The temptation to sleep in and perhaps take a sick day is something we’ve all faced, but most of us fight it. Nothing good ever comes from being lazy, particularly when the entire world, relatively speaking, is getting ready to start the day. That being said, there’s one good thing about not being a morning person...science suggests that it could be a sign of intelligence.
The British study titled, Why night owls are more intelligent, urges us to look at our ancestry. As researchers Satoshi Kanazawa and Kaja Perina argue, early humans were early to bed and early to rise. Deviating from the norm has been part of humans since the beginning. People who do not only want to start the day are better suited for modern living. That’s in itself a sign of intelligence. Alarms with snooze buttons are a rather recent invention, after all.
Not wanting to get up demonstrates initiative in its little way. If we’ve got a clear desire to listen to our bodies and not be ordered around by some clock, then it demonstrates that we are independent. It stands to reason that people that want to sleep in are willing to find their passions and come up with their solutions.
Solving the issue of wanting to sleep with more sleep shows that at least we have basic logic, an understanding of cause-and-effect, and we do not always reject the apparent answer.
A University of Southampton study examined the sleep patterns of 1,229 men and women, as well as their socioeconomic circumstances. In general, people that went to bed near midnight and got up after 8 A.M., that were dubbed “night owls,” had higher income levels and a more comfortable, happier lifestyle, particularly when, compared to morning people, that were dubbed “early birds.”
Unfortunately, that does not mean we have a free pass to sleep our lives away, as tempting as it is. People that spend twelve hours or more in bed, which is at least half the day, were at a higher risk of untimely death too. For comparison’s sake, those at the lowest risk were people that had eight hours of sleep.
In the end, sleep is too important to be treated lightly. Sleep should be enjoyed neither too much nor too little. The best part is, you do not have to be a genius to get a good night’s sleep...we can all do it.
Preview photo: Mr. & Mrs. Smith / 20th Century Fox
Preview photo: Mr. & Mrs. Smith / 20th Century Fox
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