Larks, owls and biorhythms

A long time back, I read some literature on biorhythms that pretty much said that there are two kinds of people in the world- the larks and the owls. The larks love waking up early in the morning, they are at their best between 7 and 11 in the morning, they like to get most of their work done by lunch, and its pretty much downhill from there. The owls, on the other hand, hate waking up early in the morning, they get into their rhythm only by late afternoon and are at their best after 2 in the afternoon. I promptly pronounced myself an owl- showed that article to my parents and asked them not to disturb my sleep early in the morning! They may be larks, but I'm an owl and getting up early for breakfast is not really working to my advantage- I reasoned. I would wake up a little later but would literally burn the midnight oil studying even as they hit the bed- I argued. My parents resisted initially but they came around to it and so I lived my life as an owl for all my student years.

It was all hunky dory till I started work. Workplaces arent made differently for larks and owls. There are certain times you have got to be there, irrespective of your pronounced biorhythm. There is no way out. The person I was reporting to in Singapore used to get up at 4 in the morning, 110% lark, would get into office by about 6:30, would have some breakfast meetings between 7 and 9, would finish most of his work by the lunch meeting and I would just be warming up to the day! I decided to work around this for a while but when it didn't quite work, I decided to give this lark lifestyle a try. Sleep early, get up early, be in office fresh and work my way through. It really was a refreshing change except that on some days, I would be done by 10am. I wouldnt know what to do with my time the rest of the day! The second problem would be that I would feel incredibly sleepy between 3 and 5 in office. It was this two hour window when it was excruciatingly difficult to concentrate on stuff and do some real work. But the more effective I became at work, I realized it was pointless staying in office if I didnt have any real work to do. So the timecycle changed a little as I worked. Would get up by 6:30, be in office by 7:30- 8, get all the major work done by about 1, continue with meetings and finish the day by about 5 to 6. As it turns out, this is actually a productive day and gives you time to get back home and spend time with family. As an owl, one would still be working till about 8 in office because you only started work around 9 anyway and didnt really get going till about 11.

I liked the discipline of the lark lifestyle and it just feels more healthy. Once in a while whenever I want to indulge, I switch back to the owl mode and found it incredibly relaxing.

So where does that leave the biorhythm debate? Are we one or the other? As with most other things, my view is that we are very flexible and can change according to time, place and circumstances. It just takes a little time to getting used to, but we do and can be larks or owls depending upon the needs of the situation. I just hope my parents don't read this, as for them, I'd love to remain an owl- tucked in bed during the holidays even as they go hustling onto their morning walks!