lullableMost of when you want to sleep was decided for you. A roughly 24-hour clock in your body cues when you feel sharp, when you feel hungry and when you finally feel tired, and your chronotype is where that clock sits against everyone else's. Early types peak before lunch. Late types come alive after dark. Most people sit somewhere in the middle, and the setting drifts with age: children run early, teenagers run late.
The five questions below are adapted from the reduced Morningness–Eveningness Questionnaire, the short form of the instrument sleep researchers have used since 1976. Answer for the life you would choose, not the one your alarm imposes.
The five animals
- BlackbirdDefinitely a morning type. The first voice in the dawn chorus, singing before there is light to sing by.
- TortoiseModerately a morning type. An early riser who keeps to the daylight and is in no hurry inside it.
- SheepNeither, and in good company. Neither lark nor owl, and the most common of the five, which seems fitting.
- MothModerately an evening type. The evening is where you come alive, usually near a lamp.
- OctopusDefinitely an evening type. You do not properly get going until the sun has gone down.