Posted: Mon Oct 28, 2002 1:35 pm
I am a typical night owl, have been since early childhood. As many of you know, there is a mechanism called the circadian rythm which regulates our sleep and wake cycle. Strangely, laboratory studies of peoples diurnal rythm have demonstrated that most people do not have a 24 h cycle, but slightly longer, 25-26h. However, this matters little since this "biological clock" is daylight sensitive. Daylight affect the hormone and neurotransmitter melatonin, sometimes called "the sleep hormone". The internal circadian rythm can differ widely among individuals, and thanks to the daylight-melatonin mechanism we can change it when we travel between different timezones for instance. Regardless if our cycle is 25 or 27 hours long, or what times we feel awake or sleepy, most people have a tendency to two dips during a day, often during the late afternoon and during the early morning hours, 3-4 AM. This coincides with lowering of blood pressure and heart rate as well as other physiological changes. We are also more pain sensitive during this period, so when you got to the dentist, do it in the morning 
I usually sleep late, since I have a job that allows me to do so and I often work at night. I like to split my working day in two parts, afternoon and early evening and then a few hours late at night. Like many other posters, I like the night because it's quite, nobody disturbs me and nobody expects me to act on a lot of things. Instead, I can do whatever I want, work undisturbed and focused, write stupid poems or just think existential thoughs about being and nothingness Since I have been cohabitating with first my ex and now my present husband for almost 10 years altogether, I have seldom had time for myself when at home, and that is another point with being awake at night, I enjoy being alone sometimes without having to travel to the end of the world.
However, I love bright light and sunshine too - there is nothing better than being on a vast glacier in bright sunshine and the whiteness is so overwhelming you get what is sometimes called a "10K lux kick" out of it!
I usually sleep late, since I have a job that allows me to do so and I often work at night. I like to split my working day in two parts, afternoon and early evening and then a few hours late at night. Like many other posters, I like the night because it's quite, nobody disturbs me and nobody expects me to act on a lot of things. Instead, I can do whatever I want, work undisturbed and focused, write stupid poems or just think existential thoughs about being and nothingness
Since I have been cohabitating with first my ex and now my present husband for almost 10 years altogether, I have seldom had time for myself when at home, and that is another point with being awake at night, I enjoy being alone sometimes without having to travel to the end of the world.However, I love bright light and sunshine too - there is nothing better than being on a vast glacier in bright sunshine and the whiteness is so overwhelming you get what is sometimes called a "10K lux kick" out of it!