Chronotypes & the Circadian Rhythm
Are you a morning person? Or do you wake up in a fog pressing the snooze button? What is your chronotype? Find out your chronotype to discover the best times to exercise, work or be creative for you.
In this blog you will learn:
- What are chronotypes and which one are you
- When is the best time to exercise according to chronotype
- When is the best time to work and which tasks should you do when
- When is the best time to be creative according to chronotype
Chronotypes & the Circadian Rhythm
We have talked about the circadian rhythm, meal times/ chrono nutrition and sleep here. But what about chronotype and the circadian timing of exercise, work or creativity? Let’s take a look at these individually.
What are Chronotypes?
Chronotype is the body’s natural preference for when to sleep and when to be active. Over a 24-h circadian rhythm, there is an ideal time to sleep, to eat and to be more active with higher or lower energy levels throughout the day. Chronotypes affect the body’s natural programming to be awake or asleep at certain times, times for peak alertness, hunger, the release of cortisol and melatonin, etc. Chronotype can influence attitudes, lifestyle, cognitive function, athletic performance and personality traits.
Circadian rhythms include the central clock in the brain plus the peripheral clocks in every organ, tissue and cell. There is a circadian clock mechanism in nearly every cell which is responsible for circadian rhythms (Martin RA, 2022).
Three main chronotypes are Morning, Neither and Evening-types. Morning-types (M-types) and Evening-types (E-types) can be subdivided into extreme and moderate types. Think of it as being an early bird or a night owl. Another term for the different chronotypes are Larks for morning types, Owls for evening types and Hummingbirds for the in-between type (Gjermunds N, 2019).
M-types and E-types differ in sleep–wake timing and mental–physical activity over a 24-h period.
Morning larks have an early chronotype or morning preference. Early chronotypes wake up early in the morning and feel most active and awake during the first part of the day. They may have a slightly shorter circadian cycle of less than 24 hours, which explains the advanced sleep phase (Kalmbach DA, 2017). M-types go to bed and wake up early and achieve their peak mental and physical performance in the early part of the day.
Evening-types or night owls are late chronotypes with delayed sleep phase or evening preference. They wake up later in the day, perform best and are motivated during the second half of the day, in the evening or at night. Night owls are thought to have delayed sleep phase and may have circadian cycles longer than 24.2 hours (Kalmbach DA, 2017).
Other people fall somewhere in between and are the in-between or intermediate types (Kalmbach DA, 2017). These people have no strong circadian preference for morning or evening. About 60% of adults are intermediate types and 40% of people being either a morning (approx. 20%) or an evening type (approx. 20%) (Montaruli, 2021).
These preferences change over the course of one’s life with an earlier morning preference during childhood, a later evening preference in the teenage years and early adulthood and then again, a gradual preference for the morning with age (Kalmbach DA, 2017).
Interestingly, there is a genetic component to chronotypes. Genetic factors explain up to 50% of individual variability in circadian timing and chronotype (Kalmbach DA, 2017). The link between personality and morningness-eveningness is also somewhat due to genetic factors (Lenneis A, 2021).
Knowing your chronotype can help identify optimal times to go to sleep, get work done, exercise, drink caffeine, eat and more. Having a misaligned circadian rhythm increases risk for physical (cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, cancer) and psychiatric (depression, bipolar, schizophrenia, attention deficit) disorders (Montaruli, 2021).
Time your schedule with your chronotype to leverage your natural circadian rhythm to optimize sleep quality, exercise performance, cognitive function, productivity and even creativity.
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Chronotype & Melatonin
Melatonin is the sleep hormone that induces sleep when darkness falls. Interestingly, M-types and E-types have different melatonin profiles (Montaruli, 2021). M-types have an earlier melatonin secretion cycle compared to E-types. The rise and decline in melatonin happen about 3 hours earlier in M-types compared with E-types, with no differences in amplitude (Montaruli, 2021). M-types melatonin will peak earlier. E-types have a markedly higher melatonin level at 9am vs M-types (Montaruli, 2021).
