Why Night Owls Are More Intelligent Than Morning Larks

Some people are night owls, and others are morning larks.  What makes the difference may be their levels of general intelligence.

Virtually all species in nature, from single-cell organisms to mammals, including humans, exhibit a daily cycle of activity called circadian rhythm.  The circadian rhythm in mammals is regulated by two clusters of nerve cells called the suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN) in the anterior hypothalamus.  Geneticists have by now identified a set of genes that regulate the SCN and thus the circadian rhythm among mammals.

However, humans, unlike other mammalian species, have the unique ability, consciously and cognitively, to override their internal biological clock and its rhythmic outputs.  In other words, at least for humans, circadian rhythm is not entirely a matter of genetics.  Within broad genetic constraints, humans can choose what time to go to bed and get up.  Humans can choose to be night owls or morning larks.

While there are some individual differences in the circadian rhythm, where some individuals are more nocturnal than others, humans are basically a diurnal (day-living) species.  Humans rely very heavily on vision for navigation but, unlike genuinely nocturnal species, cannot see in the dark or under little lighting, and our ancestors did not have artificial lighting during the night until the domestication of fire.  Any human in the ancestral environment up and about during the night would have been at risk of predation by nocturnal predators.

In the 10-volume compendium The Encyclopedia of World Cultures, which extensively catalogs all human cultures known to anthropology, there is no mention of nocturnal activities in any of the traditional cultures.  There are no entries in the index for “nocturnal,” “night,” “evening,” “dark(ness),” and “all-night.”  The few references to the “moon” are all religious in character, as in “moon deity,” “Mother Moon (deity),” and “moon worship.”  The only exception is the “night courting,” which is a socially approved custom of premarital sex observed among the Danes and the Finns, which are entirely western cultures far outside of the ancestral environment.

Extensive ethnographies corroborate these observations and suggest that people in traditional societies usually rise shortly before dawn and go to sleep shortly after dusk, to take full advantage of the natural light provided by the sun.  “Daily activities begin early in a Yanomamö village,” and “despite the inevitable last-minute visiting, things are usually quiet in the village by the time it is dark.”  Among the Maasai in Kenya, “the day begins about 6 a.m., when the sun is about to rise,” and “most evenings are spent quietly chatting with family members indoors.  If the moon is full then it is possible to see almost as well as during the day, and people take advantage of the light by staying up late and socializing a great deal.”  Among the Ache in Paraguay, “after cooking and consuming food, evening is often the time of singing and joking.  Eventually band members drift off to sleep, with one or two nuclear families around each fire.”

There is thus no indication in any of the ethnographic evidence that any sustained nocturnal activities occur in traditional societies, other than occasional conversations and singing, in these tribes.  It is therefore reasonable to infer that our ancestors must also have limited their daily activities to daylight, and sustained nocturnal activities are largely evolutionarily novel. The Hypothesis would therefore predict that more intelligent individuals are more likely to be nocturnal than less intelligent individuals.

An analysis of a large representative sample of young Americans confirms this prediction.  Net of a large number of social and demographic factors, more intelligent children grow up to be more nocturnal as adults than less intelligent children.  Compared to their less intelligent counterparts, more intelligent individuals go to bed later on weeknights (when they have to get up at a certain time the next day) and on weekends (when they don’t), and they wake up later on weekdays (but not on weekends, for which the positive effect of childhood intelligence on adult nocturnality is not statistically significant).  For example, those with a childhood IQ of less than 75 (“very dull”) go to bed around 23:41 on weeknights in early adulthood, whereas those with a childhood IQ of over 125 (“very bright”) go to bed around 00:29.

KEEP SLEEPING AND KEEP SMILING…. 🙂

 

 

HOW TO GET A GOOD NIGHT’S SLEEP IN A HOTEL… :)

HOW TO GET A GOOD NIGHT’S SLEEP IN A HOTEL… 🙂

We the people are in so much of love with our beds and pillows that our body gets used to it and when we are away from these amenities, we find ourselves in uncomfortable conditions. Tossing and turning on work trips and vacations. Most of us can’t sleep in your hotel room.

If you are planning to vacation this summer, chances are you’ll be staying at a hotel. Although its fun to see new places or visit with friends and family, staying in a hotel means you are not sleeping in your own. That can be difficult for some people and can interfere with their sleep.

Here are a few tips to help you get a better night’s sleep away from home:

1. Make sure your hotel provides you with a quiet sleep environment with a supportive bed and a selection of pillows.
2. Request a room away from elevators to avoid disturbances.
3. If there is too much noise or other disturbances, ask if you can move to another hotel room.
4. The bed in your hotel room should only be used for sleeping, just like your bed at home. Reading, working, or eating in bed can make it difficult to sleep because your body associates the bed with those activities.
5. Travelers should avoid large meals before going to bed.
6. Hotels should provide black-out curtains and white noise machines in the rooms. If they are not in your room, ask for them.
7. Consider bringing your own pillows especially if you suffer from neck and back pain. This way you know you will be comfortable.

KEEP SLEEPING AND KEEP SMILING… 😉

Stick to the same bedtime and wake up time, even on the weekends.

Healthy sleep habits can make a big difference in your quality of life. Having healthy sleep habits is often referred to as having ” Sleep Hygiene.”

