Night owl

While staying up after dark was considered a negative trait, this changed in 17th and 18th century Europe (and subsequently spread beyond) due to the development and implementation of artificial lighting: more domestic lights, added street lighting, and adaptation by the royal and upper social classes.{{cite magazine

|magazine=Atlantic Magazine |date=April 2012 |title=Night Owls

|author=Benjamin Schwarz |pages=82–83}} The introduction of chocolate, coffee and tea, and cafes that stayed open through dawn, became part of the new culture.

File:Asio otus uszatka1.JPG in Poland, are often nocturnal.]]

The term is derived from nocturnal habits of owls.{{Cite web |url=http://www.dictionary.com/browse/night--owl?s=t

|title=Night owl |website=www.dictionary.com |language=en |access-date=2018-07-21}} Most owls sleep during the day and hunt for food at night.

Usually, people who are night owls stay awake past midnight, and extreme night owls may stay awake until just before or even after dawn.Stefan Klein, Time (2008) p. 20

Some night owls have a preference or habit for staying up late, or stay up to work the night shift. Night owls who work the day shift often have difficulties adapting to standard daytime working hours.

Night owls have often been blamed for unpunctuality or attitude problems.{{Cite book|title=Insomniac|url=https://archive.org/details/insomniac0000gree|url-access=registration|last=Greene|first=Gayle|publisher=University of California Press|year=2008|isbn=9780520259966|location=Berkeley|pages=[https://archive.org/details/insomniac0000gree/page/345 345]|oclc=85817911}} Employers, however, have begun to learn to increase productivity by respecting body clocks through flexible working hours,Klein, p. 33 while the Danish "B-Society" of night owls and the American Start School Later movement advocate more school and workplace flexibility for the post-agricultural world.

Some research has found that night owls are more intelligent and creative and more likely to get high-paying jobs than larks, or morning persons. A study among 1,000 adolescents by the University of Madrid found that night owls scored higher than early birds on inductive reasoning tests, which often serve as a proxy for intelligence.{{cite web |last1=Nuwer |first1=Rachel |author-link=Rachel Nuwer |title=Night Owl and Early Bird Teens Think Differently |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/night-owl-and-early-bird-teens-think-differently-9607779/ |website=Smithsonian |access-date=4 June 2021}} However, they lag behind larks in academic performance,"[https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/if-you-want-to-get-ahead-be-a-night-owl-8547115.html IF YOU WANT TO GET AHEAD, BE A NIGHT OWL]" by Roger Dobson; THE INDEPENDENT March 24, 2013 and they tend to have unhealthier eating habits, as well as higher rates of smoking.Walker, R. J., Christopher, A. N., Wieth, M. B., & Buchanan, J. (2015). Personality, time-of-day preference, and eating behavior: The mediational role of morning-eveningness. Personality and Individual Differences, 77, 13–17. Some research suggests that night owls have a higher risk for bipolar disorder.{{Cite journal |last1=Scott |first1=Jan |last2=Etain |first2=Bruno |last3=Miklowitz |first3=David |last4=Crouse |first4=Jacob J. |last5=Carpenter |first5=Joanne |last6=Marwaha |first6=Steven |last7=Smith |first7=Daniel |last8=Merikangas |first8=Kathleen |last9=Hickie |first9=Ian |date=April 2022 |title=A systematic review and meta-analysis of sleep and circadian rhythms disturbances in individuals at high-risk of developing or with early onset of bipolar disorders |journal=Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews |language=en |volume=135 |pages=104585 |doi=10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.104585 |pmc=8957543 |pmid=35182537}}

Some night owls who have great difficulty adopting desired sleeping and waking times may have delayed sleep phase disorder. Morning light therapy may help to shift sleep rhythms for the night owl.Laura H. Smith/Charles H. Elliott, Seasonal Affective Disorder for Dummies (2007) p. 73

