Night owl is a term used to describe a person who tends to stay up until late at night. Another name for a
night owl is
evening person.
The term is derived from the primarily nocturnal habits of the
owlThe Owls are the order Strigiformes, comprising 200 birds of prey, species. Most are solitary, and nocturnal, with some exceptions . Owls hunt mostly small mammals, insects, and other birds, though a few species specialize in hunting fish. They are found in all regions of the Earth except...
. Usually, people who are night owls keep awake past midnight and extreme night owls may stay awake until just before or after dawn. Night owls tend to feel most energetic just before they go to sleep at night.
Some night owls have a preference or habit for staying up late, or stay up to work the
night shiftShift work is an employment practice designed to make use of the 24 hours of the clock, rather than a standard working day. The term shift work includes both long-term night shifts and work schedules in which employees change or rotate shifts....
.
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Night owl is a term used to describe a person who tends to stay up until late at night. Another name for a
night owl is
evening person.
The term is derived from the primarily nocturnal habits of the
owlThe Owls are the order Strigiformes, comprising 200 birds of prey, species. Most are solitary, and nocturnal, with some exceptions . Owls hunt mostly small mammals, insects, and other birds, though a few species specialize in hunting fish. They are found in all regions of the Earth except...
. Usually, people who are night owls keep awake past midnight and extreme night owls may stay awake until just before or after dawn. Night owls tend to feel most energetic just before they go to sleep at night.
Some night owls have a preference or habit for staying up late, or stay up to work the
night shiftShift work is an employment practice designed to make use of the 24 hours of the clock, rather than a standard working day. The term shift work includes both long-term night shifts and work schedules in which employees change or rotate shifts....
. Night owls who work the day shift often have a problem with being on time for work. Some night owls who have great difficulty adopting normal
sleepSleep is a naturally recurring state of relatively suspended sensory and motor activity, characterized by total or partial unconsciousness and the inactivity of nearly all voluntary muscles. It is distinguished from quiet wakefulness by a decreased ability to react to stimuli, and it is more easily...
ing and waking times may have
delayed sleep phase syndromeDelayed sleep-phase syndrome , also known as delayed sleep-phase disorder or delayed sleep-phase type , is a circadian rhythm sleep disorder, a chronic disorder of the timing of sleep, peak period of alertness, core body temperature, hormonal and other daily rhythms relative to societal norms...
.
The opposite of a night owl is an early bird, a
larkFor other uses of the term Lark see Lark Lark is a term used to describe a person who likes to get up early in the morning and go to bed early in the evening.Another name for a lark is a morning person....
as opposed to owl, someone who tends to begin sleeping at a time that is considered early and also wakes early.
In several countries, early birds are called "A-people" and night owls are called "B-people". Researchers traditionally use the terms morningness and eveningness.
Prevalence
Discussions and studies about the prevalence of morning, evening and indifferent or intermediate
chronotypeChronotype is an attribute of human beings reflecting whether they are alert and prefer to be active early or late in the day. The continuum is often referred to as “morningness/eveningness” or “larks” and “owls” where morning people wake up early and are most alert in the first part of the day,...
s use different criteria and come to different results. Some ask what time people
do go to sleep and wake up—others ask what time people would
prefer to. A survey of over 400 adults showed approximately 15% morning people, 25% evening people, and 60% intermediates.
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