4 ms·
I'm an absolutely incurable night owl. My theory is it must be an inherited trait, which is passed through the generations at random, and was first developed fo
by russellbeattie 4y ago
I'm an absolutely incurable night owl. My theory is it must be an inherited trait, which is passed through the generations at random, and was first developed for a reason. For thousands of years, maybe longer, my forebears protected the rest of the tribe at night so everyone else could sleep peacefully and then go hunting or farming during the day. We were probably the ones that domesticated the wolf, I'd bet, as that makes sense. They'd be the ones coming around the campfires at night. And we'd say, hey buddy, want this juicy elk bone?
In return for saving civilization, we're now persecuted by people who think 8 a.m. is a good time to start school.
- Zekio 4y agoI'm the exact same, and I've thought about the same theory, especially since I sleep way better during the day than at night.
- desmosxxx 4y agoThat's what finally got me to come to terms with my extreme night owl shift. When I get up earlier than 9am (using light therapy etc), I get anxiety/panic attacks and have a hard time sleeping more than 6 hours. My natural schedule is sleeping around 5am - 1pm and I sleep like a baby and feel great.
- russellbeattie 4y agoHa! That's just about my perfect schedule as well, though for practicality I try to make sure I'm winding down by 3:00 am so I can get up before noon. In college I'd regularly go get breakfast before heading to bed and marvel at the morning people around me. My sleep shifts about an hour later every week, so that last week or so before it flips back is pretty tough, especially during the winter. Waking up at like 4 or 5 pm is definitely not good. I still need light!
- sixQuarks 4y agothank you for your service
- ytpete 4y agoThis exact theory has been put forward by scientists a few times - that variation in sleep-wake times helps guard a tribe or camp at night. A 2017 study of an indigenous hunter-gatherer group found that there was virtually always at least one person awake in the group, around the clock. The longest contiguous time the whole group was asleep simultaneously was just 1 minute! Here's one article about it: https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/chronotypes-evolution-explains-night-owls-and-early-birds https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/chronotypes-ev...
- russellbeattie 4y agoOh no! There's absolutely zero way I just happened to come up with this exact idea independently. If it was someone else, I'd be calling BS. :-) I don't have any memory of it, but I must have seen or heard that study mentioned somewhere. Thanks for pointing it out and saving me future embarrassment!
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]