Several studies have found that night owls may respond differently to some treatments for medical and mental health conditions compared to morning types. For example, a study of adults with depression found that higher eveningness was associated with more side effects and lower efficacy of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors.{{Cite journal |last1=Crouse |first1=Jacob J. |last2=Park |first2=Shin Ho |last3=Byrne |first3=Enda M. |last4=Mitchell |first4=Brittany L. |last5=Chan |first5=Karina |last6=Scott |first6=Jan |last7=Medland |first7=Sarah E. |last8=Martin |first8=Nicholas G. |last9=Wray |first9=Naomi R. |last10=Hickie |first10=Ian B. |date=July 2024 |title=Evening Chronotypes With Depression Report Poorer Outcomes of Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors: A Survey-Based Study of Self-Ratings |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0006322324000027 |journal=Biological Psychiatry |language=en |volume=96 |issue=1 |pages=4–14 |doi=10.1016/j.biopsych.2023.12.023|pmid=38185236 |doi-access=free }}

The night owl pattern is more prevalent in men than in women.{{Cite journal|last=Maestripieri|first=Dario|date=2014-01-01|title=Night Owl Women are Similar to Men in Their Relationship Orientation, Risk-taking Propensities, and Cortisol Levels: Implications for the Adaptive Significance and Evolution of Eveningness|journal=Evolutionary Psychology|language=en|volume=12|issue=1|pages=130–147|doi=10.1177/147470491401200111|issn=1474-7049|doi-access=free|pmid=24566433 |pmc=10481026}} Night owls are more likely to be single than in long-term relationships. A study done in 2013 suggests that they also more commonly possess dark triad traits.{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2015-03-20 |title=New Study Suggests Night Owls Have Psychopathic Traits |url=https://www.sciencealert.com/new-study-suggests-night-owls-have-psychopathic-traits |access-date=2023-08-15 |website=ScienceAlert |language=en-US}}

The tendency to be a night owl exists on a spectrum, with most people being typical, some people having a small or moderate tendency to be a night owl, and a few having an extreme tendency to be a night owl.{{Cite journal|last1=Roenneberg|first1=Till|last2=Merrow|first2=Martha|date=23 May 2016|title=The Circadian Clock and Human Health|journal=Current Biology|volume=26|issue=10|pages=R432–R443|doi=10.1016/j.cub.2016.04.011|pmid=27218855|doi-access=free|bibcode=2016CBio...26.R432R }} An individual's own tendency can change over time and is influenced by multiple factors, including:

• a genetic predisposition, which can cause the tendency to run in families,
• the person's age, with teenagers and young adults tending to be night owls more than young children or elderly people, and
• the environment the person lives in, except for the patterns of light they are exposed to through seasonal changes as well as through lifestyle (such as spending the day indoors and using electric lights in the evening).

The genetic make-up of the circadian timing system underpins the difference between early and late chronotypes, or early birds and night owls.Philip Lee Williams, On the Morning (2006) p. 41 While it has been suggested that circadian rhythms may change over time, including dramatic changes that turn a morning lark to a night owl or vice versa,Jeff Belanger/Kirsten Dalley, The Nightmare Encyclopedia (2005) p. 83Walker, R. J., Kribs, Z. D., Christopher, A. N., Shewach, O. R., & Wieth, M. B. (2014). Age, the Big Five, and time-of-day preference: A mediational model. Personality and Individual Differences, 56, 170–174. evidence for familial patterns of early or late waking would seem to contradict this, and individual changes are likely on a smaller scale.Klein, p. 21

A 2007 survey of over 55,000 people found that chronotypes tend to follow a normal distribution, with extreme morning and evening types on the far ends.{{Cite journal|last1=Roenneberg|first1=Till|last2=Kuehnle|first2=Tim|last3=Juda|first3=Myriam|last4=Kantermann|first4=Thomas|last5=Allebrandt|first5=Karla|last6=Gordijn|first6=Marijke|last7=Merrow|first7=Martha|date=December 2007|title=Epidemiology of the human circadian clock|url=https://www.rug.nl/research/portal/en/publications/epidemiology-of-the-human-circadian-clock(65d6f03a-88cd-405c-a067-4afbc1b9ba9d).html|journal=Sleep Medicine Reviews|volume=11|issue=6|pages=429–438|doi=10.1016/j.smrv.2007.07.005|pmid=17936039|issn=1087-0792|hdl=11370/65d6f03a-88cd-405c-a067-4afbc1b9ba9d|s2cid=11628329 |hdl-access=free}}

