Okay, going to admit something that my mami will probably NEVER let me live down after this, but… I was a pain as a teenager. I was always a good student but I was always constantly grumpy and tired. I slept an average of 3-5 hours on school days and then 12-14 hours on the weekends.
Whenever my mom tried to get me up to do anything at all, I pretty much did NOT want to budge. Yup, I was a grump! At the time, though, I simply called myself a "night owl" and just went on with my life. It's not just as simple as that, though. According to a new study, morning people are actually happier than night owls. Well, I guess that explains my teenage attitude, doesn't it?
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Well, these days I still pretty much consider myself a night owl. I don't know why, but I tend to get a spurt of energy after midnight and sometimes can't get to sleep until 2 or 3am. It's much better than the 5 a.m. sessions I used to pull in high school or college, but for the most part I do try to get to sleep at a decent hour.
According to the new study, though, that's all pretty typical. It turns out that "teenagers' night owl tendencies fade as they age, and the study says that this switch to a morning-focused schedule could be why older adults are happier than younger ones", according to MSNBC's TODAY Health. Renee Bliss, a graduate student at the University of Toronto, explains:
Past research has suggested that morning-type people report feeling happier than evening-type people, and this research was only on young adults. We found that older adults reported greater positive emotion than younger adults, and older adults were more likely to be morning-type people than younger adults. The 'morningness' was associated with greater happiness emotions in both age groups.
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Well, that definitely might explain a few things about my younger attitude… and, in particular, why I feel so annoyed, tired and OH SO HUNGRY every time that I (mostly accidentally) end up staying up too late. One lesson I learned this week: if I want to feel good, then I have to make myself get to bed earlier! I mean, if it's going to help me both keep my calorie count down AND make me a chipper person, then it's definitely a must.
Are you a morning person or a night owl? Do you find yourself feeling happier on days that you get a full night's sleep? Share with us in the comments below!
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