Why Night Owls Are More Intelligent Than Morning Larks!

Originally posted by eNumbra

Originally posted by angeldoll
reply to post by InfaRedMan

 

That speaks to intelligence. Stability. Goal oriented.

Certainly you realize that said goals are typically; to become their own bosses and be able to stroll in to work whenever they feel like yes?

LOL! I think you're onto something there eNumbra!

IRM

Originally posted by notquiteright
reply to post by InfaRedMan

 

there is just something wrong with trying to work in that capacity until night time. There have been times when I was able to create some really good things during the day, but it's not the norm.

Later, when the day is over, I think about it.

edit on 29-6-2011 by notquiteright because: clarification

I am exactly the same.

Infact when i break the cycle of creativeness ie getting up early like today i just feel like a floating fish, not getting things right, i even messed up the quotes in my last reply, that doesn't occur when i get to sleep early but then i loose my best times as stated before. But regardless of those factors when it comes to 11pm then Boom! Back into my own realm regardless of the lack of sleep. Perhaps i should wait till then to comment further



Either way it's fascinating to me.

Originally posted by angeldoll
reply to post by InfaRedMan

 

I had a friend who was "down on his luck" come stay with me for a month. He considered himself a superior businessman, thought he was extremely accomplished, and could do anything once he "got around to it".

After staying up on the computer all night, he typically arose after lunch. By the time he had coffee, checked "computer stuff", showered and dressed, ready to go tackle the "business world", it was four o'clock.
Game over with most businesses at five. Always a day late and a dollar short.

How intelligent is that? By the time he was ready to go, I had been up, taken care of my (large animals) gone to my office, had lunch, gone back to my office, made money, run errands, among other things. I would arrive home in time to see him emerging from the shower, ready to start "his day".

The pursuit of money (or stuff) has nothing to do with IQ! If anything, this guy sounded like he was depressed or a little lost which may be understandable given what had happened to him. Sometimes depression can spin you into a negative, counter-intuitive cycle. Even the brightest person is not immune to such things.

Originally posted by angeldoll
If it pays, it's work. If it doesn't, it's just a hobby. He once showed me some magnificent things he had written for some computer website. "This is my work", he said. Does it pay? I asked. No? Then it's only a hobby.

As far as I'm concerned.

Again your confusing the pursuit of money with intelligence or IQ. You are in error!

IRM

Originally posted by angeldoll
reply to post by InfaRedMan

 

Does it pay? I asked. No? Then it's only a hobby.

As far as I'm concerned.

I understand why someone might feel that way or say something like that, but I disagree. When I reach the end of my life, what is truly going to be important? I will remember this music I have made and will still be able to listen to it, to pass it on to those that come after me. I don't think I will care very much for all of the silly things I had to do in order to pay bills. Money should not make something more important. I have been very successful in my "day career" but it means nothing to me.

Also, maybe that guy living with you was smart. He had free housing, food, etc... (just kidding)

reply to post by notquiteright


It's better to have a day career, and have the rest of the afternoon/night for side projects. Or vice versa.

I prefer having what I once had in my previous job. Work everyday but Thursdays and Fridays from 1:00pm-9:30pm (with a possible overtime leading to 11:30pm). 2 breaks and a lunch during non-overtimes, and if you pick up an overtime shift you get a third break at 9:30. Anyways, I would wake up at 6:00 and have time to run errands and do research online/side homework/projects. Or I could have stayed up late till 5:00am and overslept going straight to work. So being a night owl isn't productive unless you still wake up early (4-5 hours of sleep). But it's hard catching shifts like that..

As long as you do something after or before work then you're productive. Having the ability to do both seems best. Especially having the day where direct deposit kicks in (pay all bills/run errands), having the night to party and the next day to oversleep (more than 4-5 hours). Saturdays and Sundays are too hyped.

reply to post by JJShinobi


I'm not lucky enough to have that kind of schedule anymore (I used to), but you are right. It is ideal. By the time you get off work, your brain is already warmed up and ready to go and you have all night to work. In that kind of situation, it feels like you have an unlimited amount of time, which is important to the creative flow.

reply to post by notquiteright


Yeah I lost those privileged hours as well..that's why it's good to have a career where you can work at home and choose those hours (like Software Engineering, IT, Blogging; anything online). Seems like the perfect time to choose when to work; you eat lunch and go straight to work. Gotta graduate first though. With that said, everybody work to have this schedule or a related one!

Just giving the thread a polite bump!

IRM

Thats funny so does my cats!
they have the same schedule

reply to post by InfaRedMan


Well I'm absolutely not a morning lark! Getting out of bed in the morning is such a struggle for me but my gf just springs right out of bed. If I take holidays I go to bed later and later until I'm basically nocturnal.

Most who meet me would consider me very intelligent but really I just think about things more than most. I find it hard to switch off when I go to bed, typically wake up 3 - 4 times a night and dream vividly.

Perhaps the link could be partially attributed to above patterns and difficulty getting out of bed every day is caused by not getting enough sleep since the brain is being used more. Obviously those who think about things a little deeper would appear to be more intelligent.

reply to post by InfaRedMan


Obviously I am a night owl as it is 3:57 am here and I have yet to get any sleep since like 10 am yesterday.
I have to disagree with the person who said more intelligent people get up early and go to work. I would say that a lot of those people may also be night owls doing most of their important work at the home after hours and get up early the next day. It's possible that more intelligent people need less sleep?