Night owls tend to thrive in careers that do not require working in the early morning. People who want to work in the evening are often employed at restaurants, hotels, entertainment venues, retail stores, and some personal care businesses.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bls.gov/careeroutlook/2015/article/night-owls-and-early-birds.htm|title=Career Outlook: Careers for night owls and early birds|last=Torpey|first=Elka|date=October 2015|website=U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics|language=en-us|access-date=2018-04-06}} Night owls who work the night shift may work in emergency services, in transportation, or at round-the-clock facilities, such as hospitals and some manufacturing plants.

Many businesses that operate in the evening or at night need employees at all levels, from entry-level employees to managers to skilled staff, whenever they are open. For example, most hospitals employ many types of workers around the clock:

• non-medical staff such as security guards, IT specialists, cleaning and maintenance workers, cooks and food service staff, and admissions clerks
• medical staff such as nurses, paramedics, radiographers, pharmacists, and phlebotomists
• managers for each of the main hospital wards or activities, including janitorial supervisors and head nurses.

Industries that tend to be less favorable to night owls include farming, construction, education, and public utilities. Many employees in these industries start work before 7:00 a.m.

A list of famous night owls includes:

{{div col|colwidth=20em}}

• Samuel Johnson
• E. T. A. Hoffmann{{Citation needed|date=July 2024}}
• George Sand
• Charles Darwin{{cite news |last1=Dobson |first1=Roger |title=If you want to get ahead, be a night owl |url=https://www.the-independent.com/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/if-you-want-to-get-ahead-be-a-night-owl-8547115.html |access-date=3 March 2025 |work=The Independent |date=23 March 2013}}
• Gustave Flaubert
• Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
• Marcel Proust{{cite web|title=Daily Rituals: Marcel Proust, Franz Kafka, and other artists who did great work in the wee hours.|date=18 April 2013|url=http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/features/2013/daily_rituals/marcel_proust_franz_kafka_and_other_artists_who_did_their_best_work_at_night.html|publisher=Slate}}
• Winston Churchill{{cite web|title=11 Bizarre Sleeping Habits Of Highly Successful People|url=http://www.sfgate.com/technology/businessinsider/article/11-Bizarre-Sleeping-Habits-Of-Highly-Successful-5006320.php|publisher=SF Gate|date=2013-11-23}}
• Carl Jung{{cite web|title=Authors' sleep patterns & productivity|url=http://shortlist.com/entertainment/books/authors-sleep-patterns-and-productivity|publisher=shortList|date=2014-01-28}}
• Joseph Stalin{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/25/style/sleep-problem-late-night.html | title=Maybe your sleep problem isn't a problem | newspaper=The New York Times | date=25 August 2018 | access-date=10 June 2022| last1=Williams | first1=Alex }}
• Franz Kafka{{cite web | url=https://www.businessinsider.com/the-sleep-habits-of-ernest-hemingway-margaret-atwood-and-other-famous-writers-2015-10 | title=I studied the sleep habits of some of the world's greatest writers | publisher=Insider | access-date=10 June 2022}}
• Adolf Hitler{{cite web|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-files-show-adolf-hitlers-daily-routine/|title=New Files Show Adolf Hitler's Daily Routine|agency=Associated Press|date=2010-10-29|publisher=CBS News}}
• H. P. Lovecraft{{cite web|url=https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/167467-at-night-when-the-objective-world-has-slunk-back-into|title=At Night}}
• J. R. R. Tolkien{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zWzAAgAAQBAJ&q=jrr+tolkien+I+go+to+bed+late+and+get+up+late&pg=PT188|title=J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography|last=Carpenter|first=Humphrey|date=2014-03-04|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|isbn=9780547524429|language=en}}
• Mao Zedong{{cite book|title=The New Emperors|author=Harrison Salisbury|publisher=HarperCollins|year=1992|page=103|author-link=Harrison Salisbury}}
• Frank Meyer{{cite book|last=Buckley|first=William F.|author-link=William F. Buckley|title=Miles Gone Bye: A Literary Autobiography|year=2004|publisher=Regnery Publishing|isbn=978-0895260895|url=https://archive.org/details/milesgonebyliter00buck}}
• Charles Bukowski{{cite web|title=Authors' sleep patterns & productivity|url=http://shortlist.com/entertainment/books/authors-sleep-patterns-and-productivity|publisher=ShortList|date=2014-01-28}}
