Night Owl or Morning Person?

Are you a night owl or a morning person or something in between? Do you know when this habit began in your life? Do you think people’s sleep patterns are really a part of who they are (like hair color) or can be changed with circumstances?

I'm definitely a morning person. I get up around 4:30 or 5:00am and I go to bed around 10pm. Watching the sun come up makes me feel renewed and energized! When we travel, I don't mind driving early in the morning even if it is dark because I know that the sky will only get lighter. If I drive in the evening as it gets dark, my body shuts down and yells, "Bedtime!"

I don't know how this habit began but I remember growing up and loving to get up before everyone else. I loved the quiet time early in the morning before anyone else "stirred the waters." When I worked in college, I offered to work breakfast hours in the dining hall because I was up anyway. I am at school an hour before I have to be because I get so much done early in the morning. When we go camping, I sit outside the tent in the dark early in the morning, waiting to greet the sun.

I don't think circumstances would change this type of habit. I could perform differently if I had to (like getting a third shift job) but I do not think I would perform to the best of my ability. I am most efficient and effective according to my biological clock. I also try to take this into account in my teaching because sometimes my students are not their most effective in my first period class but by their seventh period class, they are clicking right along. I wonder if all bosses took this into account, whether the world would be a different place...