Most people have heard of circadian rhythm, but have you heard of sleep chronotypes? If you’re familiar with the terms “early bird” or “night owl,” that’s where the research around chronotypes started.
Now, there are four chronotype classifications: the Bear, Lion, Wolf, and Dolphin. Knowing your chronotype teaches you about your natural sleep inclinations and ultimately helps you be more productive throughout your day.
What Is a Chronotype?
A chronotype represents when your body naturally wants to be awake or asleep in a regular 24-hour period, and when it naturally wants to be most productive. Though your chronotype is often closely related to your circadian rhythm, it is different. You can oftenimprove your circadian rhythm using technologyor use variousapps that promote a healthier circadian rhythm, but your sleep chronotype is more permanent.
Your circadian rhythm controls your sleep-wake cycles and releases melatonin in your body. It’s affected by external factors, like your work schedule, age, habits, and exposure to light. You can adjust your circadian rhythm by adjusting your environment. Sleep chronotypes don’t work this way.
Instead,as SleepScore explains, your chronotype lines up with your biological clock and genetic preferences for productivity independently of when you wake up or go to sleep. For example, the same two people could wake up for work at 6 a.m., but one of them may be more naturally inclined to be productive in the early hours of the day while the other is more productive towards the end of the work day.
Why Chronotypes Are Important
Identifying and understanding your chronotype is important because it can help you plan your day more effectively. If you know that your chronotype doesn’t lend itself naturally to being productive in the morning, you can use your morning time at work for less intense tasks like answering emails or making phone calls. Then, in the afternoon, you can dedicate your most productive time to working on big projects and creative tasks.
In addition to your sleep and productivity preferences, your chronotype can also offer insights into your appetite and body temperature. You may not be able to change your chronotype, but you can use it to understand your body’s natural preferences and use them to your advantage.
Rather than constantly becoming frustrated for not being able to hit the ground running first thing in the morning, you can learn to be more gentle with yourself and adjust your schedule to your specific body clock.
The Four Main Chronotypes
In early research of chronotypes, people were often classified as an early bird (morning type), a night owl (evening type), or a hummingbird (neither). Dr. Michael Breus, author ofThe Power of When, recognized a fourth chronotype of the restless sleeper (insomniac).
With this new information, Dr. Breus reinvented the existing chronotype system with four new chronotype classifications. Most quizzes you take or sleep profiles assigned to you by a smartwatch or fitness tracker will classify you as one of these four chronotypes: Lion (morning), Wolf (evening), Bear (somewhere in the middle), or Dolphin (difficult sleepers). These chronotypes are based on each mammal’s typical sleep-wake cycle in the wild.
People with the Lion chronotype typically wake up early, fall asleep early, and get their best work done before noon. As soon as noon hits, Lions may start feeling sleepy or have lower energy until they go to bed around 9 or 10 p.m.
If you have the Wolf chronotype, you likely struggle to wake up in the morning, and your natural period of boosted productivity falls between noon and 4 p.m. Even though Wolf chronotypes may naturally want to fall asleep later, many working-class people have adjusted their circadian rhythm so that it’s easier to wake up in the mornings. While you might be up in the morning as a Wolf, you won’t be productive until later in the day.
The most common chronotype is the Bear. If you have the Bear chronotype, your natural sleep-wake cycle matches the sun, and you probably find it easy to wake up and fall asleep. Bears are often most productive before noon, and overall energy starts declining in the late afternoon.
If you have issues sticking with any set sleep schedule, you probably have the Dolphin chronotype. In the wild,dolphins only sleep for a few hoursat a time, and when they do sleep, half of their brain is still active—making this the perfect mammal to describe restless sleepers. People with the Dolphin chronotype find it difficult to fall asleep, stay asleep, and wake up in the morning, and they’re generally most productive between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
It’s important to note that the four chronotypes listed by Dr. Breus aren’t the only chronotypes that exist, but they are the most commonly used today.
How to Find Your Chronotype
Typically, reading through each chronotype in depth will give you a good idea of which one you fall under. If it doesn’t, you might consider trying asleep-tracking appor investing in asmartwatch that tracks sleeping patterns. You may already have an existing smartwatch or fitness tracker that offers sleep-tracking features.
Some sleep-tracking wearables, like Fitbit fitness trackers or the Oura Ring, will not only analyze your sleep, but also offer you chronotype information after you’ve tracked a certain number of nights. Smartwatches, fitness trackers, and other wearables will often show your basic sleep data for free, but you often have to pay for a subscription to see a more in-depth analysis of your sleeping patterns.
Fitbit Premium memberswill see their chronotype categorized as one of Dr. Breus’ four mammals, while Oura Ring users will see their chronotype listed as “early morning type,” “late morning type,” and so on (with six chronotypes in total).
If you don’t have any device that can track your sleep, you could try recording the times you wake up, go to sleep (or get in bed to go to sleep), and feel groggy throughout the day. After recording these times for a few weeks, see if you notice any common trends. Or, you may always takeThe Power of When quizdesigned by Dr. Breus to show your most likely chronotype.
How Knowing Your Chronotype Can Make You More Productive
The best way you can use knowledge of your chronotype to boost your productivity is by saving your hardest work for the block of time your chronotype is most alert and high-functioning. If you’re a Wolf, it doesn’t make sense to trudge through difficult tasks in the morning when your body clock functions best after 12 pm. By learning about your chronotype and listening to your body clock, you can arrange easy and difficult tasks throughout your day with more efficiency.
Even outside of work, knowing your chronotype can make you more productive at home. As someone with a Lion chronotype, you might realize that you’re too sleepy when you get home from work to cook a healthy meal or start a load of laundry. Instead, a Lion may decide they need to prep for dinner or do chores earlier in the morning before leaving for work because the task is easier at that time of day.
Once you know your chronotype, you can also adjust your sleep schedule to what’s known to be most effective for that chronotype, and see your productivity soar. Sometimes, your work schedule may not allow for this, and that’s okay. You can also put effort intousing tech to improve the quality of your sleep.
For people with the Dolphin chronotype, improving sleep quality is even more important than it is for those with the Bear, Lion, or Wolf chronotypes. Dolphins tend to be restless sleepers who need seemingly perfect conditions to fall asleep, stay asleep, and wake up on time. If you know you have the Dolphin chronotype, it’s worth investing intechnology that can improve your sleeping experienceto ensure you get the maximum amount of quality sleep possible.
Once you set up a sleep routine that works for you, it’s important to try your best to wake up and go to sleep at the same time, including over the weekend.
Discover Your Chronotype and Start Learning From It
Many people know which sleep chronotype they have without even needing to take a quiz or have a fitness tracker analyze their sleep. When you read the description of each chronotype’s natural sleeping and productivity patterns, it’s easy to identify those same patterns in yourself.
Once you know which chronotype you have, you can research a little more about your specific chronotype and attempt to get your biggest, most creative or intense tasks done during your estimated productivity window.