• Murray Rothbard{{cite book |last=Rothbard |first=JoAnn |title=The Irrepressible Rothbard |date=2000 |publisher=Centre for Libertarian Studies |location=Burlington, CA |isbn=1-883959-02-0 |page=xi |url=https://cdn.mises.org/The%20Irrepressible%20Rothbard_2.pdf |access-date=6 April 2024}}
• Fidel Castro{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/feb/19/castro.battle|title=Castro: his last battle|date=2008-02-19|website=the Guardian|language=en|access-date=2018-04-19}}
• Glenn Gould
• Van Cliburn{{cite news |first=Mary |last=Rogers |title=A Midnight Conversation with Van Cliburn |url=http://www.maryrussellrogers.com/sites/default/files/images/A_midnight_conversation_with_Van_Cliburn.pdf |work=Fort Worth Star-Telegram |date=May 18, 1997 |access-date=August 18, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121120160217/http://www.maryrussellrogers.com/sites/default/files/images/A_midnight_conversation_with_Van_Cliburn.pdf |archive-date=November 20, 2012 |df=mdy-all }}
• Arturo Toscanini
• Hunter S. Thompson{{cite book|last=McKeen|first=William|author-link=William McKeen|title=Outlaw Journalist: The Life and Times of Hunter S. Thompson|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|quote=Sandy maintained the house, tiptoeing around until three o'clock in the afternoon, Hunter's usual waking hour.|page=[https://archive.org/details/outlawjournalist00mcke/page/104 104]|isbn=978-0-393-06192-5|url=https://archive.org/details/outlawjournalist00mcke/page/104|year=2008}}
• Frank Zappa{{cite web|title=FZ: Drowning in the News Bath|url=https://www.afka.net/Articles/1992-00_Big_Curmudgeon.htm}}
• Bob Dylan
• John Wayne Gacy{{cite book|last=Cahill|first=Tim|author-link=Tim Cahill (writer)|title=Buried Dreams: Inside the Mind of a Serial Killer|url=https://archive.org/details/burieddreamsinsi00cahi|publisher=Bantam Books|year=1993|orig-year=1986|isbn=978-1-857-02084-7|oclc=12421532|ref={{harvid|Cahill|1986}}}}
• Bobby Fischer{{cite web|title=Fischer's Friends Wonder if He'll Play Chess Again|author=Harold C. Schonberg|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/06/04/archives/fischers-friends-wonder-if-hell-play-chess-again.html|work=New York Times|date=June 4, 1973|quote=" A night owl who sleeps Most of the day and comes to life in the late afternoon, Fischer often tele phones his friends at 4 A.M. wanting to talk."}}
• Keith Richards
• Fran Lebowitz{{cite web|url=http://www.vulture.com/2010/11/fran_lebowitz_interview_transc.html|title=The Vulture Transcript: Fran Lebowitz on Sarah Palin, Keith Richards, Her Side Career As a Law & Order Judge, and Much More|date=23 November 2010 |publisher=Vulture}}
• Vladimir Putin{{cite web |last=Cain |first=Áine |title=Vladimir Putin's hard-core daily routine includes hours of swimming, late nights, and no alcohol |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/vladimir-putin-daily-routine-2017-6 |website=Business Insider |date=2018-07-16}}
• John Travolta{{Cite news|url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1554542/Travolta-turns-night-owl-to-protect-privacy.html|title = Travolta turns night owl to protect privacy|last = Elsworth|first = Catherine|website = Telegraph.co.uk|access-date = 2016-03-07|date = 2007-06-13}}
• Prince{{Cite web|url = http://www.etonline.com/news/187368_inside_prince_secret_midnight_movie_screenings_at_local_minnesota_theater/|title= EXCLUSIVE: Inside Prince's Secret Midnight Outings|publisher=Antoinette Bueno}}
• Barack Obama{{cite news|last1=Buncombe|first1=Andrew|title=Barack Obama: The nocturnal habits of America's 'night guy' president revealed|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/barack-obama-nocturnal-habits-of-americas-night-guy-president-revealed-a7115561.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220621/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/barack-obama-nocturnal-habits-of-americas-night-guy-president-revealed-a7115561.html |archive-date=2022-06-21 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=19 January 2018|work=The Independent|date=2 July 2016}}
• Michael Chabon
• Marilyn Manson{{Cite news|url=https://www.spin.com/2007/05/cover-marilyn-manson/|title=On the Cover: Marilyn Manson|date=2007-05-17|work=Spin|access-date=2018-03-11}}
• Linus Torvalds
• Kanye West{{cite web |last=West |first=Kanye |title=KANYE WEST Twitter |url=https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/686060974554497026/ |website=Twitter |date=2016-01-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160128102635/https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/686060974554497026/ |archive-date=2016-01-28 }}

