Sleep Habits And Work Life

I read an interesting article called How To Design Your Ideal Workday Based On Your Sleep Habits. Michael Breus, the author, says there are four chronotypes that describe a body’s natural sleep habits and energy patterns. His theory is that if you know your chronotype you can take advantage of your body’s natural energy flows.

The four types are:

• Bears, which are 50%–55% of the population, and are the ‘get it done’ group. They have normal sleep schedules, but may not get quite enough sleep.

• Lions, around 15% of the population. They wake up early and without an alarm, and are Type-A personalities.

• Wolves represent 15–20% of the population. They hate mornings and usually hit the snooze button multiple times. They are late to work, and usually drink a lot of coffee in the mornings.

• Dolphins, about 10% of the population. They are anxious people who have irregular sleep schedules, and often self-diagnose as insomniacs.

After reading the article it was clear to me that I am a Bear. I go to bed at the same time every night. However, sometimes I have trouble getting to sleep, and some nights wake up in the middle of the night and I lay awake for an extended period for no particular reason. (Which makes it really hard to get enough shut-eye.) Hubby Tony is definitely a Lion. He pops out of bed somewhere between 90 minutes and two hours before I do, and even when he sets his alarm he usually gets up and turns it off before it goes off.

I was pretty sure which categories my boys fit into, and I sent the link to everyone on our family chat group to see what they said. Out of the people who responded I had guessed completely right!

Five years ago today: Save Or Not?