Try to keep the following sleep practices on a consistent basis:

1. This helps to regulate your body’s clock and could help you fall asleep and stay asleep for the night.

2. Practice a relaxing bedtime ritual.

   A relaxing, routine activity right before bedtime conducted away from bright lights helps separate your sleep time from activities that can cause excitement, stress or anxiety which can make it more difficult to fall asleep, get sound and deep sleep or remain asleep.

3. Avoid naps , especially in the afternoon.

   Power napping may help you get through the day, but if you find that you can’t fall asleep at bedtime, eliminating even short catnaps may help.

4. Exercise daily.

   Vigorous exercise is best, but even light exercise is better than no activity. Exercise at any time of day, but not at the expense of your sleep.

5. Evaluate your room.

   Design your sleep environment to establish the conditions you need for sleep. Your bedroom should be cool  – between 60 and 67 degrees F. Your bedroom should also be free from any noise that can disturb your sleep. Finally, your bedroom should be free from any light. Check your room for noises or other distractions. This includes a bed partner’s sleep disruptions such as snoring. Consider using blackout curtains, eye shades, ear plugs, “white noise” machines, humidifiers, fans and other devices.

6. Sleep on a comfortable mattress and pillows.

   Make sure your mattress is comfortable and supportive. The one you have been using for years may have exceeded its life expectancy – about 9 or 10 years for most good quality mattresses. Have comfortable pillows and make the room attractive and inviting for sleep but also free of allergens that might affect you and objects that might cause you to slip or fall if you have to get up during the night.

7. Use bright light to help manage your circadian rhythms .

   Avoid bright light in the evening and expose yourself to sunlight in the morning. This will keep your circadian rhythms in check

8. Avoid alcohol, cigarettes, and heavy meals in the evening.

   Alcohol, cigarettes and caffeine can disrupt sleep. Eating big or spicy meals can cause discomfort from indigestion that can make it hard to sleep. It is good to finish eating at least 2-3 hours before bedtime.

9. Wind down. Your body needs time to shift into sleep mode, so spend the last hour before bed doing a calming activity such as reading.

   For some people, using an electronic device such as a laptop can make it hard to fall asleep, because the particular type of light emanating from the screens of these devices is activating to the brain. If you have trouble sleeping, avoid electronics before bed or in the middle of the night.

10. If you can’t sleep, go into another room and do something relaxing until you feel tired.

    It is best to take work materials, computers and televisions out of the sleeping environment. Use your bed only for sleep to strengthen the association between bed and sleep. If you associate a particular activity or item with anxiety about sleeping, omit it from your bedtime routine.

    If you’re still having trouble sleeping, don’t hesitate to speak with your doctor or to find a sleep professional. You may also benefit from recording your sleep in a Sleep Diaryto help you better evaluate common patterns or issues you may see with your sleep or sleeping habits.

    KEEP SLEEPING AND KEEP SMILING.. 🙂

The Science of Sleep

“I love sleep. My life has the tendency to fall apart when I’m awake, you know?” ― Ernest Hemingway

I too love to sleep well and sleep long. It is my passion, yes it is.  Why do we need sleep? What happens after the long hours of day, the night comes and i feel drowsy? In this blog i bring you the science of sleep.

The pattern of waking during the day when it is light and sleeping at night when it is dark is a natural part of human life. Only recently have scientists begun to understand the alternating cycle of sleep and waking, and how it is related to daylight and darkness.

A key factor in how human sleep is regulated is exposure to light or to darkness. Exposure to light stimulates a nerve pathway from the retina in the eye to an area in the brain called the hypothala-mus. There, a special center called the supra-chiasmatic nucleus (SCN) initiates signals to other parts of the brain that control hormones, body temperature and other functions that play a role in making us feel sleepy or wide awake.

The SCN works like a clock that sets off a regulated pattern of activities that affect the entire body. Once exposed to the first light each day, the clock in the SCN begins performing functions like raising body temperature and releasing stimulating hormones like cortisol. The SCN also delays the release of other hormones like melatonin, which is associated with sleep onset, until many hours later when darkness arrives.

Because melatonin is a hormone that is part of the human sleep-wake cycle, many people think that by taking more of it as a pill, it will help them to fall asleep faster or stay asleep longer. This brochure will provide more information about melatonin and help you decide whether this is something you should use.

Melatonin is a natural hormone made by your body’s pineal (pih-knee-uhl) gland. This is a pea-sized gland located just above the middle of the brain. During the day the pineal is inactive. When the sun goes down and darkness occurs, the pineal is “turned on” by the SCN and begins to actively produce melatonin, which is released into the blood. Usually, this occurs around 9 pm. As a result, melatonin levels in the blood rise sharply and you begin to feel less alert. Sleep becomes more inviting. Melatonin levels in the blood stay elevated for about 12 hours – all through the night – before the light of a new day when they fall back to low daytime levels by about 9 am. Daytime levels of melatonin are barely detectable.

Besides adjusting the timing of the clock, bright light has another effect. It directly inhibits the release of melatonin. That is why melatonin is sometimes called the “Dracula of hormones” – it only comes out in the dark. Even if the pineal gland is switched “on” by the clock, it will not produce melatonin unless the person is in a dimly lit environment. In addition to sunlight, artificial indoor lighting can be bright enough to prevent the release of melatonin.

The amount of melatonin released at night varies among individuals, but it is somewhat related to age. Children on average secrete more melatonin than adults, which decreases further with age. However, research has shown that older people with sleep problems do not always have lower melatonin levels than people who experience normal sleep.