Lack of quality sleep can be debilitating, as any new parent can attest to. We’re often told ‘you need 8 hours of sleep’ but this thinking was first introduced 80 years ago. With the help of Dr Michael Breus aka ‘The Sleep Doctor’ you can transform your sleep with one piece of information.
Your ‘Chronotype’ simply means time-type, and it describes how your body naturally trends in terms of sleep. This variance is caused by individual differences in hormones and circadian rhythm. The two well known chronotypes are Lion (aka ‘Early Bird’) and Wolf (aka ‘Night-Owl’) and two others: Bear (daylight following) and Dolphin (light sleepers.)
Each of these types react differently to different types and times of sleep. Once you know your type, you can give yourself the right habits and schedule to improve your sleep. You can take the chronotype quiz here.
There general best-practices for sleep: a dark, quiet room, no caffeine after lunch, reducing blue/bright light after sunset. Knowing your chronotype allows you to add two new best practises, going to sleep at the right time for your body, and keeping your sleep schedule consistent.
If you’re a Lion/Early-Bird you shouldn’t push yourself to stay up past 9pm. If you’re a Wolf don’t go to bed at 9pm and sit awake in bed for hours. Dolphins need more time after dinner to wind down with reduced screen time. Bears, although generally the best sleepers can drift towards the other types when they’re experience poor sleep.
Dr Breus has specific tips for each sleep type after you take the quiz, and plenty of further reading around all aspects of lifestyle in his book ‘The Power of When.’ With a subtitle that reads: “the Best Time to Eat Lunch, Ask for a Raise, Have Sex, Write a Novel, Take Your Meds, and More” you know it has to be good!
Thanks for reading!
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