Early birds v night owls

I have a certain person in my life who is convinced that there is no such thing as early birds and night owls. He is naturally an early-to-bed-early-to-rise kind of person. I am not. I am much more late-to-bed-have-a-nice-lie-in-wherever-possible. He is convinced that I am just being lazy when I say I loathe getting up in the morning and feel like death if I get up early. Because apparently everyone else manages and I'm a pansy because I can't, and I'm a weirdo because I'd rather stay up until 11 or 12 than be in bed to watch the the 10 o'clock news.

However, I found a story on BBC online today that proves me right in my belief that docs have long known that the body clock is an accepted biological reality. This article talks about a medical condition that makes people strongly one end of the scale, called Advanced Sleep Phase Syndrome (ASPS). This syndrome causes people to wake up really ridiculously early (like 4am every day), and doctors think it is caused by

"a tiny pea-sized organ in the brain called the suprachiasmatic nucleus, or SCN. This tiny region commands a chain of chemical and nervous instructions that ripple through the body, controlling how each organ and tissue functions over the 24-hour day."

So the next time I'm accused of being a slacker for not wanting to leap out of bed at 8am I shall say "Don't blame me, blame my suprachiasmatic nucleus".

Comments

[Anne]

Oh my god. Totally. Could there ever be any doubt that it's all in our heads? There are reams of studies investigating early bird/nighth owl people. One even reported that early birds have higher levels of the stress hormone, cortisol in the am than do late-nite/sleep-in people. Maybe the "certain person in your life" should go do a scholar.google.com search while he's waiting for you to wake up next time. Search string: "night owl" "early bird" and human. Good night *

[coturnix]

Let your friend read this:
http://circadiana.blogspot.com/2005/01/everything-you-always-wanted-to-know.html
(and other stuff on the same blog)!

[donna]

I suggest keeping Early Bird up nice and late for a few nights in a row. heh.

Besides, Night Owls are so much more fun - we have all the best parties!

[Poppycock]

If you're awake enough to say "suprachiasmatic nucleus" you're obviously capable of getting up! I'd stick to "Sod off and bring me some tea in an hour". :)

[Katie]

I think you've hit the nail on the head, Poppycock. Even if it did come out as Super Charismatic Expialidocious rather than superchiasmatic nucleus it would still give the game away that I was awake. It's like that classic conversation that everyone has surely had at least once in their lives...

Them: "Are you awake?"
You: "No."

[cats]

"The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese." -Jon Hammond