Calling all night owls. I’m talking to those who enjoy the nighttime/wee hours of the morning and despise everything that comes with rolling out of bed. I might go so far in saying we prefer sunsets over sunrises or the sound of cicadas and fireflies over birds chirping and singing. Hoot, I said it, I am a night owl. I shall impart my ~holy~ wisdom onto you—you don’t have to feel guilty about falling into this weird bird category anymore. We are becoming a part of a profession where you can be your own boss and construct hours that align with your circadian rhythm.
I have always enjoyed everything that comes with the hours after the sun disappears below the horizon. By no means am I one of those nocturnal gamer types, but my most thought-provoking times occur during the later hours of the day. If I am speaking your language, embrace this quality of yours! I have spent far too many of these evenings contemplating how I will ever master “adulting” if I am not a morning person. Consider yourself simply an outlier who has a peak performance at a different time. This is a difficult concept to be comfortable with when we live in a society that seems to value early mornings.
While I hold my stance in the matter that night owls do not need to morph their sleep schedule just to fit the norm, it’s only obvious that being a student dictates the necessity to be an early riser. This leads us to combat our innate rhythms and go against our personal preferences, but it may only be until we acquire a DMD degree. In order to maximize productivity, we oftentimes turn to caffeine in order to energize for this 9-to-5 lifestyle. My recommendation: explore tea over coffee. Tea holds a long list of health benefits due to its high content of antioxidants. While most teas lose the war in caffeine content when compared with coffee, it may allow for a nice subtle energy boost. Shout out to my caffeine sensitive homies.
I haven’t forgotten about you, morning larks. Congratulations, some studies have suggested that this group has the fastest reaction time in early tests. They found these correlations by investigating brain function using magnetic resonance imaging scans. With that said, I found very few reliable studies that demonstrate whether there is a link between circadian rhythms and people's brain connectivity. Regardless of the speed of our neurons synapsing, I think it is important to listen to your body when it comes to rest times and not to not feel guilty when doing so.
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