‘Oh, I’m an owl,’ said my friend Nick. ‘You’re probably a lark.’ I raised an eyebrow. He explained. Apparently all human beings are either owls or larks, being genetically predisposed to stay up late or get up early, and to be at their best after sundown or dawn.
Nonsense, of course, complete nonsense. Nick just likes partying and his career does not demand his availability much before ten in the morning. The woman friend he had just consigned to the larks section of the human aviary has land and horses, needs to be up before dawn, and not unnaturally begins to flake out after about 9p.m.
None of this has anything to do with genes. Obviously the earlier you rise the earlier you feel like bed, the later you drift off the harder it is to get up early, and we settle into the rhythm and sleep patterns determined by our circumstances, by the pleasures that we seek, or by the willpower we lack.
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