I adapt to whichever conditions life throws at me. I can be both a morning lark and a night owl.

I don't know what I am. I go to bed early, I wake up at 3:00 AM and have big mind blowing realizations and energy to get up and write them down. An hour later, I go back to bed, and wake up at 5:00 AM (whether it is weekday or weekend). I find I am braindead at night, but in the morning (when it is quiet, calm and there is no one about! I've never found night time to be as quiet or still as five in the morning!) I am at a peak of mental creativity and action.
When I write in the morning, stuff comes out that I cannot believe, by 5:00 PM, I wrote! It is as if I still have contact with the well of knowledge in my subconscious at that time, that dissapates as the day goes on. In the morning it collaborates and creates with my intellect most.

I have an objection to the American value upon IQ anyway though, which influences my opinion on studies such as these.

I do not see high IQ to be such a great determining factor of what kind of person you will become, what kind of member of your community or nation. My family all have very high IQ's and yet very few end up with what I would call "successful" lives! How many teachers can tell you of the many, many cases of very bright students that for some reason just do not live their potential in any constructive way? How many with high IQ's end up abusing drugs and alcohol? Or with psychological disabilities? A lot!

Everyone in my family has a high IQ, and all that seems to give them is either the ability to succeed in intellectual pursuits and fail miserably in human relations, or become serious losers with drug problems who never do anything with their lives. I have a brother who has been dubbed a genius, but yet cannot keep a job, could not stick with college, is homeless and alternating between meth and rehab. An uncle who has done same, seeding babies in meth whores here and there as well. He was supposed to be a friggin' genius too when he was young, and everyone thought he'd end up doing great things.

But there are tons of problems that come with having high intellect, like sometimes an imbalance- the emotional parts of the brain and mind are not developed properly with the intellect dominating. Or the perception early on that they can find original and creative ways of cutting corners and getting out of doing work, so that they never learn to DO work, or miss out on learning important bases that required the most simple work of repetition and memorization. So later, despite their ability to grasp concepts easily , they end up in trouble because they cannot put that potential out there for the world to benefit from!

My husband works with Cardiologists and surgeons, so most of our friends are, and it is funny to see how many of them really are not incredibly intelligent! Even they describe how often in medical school, it is the ones who just know how to work, have the habit of working and studying hard, that move otu and ahead of the intelligent ones who are used to detouring that in clever ways.
In the end, brains alone are not enough. Potential is not enough- but what you do with it.

So even IF the studies that show this or that population has an IQ higher than another, I do not at all see that as any clear evidence that the so-called intelligent ones are better. Often they are just more self destructive.

The less intelligent might have a life style that includes a bit less luxury and more hard work, not having been "clever enough" to invent ways to allow them to be more comfortable and work less-

But the intelligent often end up either destroying themselves with the technology they came up with, or becoming so bored with the lack of work they create other types of dramas and problems for themself instead!

Originally posted by CLPrime
reply to post by InfaRedMan

 

Unless I'm really tired, I always stay up late, for the same reasons you do (okay, minus the graphic design). For me, I think it's because there's less other stuff to focus on, so it's easier to focus on problem-solving.

I watched some documentary of a woman with a very high IQ, decades ago but I believe she was in the neighborhood of 160-170ish. The subject of sleep came up and she explained she enjoys sleeping around 4 hour a day on average. Of course I can't recall many of the details but this part etched itself in my memory/recall because I also get by on about 4 hours a night during the week and maybe catch up with 6 hours a night on the weekends, my father is like this, well, before he arrived into his 80's.

This in no way suggests that I am also a Mensa camper, it just is a similar regard for the amount of time wasted by not being conscious or productive. The woman explained something similar about the worldly distractions receding that she enjoyed the most.

I used to like staying up very late and now I enjoy getting up very early instead. What difference does it make when it is 3:30 a.m.? Well to me the biggest difference at 3:30 a.m., starting the day is obvious than ending a day then, and I enjoy experiencing the day slowly 'waking up' and becoming active with a cup of coffee instead of being there ready to retire after maybe a cup 'ol beers, clouding the enjoyment of the approaching day.

BTW, birds start to become very active around 4 a.m. this time of year, its beautiful!

How many of you folks seem to have a fairly accurate 'internal clock'?

What I mean is being able to approximate the time within 10-15 minutes any time of day without using solar or celestial references. I haven't used an alarm clock in over two decades and only will set one as a precaution when I can only afford an hour or two of sleep before something important, over half of the time I set an alarm I wake up 5 to 10 minutes before it would have went off anyway, it's the other half I'll reside on the side of caution for.

reply to post by coquine


Interesting post coquine. I've also seen much of what you describe. I agree that IQ is not everything. I'm a firm believer that we need to weigh EQ into the overall 'intelligence' ratings. I've met people that are geniuses but possess an underdeveloped emotional disposition of a 10 year old or worse. I also find them very irritating to be around! LOL!

IRM

Intelligent people are desperate for some time away from all the other braying donkeys so they can have some time to read and to think, about real things. And staying up late is one way to acheive this solitude, while the others are sleeping.