an example of successful “early birds”. The deeper question here being—what is your definition for success? If your goal is to run a large company, you will probably need to learn to wake up early. But in many cases we can choose to live on our terms, go to bed late and wake up late, the way our bodies intended.
Looking back, I don’t regret those freezing mornings on the Thames. They taught me a valuable lesson. It just wasn’t the lesson I expected. I didn’t learn the discipline of early rising. I learned that forcing myself into someone else’s rhythm made me less happy and less productive, not the opposite. I will leave you with a powerful quote by Adam Grant that summarizes the feelings I have on this topic—“The world’s most successful people aren’t worried about what time others wake up. They wake and work on the schedule that works for them”.
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