Good morning or good night.
Welcome back to the Easy English Podcast.
I'm your host Oliver, and today we're going to be talking about our sleep routines, our energy and whether we are morning people or nighttime people.
So, more specifically, why do some people wake up early, full of energy, ready to start the day, while others feel like zombies?
We feel awful and tired in the morning, and then we come alive at night, full of energy, in the evening time, and we go to sleep often too late.
So, are you a morning person or a night owl?
Let's find out, and we'll also find out why we are different and if it's something that we can change or if it's just the way we are.
So, before we get started, I will tell you why I am thinking about this topic.
I think it's a very interesting topic to discuss.
So recently, especially this year, I am trying to get up earlier.
So around 7.30 every morning, even on weekends.
And the reason for this is, is I am definitely not a morning person.
I love my bed and if I get extra time, especially on the weekends, usually I try to sleep as much as I can.
But I noticed that I often don't feel so good when I sleep too much in the morning, especially if I do it at the weekend, and then on weekdays I have to get up earlier again and I feel terrible.
I want to stay in bed.
So I'm trying to make myself a morning person.
So this topic is quite relevant to me.
And I'm sure it will be relevant to you too, because you will be one of these people, whether you love mornings or you don't like them.
So we can put you into two categories.
And we would say in English either a morning person or an early bird, we say, or an evening person, a nighttime person.
Or a night owl, a night owl like the animal.
So an early bird or a night owl.
And to define this so, a morning person or an early bird is someone who wakes up early and feels their best in the morning.
And these people are the people who can often wake up at like 6am in the morning, go for a run, make a full breakfast and be productive before the rest of us even open our eyes.
I am not one of these people, to be honest, and I am jealous of these people.
I wish I felt like this in the morning.
And the other category of people... are night owls or nighttime people.
And it's the complete opposite.
So often these people feel exhausted in the morning.
Exhausted means very tired.
Struggle to wake up and only start feeling awake and more productive into the afternoon or even at nighttime or in the evening.
Now, you know, some people might say, oh, I just prefer sleeping in late.
But from what I've read online, it's actually deeper than that.
It's not just only a personal choice.
It is biological too.
So let's get into the science.
You know, I love looking at the science behind things.
So we'll take a quick look.
You might think that it's just a habit.
You know whether you're a nighttime person or a morning person.
Maybe you got used to waking up early for school or work, or maybe you got used to staying up late because of social media or gaming, for example.
But a lot of it comes down to your internal body clock.
Scientifically, this is called your circadian rhythm.
And this is like to simplify it.
It's like a 24-hour timer or clock which controls whenever you feel awake or sleepy.
And this can affect your energy levels, your metabolism, so how quickly you burn food, your mood and even your body temperature.
Now, the most interesting part of this is that your circadian rhythm, so your body clock, is influenced by your genes, your genetics, your DNA.
So something that you can't choose.
And yes, some people are just born to be morning people.
And others are more naturally wired, more naturally made, let's say, to be night owls.
And guess what?
Scientists have actually discovered specific genes or DNA that determine whether you are going to be a natural early morning person or a late sleeper.
So if you struggle to wake up early, don't just blame yourself.
You can also blame your DNA.
But wait, there's more.
Your age also plays a big role.
So kids usually wake up early, of course.
I'm sure those of you listening with kids or who have had kids understand this.
And then teenagers often are more night owls.
So they like to naturally stay up late and sleep in.
And adults, some shift back to being morning people, but not all.
But as people get older, so older adults, they tend to wake up earlier again.
So if you were a night owl as a teenager, but now you enjoy waking up early, that's completely normal.
So there is still some hope for me yet.
So the struggles of night owls, and this is something relevant to me.
Now here's the thing, the world is definitely designed for morning people.
Think about it for a second.
Schools start early.
Most jobs start early.
Even breakfast places and cafes outside of the city close early.
If you're a night owl, waking up at 6 or 7am for work or school can feel terrible.
And the worst part, even if you go to bed early, you probably still feel pretty bad in the morning because your body naturally wants to stay up later at night.
And this is called social jet lag.
It's when your natural sleep schedule doesn't match today's society's schedule.
It can make you feel tired, stressed, and less productive.
Now, to be honest, this year, I guess I have to admit, I'm kind of in the middle.
