It is rare that chronotypes change overtime. However, life does not always align with our chronotypes, and you may find yourself sleeping in patterns that do not align with your chronotype. During the pandemic, especially, this led to some sleep difficulties, especially for night owls. Continue reading about how night owls were negatively impacted during the pandemic and what that meant for companies and individuals.
Chronotypes are the description of your preferred sleep pattern. There is a spectrum ranging from definite evening types to definite morning types. Those who are not definite evening or morning types fall into the moderate and intermediate categories.
Definite evening types are also known as night owls. They have a circadian rhythm that is tilted a little later on the clock. This means they prefer to have later bedtimes and later wake times.
Chronotypes are genetically determined and difficult to adjust. Changing your sleep pattern to adjust to your lifestyle will not necessarily adjust your chronotype. You just learn to adjust, and your hormonal releases may still be coordinated with your chronotype. This also affects your more alert and productive times throughout the day, as well as natural cortisol drops and drowsiness.
The pandemic introduced its own set of stressors, including a completely unorthodox daily schedule for most individuals. With most people working from home and school being online, our bodies were no longer relegated to the strict schedules of waking up, getting ready, going to school or work, and then coming home. Most days were spent at home, which seems like it may have offered more sleep. However, quite the opposite was true as people were less strict with their sleep schedules, able to take naps during the day, using less energy, and decreasing their sleep pressure, which helps drive sleep at the end of the day.
Early birds were less affected than night owls, who were struggling to fall asleep at a decent time to make early morning meetings.
A study examined the role of chronotypes in a person's sleep health, mental health, and physical health. Evening types may be susceptible to chronic, long-term physical and mental health conditions over time. When asked about their quality of life and COVID-19, evening types were more likely to report feelings of stress and sadness, as well as disturbing thoughts about themselves and the past.
Evening types reported less sleep than other types before the pandemic, but the pandemic eliminated those differences. Night owls were able to sleep more during the day to make up for any sleep loss. However, these individuals had the largest increase in sleep problems during the pandemic, experiencing an uptick in poor sleep quality, prolonged sleep onset, poor sleep maintenance problems, excessive sleepiness, fatigue, and nightmares.
In comparison to morning types, during the pandemic, evening types achieved less education, had trouble maintaining steady work, and had higher unemployment rates and financial hardships. The influences of these differences are multifactorial, but contributed to higher stress and poorer mental health, which also negatively impacted sleep.
In an ideal world, employees and employers would be able to work with individual chronotypes. The pandemic allowed for more flexibility in working, and many traditional employers discovered that the standard 8-5 in-office schedule was not necessary for everyone. As return-to-work orders have started, jobs may continue to see individual productivity and job satisfaction if schedules are flexible enough to accommodate different chronotypes.
For night owls, until corporate America accepts a more flexible schedule, it may continue to be difficult to get the recommended amount of sleep while adhering to the traditional workday.
Although changing your chronotype is likely not a good solution, other methods may help improve your sleep in the traditional work schedule.
One thing you can try is going to sleep at the same time every day. Bedtimes in the later part of the evening, 10-12 AM, work with your sleep schedule while also giving you enough sleep for an 8-5 schedule. If you can supplement your sleep with daytime naps, you can still get enough sleep with a later bedtime.
Another option, is if you are in charge of your schedule, then try to schedule meetings later and set working hours that work for your peak productivity. The most important part is to maintain the same schedule every day, as consistency is great for creating a healthy sleep schedule.
A final tip for improving your sleep is to create a sleep routine that you perform every night. Sleep routines are relaxing things you can do right before bed, like taking a shower, stretching, meditating, and reading a book. It's important that the activities are relaxing and prepare your body and mind for bed. Watching TV or doing things that increase your heart rate and brain activity are antagonistic to your sleep efforts.
If you have trouble going to sleep and think that the issues may go beyond your chronotype, then please consider speaking to a sleep professional by clicking the orange button below to take a free online sleep test.
https://www.sleepfoundation.org/sleep-news/how-chronotype-sleep-quality-impacted-by-covid