This difference in melatonin helps explain why E-types fall asleep later than M-types and are sleepier in the morning. At noon, the serum melatonin level typically does not show any differences between M- and E-types (Montaruli, 2021).
Personality
The different chronotypes have different personality traits (Lenneis A, 2021):
Morning types:
- Earlier chronotypes typically score higher on Agreeableness and Conscientiousness and lower on Openness to Experience (Lenneis A, 2021).
- People who describe themselves as workaholics are more likely to go to bed and wake up earlier. M-types score higher in Workaholic tendencies and Achievement-striving (Lenneis A, 2021).
- Morning people lean more toward being conscientious and self-disciplined, while also being less direct, open-minded or thrill-seeking.
Evening types:
- Evening people tend to be more straightforward and excitement-seeking. People with higher levels of Extraversion and Openness have later chronotypes (Lenneis A, 2021). Excitement-seeking evening types might seek out stimulation, bright colors and noisy environments which may be found in a bar or a nightclub, which will encourage later bedtimes.
- People low in Conscientiousness and high in Openness were more likely to have later chronotypes (Lenneis A, 2021).
- People with lower levels of self-discipline were more likely to have later chronotypes. People who agreed that they would waste a lot of time before settling down to work exhibited later chronotypes (Lenneis A, 2021).
Can you Change your Chronotype?
It is not possible to truly change chronotype. It can be influenced by behavioral and environmental factors. Things that affect the circadian rhythm; timing of light exposure, meals and physical activity; can influence and slightly shift one’s circadian rhythm and chronotype.
Exercise, Circadian Rhythm & Chronotype
Consistent exercise regulates circadian clock genes and synchronizes the peripheral clocks in cells (Shen B, 2023). Moderate to vigorous exercise improves sleep quality, reduces time to fall asleep and time awake in bed during the night. Exercise improves sleep, metabolic health and immune function and reduces the need for sleep medication (Shen B, 2023).
A single session of exercise has minor effects on circadian rhythm and will not significantly influence sleep or melatonin, compared to light exposure (Shen B, 2023). However regular consistent exercise over the long term has a significant impact on circadian rhythms, circadian clock genes, sleep and health (Shen B, 2023).
The precise effect of exercise on circadian rhythm depends on the timing, duration, intensity and volume of exercise (Shen B, 2023):
- Morning exercise shows a decreased risk of cancer and improved lipid metabolism. Long-term morning exercise tends to decrease cortisol and improves sleep quality (Kim N, 2023).
- Midday to afternoon physical activity is linked to lower all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality (Shen B, 2023).
- Vigorous exercise at night delays the circadian rhythm, making it harder to fall asleep at night and wake up in the morning (Shen B, 2023).
- Certain light evening exercises like yoga, light stretching and breathing exercises are better for sleep than vigorous exercise (Shen B, 2023).
The melatonin cycle can change after exercise. Melatonin release usually happens 2–3 hours before sleep onset and peaks in the middle of the night. Exercise at night delays the melatonin phase which can make it harder to fall asleep. Evening exercise does not worsen sleep quality but it does change circadian rhythm timing (Shen B, 2023).
When is the Best Time to Exercise?
Muscles have a circadian rhythm although it is not well understood why they do (Douglas CM, 2021). This is true of the smaller muscles involved in grip strength to upper limb muscles involved in elbow strength and the large muscle groups of the leg that regulate strength around the knee.
Muscle strength peaks in the late afternoon from 4pm til 8pm, making this the best time to exercise for peak performance (Douglas CM, 2021). Grip strength is 5–6% stronger in the early evening (Douglas CM, 2021).
