2538: Chronotypes, Sleep, and Productivity by Sara Lindberg with Healthline on Sleeping Types

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[00:00:30] This is Optimal Finance Daily Episode 2538 Chronotypes, Sleep, and Productivity by Sara Lindberg with Healthline.com. And I'm your host and personal finance enthusiast, Diana Merriam. Welcome back to our Sunday bonus episode, where I share an article with you from a different podcast in our network to keep your life nice and optimized. Today's episode comes from Optimal Health Daily. You can find that show wherever you're listening to.

[00:01:00] And with that, here's Dr. Neil with the post and commentary as we optimize your life. Chronotypes, Sleep, and Productivity by Sara Lindberg with Healthline.com. Whether you stumble into bed before the sun goes up or rise with the roosters, most of us can identify with a specific sleep type or chronotype, even if we've never called it that.

[00:01:28] Broken down into four categories, your chronotype shows you when to sleep based on your internal clock. It also gives you insight into all of your main daily activities such as eating, working, exercising, and socializing. What are chronotypes? Chronotypes. A chronotype is a person's circadian typology, or the individual differences in activity and alertness in the morning and evening.

[00:01:53] Ava Cohen, a certified sleep science coach from Kansas Sleep, states, quote, Knowing your chronotype may help you understand how your internal clock works and how you can synchronize it with your daily activities and duties to use your time most efficiently. End quote. In particular, Cohen says your chronotype defines your peak productivity times, allowing you to plan your day wisely. Chronotypes.

[00:02:19] Most research breaks chronotypes into morning type, evening type, or neither. Some describe four types with the names bear, wolf, lion, and dolphin. The bear chronotype. Most people fall under the category of a bear chronotype. This means their sleep and wake cycle goes according to the sun. Cohen says bear chronotypes wake easily and typically fall asleep with no problem.

[00:02:48] Productivity seems best before noon, and they're prone to the post-lunch dip between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. The wolf chronotype. This chronotype often has trouble waking up in the morning. In fact, Cohen says wolf chronotypes feel more energetic when they wake up at noon, especially since their peak productivity starts at noon and ends about 4 hours later. Wolf types also get another boost around 6 p.m.

[00:03:15] and find they can get a lot done while everyone else is done for the day. The lion chronotype. According to Cohen, quote, They may easily wake up before dawn and are at their best up until noon, end quote. Typically, lion types wind down in the evening and end up falling asleep by 9 p.m. or 10 p.m. The dolphin chronotype. If you have trouble following any sleep schedule, then you may be a dolphin. According to Cohen, quote,

[00:03:44] They often don't get enough sleep due to their sensitivity to different disturbing factors like noise and light, end quote. The good news? They have a peak productivity window from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., which is a great time to get things done. Benefits. Being able to identify your chronotype can give you insight into your sleep and wake cycles, as well as peak productivity times. The benefits include, One, helps you understand when you fall asleep.

[00:04:13] Evening chronotypes typically have sleep patterns timed 2-3 hours later than morning chronotypes, according to an older study by Trusted Source. Two, helps you track eating habits. Knowing your chronotype may also help you track eating habits. One review looked at the connection between chronotype, diet, and cardiometabolic health. They found that an evening chronotype, such as wolves, is associated with a lower intake of fruits and vegetables,

[00:04:42] and a higher intake of energy drinks, alcoholic, sugary, and caffeinated beverages, as well as high energy intake from fat. And three, helps you understand the connection between sleep-wake time and mental health. Another review found a connection between a number of adverse mental health outcomes, such as depression, for people who have a preference for an evening chronotype, compared to those who identify with a morning chronotype. What's my chronotype?

[00:05:10] You can find more about your chronotype by taking a quiz. There are some available, such as the Power of When quiz. This one is based on Dr. Bruce's book, The Power of When. Then there's the MEQ self-assessment. MEQ is the Morningness-Eveningness questionnaire, and it's another inventory you can take to help determine your sleep type. And finally, there's the Auto-MEQ. You can also use the automated version of the MEQ.

[00:05:39] According to one study, your chronotype depends on several factors, including genetics, environment, age, and sex. Researchers also reported that older adults identify more with a morning chronotype, while teens and younger adults tend to fit the evening type. When it comes to gender differences, they found that males are more inclined to be associated with an evening chronotype, which may be due to endocrine factors. How to apply this information?

[00:06:07] Identifying and understanding your chronotype and sleep cycles can help you maximize your wake time and sleep better at night. Dr. Nate Watson, Sleep Score Advisor and co-director of the University of Washington Medicine Sleep Center, says when it comes to sleep and chronotypes, the majority of people are neither morning or evening type. In other words, they fall into the neither category. This means their sleep shouldn't be affected. However, he does point out that people who are evening types

[00:06:36] will desire a later bedtime and rise time than morning types. While chronotypes are mostly fixed, Watson does say that exposure to light in the morning may help an evening type fall asleep earlier, and exposure to light in the evening may help morning types go to sleep later. Additionally, Watson says evening type chronotypes may do best with careers that don't require an early start time in the morning, or careers with flexibility regarding when the work gets done,

[00:07:05] and morning type chronotypes would do best working traditional hours. Watson states, quote, The takeaway. Getting a good night's sleep is essential to both your physical and mental health. Being able to identify and understand

[00:07:34] how your chronotype affects your sleep and wake time can help you maximize productivity, gain insight into your health, and learn new ways to increase the quality of your sleep. You just listened to the post titled Chronotypes, Sleep, and Productivity by Sarah Lindbergh with Healthline.com. And now a word from our sponsors at Betterment. When investing your money starts to feel like a second job,

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[00:09:58] That's rocketmoney.com slash OFD. Rocketmoney.com slash OFD. Dr. Neil here for my commentary. I love the names of the different sleep chronotypes. Since I'm an August baby, I was hoping that it would come full circle for me and I would fall under the lion chronotype. Alas, I am definitely not a lion when it comes to sleep patterns. Instead, like most people, I'm definitely a bear. Well, that is, that's how I am right now.

[00:10:28] That's because, as Sarah explained in the article, our chronotype is mostly fixed, but it can be changed. In fact, it changes as we age. We can also force the change by changing our exposure to light. And I should mention that none of these chronotypes should be labeled as good or bad. Instead, they just are what they are. In fact, studies are finding that adolescents and teens need more sleep. And it turns out that falling asleep

[00:10:58] later in the evening and sleeping through most of the morning may actually be beneficial within those age ranges. But again, as we get older, that changes and that's okay too. So there's definitely a lot more research that needs to be done. But as Sarah said, we can use this information to help us maximize our potential. The more we know about our own health patterns, hopefully, the better we can be when we set goals for ourselves and we try and design a lifestyle

[00:11:26] that maximizes our potential. All right, that'll do it for the Saturday episode. I hope you're having a great weekend if you're listening in real time. And I'll be back here tomorrow where your optimal life awaits.