Oh, I completely agree with you. People are naturally night owls, morning birds, and everything in between. There’s actually quite a lot of research into what exactly makes someone a morning bird or a night owl, and you’d be surprised to know that it’s not entirely psychological! It’s known that genetics is a factor, but we’re still not entirely sure of all the possible reasons why someone might be a morning bird vs. a night owl.

That being said, one of the big reasons why people are staying later nowadays is because of the light tricking our bodies into thinking that it’s still daytime, so it is definitely something to consider if you feel like you might be going to sleep a little too late.

And I completely agree that a lot of institutions were set up to cater to morning birds, and it makes it really difficult for night owls to get by. I empathize completely that night owls kind of have to choose between their own health (by disrupting their natural circadian rhythms) and not being able to get anything done.

The one glimmer of hope is that circadian rhythms is actually a shockingly new field of research, having only really been around for about 20 years. Sure, people knew about the cycle of waking up/going to bed for thousands of years, but researchers only really began to look at what’s really going on on a cellular and molecular level recently. And hopefully, the more we know about it, the more we can change the idea that institutions have to cater to morning birds