Are you a lion? A wolf? A bear? Or a dolphin?
No, I’m not talking about your star sign or your spirit animal, but your sleep chronotype. Sleep doctor Michael J. Breus has identified four types of people based on their sleep and wake cycles, and has written an entire book called The Power of When that demonstrates how knowing which chronotype you are can help you pinpoint exactly when to do certain tasks in order to maximize results.
He’s created a sleep quiz to help you discover your chronotype, you can access it for free here:
If you are an early riser, jump out of bed first thing in the morning feeling awake and refreshed and get a ton of stuff done before noon, but crash by mid-afternoon, you’re probably a Lion.
If you find that the 9-5 hours that much of the world works around are a perfect fit for you, then you’re probably a Bear. Fun fact: most of the people in the world are bears, and that’s why the rest of us have to operate on their schedules.
If you are what people call a ‘night owl’, find mornings really hard to deal with and do your best work in the evening or late into the night, you’re likely a Wolf.
And if none of these descriptions resemble you and your ‘typical’ sleep lifestyle is pretty nonexistent, and you find your peak productivity times are all over the map, sometimes in the morning, sometimes the afternoon, and sometimes in the middle of the night, well then you’re most likely a Dolphin.
Once you know your sleep chronotype, then you can determine what time of day you should be focusing on to make the best use of your limited studying time. Lions shouldn’t study after dinner, and Wolves shouldn’t study in the morning. To do so would just be a waste of your time as you’re not likely to retain much information.
You can check out the Sleep Doctor’s TED Talk here for more information. Good luck, and happy (and productive) studying!