{{div col end}}

• In the Lord Byron poem (and Leonard Cohen adaptation) So, we'll go no more a roving: {{quote|text=So we'll go no more a roving{{br}}So late into the night{{br}}Though the heart be still as loving{{br}}And the moon be still as bright.}}
• In Pliny the Elder's Natural History, he states Vita vigila est, "to be alive is to be watchful", a military metaphor for keeping watch in the night.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OrJ0CgAAQBAJ&q=to+be+alive+is+to+be+watchful+pliny&pg=PP7|title=Delphi Complete Works of Pliny the Elder (Illustrated)|last=Elder|first=Pliny the|date=2015-08-29|publisher=Delphi Classics|language=en}}
• For Robert Louis Stevenson, "There is a romance about all those who are abroad in the black hours."Quoted in Rubinstein p. 211
• In Jayne Ann Krentz's Truth or Dare, "Arcadia and Harry were both creatures of the night. They managed to appear oddly stylish at one-thirty in the morning."Jayne Ann Krentz, Truth and Dare (Penguin 2004) p. 258
• British author Hilary Rubinstein wrote: "Blessed are the owls, for they shall inherit the mystery and magic of the night."Hilary Rubinstein, The Complete Insomniac (London 1974) p. 19
• In the Little River Band song "The Night Owls": "Be strong, find the heart of a night owl falling/Stay up till dawn until the night is gone"The Little River Band All-Time Greatest Hits 1990 CEMA Special Markets

• Chronobiology – the study of sleep cycles and other time-dependent biological systems
• Circadian rhythm sleep disorder
• Insomnia – the inability to fall asleep or stay asleep
• Morningness–eveningness questionnaire (MEQ)
• Munich Chronotype Questionnaire (MCTQ)
• Nightlife – activities, mostly entertainment-oriented, done between sundown and sunrise
• Zeitgeber – environmental factors, such as bright light, that reinforce sleep–wake cycles

{{Reflist}}

• Louise Miller, Careers for Night Owls and Other Insomniacs (2002)
• J. Dunlap et al., Chronobiology (2004)
• {{cite book|last=McCullough|first=David|author-link=David McCullough|title=Truman|publisher=Simon & Schuster|page=[https://archive.org/details/truman00mccu/page/508 508]|isbn=978-0671456542|url=https://archive.org/details/truman00mccu/page/508|year=1992}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20090718152336/http://www.nightworkers.com/discrimation.html Sleep Discrimination]
• [https://neuroon.com/news/intelligence-and-creativity-night-owls-vs-early-bi/ Intelligence and Creativity in Night Owls vs. Early Birds]{{Dead link|date=April 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} with several references to different studies
• [http://news.health.ufl.edu/2017/26884/multimedia/health-in-a-heartbeat/sleep-deprivation-impacts-night-owls-and-early-risers-differently/ Sleep deprivation impacts night owls and early risers differently]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Night Owl (Person)}}

Category:Sleep

Category:Circadian rhythm

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Category:Owls in culture