Why Sleeping Late is Good For You

While browsing the net the other day for blogging fodder, I found an article that gave three reasons why sleeping late may be beneficial

1. Eight hours of sleep might not be enough

Research by Henry Ford Hospital Sleep Disorders Center found that people who slept eight hours and then claimed they were "well rested" actually performed better and were more alert if they slept another two hours.  Until the invention of the light bulb, the average person slept 10 hours a night.

2.  Night owls are more creative

Artists, writers, and coders typically fire on all cylinders by crashing near dawn and awakening at the crack of noon. In one study, "evening people" almost universally aced a standardized creativity test. Their early-bird brethren struggled for passing scores.

I know this is true for me, as I tend to do my best writing late at night.

3.  Rising early is stressful

The stress hormone cortisol peaks in your blood around 7 am. So if you get up then, you may experience tension.

This is also rings true to me.  When I was in school and when I've worked first shift jobs, I never could get used to rising early, no matter how early I'd gone to bed the night before.  I'd always "drag anchor" until noon each day, feeling vaguely sick to my stomach until that time.