Live to your chronotype with Dr. Michael Breus

Dr. Michael Brues introduces the chronotype in his new book, The Power of When.  In his practice as a sleep doctor, he realized there are more than just night owls and early birds.  He based the chronotypes on mammals.

His curiosity on this came about when he was working with a tough patient.  She told him she felt like she needed to go to bed at 1am and sleep until 8 – 9am.  In an effort to help this woman, he called her employer and asked if she could shift her work day back two hours.  The results were tremendous.

He took this further and found that based on chronotype and hormone cycles there were optimal times for certain activities.  By being true to your chronotype will help you sleep and perform better.   It is also valuable to know the chronotype of the people in your life so you can understand where they are in mood and performance during the day.  For example, if you know your boss is a wolf, you wouldn't want to schedule an early morning meeting with her.

The four chronotypes:

• Dolphins – The dolphin chronotype tends to struggle with sleep patterns.
• Bears – The bear chronotype is the most common (55% of people) and sleeps the traditional sleep pattern.  They tend to be outgoing.
• Wolfs – The wolf chronotype prefers to stay up late and sleep later.
• Lions – The lion chronotype prefers to go to bed early and get up early.

Find your chronotype:

You can determine your chronotype with the quiz at the Power of When Quiz.

Links

The Power of When Quiz

The power of When

The sleep doctor

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