- The Munich Chronotype Questionnaire determines your chronotype
- This biological trait indicates how you will perform at different times of the day
- Resarchers offer tips on how to modify your chronotype to be more productive
Stacy Liberatore For Dailymail.com
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There are two types of people: those who spring out of bed in the morning and those who repeatedly reach for the snooze button.
However, there is a scientific reason for why some are morning people and others a night owls – an individual chronotype that determines your body’s biological preference for sleep.
Now, a team of experts have created the Munich Chronotype Questionnaire to help you understand the complexity of their internal body clocks, allowing you to make modifications in order to be more productive.
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There is a scientific reason for why some are morning people and others a night owls – an individual chronotype that determine your body’s biological preference for sleep
WHAT IS A CHRONOTYPE
An individual chronotype determines whether you are a night owl or morning person.
The biological trait indicates how a person may perform at different times of the day.
Although you are born with a certain chronotype, there are ways to modify them to help you change up your sleeping schedule.
‘Such simple steps as cycling to work and eating breakfast outside may be the tickets to a good night’s sleep, better overall health, and less grouchiness in the morning,’
The preference for morning or evening is known as your sleep chronotype, which is a biological trait that determines if you prefer rise with the sun or prefer to stay up all night.
The biological trait also indicates how a person performs at different times of the day.
Some people, deemed ‘larks’, feel they are more alert in the day and tend to go to bed early.
And those who are ‘owls’ are more aware at night and will stay up much later.
And although there are numerous quizzes that will tell people if they are a morning person or night owl, a team of chroniologists created a questionnaire based on scientific researcher, Kevin Loria with Business Insider reported.
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Called the Munich Chronotype Questionnaire (MCTQ), the survey was designed to ‘understand the underlying complexity of the biological clock and individual differences in the biological clock, as shown in everyday behavior’.
Till Roenneberg and Martha Merrow, the creators of the quiz, also wanted to gather data from the public in order to help them with their own researcher on circadian rhythms, or what is commonly known as body clocks.
A team of experts have created the Munich Chronotype Questionnaire to help people understand the complexity of their internal body clocks, allowing them to make modifications in order to be more productive
NIGHT OWL OR LARK?
Take the test here.
I have a regular work schedule (this includes being a housewife or househusband):
If ‘YES’, how many days per week?
Work Days
I go to bed at : o’clock.
I actually get ready to fall asleep at : o’clock.
I need minutes to fall asleep.
I wake up at : o’clock.,
After minutes, I get up.
Free Days
I go to bed at : o’clock.
I actually get ready to fall asleep at : o’clock.
I need minutes to fall asleep.
I wake up at : o’clock.
After minutes, I get up.
Daylight Exposure
On average, I spend the following amount of time outdoors in daylight (without a roof above my head):
The quiz asks for information about what time people got to bed and what time they actually fall asleep – on both work and free days.
There is also a portion that requires the users to input how much time they spend outdoors in day light on both days.
The last part of the quiz plays a major role in helping individuals sync their ‘internal time with their external environment,’ Roenneberg explained in his book, ‘Internal Time: Chronotypes, Social Jet Lag, and Why You’re So Tired’.
Although you are born with a certain chronotype, there are ways to modify them to help you change up your sleeping schedule.
The quiz asks for information about what time people got to bed and what time they actually fall asleep – on both work and free days. There is also a portion that requires the users to input how much time they spend outdoors in day light on both days
‘Such simple steps as cycling to work and eating breakfast outside may be the tickets to a good night’s sleep, better overall health, and less grouchiness in the morning,’ he explained.
Roenneberg and Merrow conducted an analysis after receiving the first 500 questionnaires.
The team found that subjects, on average spent 1.5 hours outdoors on workdays and nearly four hours on free days.
‘ The average phase of midsleep on free days correlates significantly with the average weekly self-reported light exposure (5 × workday + 2 × free day; Fig. 6); the longer the exposure to outdoor light, the more advanced the sleep period,’ reads the study.
‘Subjects who spend more than 30 h/week outdoors position their sleep almost 2 h earlier than those who spend 10 h/week or less.’
NIGHT OWLS ARE MORE INTELLIGENT
If you find yourself awake until all hours of the morning, don’t fret.
It could be a sign of intelligence.
British researchers have found a link between people who enjoy a ‘nocturnal’ lifestyle and how smart they are.
And it all goes back to evolution.
The study, titled Why Night Owls Are More Intelligent, found that those who stayed up later were more likely to be smarter than those who enjoyed an early night.
It also found children who stay up later are more likely to grow into intelligent adults.
The results were based on the concept that people who are intelligent are more likely to adopt evolutionary values, such as staying up late.
‘Because late chronotypes have less time to spend outdoors in daylight, we also correlated midsleep to the relative time spent outdoors (percentage of remaining daylight after wake up), which gave comparable results (not shown).’
The team found that ‘each additional hour spent outdoors per day corresponded to an advance of sleep of almost 30 min’.
‘This phase dependency is much more likely to be caused by the light exposure than the possibility that people are more active when outdoors because activity has been shown to have little effect on the circadian clock in humans while the timing of) light has been shown to affect the phase of sleep,’ reads the paper.
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