The Early Bird Doesn't Always Catch the Worm

For the first time in a long while, I was able to get up early enough this morning to write this journal entry. While I’m glad that I can study a bit more of English this way, I hope it doesn’t occur too often, since I’m the kind of person that needs a lot of sleep.

There is a belief shared by certain people that a morning person tends to be more successful than a night person, as exemplified in the saying “The early bird catches the worm.” However, after reading the book Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker, I’ve come to believe that this is just a misconception.

According to Walker, whether you’re a morning or night person, it’s essential that you get a sufficient amount of sleep each day for your brain to operate optimally. Those who tend to wake up late are probably that way due to genetic reasons, rather than laziness. So, in an ideal situation, they should be allowed to sleep a bit more in the morning so they can be more productive during the day.

Walker surmises that in ancient times, this was probably ideal for the survival of the human species, as having both morning and night people in the same group allowed them to protect themselves from attacks by other animals by maximizing the number of hours during which at least some people are awake and alert.

In my own family, my dad is definitely a morning person. From as early as I can remember, he has always got up early in the morning, like 5 a.m. or so. My late mom, on the other hand, was a night person, and always had to be woken up by my dad in the morning. I guess genetically I am closer to my mom in that regard. For me to wake up at 5 every morning is simply an impossibility, and I shouldn’t feel embarrassed by it.