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Confessions of a Not-a-Morning Person
I love snoozing. That is, tapping my phone 10–15 times until my body finally decides to release me from slumber. Actually, I hate snoozing. I wish that I could rise with the sun, full of energy and ready to launch my day.
Instead, I’m cursed with the tendency to oversleep, then drag myself out of bed and chug coffee in order to be functional. On occasion, my alarm even becomes part of my dreams as my brain does its darnedest to keep me asleep.
In case you can’t tell, I am not a morning person.
The Reluctant Bear
For a while, I was a night owl, full of creative energy with no desire to sleep. This was especially true when I was a teen, and indeed, many teens’ circadian rhythms keep them up later at night — and asleep later in the morn.
As I got older, I started to feel sleepier early in the evening. No more 4 a.m. rounds of Guitar Hero for me. And yet I haven’t swung to the other side of the pendulum: I’m still not-a-morning-person.
Sleep expert Dr. Michael Breus came up with a name for us losers who are neither early birds nor night owls: The bear, which sounds more awesome than it is. Bears like to sleep (duh) and tend to feel much more energetic in the afternoon.
