This fascinating article about whether you’re a night or morning person got me thinking about how I love being a morning lark, and how life is infinitely better if you respect your natural body clock.

I am one of those annoying creatures who bounce out of bed in the morning with a smile on my face. (Okay, that’s if I had a good night’s sleep – if I didn’t, all bets are off!)

Have I always been a morning lark? Not really. For the longest time I thought I was a night owl because I usually knocked off around midnight or 1am. Still, during my days as a journalist, I was usually awake at 7am, often heading to my study to work by 8am. I wanted to sit out the jam and used the time to do productive work.

Back then I had the bad habit of watching TV until midnight and often turned on bright fluorescent lights at night.

These days, I try not to use blue lights at night. My little studio is only lit by an uplight (Mum often complains that my place is too dark for her). This is to complement my circadian rhythm because white lights are said to interfere with the production of melatonin.

So far, this strategy has worked well. Maybe a little too well because by 9pm or 10pm I am a goner.

But yea my body just shuts down. And snaps awake by 5am. Like some kinda predictable machine. And then I start answering Whatsapp messages, forgetting that no one is awake then.

Anyway, I have to say I love this new bio rhythm very much. I hate hate hate hate waking up after 9am. Hell, even 8am is late for me. 

When I was working late nights as a subeditor I was soooooo zombified. My body felt wrong. My soul felt shredded. Yes, it was convenient to have my mornings free so I can run errands but I felt awful most of the time, like I was walking in a fog with my head stuffed with cotton.

Three years was the max I could take with this night owl routine. (As a nursing assistant in Australia I also switched to morning shifts after a year of night shifts and felt infinitely better).

I love waking up when the world is quiet. I like to be at work when it is largely empty. It does something for my soul.