I really like the idea of waking up early and being productive, but some nights I just stay up very late reading, Or if I'm on my own watching YouTube or TV until 2am, and then I completely regret it the next morning.
What about you?
Do you love waking up early or do you feel most alive at night?
So you might be wondering at this stage, can you change your sleep pattern?
If you're a night owl, can you train yourself to become a morning person?
And the answer is yes, but it's not so easy.
Your natural body clock is very strong, but you can shift it slowly with some effort.
And here are some ways that I have been trying and also which I haven't tried, but I probably should.
And the first is go to bed earlier, even just 15 minutes at a time.
So if you normally sleep at 1 am or 12, don't try to sleep suddenly at 10 pm.
It just won't work.
You won't be able to fall asleep.
So instead move it forward by 15 minutes earlier every few nights and just take your bedtime back slowly.
And the second point which I am trying to do, and that is to wake up at the same time every day, even on weekends.
And I know, I know, sleeping in on the weekend feels amazing at the time.
But if you want to shift your schedule, consistency is definitely key.
We should go to bed at the same time, wake up at the same time every day, and our bodies will then understand the routine and it'll make us feel sleepy at the right time and awake at the right time.
But it takes a lot of time to get this routine.
Now the third point.
Quite hard in the winter, particularly if you live in a northern country with not a lot of sunlight.
So make sure to get sunlight in the morning.
Natural light tells your brain it's time to wake up.
But to be honest, looking at this point in Northern Ireland, in the UK,
In the winter, there is no sun in the morning, or ever really.
So this is a very hard point to get sun, especially in the morning.
The final point is to avoid screens at night time.
So the blue light from your phone and laptop sort of tricks your brain into thinking that it's still daytime.
So you should try read a book instead or often modern phones now have a blue light filter.
You can remove the blue light and it can help with your sleep at nighttime.
So, in summary, it takes time, but you can change your routine and you can change whether you're a nighttime person or a morning person.
It's just going to be a lot harder for nighttime people to make a routine around the morning.
So are you a morning person or a night owl?
Let me know in the comments or if you're on Spotify, you can vote in the little poll below.
And do you like it or do you wish you could change?
So at the end of the day, in my opinion, I think both can have their advantages.
I think that morning people definitely have an easier time of fitting into today's schedule like society's schedule with work and school.
But night owls, I think, can often be more creative and productive in the evening.
So it does balance out.
But it can be harder for night owls with routines, society's routines.
But the most important thing here is just make sure that you get enough sleep.
Whether you wake up early or you stay up late, if you're always tired, something needs to change.
So maybe after listening to this podcast, you can think about your own sleep habits.
Could you shift your schedules slightly to feel better?
Or are you happy the way you are?
Either way, thank you for listening and I'll see you in the next episode.
And if you're listening to this at 2am or 1am in the early morning, maybe it's time to go to bed.
So thank you for listening.
I hope you enjoyed this episode.
If you want to support me, you can check out our Patreon.
I'm going to include the little advertisement at the end of this episode just to check it out if you haven't watched before.
You can give whatever you want.
I think it's like $1.50 or something for the lowest tier and you get access to everything.
And you can also check out the website.
So that's easyenglishpodcast.com Very easy to find. easyenglishpodcast.com And you can sign up for the free English newsletter there.
So have an amazing day or night, wherever you are, and I will see you next time.
Thank you so much for listening.
I appreciate each and every one of you.
Goodbye, quick ad break from myself, and so i just want to show you the patreon, and the link is in the description below.
This is the easy english patreon, and on the patreon you get access to lots of bonus content.
So you can see here that not only are the full videos, full podcasts available, but they also come with the full transcripts below to help you learn.
So to take time to read along with it, to go back and look at difficult words, and you also get a higher quality audio here as well.
But not only do you get that, you also get bonus additional series.
So News in Easy English, where I read different news articles in English and highlight and teach you difficult words from those articles.
So you can see here, difficult words section, and I break these down and explain them.
Not only that, but you get some life updates from myself too.
I keep you updated with things that are going on and extra bonus episodes of the podcast.
So podcast episodes that you can only get as a Patreon member.
So membership is a great model.
It's a pay as you want model.
So there are three tiers and you can decide how much you want to support Easy English, how much you think it's worth, and you get exactly the same benefits for each.
So the link is in the description.
Check it out and subscribe if you want to support this project.
Thank you.
