The INSIDER Summary:
- A handful of scientific studies suggests people who prefer to go to bed and wake up late have some unique advantages.
- Night owls might be more creative and more intelligent than early birds, with increased mental stamina late in the day.
- They may get a burst of late-night physical strength and could also be better at baseball — at least according to a study of MLB players.
Does the mere idea of waking up early make you shudder? You're probably a night owl — and you were probably born that way. The scientific name for your preferred waking and sleeping schedule is called your chronotype, and it's partially controlled by your genes.
Those with an early chronotype (aka morning people) do get one major advantage: Their internal clock is more closely aligned with school and work schedules that govern most days of the week. In fact, people with late chronotypes who are forced to stick to a typical 9 to 5 schedule — despite their natural sleep preferences — can experience a phenomenon called "social jet lag." And some research shows that being an early riser is linked with better physical and mental health, compared to being a late riser.
But night owls aren't totally left behind. A smattering of scientific evidence points to some unique benefits of having a late chronotype. Here's a look at some of the most interesting:
1. You might be more creative.
Back in 2006, researchers in Italy classified 120 people as either early birds, night owls, or somewhere in between. Then each group took a series of drawing tests designed to measure creative thinking. The later types outperformed the early risers and the people with more moderate chronotypes, too.
One of the study's authors speculated that being a night owl "may encourage the development of a non-conventional spirit and of the ability to find alternative and original solutions," HuffPost reported.
2. You might be more intelligent.
In 2009, a study examined roughly 20,000 teens and found that being a night owl was linked with having a higher IQ. That link remained even when the researchers controlled for other possible influencing factors like age, sex, income level, and education.
An earlier study of US Air Force recruits found that night owls scored higher on intelligence tests, and in 2014, a different group of researchers found that night owls in an MBA program also got higher test scores. (Take that, cheery morning people!)
3. You might have more mental stamina than early birds.
Researchers at University of Liège in Belgium recruited 16 morning people and 15 night people and let both groups sleep on their own natural schedules. Then, both groups took two mental alertness tests: The first one was taken 1.5 hours after waking, the second 10.5 hours after waking.
Both groups performed equally well in the first test, according to the resulting paper published in the journal Science. But in the second, later test, night owls performed about 6% better, suggesting that they're sharper after being awake for a long time.
4. You might get a burst of extra strength.
Night owls may want to hit the gym closer to bedtime — at least according to a very small study published in 2009. The researchers tested the leg strength of nine night owls and nine early risers at various points throughout the day. In the morning types, strength remained consistent no matter the time. But the night people experienced a burst of strength, hitting their peak performance later at night.
"We thought that morning people would be better at this in the morning, but they never changed," said study co-author Olle Lagerquist told CNN.
The authors also said night people experience a surge of "excitability" in central nervous system later in the day, which might account for the extra strength in leg exercises, CNN reported.
5. You might be better at baseball (really!).
This comes from a study of a tiny, super-selective population, but it's still fascinating. Back in 2011 researchers looked at the batting averages of 16 Major League Baseball Players over two full seasons. The players also completed a questionnaire that determined whether they were a morning or evening person.
The results showed that, in games starting before 2 p.m. the morning people did better, posting a batting average of .267, compared to .259 for the evening people. But when in games starting after 8 p.m., the evening people had a much bigger advantage: At that time of night they achieved a batting average of .306, compared to the morning people who batted .252. In other words: When each group of batters got the chance to perform at their preferred time of day, the night owls blew the early birds out of the water. You might say the night owls hit it out of the park (wink, wink).
Want to find out what your chronotype is? Take a simple quiz right here.