The muscle clocks schedule is very responsive to exercise and can change. Exercising at the same time every day can improve the performance at that time (Hesketh SJ, 2023). For example, regularly exercising in the morning can train muscles’ clocks to perform just as well in the morning, despite the preference for the afternoon (Douglas CM, 2021). This is why athletes train for the time when they plan to compete. In fact, after 6 weeks of endurance exercise training at the same time, there is no longer a time-of-day difference in endurance performance.
Changing the peak performance time through exercise training is due to phase shifts of the muscle clocks (Hesketh SJ, 2023). The muscle clocks can shift about 4-5 hours earlier (Hesketh SJ, 2023).
Despite muscle clocks and peak performance times, the best time to exercise is the time you are actually going to do it and not procrastinate or put it off to the next day. If you can, it is good to exercise at about the same time every day to keep the muscle clocks and circadian rhythm regulated (Hesketh SJ, 2023).
Time to Work & Circadian Rhythm
In addition to exercise and sleep, the circadian rhythm also influences cognitive ability, meaning there are optimal times for better brain performance.
The morning is usually best for complex cognitive functions such as mental focus work, planning and problem solving (Gjermunds N, 2019). Cognitive alertness decreases later in the day. For most people, peak alert time is 10 am and lasts til about 2pm. People often have an energy slump in the afternoon. This can be due to chronotype but is also related to nutrition, blood sugar management, caffeine intake and other factors.
To optimize chronotype, circadian rhythm and work, schedule mental/ focus work during the time you are most alert. Don’t fight your chronotype by doing difficult tasks when you are at a low point. This is the better time for repetitive and easy tasks like answering email.
Creativity
Creativity is influenced by circadian rhythm and chronotypes. Creativity is the ability to be imaginative, have new ideas and problem solve in innovative ways. In research, Evening-types or owls have higher scores on creative and divergent thinking (Gjermunds N, 2019).
Performing and composing music is a creative activity. One study looked at musicians as a proxy to assess creativity, circadian rhythm and chronotype. It found that musicians tend to be Evening types or owls as compared to non-musicians (Gjermunds N, 2019).
Going one step further, the composing musicians (composing music is a highly creative skill) showed a stronger tendency to be night owls vs performing musicians (Gjermunds N, 2019). Another study comparing jazz, folk and classical musicians, found that jazz musicians had the highest scores on creativity (Gjermunds N, 2019). Musical improvisation is important in jazz, so jazz musicians need to be very creative.
The link between creativity and eveningness looks at creativity factors like mental flexibility, flow and originality (Gjermunds N, 2019). Evening types score higher on these creative factors. Of course, there is individual variability and morning larks can also be musicians and composers. In fact, both Beethoven and Mozart were early risers (Gjermunds N, 2019).
Live According to your Chronotype
To maximize productivity, it is best to have a schedule that suits your chronotype. Schedule activities and create a morning ritual based on chronotype. If you are a morning person or morning lark, then do early morning exercise or complex work at that time. If you are a night owl, then take 30 -60 minutes after waking up for meditation, deep breathing or doing gentle stretches, to become more alert.
Plan meals to fit chronotype. Some people wake up ravenous, so make breakfast the biggest meal with protein and fiber. As an evening type, if you wake up with no appetite, try a light protein shake with some fruit and eat larger meals later in the day. Keep eating and exercise habits consistent. This trains the body to know when to expect certain activities like sleep, exercise, work and meals.
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SUMMARY
- Chronotype is the body’s natural preference for when to sleep, to eat and to be active. Three main chronotypes are Morning, Neither and Evening-types.
- It is not possible to truly change chronotype but it can be influenced by behavioral and environmental factors.
- Muscle strength peaks in the late afternoon from 4pm til 8pm, making this the best time to exercise for peak performance (Douglas CM, 2021).
- In addition to exercise and sleep, the circadian rhythm also influences cognitive ability, with optimal times for better brain performance. Creativity is influenced by circadian rhythm and chronotypes.
- Live according to your chronotype. To maximize productivity, it is best to have a schedule that suits your chronotype.
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